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| Am I Getting Into Game Programming Too Much? |
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Specter Phoenix
Member #1,425
July 2001
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Am I? Since I've been married my wife, who has supported me in my programming, drawing, and everything else I do for video games, I have been buying books from Amazon.com and games from our local stores. My problem is that I'm starting to wonder if I'm getting into programming and game programming too much here lately. I mean I have put out a lot of money in books, consoles, and games. Here is a list of all the books and games I have bought in order to see the dos and don'ts and what works and what doesn't work in games.
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X-G
Member #856
December 2000
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Are you on another bragging spree? Seriously, that's stuff most of us could just dream about. Stop complaining. -- |
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Oscar Giner
Member #2,207
April 2002
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Nah, you're just a compulsive buyer. 5 different C++ books ?:o Is that REALLY needed? [edit] Quote: Seriously, that's stuff most of us could just dream about. Stop complaining. It's MORE than most of us could just dream about. Buying 1 game/week would be enough for me:) -- |
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SonShadowCat
Member #1,548
September 2001
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I agree with X-G, a supportive wife is very very rare. |
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23yrold3yrold
Member #1,134
March 2001
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Yeah, as long as your marriage is under no pressure from this, who cares? Everyone needs a hobby. And if you have SC, I expect to see you on Sunday. -- |
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Ashteth
Member #3,310
March 2003
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Quote: 5 different C++ books ? Is that REALLY needed?
And here I thought 5 was far too little. Here's the C++ books I have (and these are only the ones I've kept) C++ FAQs (2nd Edition) Actually, I go through an awful lot of programming books. I think of Amazon more as a rental service. Incidentally here's the games I've bought over the last two years: I would have bought more games, but everything else is a bunch of garbage. People don't write good games anymore.>:( If you want to know if you're spending too much, a more relevant question is perhaps: are you enjoying your materialistic splendor and: are you financially secure? I spend very little on video games and an awful lot on Power/Progressive Metal CDs and programming books, because that's the materialistic garbage I like.
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SonShadowCat
Member #1,548
September 2001
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Invest some in the materialistic garbage known as a mate perhaps? heh |
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Zaphos
Member #1,468
August 2001
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It's not how many books you have; it's what you do with them And Ashteth: I'm afraid
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Joe Olivieri
Member #2,286
May 2002
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Heh... I never go on and on about how much stuff I've got - I'd say you're on a real bragging spree too. My wife supports me as well - I don't think they're as rare as most would like to believe... come on - it's the person you pick to 'spend the rest of your life with'. You really need to put some thought into that selection. |
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Chris Katko
Member #1,881
January 2002
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If it's getting to the point where it's taking away from other aspects of your life (like your wife). Either cut it down, or cut it out completely for at least awhile. But if it's not, and you have the time and money for your hobby, go for it. -----sig: |
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Specter Phoenix
Member #1,425
July 2001
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I'm not bragging I'm just listing what I've bought in the past few years and wondering if I'm going overboard if I'm putting out that much money for my hobby(maybe I should call it a habit with all the stuff I've bought). I don't brag about what I own cause I don't consider myself fortunate to own it since others are way better off than me. Plus bragging means that I'm trying to look good in front of others and any one that knows me on here knows I could care less what others think about me. But I was just looking around my computer room/bedroom and started wondering if I am getting into programming and game programming too much to where I should ease it back some or just keep buying stuff and learning at the speed I've been learning. The games I own I only have cause I like playing them and they let me see what worked for that certain genre and didn't work.
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X-G
Member #856
December 2000
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Listen, it's only too much if YOU think it is. We can't decide that for you. And in the meantime you're making us feel bad because you have much more than we will ever have, and you have the guts to QUESTION that!? -- |
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Oscar Giner
Member #2,207
April 2002
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Quote: if I'm going overboard if I'm putting out that much money for my hobby
You can give me a bit of your money so I can spend it on your hobby for you -- |
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DanTheKat
Member #1,990
March 2002
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Doesn't have a whole lot of NES games, though.
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Oscar Giner
Member #2,207
April 2002
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No, there's something worse than that: he doesn't even have the SNES!!! -- |
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Derezo
Member #1,666
April 2001
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Quote: PS2 Games: Orphen Scion of Sorcery, Tony Hawk Underground, The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2, Red Faction, Socom, U.S. Navy Seals, The Sims, Dark Cloud, Aggressive Inline, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, Matt Hoffman's Pro BMX 2, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto Vice City, Twisted Metal Black, Extermination, Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty, Medal of Honor Frontline, Summoner, Gungrave, Resident Evil CODE Veronica X, Devil May Cry, Legends of Wrestling, Unreal Tounament, Stuntman, Kingdom Hearts, Shadow Man 2 Second Coming, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, Max Payne I hope you have a mod chip. OTOH, if it's you hobby.. then lots of people spend far more on other things like old cars and stuff. It's basically the same thing. "He who controls the stuffing controls the Universe" |
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Ultio
Member #1,336
April 2001
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Really, no Super Metroid? Metroid Fusion doesn't count even though it's a lot like SM. It's the worst of them all; even worse than Metroid II which was for original gameboy and without the instruction booklet has absolutely no stoyline and makes very little sense. I don't know what the hell Nintendo was thinking when they created the story for that one (Fusion). I mean, come on. Yes, I'm obsessed with the Metroid series, but that; and Half-Life are definitely DOs. Now my real question is; have you beat and finished every single one of those games; and have you made a use for every book you've ordered. If not, then there's a problem. --- |
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23yrold3yrold
Member #1,134
March 2001
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Fusion was a great game. Metriod II was kind of boring (though challenging). I gave it to my brother as soon as I beat it. -- |
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Ashteth
Member #3,310
March 2003
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14 C++ books isn't too much, like I said, treat Amazon like a rental company. Buy everything used, resell most of what you have in a reasonable time frame and don't be the one left with the "hot potato" when the new editions come out. It makes life a lot easier to program if you've got a lot of good books around. Just make sure you don't waste your money on 20 "Intro" books. Now if you really wanted to be excessive with the books, you could subscribe to http://safari.informit.com and write an HTML harvester / PDF converter. Even I think this is excessive though.
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Specter Phoenix
Member #1,425
July 2001
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Actually I was trying to get a SNES and Genesis because I like Final Fantasy Mystic Quest even though it was bad for the series and I loved Shining Force on Genesis as well as Haunted. Shining Force is on the PC Sega Smash Pack 2. I also planned to get Mario All Stars, Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, and a few others. For the Genesis I was thinking about getting the first three Sonic games and Sonic Spinball.
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DanTheKat
Member #1,990
March 2002
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Metroid Fusion was good, but too short, and gives you directions on where to go. I heard that Zero Mission was very good in most aspects of the gameplay.
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Torbjörn Josefsson
Member #1,048
September 2000
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Harbinger: Isn't it wonderful that you have such a deep interest in such a rich field? After all its not like you're some otaku who sits an entire week in front of some 'junkie skinner-box' like Everquest? - THAT would be a problem. If you spend too much time/money on it?.. I can't tell what's 'too much' for someone in your circumstances.. It seems like a lot of things, yes, but to me it mostly says that you really like making and playing games - and people who have No interests are really boring
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Number Six
Member #3,912
October 2003
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With all those games I'm impressed you can find any time at all for reading or programming! I would say that it's only a problem when you find that you have nothing else in your life! I say that because one day you might find yourself getting very unsatisfied with it all, and then you realise that so much else has passed you by, and it's too late by then! That said, if it makes you happy and the wife don't mind (and you can walk away from it when necessary!)... what the hell, enjoy yourself! Yeah I loved the Shining games on megadrive/genesis as well! --------------------------------------- |
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Bruce Perry
Member #270
April 2000
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Nothing wrong with having all those games. Books, on the other hand ... Our first computer, a BBC Micro, came with a User Guide. At some point, the family bought an Advanced User Guide. These two were more than enough for me to do anything I wanted in the way of programming on there. Knowing BBC BASIC already, I think I relied on the built-in help when I wanted to learn QuickBASIC. When I wanted to learn x86 assembly language, I bought one book. That was enough, for 16-bit real-mode stuff at least. It didn't include how to program Sound Blaster cards though, so I bought another book with that and lots of other PC hardware programming details. That was the extent of my pre-DJGPP book buying. At some point dad got Turbo C from somewhere, and I borrowed a book on C from the library. I learnt enough to solve some kind of maths problem in C, but I couldn't do graphics and gave up in favour of what I was familiar with. Then I found DJGPP, and with it, Allegro. I think I may have borrowed another book on C from the library. After a while I didn't need the book any more, and when I'm not sure of something, I use online references. I learnt Java from lecture notes, so that made me familiar with OOP in general. I then proceeded to figure out C++ from online resources. I've bought an introductory book on DSP (digital signal processing). It took me ages to find one that was actually written in English instead of deep, incomprehensible mathematics, and it's still too difficult for me. I have bought a grand total of four books on Japanese. First I bought Japanese for Busy People Volume I. Then I got near the end of it, bought Volume II, and had a look at the other books in the shop. An Oxford grammar and verb reference caught my eye. I asked a Japanese person to judge it for me, and she said it looked good, so I bought it. Finally, I bought JfBP Volume III a week ago. I have also been using a couple of pieces of software to learn the writing, and watching plenty of anime to practise my listening skills. I'd say that commitment, motivation and perseverance matter a lot more than the number of books. Some of your books look interesting, but most of them are just to help you learn the language. You should only need one such book. I do have a slight problem with buying more fiction books than I have time to read. But bookshops are such a nice place
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Number Six
Member #3,912
October 2003
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Quote: Nothing wrong with having all those games Didn't say there was, lucky for me since I have way to many games. Quote: Our first computer, a BBC Micro, came with a User Guide.
yaaay! You too huh? --------------------------------------- |
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