NANY 2011 Release: BlackJack

[kyrathaba]

NANY 2011 Entry Information

Application Name	BlackJack
Version	1.1
Short Description	my implementation of the classic Black Jack card game
Supported OSes	Windows XP forward
Download Link	A link to the game executable (no setup) {won't function if you don't have .NET Framework 4.0 installed} (~117 Kb)
Setup File	A link to the Setup program {will check for absence of .NET Framework 4.0 and download if needed} (419 Kb)
System Requirements	.NET Framework 4.0 installed

Author kyrathaba

Profile page

Kyrathaba DC page

Description
This was a project I did for C# Programming School

Destined to replace those oh-too-flashy Black Jack derivatives that have come out over the years, this minimalist implementation is a breath of fresh air! -- PC Magazine.

What!  This program is FREE!??  A crime, that's what it is!  Someone slap the developer around until he starts showing some sense and charging for this gem of genius! -- Gamasutra


Features


+ a smart-ass card Dealer
+ a functional card Class in the source code
+ ability to place bets of differing amounts based upon the first card you're dealt
+ intuitive GUI
+ source code: download link

Planned Features

+ I may add option for Vegas casino music
+ May add option to change starting Max cash available to player
+ Add ability to whip out a pistol and waste the smart-ass Dealer
+ An option for the Dealer to cheat by using a marked deck of playing cards.

I would appreciate suggestions for future features of the program.

Screenshots




Usage

Installation

Download and run the Setup installer. Alternatively, download the ZIP file and extract BlackJack.exe wherever you wish. Keep the directory structure intact when unzipping.  Run the program.

Using the Application

The GUI is super-intuitive.

Uninstallation

Use the uninstall Program Files menuitem; or, if you didn't use the setup installer, just delete the extracted file.

No registry entries or INI files are written by the Black Jack program itself.

Known Issues

None.

[Shades]

Unfortunately the minimal NET 2.0 requirement is false (on my XP SPIII), the minimal requirement appears to be NET 4.0.

Come to think of it...when you include a attachment to a reply on a post here in DC, there is a counter that says how many times the attachment is downloaded. I believe that was one of your questions in IRC. If there is code like that for the forum post replies, then I assume it can be used for an attachment in the original post as well.

[kyrathaba]

Thanks, Shades, I fixed the entry under "requirements".

[mouser]

great

i want to say that i think the real value of this is that it includes the source code, so C# coders can play with it and adapt it, etc.  very nice of you to provide that 

[kyrathaba]

My pleasure to provide source code.  I may use this project to do a series of C# web-lessons, showing the incremental development of the project, from start to completed app.

Mouser, I carefully went through the source code, and refactored.  If you look at my latest post under Assignment 5, you'll see a summary of changes I've made.  

[kyrathaba]

C# coders can play with it and adapt it

The included Card class is quite useful. It'll work with any game that uses the standard 52-card deck of playing cards, and could easily be adapted to other card games. The class can take any size canvas image of 52 playing cards (so long as they're in the same arrangement as the one included as a project resource) and will correctly crop out individual cards. However, I'd recommend that you err on the side of larger images. You can use the "Zoom" SizeMode property for your PictureBoxes, and they'll make a larger image look pretty good, even in a smaller PictureBox; however, trying to "Zoom" small images "up" to fit larger PictureBox width x height doesn't yield such good results.  The best practice is to make your PictureBoxes the exact dimensions that each cropped-out individual card will be.  In my app, this was 119x100, or something close to that.

Here's the canvas pic I used:



P.S.  I'm using Chrome (but downloading IE9 as I type).  Is Chrome responsible for inserting question marks into my posts?  Or is this some glitch from the migration?  Been noticing this behavior all day.

[worstje]

P.S.  I'm using Chrome (but downloading IE9 as I type).  Is Chrome responsible for inserting question marks into my posts?  Or is this some glitch from the migration?  Been noticing this behavior all day.

I only see question marks at the end of your questions. Which I hope is intentional.

[mouser]

oh damn it's happening to me too in some of my posts above.. what's going on i wonder.

[kyrathaba]

I've installed and started using IE9, and the behavior went away, but I was getting it in both Chrome and FF, seemingly when I'd use Alt-S to post, instead of clicking the Post button.  But I'm using Alt-S to post this...

[kyrathaba]

...and as you can see, no funky ??? insertion (this post also posted using Alt-S.

[kyrathaba]

BTW, the three question marks above were intentional

[worstje]

Ok, I figured it out a bit. Something about the edit functionality messes stuff up when saving the post and turns it into questionmark walhalla.

[kyrathaba]

Here's some of those mysteriously appearing question marks:

[kyrathaba]

Note: I've amended the OP to include not only a download link for the barebones executable, but also one for an Inno Setup.

I've tested the setup on my Win7 Home Premium system, but would appreciate testing and feedback here, from XP and Vista users.

The Setup installs the additional feature of an About menu containing some explanation of the program, and a link to my DC page.

Tonight, I will update the no-install link target so that it also includes this functionality. 

[kyrathaba]

The links in the OP table have been updated to point to both Inno Setup installer, and raw executable for manual install, for version 1.1 of my BlackJack application.  Please report any installation problems.  The installer works great on the WinXP and Win7 computers I've tested it on here at home.

[kyrathaba]

Tested the setup program on my dad's old WinXP Home laptop. Worked well.