Recent Posts

51

AutoHotkey / AHK Code Highlighting and Code Completion in Notepad++ ?

« Last post by Ampa on May 09, 2012, 09:26 PM »

I did a Google (other search engines are available) and it looks like code highlighting and completion of AHK in Notepad++ is a mess!

Various xml language files floating around, but nothing official.

A lexer plugin that hasn't worked since Notepad++ 5.7 (current version 6.1.2)

Please someone tell me that a neat solution exists?
 Or do I have to use a different app to write AHK scripts?

52

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: starpunch.net

« Last post by Ampa on May 06, 2012, 06:23 AM »

Website looks nice and usable.

I downloaded your Color Scheme Designer program, but it gives me the error "Error 28|155" when I execute it?! (Win7 x64)

53

Living Room / Re: Seeking: Customised playlist for video promo

« Last post by Ampa on April 26, 2012, 01:46 PM »

JoTo: This seems to me to be a slightly different issue... earlier versions of the player did the following when playing a playlist with autostart enabled...

Play Video 1 > Display Preview Image of Video 2 > Play Video 2

This caused a nasty flash as the preview image was shown for a split second.

5.9+ do it correctly...

Play Video 1 > Play Video 2

But there is still a delay (though no flashed image) as Video 2 will not start to buffer before Video 1 ends.

54

Living Room / Re: Seeking: Customised playlist for video promo

« Last post by Ampa on April 26, 2012, 05:51 AM »

Did some playing with this yesterday...

Using a playlist causes an unacceptable gap between the files - JWPlayer doesn't buffer the 2nd video while playing the first.

Making complete videos for each recipient seems to be the only solution atm, BUT the files are big, 30Mb each, and with 80 to upload at a pathetic 40Kb per second it will take about 14 hours!

This is exactly what I hoped to avoid and seems so unnecessary since 95% of each file is identical!

HELP!

55

Living Room / Re: Seeking: Customised playlist for video promo

« Last post by Ampa on April 25, 2012, 06:12 AM »

The personalised section breaks the 4th wall and talks directly to the viewer by name (also mentions their job title).

All the sections are prerecorded since she knows the recipient's info.

It is important that the sequence of videos runs as smoothly as possible... a gap of a fraction of a second might be acceptable, but anything more (waiting for the 2nd or 3rd video to buffer) would spoil the effect.

--

My host is DreamHost and I notice that they have a licensed version of JWPlayer available to all their customers. I see that this accepts playlists as input, so might be able to use this as a solution - but only if the transitions between videos are essentially seamless as described above.

56

Living Room / Seeking: Customised playlist for video promo

« Last post by Ampa on April 24, 2012, 04:28 PM »

My partner has filmed a video promo for her forthcoming theatre show.

She wants to insert a customised piece of footage personalised to each recipient such that the final presentation will play as...

General Intro >> Personalised Greeting >> Main Movie

She could of course render out 80 versions of the video, upload them individually and send urls to each recipient, but since 2 of the 3 chunks of video are fixed this seems very wasteful!

Can anyone suggest a tool / website / clever hack that would bolt the 3 bits of video together when the recipient clicks a custom URL?

57

DC Gamer Club / Be Mine 2 - 6 Games, 1 Movie, 2 Comics, 4 Albums...

« Last post by Ampa on April 24, 2012, 04:21 PM »

Yet another 'indie' bundle - some big names in this one...

Hothead Games - The Baconing (PC + MAC Steam only)
Beatnik Games - Plain Sight (PC Steam only)
Cold Beam Games - Beat Hazard (PC + MAC Steam + Download)
Playbrains - Madballs in Babo: Invasion (PC + MAC Steam only)
Cadenza - Sol Survivor (PC Steam + Download)

Pay $10 and you also get... Tripwire Interactive - The Killing Floor

Plus various other DLC, comics, graphic novels, music etc.

PLUS if a few more folks buy you'll be getting a 7th game - Scratches

Be Mine 2 from Groupees.com

58

DC Gamer Club / Re: Humble Botanicula Debut

« Last post by Ampa on April 24, 2012, 04:12 PM »

Bought the bundle.

Played a bit of Botanicula: it seems much more like Samrost than Machinarium - gorgeous, delighful, confusing, whimsical, and at times hilarious.

Watched Kooky: Overall it is a little disappointing - the story is pretty weak and the acting not great, BUT what ambition! The puppetry, art-design, miniature sets, and integrated wildlife are all quite astounding! I had to find a 'making of' to discover how they managed such technically complex setups.

Machinarium: I already own - it is wonderful.

59

Python / Python 64bit vs 32bit, 3.2 or 2.7, ActivePython Eggs & PyPm = Confused

« Last post by Ampa on April 20, 2012, 07:58 AM »

I've been toying with Python for a few days now, and generally I'd say it is the sort of language that I am interested in learning, but there are certain issues that I'm struggling with...

1) I am running Win7 x64 - does that mean I should be running Python x64?
I assume that it means I have the option of running the 64bit version, but that I could opt for the 32bit if there were a good reason to do so.
I understand that a 64bit version will allow me to access more memory, but I don't think that will be an issue with the trivial programs that I am likely to write.

So are there any other advantages, and are there disadvantages of 64bit?

2) Initially I opted to use Python3 - since I am not tied to Python2 I figured "why not use the current / latest version". However it seems that most tutorials are tailored to Python2 and that certain libraries are not compatible with 3 (eg. PyGame)

Would I be advised to install Python2 for now and update in the future when everyone else does the same?!

3) Being a Windows user I am used to GUIs rather than CLIs. So far I've not found a package / library / egg manager with a graphical interface - does such a thing exist?

And on that subject - argh! Why is installing packages / libraries / eggs such a hassle! And why are there 3 names for these extensions?

4) I discovered that there are other distributions of Python available including ActivePython, which promised a nicer package installer - PyPm. So I installed AP and fired up PyPm where upon I discover that certain packages are only available to paying customers!

I can't see anything on the ActivePython site that explicitly says which packages are / are not available but it seems that 64bit addons are reserved for Business Edition customers only? Can anyone confirm this?

EDIT: OK I see it now - the PyPm homepage does discretely indicate that the 64bit builds are paid only.

60

Developer's Corner / Re: Online Python Tutor

« Last post by Ampa on April 16, 2012, 10:04 AM »

This has rekindled my interest in Python - learnt a lot.

Thanks for the push

61

Living Room / Re: CamelCamelCamel: Nice Amazon Price Watcher

« Last post by Ampa on April 14, 2012, 01:14 PM »

I wouldn't shop amazon without it.

-mouser

I'm afraid I wont shop at Amazon at all: Amazon Payed No Tax on £7billion UK Sales

62

General Software Discussion / Re: Whats your preferred web browser?

« Last post by Ampa on March 26, 2012, 04:30 PM »

I've been using Opera for my browsing and inbuilt email client for a decade or more.

Occasionally I fall out of love with some incompatibility or other, but then I try the competition and soon find myself back in bed with Opera.

63

Find And Run Robot / Re: help debugging startup, loss of czb package "tm" (timer)

« Last post by Ampa on February 21, 2012, 09:25 PM »

Can't help other than to confirm that I see the same sort of thing...

CZB-Pack is not listed as installed, but the updater says 0.24 IS installed and uptodate.

I miss the functionality of cc (the CharMap replacement)

64

DC Gamer Club / Re: Humble Indie Bundle - Mojam!

« Last post by Ampa on February 21, 2012, 09:20 PM »

Oxeye have now released their game... gave it a brief play. As with the other two games it will really depend on whether a community develops to build on the foundation as laid down in the Mojam.

Catacomb Snatch seems to be on a roll at the moment with bug fixes and new features flying out - there have been 5 new versions released on GitHub in the 1st 24 hours!

I worry however that with no designer or design team to steer the project it may all fall apart just as quickly as it emerged!

65

DC Gamer Club / Re: Humble Indie Bundle - Mojam!

« Last post by Ampa on February 21, 2012, 11:52 AM »

Well the Mojam came and went with $458,247.95 raised for charity - a good thing.

I watched some of the live streaming and was entertained by the process of putting the 3 games together. That said, the live footage would have benefited from greater focus and more of a running commentary from those involved.

Mojang's game "Catacomb Snatch" saw several builds released over the weekend, with each one adding significant new features, and the end product being fully playable if a little simplistic. The source code has now been released and a small community has emerged fixing bugs and adding new content.



See Uber Catacomb Snatch for a compiled fork of the code, and Catacomb Snatch on GitHub for a repository of community developed source code.

Wolffire have also released their game "The Broadside Express" along with the sourcecode. This one seems far less finished to me, but again there looks to be a small community who intend to develop the product.

Oxeye have yet to release their game.

Overall I do not regret contributing to the Mojam, but I do feel a little disappointed - it is of course better that the games are open sourced so that they see further development, but now that they are out in the wild, what did I actually get for my donation? Not the product, not the live streams (they were accessible to all) - I guess just a benevolent feeling.

66

DC Gamer Club / Humble Indie Bundle - Mojam!

« Last post by Ampa on February 18, 2012, 06:24 AM »

Mojang (creators of Minecraft) are holding a game jam this weekend.

What ever they produce is up for grabs via The Humble Indie Bundle site for a donation of your choice, with all money going to charity!

Plus - two other studios have joined in... Wolffire (Overgrowth / Laguru) and Oxeye (Cobalt) - so that is 3 brand new games in 48 hours!

Plus - you can watch the whole process live (whether you donate or not) as it is all being streamed live

67

DC Gamer Club / Re: Be Mine Indie Game Bundle

« Last post by Ampa on February 18, 2012, 06:18 AM »

They tried to launch this earlier in the week and the servers got anihilated by the demand.

I think that they have tried again today... with pretty much the same result!

Still - looks like a great bundle

68

Find And Run Robot / Re: Pause/Break hotkey sometimes blocked by other programs

« Last post by Ampa on February 17, 2012, 05:02 AM »

Pause / Break is blocked by apps running as admin in my PC (Win7 x64)

69

DC Gamer Club / Re: Humble Android Bundle

« Last post by Ampa on February 15, 2012, 07:09 AM »

...and there are still 2 empty slots on that graphic... ...Fingers crossed for more gifts!

-Ampa (February 10, 2012, 05:37 AM)

Bundle is over. No more free gifts. Now I feel greedy and spoiled for expecting more.

<Goes and stands in the corner> - <Hangs head in shame>

PS - Toki Tori is deceptively tricky! An evil little puzzle game.

70

DC Gamer Club / Re: Indie Royale: Valentine's Bundle (Zeno Clash, Hoard, Lume, Soulcaster 2)

« Last post by Ampa on February 11, 2012, 05:09 AM »

Thoughts after first brief play session...

Hoard: Only played the 2 tutorial levels and the 1st map, but looks like it could have surprising depth for such a simple casual game. Of the 2 DLC, one adds new visuals only (a 3rd tileset) the other seems to add new maps, a new game mode, and perhaps most importantly several new game elements.

Zeno Clash: Looks lovely, sounds lovely, story is quirky! Combat difficulty defaults to hard and indeed I have died 3 or 4 times in the first couple of fights! I think I personally will enjoy this game more if I reduce the difficulty and concentrate on the story.

Lume: Beautiful and gentle. So far the puzzles are pretty generic. This is created in flash, but unlike Machinarium, nothing has been done to disguise the fact - ie right click brings up the standard flash context menu, it doesn't go genuinely full screen, and if played in a window is cluttered by Flash Projector's GUI.

Not tried the Soulcaster games yet - they do sound interesting but the unappealing graphics are turning me off atm!

71

DC Gamer Club / Indie Royale: Valentine's Bundle (Zeno Clash, Hoard, Lume, Soulcaster 2)

« Last post by Ampa on February 10, 2012, 10:40 AM »

The latest Indie Royale bundle has gone live. Games this time are...

Zeno Clash [Metacritic 77%]

Hoard [Metacritic 65%]

Lume [Metacritic 68%]

Soulcaster 2 (+ Soulcaster 1)

72

DC Gamer Club / Re: Humble Android Bundle

« Last post by Ampa on February 10, 2012, 05:37 AM »

Yay - an extra gift added to the bundle... and there are still 2 empty slots on that graphic, plus 4 days of the sale to go.

Fingers crossed for more gifts

73

General Software Discussion / Re: Power Mixer: I love it!

« Last post by Ampa on January 10, 2012, 02:08 PM »

Own it - love it - great response from author when I had an issue - works well in Win7.

74

DC Gamer Club / Re: Steam Holiday Sale has Started

« Last post by Ampa on December 20, 2011, 08:23 AM »

I succumbed - Portal 2 is too good to pass up.

75

DC Gamer Club / Re: Humble Indie Bundle 4 is now live

« Last post by Ampa on December 13, 2011, 04:05 PM »

I bought it.

I now have far too many games, and far too little will power.

I'll be up all night playing, then be useless at work, and loose my job.

Xmas will be ruined.

Bah humbug