16:
This is not really a rant like the title might suggest, in fact the opposite. I am congratulating Microsoft on the amount of support there is available on the internet with Direct X tutorials and C/C++ tutorials. Ok so this doesn’t really have anything to do with Microsoft you might say, it’e down to the community. True but I bet the community is only there because Microsoft mediated and grew the community in the early days.
This has only been brought to my attention recently, when for my Programming for Entertainment Systems module I am required to learn DirectX and C/C++. And as always lecture + tutorial time is never enough to learn a new language, so home learning is essential. What has inspired me to write about this subject however is the lack of community surrounding iPhone development. Yes iPhone development is new and its community will take years of development to get to the level of support available for DirectX but Googling has only uncovered one website, which hosts iPhone tutorials.
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16:
Today me and Kseniya had a little pseudo coding session. Essentially we went through the plan on the wall and mapped out what the code needed to be doing at each stage, when we needed to talk to the server, what happens if the user has no phone signal etc.
It only took us about an hour and half, which was pretty quick. Although the game is relatively small and only really has a 5 or 6 different views to be built and designed, its all the complex behind the scenes stuff that is going to be a bitch a bit tricky.
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13:
Following the success of Where Do Ideas Come From, I bring the idea process for EPIC Sardines our Design for Entertainment Systems Module group EPIC Entertainment. The Mission create a game or gaming device or entertainment system or all three.
There was an early idea in the pot already conceived by me and Airs but we had already ruled that out for being too hard to build. Airs had come up with another, which was basically murder mystery for the iPhone using location based clues. This was ok, but it lacked gameplay mechanic and the crucial hook. That drive that keeps making you play more and more. Plus I had another idea, which I thought was better. And commence ye-old vintage Gav vs Airs battle.
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13:
The stage is set, the lights are on, the music pumped up and the black curtains part to unveil the hottest group on the games module, sorry Design for Entertainment Systems module, EPIC Entertainment. The name took a bit of arguing debating on.
Naturally I kicked of the ideas with Wet Room Entertainment, which I thought was a good name it had all the attributes; catchy, quirky and symbolised something (surfing, of course). It was vetoed instantly. The debate continued and didn’t really go anywhere, we all just looked at each other.
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13:
Today, was a bit of an eye opener (you will get this joke later on in the post) in the web based OS arena. Let’s just say it became clear that everything has really been done before and new ‘things’ just don’t come that easy.
It came apparent to me today that an online based OS had already been done (a couple of times infact) and to a pretty good standard as well, in terms of technological development anyway. There is even a Wikipedia article describing the term WebOS, though there isn’t many terms not on Wikipedia. Pete a colleague on iDAT introduced me to one, which I have forgotten the name of, when I ran my idea past him earlier today. The one Pete showed me was good, but not great. I quickly Googled it to see what else I could uncover and I found it eyeOS an open-source online operating system, if you want to have a play then there is a demo link on their website. It is pretty sick, to be honest, there is allot of technology in use including; video playback, file uploads, office applications, instant messaging, photo management, email and contacts, to name a few. Also other things you don’t notice in an OS that are actually difficult to build like; window management, dragging and dropping files, file management and application management, basically allot of behind the scenes development. It is clear that allot of work has been put into creating this awesome RIA (Rich Internet Application), which is what it is when you boil down to it. It even has a third party application directory.
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07:
The biggest task of my final year was handed to me today and it went pretty much like this.
“Come up with a field of interest in culture and technology to write your dissertation on and come up with something you can make worth 40 credits linked directly to your dissertation, in a week”
Nice, no rush, no pressure, no none at all. Next, I did what I always do when faced with a challenge got silly drunk and put off thinking about it in anyway till the next day. There is some reason behind this before you stop reading! Firstly let’s get one thing straight, drinking wasn’t required, however it’s the week after freashers week and as I’m going to be bogged down with work for the rest of this term (at least) I needed to get more fun out of the way. Secondly, I can never completely remove something from my mind and as I have found by experience, something great just seems to come to me after a couple of days pondering the problem, most of the time in the shower oddly enough. I don’t know why or how it happens it just does.
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