Archive
September 2006
It's backwards. Deal with it.
September 12, 2006 - Tuesday
Progress on Sphere Community game slow as usual. Well, slower than usual, since it's the middle of the semester, and that typically means assignments are baying for my blood, and that the exams are just around the corner. I've been thinking about an intro to the game that would make enough of an impact on the player for them to care what happens next, and after some deliberation, I think I've got it.
I figured out why my games kept dying in the middle of production: lack of a design pattern. It may sound like just another buzzword, but it's capable of transforming the way I operate. Normally, when I code something, it's in a haphazard way. Things are added as needed, and they quickly grow out of control.
The design pattern that I came across in a game dev forum is known as the finite state model, which represents different parts of a game (or program in general) as a single, atomic input/output layer (i.e. drawing, input handling, audio, logic, etc.). Those layers can be plugged in and substituted at any time to change to a different game state. In a state, it should be possible to change to the current state by giving them that ability. Apart from that, the layers are independent, and can be developed as needed, and plugged in without disrupting the other layers. This is what sort of strategy I've got in mind for the resurrection of After Dark.
As for how my uni subjects are going at the moment: my IT subjects are both fairly simple and easy to do work for, while my electrical engineering subjects are difficult and unrewarding. Gee, I wonder what subjects I'll pick up for the next few semesters... :)
Oh, and I recently introduced myself to AJAX as a means of getting data into a web page without reloading. Yeah, I know I'm late on the bandwagon there. But combined with my introduction to the practical use of SQL in a web environment, I may just learn enough to gut this site and give it the data backend it deserves, while giving the interface a minor facelift. AJAX could be utilised in updating the chatbox elements without having the reload the whole page. Meanwhile, SQL would provide the primary content, organise it, maybe even allow search functionality.
Exciting times we live in.