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9376

Living Room / Re: Artwork wanted!

« Last post by Deozaan on October 07, 2006, 01:33 PM »

A logo with some words and some art.

9377

Living Room / Re: WiFi woes and a big WOW from Netgear's new product lines !!! WOW WOW WOW !!!!

« Last post by Deozaan on October 06, 2006, 07:23 PM »

I'm just praying it lives up to the hype .... you know the way these things work (hopefully) ...

-Carol Haynes (October 06, 2006, 07:15 PM)

Considering that the n Standard is still in Draft form and hasn't been finalized, I don't expect it to be full power of what the finalized N standard will be. However, I do fully expect it to be much faster than a/b/g standards.

But speaking of faster WiFi. I bought a router and PCI adapter (D-Link, which I will never purchase again!) that should let me connect at about 105mbps, but I don't know how to get them above the standard 54mpbs. Anyone got any tips on that?

9378

Living Room / Re: WiFi woes and a big WOW from Netgear's new product lines !!! WOW WOW WOW !!!!

« Last post by Deozaan on October 06, 2006, 06:48 PM »

802.11n standard. *drools* 

9379

Developer's Corner / Re: Let's Make us some Games!

« Last post by Deozaan on October 06, 2006, 05:22 AM »

Not sure about the setting...maybe the inside of a pc case with people popping up from behind things?
(inspired by nudone's avatar)

-app103 (October 06, 2006, 05:09 AM)

How about a cash register! It pops open and you see cody & friends and site regs. Almost like those quickshoot games with the NES Light Gun.

9380

Living Room / Re: Artwork wanted!

« Last post by Deozaan on October 06, 2006, 05:19 AM »

I'm not actually familiar with flash, but do use Macromedia FreeHand.
Its native file format saves very small, (FH.9 or 10 etc.).
I wonder could that be imported into Flash?

-tomos (October 06, 2006, 05:07 AM)

Flash can definitely import FreeHand and EPS filetypes.

Filesize isn't a big issue for me. I just got a new hard drive and now have a total of 1TB of storage space.

9381

Living Room / Re: Artwork wanted!

« Last post by Deozaan on October 06, 2006, 04:58 AM »

what file-format would do - I mean for the vector image ?

-tomos (October 06, 2006, 04:54 AM)

I didn't think about that. If it can be imported into Flash that would be great. If not. . . I guess Photoshop/illustrator would work. Macromedia is all Adobe now.

9382

General Software Discussion / Re: What's wrong with XP's built-in firewall?

« Last post by Deozaan on October 06, 2006, 04:55 AM »

He had a way of destroying computers just by using them for five minutes, and not actually do anything wrong. I could watch him and he wouldn't be doing anything I wouldn't do and all sorts of error messages would pop up or it would crash.

-Deozaan (October 05, 2006, 02:00 AM)

That's known as Negative Electrostatic Charisma (NEC). It's when you are cursed by the computer gods and freaky things happen that shouldn't...with no reasonable explanation.

My dad says it comes from doing something that offends the computer gods and in retaliation they put this curse upon you for the rest of your life, and to all your offspring (it becomes genetic).

-app103 (October 06, 2006, 04:27 AM)

This is the Shawn from the podcast #2, whose first computer memory was looking up porn on the internet, so. . . Maybe that angered the computer gods. 

9383

Living Room / Re: Artwork wanted!

« Last post by Deozaan on October 06, 2006, 04:52 AM »

Hey, I happen to have my CD right here for v7. The copyright on it says 1999-2000. I made some animations with it using vectors in January of 2000, so it should do it. Still, I'm not sure how able it was with vectors back then in the day.

I guess vector isn't a requirement. I just want it to be high quality, possibly for print, but also able to put on a website or something.

9384

Living Room / Re: Artwork wanted!

« Last post by Deozaan on October 06, 2006, 04:36 AM »

I used PSP from version 4 to version X skipping only version 9. I know version 8 handles vectors but I can't remember if 7 does.

If you remembered what year v8 came out I could tell you, because I was making some animations with vector layers in PSP back in the day. . .

9385

Living Room / Re: Kids Art Bot - A wonderful project if you have kids

« Last post by Deozaan on October 06, 2006, 04:06 AM »

I used to do something like that when I was a kid...but mine was much more low tech...

a piece of cardboard with holes for 4 markers...sort of looked like a little table...and for the motor I set it on the washing machine during the spin cycle. The vibrations made the thing move. 

-app103 (October 06, 2006, 03:42 AM)

Oh I get it! You take the caps off the markers and it draws! I'm a quick one! 

9386

Macromedia Flash / Suggestions for modifying the assignments

« Last post by Deozaan on October 06, 2006, 03:59 AM »

I know I'm the only one who has done any Flash assignments thus far, but it might be a good idea to take a look at the common mistakes or things left out that you would ask people to fix and adjust the assignment so that it includes those as part of the assigment or part of the bonus. Or. . .

Another idea I mentioned already in my solution to Assignment 2 is that when there are things that meet the assignment criteria but aren't "pretty," making those "ugly" things into "pretty" things could be part of the next assignment. Shine up what you've got and add some more functionality.

For instance, when my ship in Assignment 1 had rough edge movement (it kind of bounced off of walls a little) and you had me fix that. It still moved around the bottom part of the screen as the assignment criteria asked, but it was ugly.

Also, in Assignment 2 it suggests to use the spacebar as part of the controls. I discovered that Flash (windows, probably) doesn't like three-key combinations that include two arrow keys and the spacebar, so that should be changed to something else. (I used shift, IT wOrkS GReaT! )

And I'd like to volunteer to be a forum moderator in the Flash category.  !

9387

General Software Discussion / Re: Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 - A Suicide Bomb for Adobe?

« Last post by Deozaan on October 06, 2006, 03:37 AM »

Haha I can just hear his voice from the Podcasts when I read the blog entry. Perfect!

9388

Living Room / Re: Gateway - Control a Robot in Today's Very Cool Flash Game of the Day

« Last post by Deozaan on October 05, 2006, 08:25 PM »

I won I won!

Clever puzzles! Especially the last one!

9389

Living Room / Artwork wanted!

« Last post by Deozaan on October 05, 2006, 08:03 PM »

I've noticed that at least a few of our members here have some good artistic skills. I'd like someone to take a concept of mine and turn it into reality. I do have part of a specific image in my mind, but I'm open to suggestions and other ideas.

I know that different people are artistically different, and may have completely different ideas that are equally excellent, so I'd like to have at least a few people who are or think they might be interested to let me know and I'll get into the nitty gritty details later.

It would be nice if it was in Vector format so it would scale cleanly. I'm not sure on the ultimate size of the image, but something that would look good on a website.

9390

Living Room / Re: Xara X1 Massive discount (expires 28th September)

« Last post by Deozaan on October 05, 2006, 08:01 PM »

LOL - but no cigar
Actually it is a real, honest to goodness, Uncle Sam sum ...
Someone must be able to guess where the logic applies ...

-Carol Haynes (October 05, 2006, 03:36 PM)

It's how most things are marketed. Even though British Pounds are worth about 1.53 US Dollars, things are marketed in the US and UK as the same number (but not equivalent price). A video game in the US sells for $50 here and 50 pounds in the UK. Or something like that.

I've heard that Australia gets it the worst, though.

9391

Living Room / Re: Gateway - Control a Robot in Today's Very Cool Flash Game of the Day

« Last post by Deozaan on October 05, 2006, 02:48 PM »

Hehe, thats a good one. I like the 'peeper' 

-Mizraim (October 05, 2006, 08:24 AM)

Yeah, that was a clever puzzle. 

9392

Site/Forum Features / Re: Viewing posts from a particular date.

« Last post by Deozaan on October 05, 2006, 02:09 AM »

i know what u mean, deozaan.
but u can also try the 'notify' and/or 'bookmark' option.

-lanux128 (October 04, 2006, 09:34 PM)

Yes, I have resorted to those quite frequently now.

I use the "Show Unread Posts" option OK but when I search for say "Xara" which I know has appeared in posts yesterday, I don't get anything more recent than July, eg.

Jeff

-JeffK (October 04, 2006, 10:02 PM)

I think my Show Unread Posts works normally most of the time. But there have been times when I haven't been to this site for a few weeks but there would only be one or two pages of Unread Posts. Compare that to when I actually browse the forums, almost every single messages has the New icon next to it. And everyonce in a while it will just start with a clean slate. I'll have had two or three pages of unread posts I'm catching up on and then poof, suddenly I have no unread posts even though I know I should have had two or three (or more) pages of unread posts. I can understand it not including every post since back when the forums started, but it shouldn't be clearing out posts from within the past month or week or day.

9393

General Software Discussion / Re: What's wrong with XP's built-in firewall?

« Last post by Deozaan on October 05, 2006, 02:00 AM »

even in ZA, i would just disable the pop-ups, instead of looking at each & every one of the warnings. the novelty quickly wears off after reading the 1st few of them. in any case, imo the program also should be able to analyse out-going data & detect any anomalies, instead of bombarding me with messages. but that level of AI seems a long way off..

-lanux128 (October 04, 2006, 10:20 PM)

I used to have Firefox ask me about every single cookie. I blocked tons of them and accepted few. Strangely I wasn't ever thoroughly annoyed at it, but it became a problem when my best friend and room mate (not exactly PC-literate) would browse the internet and ask me what to do with the popup.

He had a way of destroying computers just by using them for five minutes, and not actually do anything wrong. I could watch him and he wouldn't be doing anything I wouldn't do and all sorts of error messages would pop up or it would crash.

So when I got a new computer I decided it wasn't worth my time to decide to block every cookie or not.

9394

Developer's Corner / Re: Let's Make us some Games!

« Last post by Deozaan on October 05, 2006, 01:49 AM »

shouldn't cody play a prominent role in this game?
i suggest flash, for the sake of playability.

-mouser (October 05, 2006, 01:32 AM)

How could Cody plant flowers and nourish them?    Unless. . .   

Besides, I'm still waiting for the Cody art pack. You think I'm a skilled animator or something?

9395

Living Room / Re: College - what to do?

« Last post by Deozaan on October 05, 2006, 01:46 AM »

I agree with the others. But you've practically already made your mind up, so I guess it isn't necessary for me to chime in.

9396

Developer's Corner / Re: Let's Make us some Games!

« Last post by Deozaan on October 05, 2006, 01:15 AM »

What [programming language] do you suggest?

-Mizraim (October 05, 2006, 01:07 AM)

Whatever floats your boat. I like Flash's ActionScript, but that might be a little difficult for a beginner. Of course, I can't really think of anything (considered a 'real' programming language) easier to start with. Flash has graphics, animation, manipulation, basically everything you need for 2D development. Problem is Flash costs $$$ if you don't have it already. There are alternatives, as was mentioned earlier in the post about Game Engines and Apps. I think there are even free Flash authoring tools where you can write all your code and it will export as a .swf file. But then you lose out on the graphics part of it. I'm not sure. I've never not used Flash to make Flash stuff.

9397

Developer's Corner / Re: Let's Make us some Games!

« Last post by Deozaan on October 05, 2006, 01:00 AM »

I guess I had better hit the Programming School here at DC.

-Mizraim (October 05, 2006, 12:58 AM)

What programming language are you going for?

9398

Developer's Corner / Re: Let's Make us some Games!

« Last post by Deozaan on October 05, 2006, 12:54 AM »

Hey that sounds simple and fun! Great start Deozaan. Now we just need to start programming.

-Mizraim (October 05, 2006, 12:44 AM)

Okay, you go first. 

9399

Developer's Corner / Game Idea: Grow Up!

« Last post by Deozaan on October 05, 2006, 12:38 AM »

I have an idea for what seems like a simple game. [As I've been sitting here for the past few minutes explaining it, it seems to have become more complex than my original vision.] Here's the idea:

Summary:

Make a character that can walk around freely and plant things. After planting them you need to nourish them. As you nourish them they will grow bigger. The bigger they are, the more energy they get from the sun. There is an energy bar showing how much energy you have collected. As the plants go without nourishment they use up energy and get smaller. Then night time comes and you have to see how many plants survive with the energy that you've collected.

More Details/Rules:

The energy that you store is a backup reserve. At night the plants will draw energy from this reserve, when the reserve runs out, the plants will begin to wither and shrink.

In the day time the plant will draw give itself a little bit of energy but contribute most of it to the backup reserve. If you don't nourish the plant it will wither, becoming smaller.

When a plant runs out of it's own energy, it folds up and stops getting energy from the sun. When the plant is folded up, it uses minimal energy (1/8th normal usage), kind of like a hibernate mode. If a plant is in hibernate mode for more than five seconds (and reserves are empty), it dies. Dead plants use up moisture from your nourishment, making it harder to nourish surrounding plants.

If it is in hibernate mode for less than five seconds before it gets more nourishment, it then requires the nourishment to grow (arbitrary number here) three levels of growth before it will open up and start getting energy from the sun. Once it gets the nourishment of three growth levels, it opens up and automatically grows to the second level of growth.

Once a plant reaches its sixth level of growth it uses half the energy (shrinks at half the speed of other plants) and thus is able to gain you twice the energy in the sun. It would be nice to get upgrades after certain amount of points to your nourishment tools (water bucket or whatever) so you can nourish more plants and get your score higher.

Plants can be planted at night, but it is not a good idea to do that because your nourishing only works when the sun is out, so they'd just fold up very fast and drain more of the stored energy.

If you need me to explain things a bit better, just let me know what parts I need to detail more.

9400

Site/Forum Features / Re: Viewing posts from a particular date.

« Last post by Deozaan on October 04, 2006, 09:19 PM »

I've found the searching abilities of the forum to be not very helpful. I've searched for topics I absolutely know I saw just the day before and they don't show up. So I've posted about them and someone will link it to me.

These forums have never been too kind to me. I've always had problems with the "Show Unread Posts" option.