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Competition Time!
A reader suggested that I host a little competition during the leadup to Skyrim. Now, this isn’t actually a game I intend to be playing, but I’m told it’s a big thing… Anyway, it’s coming out on the 11th, so I’m going to have a little competition. Let’s see who can make the best game prototype by then! If you’re interested in competing, and indeed if you have any suggestions for changes to the competition, please do comment below.
It’s not a very long time, so I don’t expect much. Basically, what you should aim for is planning the game mechanics, the structure and – if relevant – the story. Then make a simple working prototype. Don’t worry and menus and options screens and what have you. Just focus on loading a sample level the character can run around in, or whatever is the equivalent prototype for the game you have in mind. Don’t worry too much about art, either. Just do something basic and functional 
“Programmers’ art”, as it is called.
Unfortunately I won’t be able to compete this time. I’m very busy and won’t have to time to put anything together in 11 days. Come Christmas I intend to have a more drawn out competition, in which I shall definitely compete! So if you’re too busy, don’t feel bad and just running through some ideas for the Christmas competition.
Now, as for rules…
- The game must use the SFML library
- It can be written in any language SFML supports, though C/C++ is preferable
- You may use other low level libraries (such as Boost, RapidXml, etc.), but make sure they are cross platform. And use your discretion – don’t use a library which does everything for you. If you’re unsure about a library, just ask!
- There is no prize as such, other than a mention on the site. I can link to your site if you want, provided it appears relevant (at my sole discretion). And also I might get a few quotes from the winner by email about his/her project to share on the site.
- You have until midnight GMT on 11th November 2011.
- To submit your entry, post a comment on this post, with a brief description of your project, and a link to it. Either host on a file sharing site such as MegaUpload, or host the source on Github or Sourceforge if you know how. Provide compiled binaries if you want, but make sure to provide the source as well – Linux users like me may have difficulty playing a game compiled for Windows!
- Judging will be by public vote, but adjustments to results may be performed if deemed necessary (at my sole discretion).
- No negotiation will be entered into regarding judging.
- If for any reason the competition needs to be cancelled I reserve the right to do so at my sole discretion
- You retain the rights to your creation, but by submitting your entry you authorise me to use your game, its story and design, and its source files, media and other data for the purposes of publicising the competition, and also afterwards for the purpose of discussion in other posts.
Dennis Ritchie
I know I’m a bit late to the scene, and I don’t think it’s worth my trying to write a piece on Dennis Ritchie as there are so many good ones already out there. However, I think it’s a great shame that his death passed by almost unnoticed for the general public, perhaps cast into shadow by that of Steve Jobs, whose contributions may be easier for the average user to appreciate. Nonetheless, Ritchie’s work for the advancement of computing and technology was outstanding. I would argue even greater than Jobs’. He designed C, one of the most influential and powerful programming languages of all time. He helped develop Unix, and made it the first portable operating system. He won countless prizes. We at least in the technological world should not let his passing go unsung.
I’ll leave you to your day now, but let’s not let people forget Dennis Ritchie and the great things he’s done for computing and technology. I took the liberty of linking to some other articles below. At least take a glance at the first two.
Related articles
- Dennis Ritchie (Sutter’s Mill)
- Dennis Ritchie Day (radar.oreilly.com)
- Two major CS deaths (gasstationwithoutpumps.wordpress.com)
- In Memoriam: Dennis Ritchie, Ph.D. (infosecurity.us)
- Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011 (iontech.wordpress.com)
- Dennis Ritchie left this world like he lived in it, quiet and behind the scenes… (michaelthinks.typepad.com)
- RIP Dennis Ritchie, inventor of C and father of UNIX (tranphuochung.wordpress.com)
SFML Coder’s C++ Primer
Hi again! Firstly I want to confirm that I probably won’t be writing many more SFML tutorials until a stable SFML 2.0 is released. Unless – of course – a stable release is still a very long way off!
Anyway, I feel I should provide something in the mean time so I’ve decided to pick up my C++ tutorial series again. As some of you may know, I have already put one or two videos on YouTube on this topic and the blog has a few pages related to it. And don’t worry if you already know C++, as I’m sure many of you do. Hopefully some of the later tutorials will be interesting for you as well – I’ll try to make explanations fairly complete so you’ll still be able to take something from videos.
Now, I have some ideas as to the ‘syllabus’ I’m going to follow. Let me know what you think – anything I’ve missed out, things I should remove until later, or simply a few re-orderings.
- Introduction to C++, GCC and Code::Blocks
- Hello World! Program
- Statements, expressions and operators
- Variables and more operators
- Conditionals – if, else and switch; boolean variables and operators
- Loops – for, while and do while
- Functions – arguments and return types etc; inline functions
- Larger projects – multiple source files, header files, IDE projects
Related articles
- SFML 2.0 Prebuilt Binaries for Download (sfmlcoder.wordpress.com)
- SFML Graphics – Fonts and Text (sfmlcoder.wordpress.com)
- SFML Graphics – Images and Sprites (sfmlcoder.wordpress.com)
- Building SFML 2.0 with Make (for GCC) (sfmlcoder.wordpress.com)
Integers… and Sheep
Hi there! Was just wasting away my time clicking the ‘random‘ button on xkcd (just joking – time on xkcd is never wasted), when I came upon this programming related sketch which I thought I’d share. Enjoy!
xkcd - Can't Sleep
Linux Distros
Image via Wikipedia, attribution: Larry Ewing
Hi again! Firstly, sorry for the lack of posts recently. I’m at school. I’m doing my masters early. In short, I’m rather busy. I promise I’ll start doing tutorials again when I have the chance. Hopefully by then a stable SFML 2 release will be out, just as the icing on the cake!
Anyway, in the mean time – indulge me! I just upgraded to Ubuntu 11.10 and it completely broke my Ubuntu install. Having quickly learnt how to log in and manually mount an NTFS partition on the recovery terminal, I managed to recover my encrypted home directory and its contents. However, I am now in the position of having to set up my Linux install on the weekend.
Now, I could just revert to Ubuntu 11.04 and wait for 11.10 to become a little more stable. OR! I could try another distribution for a change. I’m thinking about Fedora, Linux Mint, Mandriva Linux and Arch Linux.So, let me know which you think I should try – or indeed whether I should stay with Ubuntu or try yet another distribution. Vote on the poll. Feel free to add extra OS choices (all free Unix ones though please!). And, while we’re on the subject of operating systems, you can also vote to tell me which one(s) you use! Most importantly of course, comment to let me know why you think what you think about OS choice and Linux distros. Have fun!
Oh, and before I leave you to vote and comment, one other thing. Although the blog’s been quiet – and may well remain quiet for a while – please do still subscribe by RSS, email, WordPress or whatever you prefer! That way you’ll be among the first to hear when I’m back. Until then,
Xander
Related articles
- Introduction to the “Best Linux Distro 2011″ Series (pcandpenguin.wordpress.com)
- Get multiply Linux Distros from NetBootCD (beast4romtheeast.wordpress.com)
- Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot Is Out Now With New Default Programs [Linux] (makeuseof.com)
- Linux Distro: Tails – You Can Never Be Too Paranoid (btconsultare.wordpress.com)
- How to Choose a Linux Distro (zerinsakech.wordpress.com)
