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Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
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Neil Roy
Member #2,229
April 2002
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NiteHackr : Mysteriously silent since I reduced his argument to 3 sexes.

I have a wife, so talking about sex of any sort is pointless. 8-)

Quote:

bamccaig : Last seen troll baiting NiteHackr

I don't take bait as easily as I once did. I see the hook, I don't need to bite on that. Twenty years ago maybe. But I honestly hate arguing/debating (even though sometimes it may not appear that way).

We're all set in our opinions, I see no sense in beating a dead horse.

...

I'm not doing much otherwise; been playing the new World of Warcraft expansion, but I may let my time run out in that game and get back to programming next month.

Been rethinking a project I messed around with in 3D. In space, with asteroids etc... I should keep working on that, although 3D coding makes my head hurt at times. I did manage to get a Star Wars X-wing model to load, floating amongst the asteroids, but it wasn't textured etc... so, still lots of work to do with model and texture loading with the newer shader programming. Maybe I should stick to 2D. ;)

---
“I love you too.” - last words of Wanda Roy

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
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NiteHackr said:

I did manage to get a Star Wars X-wing model to load, floating amongst the asteroids, but it wasn't textured etc... so, still lots of work to do with model and texture loading with the newer shader programming.

The .mat material files that accompany .obj files in Blender may be of use to you. Though I tried to display a blender .obj file once and the textures were all wrong.

Chris Katko
Member #1,881
January 2002
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@Katko
Watching someone play a game is only as fun as how well you take the verbal directions I'm trying to give you during the game. It's like, do this, do this!! No, no, not that! Over there! Break the barrel with the rock! Etc...

The barrels can't be broken with a rock. I should have posted an earlier one. That's just the latest. The barrels are actually "crates" (that can't be picked up by you) that have to be returned home by picking them up with a vehicle and returning them to base.

(Well, now this is the latest:)

video

I'm going to put them all together and make a review / analysis of the game at a later point.

I'm not sure whether to just post blank let's plays (no voice), let's plays with me, or simply edited / cut-footage summaries of games. I'm definitely leaning against "just gameplay" because I have a good personality and it's like what separates my gameplay recording from anyone else's if it's just gameplay?

Also, in PROGRAMMING news, I've actually been looking through the main data file with a hex editor, (also a disassembler on the EXE), and plenty of D code. I'm not entirely sure why other than the big allure of solving a puzzle that nobody else has ever done. I've determined it's a kind of "IFF" format with Big Endian chunk sizes. It's also NOT a "standard" IFF format. It's got non-standard stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interchange_File_Format

I've figured out almost every chunk ID, but I haven't written the code to turn my linear passes into a "Tree" yet. I'll have to do something recursive for that I think.

But from my data, I've found some interesting stuff. Like there's either a level, or old data, for a SECOND PLAYER. (Which would have been AMAZING as I cite in my gameplay videos, because it would cut the wrist-aching level of micromanaging down--and be really fun to share.)

Also, I've found plenty of 8-bit (indexed) sprites. But mostly by looking through raw data with GIMP. No idea what format they are--but they're not LBM (common with IFF).

As for sounds, none of them show up when hit with Audacity's raw import. I tried various compression formats for Audacity but none decoded into something audible. So they've got to be using some different codec / propetary.

I also experimented with trying to get the game into a higher resolution than 640x480 but to no luck. DirectX fails to instantiate when I hack the hex values.

-----sig:
“Programs should be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
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One of the things I love about my dad was how he always used to use memory editors to hack his games and boost his stats. If there was a way to cheat, he would find it.

EDIT

I'm not sure whether to just post blank let's plays (no voice), let's plays with me, or simply edited / cut-footage summaries of games. I'm definitely leaning against "just gameplay" because I have a good personality and it's like what separates my gameplay recording from anyone else's if it's just gameplay?

Definitely keep the video inlay and voice over. It's half the fun watching you go WTF?

Erin Maus
Member #7,537
July 2006
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I'm so proud, a website for a department at my school is officially deployed. ;D It's so cool to see something I made sitting at an *.edu domain (or more officially subdomain).

I wrote it in Python using Flask in roughly 10 hours, having never built a website from scratch nor used Flask. The rest was deploying it, documentation, and auditing it. Haha... Wow.

---
ItsyRealm, a quirky 2D/3D RPG where you fight, skill, and explore in a medieval world with horrors unimaginable.
they / she

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
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I wrote it in Python using Flask in roughly 10 hours, having never built a website from scratch nor used Flask.

Yeah well kid in our day we programmed websites by hand, one letter at a time, in HTML, and there were no frilly things like CSS or JS. Just good old Netscape and endless popups cluttering your desktop.

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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HTML is not programming, especially without JavaScript. HTML is markup. It's effectively documentation (which also means no popups). The programming and the popup spam comes from JavaScript.

Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
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bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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Had you said coded or encoded you would have been fine. >:( But also I'm pretty exhausted so I might have missed some sarcasm there.

Also, we still code Web applications one keystroke at a time. >:(

Chris Katko
Member #1,881
January 2002
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I started playing a game I had in my GOG inventory for years. Completely forgot about it. Blitzkrieg. It's actually been the most realistic / fun WW2 RTS game I've played.

video

(From the description)

Quote:

0:00 to 2:10 me ranting about 4K on my GTX 1060.
Skip to 2:15 for start of gameplay / explainations of what's going on.
Skip to 5:00 to skip my intro talking and go straight to gameplay decisions.
9:30 SHOTS FIRED.

There's so many things I've never even thought about / really appreciated in war. Like how essential artillery (scouts for spotting for them). How incredibly dangerous anti-tank guns are, and how you should almost NEVER send tanks to fight tanks (as was US tank doctrine during WW2). And the list goes on.

Unlike Soldiers: Heroes of WW2 (which is an old childhood favorite) and it's sequels, as well as another game series that's similar to Solders that I can't remember. It can accurately simulate smaller AND LARGE battles.

You have to keep supplies running to your artillery (and tanks) or they'll run out.

TONS of other stuff. I'm building a list for a proper review.

It's not a perfect game. The random levels are very repetitive and the scripted "historical" battles are typically HUGE battles (like the one on the video) that don't capture the same feel where you don't want to lose ANY units. Whereas, large battles like the video it would be impossible to not have losses and still win so you get into an "acceptable" losses mindset. (Though on the smaller maps, your "core" units must be protected but you use infantry as cannon fodder to slow enemy tanks down while you destroy them with AT guns and artillery. Infantry don't matter for your progression so... you just STALIN them and toss them into the meat grinder to slow advancing tanks.)

-----sig:
“Programs should be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

Neil Roy
Member #2,229
April 2002
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Yeah well kid in our day we programmed websites by hand, one letter at a time, in HTML, and there were no frilly things like CSS or JS. Just good old Netscape and endless popups cluttering your desktop.

I still create my pages this way. My website with my Deluxe Pacman game was "coded" with Notepad++ (which colour codes HTML nicely). Older HTML at that, because I'm stubborn that way. :)

It's still a form of coding though, albeit simple. You're placing instructions which needs to be interpreted and acted upon. Similar in a lot of ways to older interpreted BASIC.

---
“I love you too.” - last words of Wanda Roy

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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They're not instructions. They're data. You cannot make them do anything (without adding JavaScript). It's no different than writing a text file, or a latex file, for example. You're authoring a document using a text-based code language instead of an editor and binary format. It's ultimately still a document, no different than Word or PDF or Latex or whatever other document format you can come up with. HTML tags are not acted upon in pure HTML. They're rendered into a usually graphical representation of the document. The only "actions" that can happen are programmed using JavaScript. Except for maybe some flashy <blink> or <marque> tags or something else evil that has no practical use. :P

Chris Katko
Member #1,881
January 2002
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Here's another older WW2 game:

video

-----sig:
“Programs should be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
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Eric Johnson
Member #14,841
January 2013
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{"name":"611709","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/f\/e\/fe93383a62c6780d95f56d8c74c90c1d.jpg","w":460,"h":609,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/f\/e\/fe93383a62c6780d95f56d8c74c90c1d"}611709

Neil Roy
Member #2,229
April 2002
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bamccaig said:

They're not instructions. They're data.

Ahhhhh... that felt good to bait him for a change. :) I actually agree with you, but I had to turn the tables and show you how it feels to be baited, and you took the hook and swallowed it whole. 8-)

Edit: Although your statement about them not being instructions is not true. HTML tags are absolutely instructions on how to handle the data. The <B> tag instructs the browswer to display the next in bold until the </B> or end of document is reached. And there are instructions on how to set up the screen, you can have frames etc... there are instructions on mouse input and which graphic to display based on whether or not the mouse is down or not (that's a boolean logic check right there, very similar to programming). Now it is programming in the most simplistic sense of the word, but I can see it qualifying. Even you called it a "language" in your reply. :)

---
“I love you too.” - last words of Wanda Roy

Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
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{"name":"lisp_cycles.png","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/e\/5\/e5b5612aa6ec954a824d349b4f020d45.png","w":640,"h":211,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/e\/5\/e5b5612aa6ec954a824d349b4f020d45"}lisp_cycles.png

Chris Katko
Member #1,881
January 2002
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Eric Johnson: ahahah

-----sig:
“Programs should be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
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NiteHackr said:

Although your statement about them not being instructions is not true. HTML tags are absolutely instructions on how to handle the data. The <B> tag instructs the browswer to display the next in bold until the </B> or end of document is reached. And there are instructions on how to set up the screen, you can have frames etc... there are instructions on mouse input and which graphic to display based on whether or not the mouse is down or not (that's a boolean logic check right there, very similar to programming). Now it is programming in the most simplistic sense of the word, but I can see it qualifying. Even you called it a "language" in your reply. :)

The <B> tag describes the enclosed contents as having a bold font. It doesn't instruct the computer how to do that. The browser was programmed in C or C++, and knows that when it sees a <B> tag, data, it should render its contents in a bold font. The text "hello" also results in the computer drawing the text "hello" on the screen, but the author of "hello" didn't program it.

Hell, I can even type a <B> tag in Allegro.cc's mockup textbox like this, but that isn't programming Allegro.cc or the browser. Both have already been programmed. I'm just feeding in data which is interpreted and triggering differences in the existing programming. There is no way in HTML (without JavaScript and CSS) to create a "program": for example, a simple counter that counts from 0 to overflow. You cannot do it in HTML. You cannot show or hide parts of the document dynamically without CSS or JavaScript (which includes the style, onevent, <script>, <style>, and on and on,.. attributes and tags). The "programming" comes from extension languages.

There definitely can be programming in Web pages, but it requires additional technologies above and beyond pure HTML. Not all languages are programming languages. HTML is a markup language. It is data wrapped in special descriptors (also data) to change the way that the resulting document looks and behaves. It is limited by the browser's existing programming. It cannot pass the Turing test.

Edgar Reynaldo
Major Reynaldo
May 2007
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Neil Roy
Member #2,229
April 2002
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Everyone KNOWS HTML is programming. It's an established fact!

---
“I love you too.” - last words of Wanda Roy

Eric Johnson
Member #14,841
January 2013
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How do you define "programming"? Until we can find common ground regarding the semantics of the word, we won't get anywhere.

In its simplest form, I'd say that programming is the act of writing instructions for a computer. However, this is a bit too simplistic and leaves too much room for vague error.

On the flip side, there are people who would argue that only strictly-typed, compiled languages constitute "real" programming. So scripting languages, interpreted languages, and loosely-typed languages are not "real" as far as these people are concerned (so no Java, JavaScript, Python, Lua, Bash, etc).

Where does one draw the line? How do you define "programming", and what is and is not considered to be a programming language?



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