Exactly right. Now if it's a game I'm selling, I want to reach as many as
possible. My Phrase Madness game is an example. It works on all the
windows platforms as far as I know, as well as Windows Mobile 6.5 and under.
The point of that game will be to sell it, which means that support is the
huge priority. For my free games, the priority is not so much as to be on
the cutting edge, but to make something that is awesome.
By the way, I've looked at BGT, and though I still plan to look at it and
try to learn it, I'm going to focus on learning VB.net. That book that's in
the Heli folder is all about how to program with it. I know that it's
already obsolete, and that I'm way behind the times. Oh well, it's been
that way in many areas through my whole life. I just can't get my mind
around C style languages. It's like playing the trumpet. I like the
trumpet's sound better than, say a flute, but the flute makes some sense to
me. The trumpet doesn't make any sense to me at all, and I struggled for
years to learn it. Now my primary instrument is the keyboard, and it makes
more sense to me than the flute. How I wish there was a programming
language based on music--that'd be awesome. Anyway, maybe now you get my
point. I'm not saying the trumpet is bad--I love its sound. But if ever
you're in Ohio and you hear the sound of a cow dying in agony, it's not a
cow at all, but me trying to play the trumpet.
Ken Downey
President
DreamTechInteractive!
And,
Blind Comfort!
The pleasant way to experience massage!
It's the Caring
without the Staring!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeremy Kaldobsky" <jer...@kaldobsky.com>
To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 12:59 PM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] my ramblings about programming: why I use vb
Thomas, I think you look at this situation differently because you start
your projects with a different goal than some of the rest of us. I doubt
you will ever view this particular aspect the same as me, but maybe I can
give an example so you can better understand where I'm coming from.
If I get up one morning and decide, hey, I want to put together a little
tune with a banjo. If that is what I happen to feel like doing, the thought
would never cross my mind to change it even though the banjo is a relatively
unpopular instrument. If I continue as planned many people won't like my
music as much as if I'd changed it to a guitar or something.
If I get up one morning and I decide to make a racing game, I would never
abandon it to make a strategy game even if the community clearly wanted to
see a strategy game more than a racing game. This is just an example of
course, I have no idea how the community feels about these game types. The
point is that I feel like making a certain type of game so I am not all that
interested in what other people will think.
Of course I will be happy if other people enjoy my banjo music and my racing
game, but that wasn't my primary reason for doing the projects. True,
sometimes I will have a few things I would like to work on and I will use
the community's opinion to help me decide, but I am not getting paid to do
these things so my own personal satisfaction is my payment while I work.
I completely see where you are coming from though, in your mind it makes
total sense to just change a language so that more people can play the game.
While you don't see it the same way, to some of us that is the same as
suggesting to switch to guitar from banjo or go with a strategy game rather
than a racing one so that more people will enjoy it.
I am not suggesting that you change over and work on projects the way I do,
but I also don't think anyone should suggest I change to work on projects
the way you do. Both are valid approaches to personal projects. I don't
know if you are sighted or not, but the exact same division exists in the
visual art world. On one hand you have people who view abstract art as
something "their kid could have done with crayons" and on the other you have
people saying that isn't the point. I think it is completely natural that
the 2 different styles of thinking would also apply here in the programming
world.
--- On Tue, 2/1/11, Thomas Ward <thomasward1...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Thomas Ward <thomasward1...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] my ramblings about programming: why I use vb
To: "Ken the Crazy" <kenwdow...@neo.rr.com>, "Gamers Discussion list"
<gamers@audyssey.org>
Date: Tuesday, February 1, 2011, 12:36 PM
Hi Ken and all,
I guess my question is "why?" What exactly is the point of
writing a
game for a Comidor 64 knowing that the hardware and
software is
completely out of date?
From my personal perspective I update my system roughly two
to three
years. When Windows XP came out I was one of the first to
switch from
Windows ME to XP. When Vista came out I had the operating
system up
and running about two weeks after Vista came out. When
Windows 7 came
out I purchased an upgrade about two months later. So from
that
perspective writing games that are known to not be fairly
compatible
with the next gen operating system is a bad design in my
opinion. If
you don't think about or plan ahead for these changes
developers with
the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" opinion are going to
be sorely
upset when their software no longer correctly runs. Which
is exactly
the problem we are facing now.
For example, beginning with Windows Vista Microsoft added a
new
security feature, User Account Control, that is suppose to
help
protect you, the end user from viruses and other malware.
Unfortunately, since most of the VI accessible games out
there aren't
UAC compatible I have to disable the operating system's
security
features in order to play legacy applications written in VB
6. Why
should I have to put up with using incompatible software
just because
someone is unwilling to change his/her ways?
All I'm saying is it is fine to have these little
discussions of art
verses work etc, but the fact still remains if you choose a
poor
design it is a poor design regardless of how much you love
the
language, technology, or type of hardware you create it
for. If you
write it for a Comidor 64 go ahead but don't expect anyone
else to
play it as it won't run on anything modern. That sounds
like a whole
lot of work for nothing in my opinion. I don't really
understand this
I don't care if it is old opinion.
Cheers!
On 2/1/11, Ken the Crazy <kenwdow...@neo.rr.com>
wrote:
> You know Jim, I'm half tempted to make a game for the
Commodore 64 just to
> prove your point, for it is a good one. The sad
thing is that people who
> can't run visual basic could download VICE and run
that game. Of course, it
> would be terrible, but funny too.
> Ken Downey
> President
> DreamTechInteractive!
> And,
> Blind Comfort!
> The pleasant way to experience massage!
> It's the Caring
> without the Staring!
>
---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
You can make changes or update your subscription via the
web, at
http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org.
All messages are archived and can be searched and read at
http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the
management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to
gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at
http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org.
All messages are archived and can be searched and read at
http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at
http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org.
All messages are archived and can be searched and read at
http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
