Recent Posts

9026

Living Room / Re: Anyone planning on buying an iPhone?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 30, 2007, 10:05 PM »

The idea of an iPhone Shuffle is kind of amusing, though. You don't get to pick who you call; it just dials at random from your address book.

"What? It's a feature, not a crippled piece of hardware!"

9027

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Find and Run Robot (FARR) 2 - Plugin Programming Contest!

« Last post by Deozaan on June 30, 2007, 03:32 PM »

Well for some reason the quick-reply quote button isn't working, but mouser said:

Update: I have received 9 beautiful mugs with the logo as seen above, which will be given out to the first 9 (non-trivial) plugin makers.

I don't see a logo!

9028

Developer's Corner / Re: Docoto Defense - DonationCoder.com Game in Development

« Last post by Deozaan on June 29, 2007, 06:30 PM »

Though I look at them all at once and I still like them in the same order best (4, 1, 2, 3)...well, 1 & 2 pretty much tie right behind 4 in my opinion.

-steeladept (June 28, 2007, 07:04 PM)

I agree! 1 & 2 are a tie, but 4 looks best with 3 in definite last place.

9029

Living Room / Re: Anyone planning on buying an iPhone?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 29, 2007, 06:27 PM »

I have no plans on buying anything branded Apple or i* at the moment, and no plans on those plans changing.

9030

Living Room / Re: Please help

« Last post by Deozaan on June 27, 2007, 05:53 PM »

Text based with a few graphics? You mean like http://www.kingdomofloathing.com/ ?

All you'd really need to do is learn PHP, CSS, and XHTML, with some database like MySQL.

All of those things are free to download and learn, with decent manuals. For CSS and XHTML, check out the W3 consortium. PHP has a manual you can download from the website, as does MySQL. If the PHP/MySQL manuals aren't good enough, try buying a good PHP book from Amazon. MySQL is probably covered at least briefly, or some books cover both PHP and MySQL (as indicated by their title).

Download PHP and the manual: http://www.php.net/
World Wide Web (W3) Consortium: http://www.w3.org/ - Or more specifically, XHTML 1.1 - CSS 2.1 (I haven't made a web site in a while, so maybe CSS 3 and XHTML 2 are the common standards now. I'm not sure)
And MySQL: http://mysql.org/

Or get it all in one package with a server and everything so you can test it all on your computer with something like XAMPP

9031

Developer's Corner / Re: Docoto Defense - DonationCoder.com Game in Development

« Last post by Deozaan on June 27, 2007, 01:01 PM »

I just wrote up the monthly GarageGames blog entry. It basically sums up the relevant parts of my June blog entries. Read it here:

http://garagegames.com/blogs/79092/13148

You might find a concept image or two in there.

9032

Living Room / Re: Fraud with elegance, but fraud.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 26, 2007, 04:01 AM »

How stupid can people be? >_<

-f0dder (June 25, 2007, 05:48 PM)

Pretty darn stupid!

9033

Developer's Corner / Re: Docoto Defense - DonationCoder.com Game in Development

« Last post by Deozaan on June 25, 2007, 08:31 PM »

This is just an update to let everyone know that I posted a new entry on the Docoto Defense Blog. It's short and sweet this time. Or at least just short. 

And steeladept, I'm writing a response to your PM right now.

9034

Living Room / Re: what is the potential capacity of the internet?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 19, 2007, 05:11 PM »

seriously though, i don't see why it's a bad thing to 'picture' how things work - even if they aren't with perfect analogies. in fact, i find it a bit bizarre that i'm expected to just accept the internet as just 'something' out there that does 'something' and works 'somehow'.

i feel like i've now asked something taboo, well, i actually feel like i'm inside the matrix and i've just been spotted by agent Deozaan. 

-nudone (June 19, 2007, 12:13 PM)

In hindsight, I was worried that you might consider my post somehow accusatory, nudone. Believe me when I say it is not. Like I said, I don't want to change the subject to things of a political nature. I don't think there is anything wrong with asking a question. It is natural and it is good. Asking "Is there enough?" is just fine. Trying to figure out how something works is also fine.

But like what f0dder said, I agree and say that when that kind of question is raised and people start sounding the alarms before doing any kind of serious research... Well they just want your money somehow.

It's been something like ten years since I remember the first alarmist saying the interwebs were going to collapse any time now and the www2 would be born.

To summarize: Your question was fine. Nothing wrong with wondering how things work. It's just a matter of digging more cables to Canada to keep the intertubes afloat.

9035

PHP / Re: Before you start the PHP Assignments

« Last post by Deozaan on June 19, 2007, 12:38 PM »

Hooray!

9036

General Software Discussion / Re: Warning about a new software company scamming people

« Last post by Deozaan on June 19, 2007, 11:59 AM »

I was just wondering something else:

On a lot of scam sites they usually have images showing the logos of certain "securities" to validate themselves, but the images don't link to the real sites. So I went to the irfanview (scam) site and looked around for those logos. Well, I noticed on the page where it was asking me for money (an interactivebrands domain) that they had VeriSign to verify that sending them all your money was safe. I clicked on the image and it told me information about the site, then had a link to "report VeriSign abuse."

I reported them to VeriSign saying they were selling free software. I suggest anyone else who hates scumbags like this do the same thing. Complaints in large numbers usually leads to action. Maybe we can take away their VeriSign, so they'll need a new way to get money from innocent victims.

9037

Living Room / Re: what is the potential capacity of the internet?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 19, 2007, 11:34 AM »

zaine's post https://www.donation...9;topicseen#msg65079 reminded me of this question that keeps me awake at nights:

in 'theory' what is the capacity of the internet, i.e. in visual form, if the 'internet' was a big fat pipe - is the data flowing through it like a tiny trickle or is the pipe almost at full capacity. (or is that a terrible analogy?)

or has the 'pipe' been full for years and really it's now just a case of how fast things flow through it?

-nudone (June 16, 2007, 01:57 AM)

I'm not trying to take the subject off topic or start anything political here. I just can't help but see the parallels to the "Oh noes teh Earth iz guna run out of resorses adn we're all gona die!!11 eleventyone" alarmists out there.

Capacity is constantly being increased, and people claiming that "omg we're reaching teh intarweb capacity max!!11! one one" are just lobbyist in the whole net neutrality charade.

-f0dder (June 16, 2007, 04:29 AM)

9038

Living Room / Re: Thank you for this site and the people here.

« Last post by Deozaan on June 19, 2007, 11:24 AM »

Jeff,

There really aren't any words adequate for a situation like this. But perhaps a few inadequate words of sympathy will be of infinite more worth than the seemingly apathetic absence of any words at all.

I'm sorry.

- Deozaan

9039

Developer's Corner / Re: Docoto Defense - DonationCoder.com Game in Development

« Last post by Deozaan on June 18, 2007, 04:28 AM »

From what I was reading, one way anyone can help would be to post blogs that would add awareness of the contest.  Also, assisting in writing the weekly blogs here and the monthly ones in GarageGames site would free you up to do more programming...

-steeladept (June 15, 2007, 08:27 PM)

It is true that the blogs are time consuming, but I find the weekly blogs to be very helpful in letting me review what I've done and where I'm going. I wouldn't mind having others be more involved behind the scenes so they can contribute to the blog, however, I feel that it is a good experience for me to participate in the weekly blog. The monthly update at GarageGames is more like a monthly summary, and indeed someone could help in taking the main points from my weekly blogs and summarizing them into an entry, then I could take that text and add anything else I felt was worth mentioning and post it. That would certainly help.

My skills are in XHTML and CSS.

-steeladept (June 15, 2007, 08:27 PM)

I could certainly use the help in having a site designed for the game. XHTML and CSS sound perfect. I think that WordPress could actually be all the architecture I need to have multiple pages and to be able to easily manage content, but it would need a good customized theme.

9040

Developer's Corner / Re: Docoto Defense - DonationCoder.com Game in Development

« Last post by Deozaan on June 15, 2007, 11:29 AM »

I could be a tester if you need one, though.

-Lashiec (June 15, 2007, 06:17 AM)

Testers are not yet needed, but I will be sure to let everyone here know when they are. In that regard, I'll let you folks know about some of the specific needs as they arise. If you'd like to be a little proactive, please read the Points List to see how the contest judges the game and maybe you'll find an area or two that you can help out with.

Right now the blog could be improved with a better theme. If you have skill customizing WordPress themes or just know of some good ones that are already out there, I'd be happy to hear from you.

9041

Developer's Corner / Docoto Defense - DonationCoder.com Game in Development

« Last post by Deozaan on June 14, 2007, 06:59 PM »

Some of you may have heard of the $10,000 Game Contest put on by the good folks at MyDreamRPG. For those that haven't, or that forgot about it, let me summarize a few of the details:

• Start Date: 4/1/2007
• Contest End Date: Midnight EST on April 31st, 2008.
• 1st Prize: $10,000
• Technology must be based on one of these GarageGames Torque engines (TGB, TGE, TGEA, TorqueX), and can include other Content Packs made by 3rd parties
• Contest Points List
  

I'm here to announce that I officially entered a game tentatively titled Docoto Defense into the contest on May 21st. Docoto Defense is an amalgamation of the words DonationCoder Tower Defense. So what does this all mean? It means that the DonationCoder.com Games Division is working on a Tower Defense style game that, to be a valid entrant in the game contest, will be finished and ready for release by May 2008 at the latest!

Irrelevant Screenshot

This game is going to be unique from other TD games because it will feature single player quest modes, multiplayer (cooperative and competitive modes), have both defensive and offensive elements, and will focus on user created content. People will be able to create their own levels, maps, units, etc., customizing many features of the game.

Mouser is very involved in helping to design the game and Nudone has agreed to help out with some artwork, but I'd like to make a request to the DonationCoder community for more support. I could especially use the help of those with artistic abilities, musical/sound effect abilities, and website design. Even if you don't have those abilities or don't have the time to help out you can still contribute with one of the fundamental ideas behind this entire community: Donations.

The game is still in the early design stages, so I'm sorry to say I don't have more cool screen captures to show off, but you can follow the game's progress at the Development Blog.

9042

Living Room / Attack of the LOLCODE!

« Last post by Deozaan on June 12, 2007, 06:15 PM »

They're in ur Intarwebs, creating a programming language. The attack of the lolcats has spilled over to programming, with LOLCODE, a language based on the mangled grammar of lolcats. Pull up a buckit and I'll help wif ur understanding of LOLCODE.

Here's an example of a working program written in LOLCODE:

[Select]

HAI
I HAS A CHEEZBURGER ITZ 1

IM IN YR LOOP
  VISIBLE "I has dis many: " N CHEEZBURGER
  IZ CHEEZBURGER BIGGER THAN 11 O RLY?
    YA RLY
      GTFO
    NO WAI
      UP CHEEZBURGER!!1
  KTHX
KTHX

KTHXBYE

Read more: It is can be LOLCODE time plz?

9043

General Software Discussion / Re: Xara Extreme Updated. Will People Purchase Upgrade?

« Last post by Deozaan on June 12, 2007, 11:51 AM »

I made the mistake of purchasing Xara X1 last year. Now I can't get them to stop sending me junkmail. I don't know how many times I've supposedly unsubscribed from their mailing list.

Boo on Xara! I don't plan on buying from them again if only for that reason alone.

9044

Living Room / Re: Sony in trouble - again ... this time the Church of England is gunning for t

« Last post by Deozaan on June 09, 2007, 11:08 AM »

Something makes me think that if it was a movie or book that involved people fighting aliens in the cathedral, the Church of England wouldn't have been worried about it.

The Bishop probably just heard second- or third-hand about the cathedral being in the game and jumped to conclusions. He probably has no idea, nor cares to take the time to research, what the game is about or under what context the cathedral is being used.

Science fiction is clearly not reality.

9045

Living Room / Re: DoCo Reading Week June 8, 2007 - Join In!

« Last post by Deozaan on June 08, 2007, 05:40 PM »

I'm reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey.

9046

General Software Discussion / Re: DivX Pro for free

« Last post by Deozaan on June 08, 2007, 11:04 AM »

Hmmm, somehow the reg key I received from them failed activation.

-Wordzilla (June 07, 2007, 08:59 PM)

It worked for me. But it says my MPEG-2 is still a trial. Everything else is registered. . .

9047

Living Room / Re: Humorous, perhaps informative, article on forum trolls

« Last post by Deozaan on June 08, 2007, 10:13 AM »

I was into chatting and forums since I was about 12 or 13 and I never went through a trolling stage. I was in the middle of a Yahoo! Club that consisted mostly of teenagers who were seemingly always flaming each other. I'd pretty much always be the one to tell everyone to knock it off.

9048

General Software Discussion / Re: google developer day reporting: google gears (better than AJAX?)

« Last post by Deozaan on June 02, 2007, 09:27 PM »

Okay so I installed Gears. Now what? 

9049

General Software Discussion / GlueIt: Make Animation Contact Sheets from Multiple Images

« Last post by Deozaan on June 01, 2007, 11:38 AM »

I found a great site yesterday with a bunch of animated images good for quick prototyping art. Only problem was that each frame of the animations were separate image files, and for the game engine I'm using (Torque Game Builder) it needs them all to be on one sheet. I needed a program to splice the images together! Reiner does have one on his site but it's a little more complicated than I'd like it to be. I asked around on the GarageGames forums and was directed to GlueIt, a very easy to use program to do this task easily and quickly.

GlueIt 1.06 is the perfect sprite companion, it will take a series of single images and paste them as
an image strip making the sprite animation immediatly ready to be incorporated in your sprite engine. NEW Loads .PNG, .BMP, Saves .PNG, .BMP, .JPG
It will save you ALOT of time!
Best part is, it's FREE !

The only possible downside I see to it is that it requires .NET 2.0--which isn't a problem for me.

9050

Living Room / Re: antbuster - yet a kind of tower defense

« Last post by Deozaan on June 01, 2007, 12:25 AM »

Seems pretty easy for a while if you get a poison gas turret (double->triple->poison) up by the anthill and then some electric (quick->long range->electric) turrets and more poison gas turrets in other places.