Vimeo bans gameplay, but they make it unclear what is allowed and what isint. From my understanding of it, game videos are only allowed if you made the game.
I don't think it's too stringent, metanet software post most of their development videos on there anyway.

Flash projector (.EXE) files are nice. But they are essentially just a bundling a version of the Flash Player with your SWF file. Aside from the bundling, there are no other real benefits. You are still constrained to all of the limitations that plague the Flash web plug-in. With AIR, you would have access to numerous operating system features that the Flash Player just doesn't enjoy.

I'd posit that 90% (complete and utter guess) of end users do not have the stand-alone flash player installed, making projectors a much better option for them. I may however be wrong about that.

Most excellent. I love games like this, where as a player you don't feel like you're competing against the game world, but rather competing directly against the game's author, and that person hates you.

Enviro-Bear does this. Do you hate me?

YES I DO!!

in other news, this game is good.

[You NEED to have an environment that lets you not worry a single bit about the technical details.]

You NEED to have an environment that lets you not worry a single bit about the technical details.

This is like the opposite advice of earlier posts. You can basically end up focusing entirely on getting a technical system perfect without having made any real progress in your game. Sometimes you need to hack something in rather than having a nice system for everything, was the gist I got from Paul Eres's warning about good code vs good games.

I don't think that's what he's saying. My interpretation is that you need to have a platform with concise ways of using it and ok stability. I don't think he's saying that it has to be 100% bug-free and 100% optimised, but that you should have a very simple way of accessing it's functions.

I probably should have done this for my current game. As it is you draw a level as an svg file then my "compiler" turns it into a game readable level file which can then be loaded without  recompiling the game. In this case I think the most intelligent thing I did was make sure levels were loaded while the game was running, even if the level creation process was very long.

Thanks for all your advice, also the tips about visual assist.
Like I said, I'm not looking to cut all ties with vs entirely but I am looking for a way to be able to work on projects on the move. Thanks!

first of all, thanks for your replies, particularly about MinGW being the gcc windows version and having to recompile libraries, which i wasn't aware of.

I've generally got frustrated with vs, for example it's ways of handling libraries and the editor itself. Plus, i'd quite like a more portable compiler, in terms of mobility, not platforms, as I'd like to easily use a portable version of any compiler.

I'm not going to completely stop using vs, for example i'm going to continue projects I've started in vs invs, but I just want to have a more portable way to develop.

I'm looking to change compiler. I've become addicted to c++ and the ridiculus level of control it gives me over what my programme does (or so it seems to me compared to other languages). However I've be become disheartened with my current compiler, visual c++ 2008 and I'm looking for a change. I've heard good things about both code::blocks and g++/gcc, but quality documentation, guides and information on setting up the enviroment and compiling code seems to be somewhat lacking.

At the moment I'm moving towards the code::blocks enviroment, as it looks eaiser to install and work with.

I've got some questions however:

1) When installing code::blocks, what options do I have about installing conpilers, or do I have to do this at a later date.

2) Are the headers and libraries included with visual c++ (such as math.h, winsock2.h and wins32.lib) also included in the installation or are theese included with conpilers which I install at a later date. Or, do I have to find them and install them myself.

3) Is using external libraries and classes (such as box2d) just a matter of including their location in the list of locations to search for libraries and header files, or do I have to import them in some other way 

That's all really, as you can tell I'm a total noob with theese matters but I've become really disenheartened with vc++ and I need a change.

 If you have any advice on getting started with code::blocks, g++ or any other compilers it would be much apreciated, or, even better, answers to my questions.

Thanks!

Construct would probably be better for getting started quickly and scaling that to slightly more complete games, however processing also gives VERY easy to understand networking, Internet and serial functions. I'd rather use processing as I'd know that I'd have so much more choice.

Processing offers quite advanced networking capabilities as well, what I really meant was;if you want a tool which will scale very well, allow you to learn more serious programming and also offers graphics facilities you should look at it. Plus, it also allows you to use "serious" graphics libraries like OpenGL. Processing is also much eaiser to start off with, from my perspective at least, than game maker and flixel.

Processing allows for so much more, and is much less complex.

Actually, if you want to learn "real" coding quickly, and with visible results quickly, take a look at processing, you can get visual stuff going in under 9 lines of code

(www.processing.org)

have you got the opengl or glut .dlls as well, you might have forgotten them...

No, I've never used glut or opengl.

I've found that for my programs using sdl (in which I use opengl) I need glut.dll, but seeing as you're not using opengl that would explain it. I just assumed you were.

have you got the opengl or glut .dlls as well, you might have forgotten them...

I dont *think* its admin only, usually when I see that error on xp computers It's because the microsoft c++ redistributable is not installed (it comes with visual c++).

The vista fit is something I'm aware of and trying to fix, but thanks for telling me about the server win thing.

spelunky

(http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=4017.0 if you don't know where to find it)

I had a basted bug where I was looping for ONE MORE extra step when filling a char* array, which totally ruined it and caused garbled data to be sent through the socket.

If you're moving fast (more than a few pixels in one update), just subdivide the move into several steps.  Even pixel-sized steps if you want.

It might just be eaisest to create a shape linking the start position to the end position and then hit-test against that

eg, instead of this, where you hit-test in all of the black boxes (and the light grey one hits):

Code:

             
               ▓▓▓▓▓▓
▓▓▓ ---> ▓▓▓ ->▓▒▒▒▓▓-> ▓▓▓
▓▓▓      ▓▓▓   ▓▒▒▒▓▓   ▓▓▓
               ▓▓▓▓▓▓
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓

and then resolving it...

Code:

               ▓▓▓▓▓▓
            ▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓
            ▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓
               ▓▓▓▓▓▓
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓

you do this, where you test the light grey areas:

Code:

               ▓▓▓▓▓▓
▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░░▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░▓▓▓
▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░░▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░▓▓▓
               ▓▓▓▓▓▓
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓

and then resolve it by figuring out the last position at which they did not overlap (shown here in medium grey):

Code:

               ▓▓▓▓▓▓
▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░▓▓▓
▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░▓▓▓
               ▓▓▓▓▓▓
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓

This way, you only do one larger ABBA (or box) test, instead of a number of smaller ones. Even if the player is moving diagonally it would just be a matter of doing a few line/line intersection tests instead of a box. It *should* be quicker, however I'm no expert on collision detection/resolution and I haven't tested it so I might be wrong.

First of all, if this does not belong here, let me know so I can ask a moderator to move it...

Anyway...

I've made a console, NETWORKED battleships game, which I'd like feedback on. you can play it against a friend online, on a lan, or by running both programs on a single computer and playing it hotseat style...

This isn't really a serious game, more of a way for me to learn more about sockets and winsock. I've tested it quite thoroughly but if you find any bugs please let me know.

Feedback would be appreciated!

Here it is:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/wmvzthimmy4/NetworkedBattleships.zip

And some pictures:

Also take a look at flixel, it may be a bit more difficult to learn than gm but it's based on flash, so your games will be more cross platform. Plus, as you'll most likley find it more difficult (I did) it should be a good learning experience.

Long...