Topics

151

Developer's Corner / The Theory and Practice of Cameras in Side-Scrollers

« on: March 12, 2016, 02:43 PM »

Here's an article that discusses in detail some of the theory and methods behind cameras in 2D games. I'd seen it quite a while ago, perhaps when it was first published last May, but I recently rediscovered it and thought it was worth sharing. What surprised me most about it is that complex camera systems in games mostly seem to come down to just a few simple (but clever) tricks, but when combined it results in quite elegant behavior.

A few years ago mouser posted about a video analyzing the camera behavior in Super Mario World. While hearing it explained while seeing the game was interesting, I found this newer article to be much more useful in seeing how things work because the areas of interest are visualized for us, like so:



It's a fairly long article, but it goes into some really useful detail analyzing how many popular/classic games have designed their camera system to allow the player to see important information in the game.

Highly recommended.

http://gamasutra.com...in_SideScrollers.php

152

General Software Discussion / [SOLVED] Email bouncing after changing hosts

« on: March 04, 2016, 02:35 PM »

Hi folks,

I use a ton of forwarders. Seriously a ton! I have somewhere between 600-700 of them. I use forwarders like other people use maildrop or mailinator. Anyway, I recently changed hosting companies for my websites/domains, and I had the weird experience of my websites not working until I updated the DNS entries for the domains, but my email working fine until I updated the DNS entries.

So now my websites are working fine, but any email sent to what are called "add-on" domains in cPanel just bounce. Whether they're forwarders or an actual mailbox. Here's the error I'm getting in the bounce email:

Remote host said:
550-The mail server could not deliver mail to [email address].  The
550-account or domain may not exist, they may be blacklisted, or missing the
550 proper dns entries.

Note that all my forwarders are working just fine for my primary domain. It's just the add-on domains which can't seem to accept any email whatsoever.

I'm hoping the folks here at DC can help me figure this out because so far technical support at my host hasn't been very useful for this particular issue. I was super-ultra happy with my new host until this issue came up. But if it can't be solved I may need to find other hosting. Forwarders are that important to me. They fixed it! 

153

Non-Windows Software / Remix OS for PC Beta Launch

« on: March 01, 2016, 12:37 PM »

Remix OS for PC is a custom flavor of Android designed for a traditional desktop/laptop experience. It has the equivalent of the start menu, task bar, tray, and notification/action center. It also allows app windowing and running multiple apps simultaneously.

More details about Remix OS in general can be found here:

http://www.jide.com/en/remixos

Details and downloads for Remix OS for PC can be found here:

http://www.jide.com/en/remixos-for-pc

Remis OS was also briefly mentioned previously on DC here.

154

General Software Discussion / Amazon Lumberyard - free game engine integrated with AWS and Twitch

« on: February 09, 2016, 06:15 PM »

Amazon Lumberyard is a free, cross-platform, 3D game engine for you to create the highest-quality games, connect your games to the vast compute and storage of the AWS Cloud, and engage fans on Twitch.

By starting game projects with Lumberyard, you can spend more of your time creating great gameplay and building communities of fans, and less time on the undifferentiated heavy lifting of building a game engine and managing server infrastructure.

-http://aws.amazon.com/lumberyard

How did they develop a AAA game engine out of nowhere? Well... they cheated a little.

Lumberyard's core engine technology is based on Crytek's CryEngine. Amazon licensed the German studio's engine and got "full, unencumbered access to the technology" to build upon, says Mike Frazzini, vice president of Amazon Games.

However, Lumberyard represents a branch of that tech, and the company is replacing or upgrading many of CryEngine's systems. Future versions of CryEngine and Lumberyard will continue to diverge.

[...]

At public beta launch, Lumberyard already has components that are not based on CryEngine. Aside from adding the AWS SDK to the engine -- allowing for native C++ access to its services -- Amazon has also brought in new low-latency networking code based on what Double Helix, the Southern California studio it acquired in 2014, developed for Xbox One fighting game Killer Instinct.

-http://gamasutra.com/view/news/265425/Amazon_launches_new_free_highquality_game_engine_Lumberyard.php

155

Living Room / Keybase and the Keybase Filesystem (KBFS)

« on: February 05, 2016, 01:10 PM »

This is something I don't fully understand, so it's hard for me to summarize it or find the shortest relevant quote to share with you. Sorry.

[TL;DR]
Keybase sounds a little bit like a filesystem similar to IPFS, but with encryption built-in and made super easy. You don't have to know someone's Keybase account info to connect with them. You can create encrypted, shared files/folders with someone who doesn't even have a Keybase account. If you only know them on Twitter, you can use their Twitter account name, and Keybase will allow them (and you?) to link the Twitter handle to their Keybase account (when they finally create one).

For more info, check out this page on Keybase, which is more colorful and has lots of pictures and visually pleasing things and is written by someone who knows what they're talking about:

https://keybase.io/i...e-keybase-filesystem
[/TL;DR]

It has public directories shared with everyone as well as private ones, shared with no one or only the people you select.

Quote related to Public directories:

Public, signed directories for everyone in the world

You can now write data in a very special place:

[Select]

/keybase/public/yourname

Every file you write in there is signed. There's no manual signing process, no taring or gzipping, no detached sigs. Instead, everything in this folder appears as plaintext files on everyone's computers. You can even open /keybase/public/yourname in your Finder or Explorer and drag things in.

-https://keybase.io/introducing-the-keybase-filesystem

Quote related to Private directories:

But there's more!

Keybase mounts end-to-end encrypted folders in /keybase/private.

[Select]

/keybase/private/{people}

This is your own encrypted folder, just for you:

[Select]

/keybase/private/yourname

And here's a folder only you and I can read. You don't have to create this folder, it implicitly exists.

[Select]

/keybase/private/yourname,chris

Again, maybe you know me on twitter, and prefer to assert that:

[Select]

/keybase/private/yourname,malgorithms@twitter

These folders are encrypted using only your device-specific keys and mine.

The Keybase servers do not have private keys that can read this data. Nor can they inject any public keys into this process, to trick you into encrypting for extra parties. Your and my key additions and removals are signed by us into a public merkle tree, which in turn is hashed into the Bitcoin block chain to prevent a forking attack.

-https://keybase.io/introducing-the-keybase-filesystem

And more about sharing with people who don't even use Keybase (yet):

Frictionless sharing

Soon, you'll be able to throw data into /keybase/private/yourname,pal@twitter, even if that Twitter user hasn't joined Keybase yet. Your app will encrypt just for you and then awake and rekey in the background when that Twitter user joins and announces a key.

-https://keybase.io/introducing-the-keybase-filesystem

And it may even answer the question about signing code which was asked by f0dder a few days ago:

Encryption's a pleasure...but what about verifying some source code release or announcement online? Keybase to the rescue; files, messages, streams: all can be signed, encrypted, decrypted, verified, with a keybase username.

Verifying a signature from someone you don't know will summarize all their public accounts and check them for you to make sure the signatures match up.

-https://keybase.io/

156

DC Gamer Club / "Early Access" games come to GOG

« on: January 28, 2016, 04:17 PM »

GOG just announced that they're now selling some "Early Access" games which are still in development:

Excellent hand-picked games, 14-day refund policy, always DRM-free.
We want GOG.com to be the home of games that are both excellent and really worth your time.

In today's gaming world, we're seeing more and more titles that become hits before development dwindles down. We want to give you a way to enjoy what these games have to offer, a way that's comfortable and fair to you — the GOG.com way: that means evaluating each and every game, a 14-day no-questions-asked refund policy, and more.

-https://www.gog.com/news/introducing_games_in_development

Some may be (understandably) wary of buying an unfinished product, especially given some of the poor results we've seen from Steam's Early Access program. But GOG thinks things will be different for them:

The GOG.com way.
First and foremost: we're hand-picking only the games we can truly stand behind. Offering a selection of the most promising titles, and those most highly requested on the Community Wishlist, is our way of avoiding bloat and ensuring that every game will be worth your time.

It takes some confidence to discover games that are still being shaped — and to build that trust, every game in development comes with a simple refund policy: 14 days, no questions asked. It doesn't matter if you're having technical issues, if you don't think the game is sufficiently fleshed out, or if it simply doesn't click with you — all games in development can be returned for any reason within 14 days of purchase.

The GOG Galaxy client should also come in handy for games in development. It lets you control updates manually if you want, while the rollback feature allows you to easily restore any earlier version of your game if an update breaks something or makes unwanted changes. For games in development, rollback will also track and create historical snapshots throughout a game's development. That means you can always revisit any point in a game's history — for fun, or for science.

-https://www.gog.com/news/introducing_games_in_development

Just before I found out about this announcement, I was just thinking to myself that I wish I didn't have to update my Early Access games to be able to play them on Steam. One in particular, ARK: Survival Evolved, has frequent updates of about 20GB. I'd like to be able to play it occasionally without having to download such a huge update, due to my ISP giving me a data cap. I was thinking maybe they could have multiple deployment branches where one version is only updated, say, once per month, while you could opt-in to a faster branch that is updated weekly (or whatever their normal update schedule is). That problem is solved from the get-go in GOG's Games In Development program.

I also like the idea that it in some cases it will no longer be necessary to purchase a game on Steam to get access to it while it's in development. I have a pretty large Steam library, but more and more I'm disliking Steam (for various reasons) and opting for GOG and other DRM-free options. I quite like GOG and their new GOG Galaxy client. It seems like it has most of the benefits/convenience of the Steam client, without most of the drawbacks.

Anyway, for more info about GOG's Games In Development, including info about the first titles to be included in the program, see the link below:
https://www.gog.com/...games_in_development

157

General Software Discussion / Brave: A new browser with built-in adblock and payment solutions

« on: January 22, 2016, 05:34 PM »

There's a new browser called Brave in town which is focused on solving the awful situation with advertisers (malvertisers) through two steps:

1. Block intrusive ads natively. No ad blocking extension needed.
2. Built-in micro-payment system (via Bitcoin?) so you can easily support the websites you visit and/or disable the non-intrusive ads.

It's your device. It's your time.
So make it your Internet. The new Brave browser blocks all the greed and ugliness on
the Web that slows you down and invades your privacy. Then
we put clean ads back, to fund website owners and Brave
users alike. Users can spend their funds to go ad-free
on their favorite sites.

-https://brave.com/

Speed comparison video:

Brave is also focused on security/privacy with the following features:

• Brave blocks harmful advertising
• Brave redirects sites to HTTPS
• Brave blocks Tracking Pixels and Tracking Cookies

There's also a relatively short writeup about the purpose of Brave, but I'm having trouble picking out a self-contained segment to include as a quote, so just read it all yourself:

https://brave.com/#about

158

DC Gamer Club / Archive.org's MS-DOS Games Library - Over 2,500 Games

« on: January 18, 2016, 03:31 PM »

I just discovered this a few days ago. The Internet Archive (Archive.org) has over 2,500 MS-DOS games, which can all be downloaded or played in your browser, for free.


https://archive.org/...elibrary_msdos_games

Pretty much every DOS game I can remember playing as a child is there, only this time they're full versions instead of the shareware demos.

Combined with Archive.org's Internet Arcade (a collection of MAME/Arcade games) and the Console Living Room, you should be able to keep yourself occupied for quite some time.

159

Living Room / Smart TVs now "smart" enough for malware

« on: January 11, 2016, 08:53 PM »

Personally, I would much prefer a "dumb" display than a smart TV.

If a TV can surf the web, it can be hijacked or pick up malware.

-https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160108/07020333277/tvs-now-smart-enough-to-get-hijacked-pick-up-malware.shtml

Read more at the link:

https://www.techdirt...ick-up-malware.shtml

160

Living Room / Forbes forces users to disable ad blockers, promptly serves malware.

« on: January 11, 2016, 03:24 PM »

Yet another reason why I'm never ever ever ever ever disabling my ad blocker:

For the past few weeks, Forbes.com has been forcing visitors to disable ad blockers if they want to read its content. Visitors to the site with Adblock or uBlock enabled are told they must disable it if they wish to see any Forbes content. Thanks to Forbes’ interstitial ad and quote of the day, Google caching doesn’t capture data properly, either.

What sets Forbes apart, in this case, is that it didn’t just force visitors to disable ad blocking — it actively served them malware as soon as they did.

-http://www.extremetech.com/internet/220696-forbes-forces-readers-to-turn-off-ad-blockers-promptly-serves-malware

Read more info at the link below:

http://www.extremete...mptly-serves-malware

161

DC Gamer Club / ShinyLoot shutting down

« on: January 07, 2016, 04:21 PM »

I got an email today informing me that ShinyLoot is shutting down operations this year:

Today we are making a public announcement to confirm what some of you have speculated over the past few months. ShinyLoot will, in the near future, begin the process of shutting down as a digital distribution service. With this email we will outline our thinking that led to this decision and what you can expect as a customer. We have always strived for transparency in our operations and we feel that you deserve as much information as possible, with as much warning as possible.

Every customer will be provided ample time to download their game libraries and use any remaining credits. As such, there are two important dates to keep in mind. The last date that purchases will be allowed is January 31st, 2016. After this date, all remaining credits will be forfeited. The last date we will be active for downloads, support, or general operational matters is March 17, 2016. We feel this is a fair balance between allowing access to files from our servers and the financial and time cost to us in maintaining operations.

With that out of the way, we would like to go into the reasons why we are following this course of action, our future as a business, and how we got to this point.

We started ShinyLoot with the goal of promoting independent and medium sized publishers through primarily DRM-free offerings using a trait discovery system. Although many games have received thousands of additional views through our service, we never really converted those views into a high enough sales rate. Between the lack of performance and the looming large investment required to continue growing, our motivation has gradually waned.

Both founding members of ShinyLoot have slowly lost the drive and passion we used to break into the market. It became clear that the long hours needed to see ShinyLoot thrive would not be ending anytime soon. Stress started to play a role in both of our lives and we sacrificed other ventures to make this work. So we took a break for most of 2015 to try to reignite the spark with our most recent sale in November, but it simply didn't last. And in that time, the market has grown even more competitive. At this point, we simply don't think managing ShinyLoot as a digital distributor is a significant addition to the gaming community nor the right course of action for us personally or professionally. There are simply too many services that provide an equal or better substitute for our offerings.

As for what that means in the future, we have been in talks with a few companies and individuals to transition ownership of ShinyLoot elsewhere. Nothing ever materialized that made sense, either because of how it affected us, you, our publishers and developers, or all of the above. We have continued to try to do everything the "right way", and that does limit our options. So we will maintain rights to the domain and perhaps try to transition into something that is purely discovery based, without the retail aspect, as that seemed to be our biggest benefit to the gaming community.

So this is where we are at. We know that it's not a great message to receive at the end of the year, and it's not one that's easy for us to deliver. We hope that you understand our decision, and we would be happy to talk with any of you if you would like to respond. Please keep in mind that responses may be delayed depending on the quantity of replies we receive. We wish you a Happy New Year and that this may be only a small hiccup in an otherwise great 2016 for you.

Thanks,

Chris and Sood (ShinyLoot Staff)

TL;DR version is: Download/redeem your purchased games before the middle of March.

162

DC Gamer Club / Duke Nukem Games being removed from GOG.com at year's end (2015)

« on: December 30, 2015, 09:18 PM »

Classic Duke Nukem games will be removed from GOG's catalog for the new year. So they're offering the games on sale for up to 90% off (about $2.50 for all 4 games). See the quote below (emphasis added):

The Duke. Men want to be him, women want to be with him. The manliest of men, the ultimate male role model. He's been kicking ass on GOG.com for years, but on December 31 2015, Duke has to step out to get more bubble gum. On that day, all Duke Nukem games on GOG.com will be removed from our catalog, but we are in talks with the new rightsholders to bring them back as swiftly as possible. That's why we bid you a farewell for now, Duke: with every Duke Nukem game at 90% off as a bundle, or -75% individually.

[...]

With the start of the new year, Dragonshpere will no longer be a free game on GOG.com due to new publisher agreements. If you haven't claimed a copy for yourself, make sure to do so by December 31, 22:59 PM GMT - afterwards the game will be regularly priced at $5.99.

-https://www.gog.com/news/weekly_staff_picks_farewell_for_now_duke

Get the Duke Nukem games here, and get the free Dragonsphere game here.

163

DC Gamer Club / Free Game Worms Forts: Under Siege

« on: December 14, 2015, 09:02 PM »

GOG is offering Worms Forts: Under Siege for free for the next ~56 hours. Other games in the Worms franchise and other games by Team 17 are also on sale:

http://www.gog.com/p...iversary_sale_141215

164

Screenshot Captor / SOLVED: Windows 10 OneDrive hijacks PrintScreen hotkey.

« on: December 08, 2015, 01:36 PM »

I noticed for the past month or two that ScreenshotCaptor no longer would work when I pressed PrintScreen. Instead, I'd get a notification that my screenshot was saved to my OneDrive. No matter how I configured ScreenshotCaptor, I couldn't get it to take a screenshot using PrintScreen as a hotkey.

Weird.


After finally mentioning the problem to mouser today, he quickly found a link with some suggestions that led to a solution. The solution is pretty simple: Right-click the OneDrive icon in your tray, select Settings, click on the "Auto save" tab, and uncheck the "Automatically save screenshots I capture to OneDrive." Click the OK button and then close/restart OneDrive.



That last step of shutting down OneDrive is imperative. It's not enough to just disable the setting. OneDrive must be shut down completely and optionally restarted if you want OneDrive to do its OneDrive stuff.

If restarting OneDrive doesn't do it for you, then I have read that a reboot will do the trick.

165

DC Gamer Club / GOG.com's mystery gifts return

« on: December 02, 2015, 11:22 AM »

GOG.com is having another big sale with deals changing every few days. Also returning is the mystery game, which was a pinata in the last sale, where you pay $3 for a game worth between $10-35 which is not listed in the current sales.

Did anyone find out last time if you got to find out what it was before deciding to keep it or gift it to someone else?

166

Living Room / A Cabinet of Infocom Curiosities

« on: November 24, 2015, 03:58 PM »

If you’re coming into this relatively new, or even if you need a little brush-up, let me state: Steve Meretzky has earned the title of “Game God” several times over, having been at the center of the early zenith of computer games in the 1980s and persisting, even thriving, in the years since. He continues to work in the industry, still doing game design, 35 years since he started out as a tester at what would become Infocom.

But more than that – besides writing a large amount of game classics in the Interactive Fiction realm, he also was an incredibly good historian and archivist, saving everything.

EVERYTHING.

When we finally connected during production (as it turned out, we lived within 10 miles of each other), Steve showed me his collection of items he had from the days of Infocom (which spanned from roughly 1981 through to the company’s eventual closing and absorption by Activision in the early 1990s).

-http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/4834

167

DC Gamer Club / Vertiginous Golf free on Steam for 24 hours

« on: October 26, 2015, 07:07 PM »

Vertiginous Gold, a mini golf-type game, is available on Steam for free (for keeps) if you claim it within the next 24 hours.

http://store.steampo...ered.com/app/272890/

168

Living Room / IPFS - Is this the future of the internet?

« on: October 05, 2015, 02:49 PM »

I just heard about IPFS last night. It sounds really neat and useful.

From my limited understanding of it, it's like a combination of the following ideas:

• BitTorrent
• Git

The content on the internet will be distributed P2P much like BitTorrent files are. The content is immutable like Git blobs, which means even if the "originating website" goes down or is abandoned, it will always be accessible forever on the distributed system, as long as someone, somewhere has it. And because it's immutable you know that no matter who you retrieve it from, it is the original, unmodified file.

I learned about it from this TechCrunch article:

As a peer-to-peer distributed file system that seeks to connect all computing devices with the same system of files, IPFS seeks to improve on HTTP in several ways. Two, Juan told me in a recent conversation, are key:

“We use content-addressing so content can be decoupled from origin servers, and instead, can be stored permanently. This means content can be stored and served very close to the user, perhaps even from a computer in the same room. Content-addressing allows us to verify the data too, because other hosts may be untrusted. And once the user’s device has the content, it can be cached indefinitely.”

IPFS also addresses security problems that plague our HTTP-based Internet: Content-addressing and content-signing protect IPFS-based sites, making DDoS attacks impossible. And to help mitigate the damage of discontinued websites, IPFS also archives important public-record content, and can easily store important, public-record content.

IPFS’s final core improvement is decentralized distribution, which makes it possible to access Internet content despite sporadic Internet service or even while offline: “We make websites and web apps have no central origin server,” Juan explained. “They can be distributed just like the Bitcoin network is distributed.” This is actually something that HTTP simply cannot do, and would especially be a boon to networks without top-notch connectivity (i.e., the whole developing world), and for access outside of metropolitan areas.

-http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/04/why-the-internet-needs-ipfs-before-its-too-late/

Here are a few videos demonstrating the idea and use of IPFS:

Does anyone else here who knows more about this or the other similar technologies it's built upon (such as Bitcoin) have an opinion on this?

169

General Software Discussion / What software do you use to create an Audio CD?

« on: September 11, 2015, 06:36 PM »

Hi folks,

It's been forever since I burned audio files to an actual Audio CD, but recently the need/desire has sprung up and I can't for the life of me remember what software I used to use to do this. I mostly just use ImgBurn when I need to create or burn a disc image, but what do you use if you want to burn MP3s to an Audio CD?

I'm on Windows 10 Pro x64.

Thanks in advance!

P.S. Please don't suggest iTunes. I am not installing that on my system.

170

DC Gamer Club / Buy a mystery game with GOG's Indie Piñatas!

« on: September 11, 2015, 11:51 AM »

GOG is currently running a promotion where you buy a "piñata" for $3 and it will contain a random indie game ranging in value from $9.99 to $44.99.

While their "randomization" algorithm gives priority to games you don't already own, if you happen to get a game you do already own, it will be a giftable copy.

They're also running a regular sale where certain games are discounted a certain amount.

http://www.gog.com/

171

Living Room / TSA's master keys leaked, 3D printed

« on: September 10, 2015, 11:26 AM »

The TSA is learning a basic lesson of physical security in the age of 3-D printing: If you have sensitive keys—say, a set of master keys that can open locks you’ve asked millions of Americans to use—don’t post pictures of them on the Internet.

A group of lock-picking and security enthusiasts drove that lesson home Wednesday by publishing a set of CAD files to Github that anyone can use to 3-D print a precisely measured set of the TSA’s master keys for its “approved” locks—the ones the agency can open with its own keys during airport inspections. Within hours, at least one 3-D printer owner had already downloaded the files, printed one of the master keys, and published a video proving that it opened his TSA-approved luggage lock.

-http://www.wired.com/2015/09/lockpickers-3-d-print-tsa-luggage-keys-leaked-photos/

I don't think there's much of a stronger argument against intentionally putting in backdoors to any form of security--including encryption--than this. Once the master/secret key is out, it's over for everybody!

172

General Software Discussion / Unity (Game Engine) Comes to Linux: Experimental Build Now Available

« on: August 26, 2015, 12:43 PM »

I've been using Unity for a few years now to make all my games for Ludum Dare and NANY. One of the strange things about Unity has been that while you can make a build of a game for Linux OSes, you couldn't actually make your game in Linux because there was no Linux edition of the Unity Editor available. But they've been taking steps to rectify that and now have an experimental build of the Unity Editor for Linux:

Last month, I wrote a blog post detailing our plans for Unity on Linux.  Well, I’m back again to tell you the big day has come; today we’re releasing an experimental build of Unity for Linux!

An Experimental Build

Today’s build is what we call an experimental build; future support is not yet guaranteed.  Your adoption and feedback will help us determine if this is something we can sustain alongside our Mac and Windows builds.

Today’s build is based off Unity 5.1.0f3 and comes with the ability to export to the following runtimes:

• Linux, Mac, Windows Standalone
• WebGL
• WebPlayer
• Android
• Tizen
• SamsungTV

System Requirements

• 64-bit Ubuntu 12.04 or newer (just like our player, the editor will run on most ‘modern’ 64-bit Linux distributions, but official support is only provided for 64-bit Ubuntu 12.04 or newer)
• Modern Nvidia, AMD, or Intel graphics card with vendor-supported graphics drivers

-http://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/08/26/unity-comes-to-linux-experimental-build-now-available/

Get download links and more info here:

http://blogs.unity3d...build-now-available/

173

Developer's Corner / Ludum Dare 33: August 21st-24th, 2015

« on: August 15, 2015, 11:07 AM »

Hi folks! LD33 is next weekend.

Right now voting for a theme is taking place.

http://ludumdare.com/compo/

I won't be participating this time, since I'm heading out the door any minute to start a week-long trip. I won't be back home until partway through the game jam.

I'll update this post with more of my usual details (like links to past events and stuff) sometime after I get back.


See previous DC posts about Ludum Dare:
Ludum Dare 32 - (I made Time Bomb during LD32)
Ludum Dare 31 - (I made Worm Wars during LD31)
Ludum Dare 30 - (I made Planetary Devourers during LD30)
Ludum Dare 29 - (I made It Came From... Beneath!! during LD29)
Ludum Dare [29] topic for other games - A thread about LD29 games.
Ludum Dare 23 - (I made Be Tiny, World! during LD23, and continued to work on it and improve it for years afterward!)
Ludum Dare - Game Programming Challenges

174

General Software Discussion / PSA: Windows 10 corrupting wav files from memory cards

« on: August 12, 2015, 03:13 PM »

If you deal with audio files stored on CF or SD cards, be aware of this Windows 10 bug:

It appears that when accessing a card reader via USB with Broadcast Wave Files on it (possibly other types of files as well), Windows 10 immediately strips some of the metadata from the files on the original media which is not copy protectable. This renders the files unplayable and they can only be accessed by any flavor of windows with a hex editor afterwards.

If I have the files on another networked location and bring them in via wi fi or Ethernet there are no such issues. So...it appears to be related to something Windows 10 is doing initially when reading the files from a USB connected reader.

[...]

I can also confirm that this corruption does NOT happen with a small portable USB drive on the same USB ports. It's oddly just CF and SD cards via a reader.

-http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-files/transferring-wav-audio-files/50bbf42f-84a7-44b9-ab57-8784b5606d09

Read more here: http://answers.micro...b9-ab57-8784b5606d09

175

Living Room / New vulnerability found in older Intel processors

« on: August 09, 2015, 12:53 PM »

Emphasis added:

Security researcher Chris Domas has discovered a vulnerability in the x86 architecture of Intel processors made between 1997 and 2010 (pre-Sandy Bridge) that lets an attacker install software in a chip's protected System Management Mode space, which governs firmware-level security. Yes, that's as bad as it sounds: an intruder could not only take more control than you typically see in attacks (including wiping firmware), but infect your PC even if you wipe your hard drive and reinstall your operating system. Domas has only tested against Intel-made CPUs so far, but AMD processors could be vulnerable as well.

A would-be hacker needs low-level OS access to get in, so you at least won't face a direct assault -- you need to fall prey to another attack before this becomes an option. However, this vulnerability might be difficult or impossible to fix in a timely fashion. While it's theoretically possible to patch a computer's BIOS (or on relatively recent systems, UEFI) to prevent these attacks, the chances of that happening are slim. What's the likelihood that your motherboard maker will support a product that's at least 5 years old, or that most people are both willing and able to apply firmware upgrades? Not very high, we'd reckon.

-http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/08/intel-memory-sinkhole-flaw/