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1  Java Game APIs & Engines / Engines, Libraries and Tools / Re: Tile-based game: fastest jumpstart for newbie? on: 2013-05-23 20:50:37
What kind of tile-based game is it exactly?

There is a difference between a game of Chess, and a game of Dungeons and Dragons. Depending on the size of the tile map you are trying to produce and the objects within it. It can take anywhere from a few hours, to a few months to get up and running.

I know that you said "RPG". Some of the names that have tried this is Legend of Zelda and Pokemon. Is there a specific game that yours is going to be very similar to?
2  Discussions / General Discussions / Re: Game Engine vs. A Game Library on: 2013-05-23 09:12:01
There is a lot of gray area between Engines and Libraries in Computer Science. But, I think there is a slight difference between the two that hasn't been covered.

A library is a series of items (in this case, code modules) that can help you perform many different tasks very well. Slick2D is a library because it isn't suited to just helping you do one specific task. You can use it to produce anything from games, to applications, to other more powerful tools.

An engine is a series of items (also in the case, code modules) that help you perform one task very well, with limited support for the other things. Engines will actually focus on a particular item, such as 3D lighting, 2D platforming, or a specific game look-n-feel.

The reason there is a lot of confusion and it is so abstract is that engines contain libraries, so they technically are a library in itself. They get all the benefits of the libraries they soak up, but they are also able to cater to a genre much better than a library.

So to put it bluntly,

A framework/library is a group of code that has tools for a variety of tasks.
An engine is a library/framework that caters to a certain genre more than anything else. Like gaming, 2D, 3D, tile-based, etc.
3  Games Center / WIP games, tools & toy projects / Re: Dreamscape on: 2013-05-15 00:18:17
No, I mean, you really should fix that...really no rpg doesn't allow diagonal movement, unless maybe if it's turn based.

Well, I think the GBA Pokemon series of RPG's don't allow diagonal movement. [/offtopic]

But, you should be able to handle multiple collision detection if you handle each axis of collision separately.
4  Java Game APIs & Engines / Engines, Libraries and Tools / Re: libgdx game templates and free AD space for your game on: 2013-05-14 22:40:45
Hmmm... This is an interesting idea. However, to have it devolve into any type of game would be... wishful thinking. Actually, thinking about it, there is a place where you can actually search up open source code snippets (that isn't Google).

Ohloh Code

I mean, there is a lot of open source code available. However, each coding style is different in its own way and let's face it, we all have our own ways of implementing things. If you do plan to do this, make it easy to find the code snippets you are looking for and have very good documentation for it. The standards to keep the project organized needs to be very strict, or you'll have a tangled mess that n00bs wouldn't want to touch. You also might want to consider making it fully open source as well, though that is a given given the nature of this project.

Good idea, but you really have to be careful that it doesn't get messy.
5  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: Which of these two level method should I use? :P on: 2013-05-11 00:11:30
Always go for the most simple method.

Big background images usually take up a lot of RAM. So you have to be careful that you don't use up all your memory when you load the entire map at once. Depending on the size, it will be the easiest solution, but it'll also take a lot of memory to render it all.

Tile maps are a bit better because you can control how much of the map you show at once. Since people will not search up everywhere on a map at once, you can load the map in smaller chunks. IT will save memory and make your game faster depending on the technology used (Java2D, LWJGL, JOGL, etc.)

I personally like using the second method. because not everyone searches every square pixel of a map you create. However, you see the pros and cons of each method here, so it should give you some better insight.
6  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: Platformer game, problem with collision detection calling on: 2013-05-11 00:01:25
It is an interesting problem alaslipknot. But the way to solve it is just to always collide based on the true variable. As long as a collision is happening, you should be reacting to it. Only when there are absolutely no collisions happening should you actually fall back to gravity.
7  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: Checking for characters in a .txt file. instead of numbers ? [need help] on: 2013-05-10 23:56:12
Keep in mind that ASCII is actually number values...

So when you type in your characters, you can read them as characters in the same way you deal with integers.
8  Discussions / General Discussions / Re: Registration Activation Quiz on: 2013-05-10 23:40:02
Wow, what a very long discussion.

I have to admit, Riv, when I saw the activation quiz at first; I thought of it as an annoying hurdle to cross to be accepted into a forum. However, after passing the quiz, I found it to be completely in context since this is not a "gaming" forum, but more of a "game development" forum.

Game developers are actually supposed to be taking extra hurdles to progress. If you can't do that, then how will you get good enough to solve problems. Inadvertently, Riv is just filling the forums with people he would want to associate himself with, and pre-screening the rest.

Now, that might seem like a bad thing because you are getting rid of "potentially" good forum members. However, with every 1 good forum member turned off by the message, the amount of bad ones turned off is significantly greater. Cuts down on a lot of spam, useless questions, and garbage threads.

It makes prominent residents of the forum feel better, and less prone to leave if the place is kept clean and tidy. Regardless of which members you don't get, you always want to keep those members who are able to give meaningful feedback. It makes these forums a well structured library, instead of a corner pawn shop.

Maybe it just takes a little while to see "the big picture." Great forums are inhabited by great people.
9  Game Development / Performance Tuning / Re: Fast/Efficient method to filter a numeric Value on: 2013-05-08 23:59:10
Actually, I had to do something like this when I was coding a game. Though it is not really a filter, but it is more like deciding a certain output when you hit a range of values.

In my case, my range was from 0 - 1000 and my output values I wanted was 100, 200, 400, 800, etc. So, to generate a range, I actually used a one line for loop.

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int i;//The index of the for loop
int j;//The values you want to get from a specific range
int rangeValue;//The value chosen for the range
for(i = 100, j = 0; i <= rangeValue; i*=2, j++);
System.out.println("For "+rangeValue+" : the output is "+j+".");


I did achieve similar results using the modulus operator "%" as well. But, let me take a whack at trying to get your code working efficiently as you would want in the original post.

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public int filter( int input, int increment ){
       for(int i = 0, j = 0; i <= input; i+=increment, j++);
       return j*increment;
}


In this case, the j serves no purpose. But, with a bit of editing, you can have it work as an index number for an array, or anything else that you need to split the ranges up. It is a lot more processing work, but it is more flexible and gives you more control. (If not, there is always using modulus Tongue ).
10  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: Game Versioning or Numbering on: 2013-05-08 10:18:59
I do my personal versions by date...

which is totally unconventional but whatever, it helps me keep track of my own builds (and also holds a reminder of how long it has been since I've done a release Tongue).

AHC09.02.85
<GameName><Month><Day><Year>

A good rule of thumb is, if you (and your user base?) can tell the difference between releases, that is pretty much all you need. Using conventional is probably the best... though many say the the minor number is hardly every used.



11  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: [Final Decision] LWJGL or LIBGDX on: 2013-05-03 14:33:42
Hmmm, this is quite an interesting discussion.

As far as I'm concerned, LibGDX is built on top of LWJGL, so you should have access to all the boilerplate code. But, to see it devolve into OpenGL infighting...

I have to admit, from my experiences, LWJGL/Slick2D is a bit easier to set up than LibGDX. It took a bit more effort to set up LibGDX because it has a bit more requirements to gain access to the Android and WebGL platform. So, I have to say that it is a little bit tougher to set up, and to cut the newbies some slack in that regard.

As for which platform to use...

I think what needs to be realized is that there is no perfect platform for gaming. Just like we can't argue why we are still programming in Java when C/C++ is a lot more powerful. Discussion about why LibGDX beats out LWJGL and Java2D is all useless. There are many comparisons out there to what is happening really, and all of these things cause very passionate discussion. Some examples are film cameras vs. digital cameras. Drawing art on the computer vs. drawing art by hand. Old video games vs. new video games. etc...

To be honest, everyone is going to have their opinion on the matter. The other point is, everyone is correct in their judgement.

So, here is the deal, all you new (and veteran) people out there.

It doesn't matter.

You code for yourself. You create for yourself. You need to be able to enjoy whatever platform you are coding in. If you are having a hard time creating something in a platform (whether it be Java2D, LWJGL, JOGL, LibGDX, C, Python, C++)... do yourself a favor and work with something you will understand. Involving yourself in a holy war for the platform king is cute, but ultimately, it's a huge waste of time. Let's face the facts, it doesn't get any gaming projects done if you aren't having fun creating it.

Let people say what they want. Ultimately, YOU are the one making the gaming project, so YOU have to decide how best to do it. If you are struggling with some aspect in a platform so much that it gets frustrating, it is probably a good time to switch. But if you are learning new things about the platform you are in, that is really the only thing you'll need to make yourself a better programmer, and hopefully a better game designer as well.


 

 

12  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: Requesting code review on my game (so far) to see if I implemented it correctly on: 2013-05-02 23:24:56
It depends.

I think one of the first mistakes a lot of programmers make is trying to be perfect on the first go. What we should really be doing is trying to see how much of our ideas we can actually get working. To put it shortly...

Does the code I have work? Yes. Move on.

Other than that, you'll pull yourself into a very difficult programming practice called re-factoring, followed by the nasty one of over-optimizing. This is very counter-intuitive to game making. Just like being asked to wash a car, but spending an entire day to get out one tiny spot.

#1

If the size of your game is small, you might not need to worry about it too much. Splitting up classes is great practice regardless, but you really have to plan it out before you start to code. Decide which areas you want to split up from the other areas, then code toward it. Doing it now will cause you to re-factor early.

#2

No actually. The bindings are not all universal because each controller uses different mappings. Since it is for your own reference, my suggestion is to write down the names that will be easy for you to remember in the future.

#3

Each game is different and requires different attention to detail. If the collision detection you have is "working", I'd suggest just leaving it as is and moving on to the next portion. Looking over the code, I don't see anything wrong with your implementation. The only way I'd change it is if the character object isn't behaving exactly like you want it. If it is good enough, just leave it and continue on.

There are methods for collision detection strung about Java-Gaming. If you are unsure about it, then you might want to try looking it up.

Other than that, it looks like you are on the right track. Depending on your seriousness for perfection, you might want to look into libraries people have to boost your physics (like Box2D for instance). Best of luck.
13  Game Development / Game Play & Game Design / Re: Random Generated 2D world on: 2013-05-02 13:02:15
It'll give you values from 0 - 100... no negative values Wink
14  Game Development / Game Play & Game Design / Re: Game art for developers who have no artistic sense whatsoever? on: 2013-05-02 12:38:57
You might want to check out this topic... (so I don't have to repeat my long walls of text Wink )

Developers & Art

Good luck!
15  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: Saving/load system on: 2013-04-24 21:37:49
Usually, if you want full control over your save/load system, the best way to do it is from scratch or just using Java serialization. There are other options, but I already stated them in this topic (which might be a good read).

It all depends on the control you want. Most of these systems are already pretty fast. Reading from a file is one of the most basic computer commands after all. The speed issue comes from how you plan to organize your data. But to answer your question directly.

Just use a .txt file to write/read data.

16  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: Fix "my" method to make an object A move toward X,Y coordinates on: 2013-04-22 01:04:59
There is a huge rift forming in this forum between 2 factions. There are those...

1) Who are in it just to create games as quickly as possible.
2) Who are in it to learn more about the Java (and OpenGL) technologies to write better tools for gaming.

The question is not if it is worth your time. I believe if you had the patience to post, you obviously want to use programming to create games. I think the assumption is that people are making games here solely for the interest of making them as fast and numerous as possible. Everyone who wants to do gaming for the sake of improving their own knowledge of the underlying technologies, (which games are the best way to do this), are wasting time posting in this gaming forum.

Let me be clear and to the point. All of you guys who are doing this to people, are completely wrong.

By this standard, we shouldn't even be trying to create games. There are companies that are made to produce "AAA" titles. They have a lot more money and technology than we are able to fathom. We should just give up programming games and play the games that are tested, true, and are reviewed by people with high merits. What makes our gaming efforts better than any of those tested veterans?

And, yet here we are on a gaming forum for indie gaming, preaching standards. Pathetic.

I know, alaslipknot, that no one is force feeding you to try out new solutions, or the solution that is the most popular at the time. However, Java is much, much more vast than just LibGDX. From a programmer's perspective, using a mainstream library is just as horrible as using a mainstream language.

The best course of action to take is one that will allow you to achieve your goals.

If your goal is to create a game as fast as possible, look into a library like LibGDX that has a lot of tools to help you out.
If your goal is to learn LWJGL inner workings, skip LibGDX and try to write tools for that.
If your goal is to learn Java inner workings, focus on looking through the Java tutorials and looking at code in Graphics2D.

In other words, you have to lay out for people exactly what you are looking for to avoid the generic cut/paste solution. I don't believe there is a cut solution for any problem, especially one as vast as game creation. I just find it sad that people would rather stick to a routine, rather than question why they decided to become an indie game developer in the first place.
17  Game Development / Game Mechanics / Re: Change Resolution (FullScreen) and Automatically Resize Game Elements on: 2013-04-20 22:30:17
Yeah, you would have to do that, otherwise it'll be very slow. The other option would be to stretch the double buffered image before drawing it to the canvas, but that can slow the frame rate dramatically depending on the resize filter and anti-alias chosen.

If you gave me more information on how you are setting up the frame, I might be able to give you a more cleaner example of how to do this.
18  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: Generating three random booleans on: 2013-04-18 00:59:05
This is still ongoing... There is only one question that needs to be answered.

"Can this solution ever be wrong?"

Riven's solution is never going to produce an error, because it guarantees that only one ball will be in a cup at a time. However, your solution can allow any of up to 3 balls at a time randomly. Regardless of the chances of error, this solution is not going to be 100% guaranteed.

Just like a user wouldn't want a calculator to produce 2+2=5 one percent of the time, neither would any programmer want a solution to only work randomly. Always strive for 100% accuracy, we should at least try to be as consistent as a calculator when programming.
19  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: File Not Found Exception on: 2013-04-18 00:02:44
Are you just trying to read in a .txt file? Wouldn't it be easier to just use Scanner.

Another problem could be that your file isn't being placed in the right spot. In Eclipse or Netbeans, I think that files within the "build" folder are completely ignored and can't be read by the program. If I were you, I'd try putting it in a folder called "data" or something completely different.

Actually, the latter solution might be better to try than the former.
20  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: [UNSOLVED]Collision Detection Types and which is the best on: 2013-04-16 02:35:13
I think using the AABB method would be your best solution. To be honest, it'll be the fastest and since your game is kind of tile-based, you'll probably benefit the most by doing your logic in that way. If you complicate your logic with polygons and splitting it up, you'll slow down your game for a feature that most people will not care about. The only way I'd recommend it is if you are doing it as a learning exercise, and in that case... go crazy!

As for your drawing idea, If you want your 2D textures to have depth and appear above and below certain items. If your game is based off of tiles, you want to draw your images ordered from the top to bottom listed from the bottom of each sprite. That way, combined with collision detection, you'd be able to 100% fake the 3-D effect in a 2-D plane.

I hope this makes some sense.
21  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: Generating three random booleans on: 2013-04-14 00:22:09
Whew, well the OP got it working way before they got down here, hopefully. I just hope other people would be able to figure out the right solution through trial and error Tongue...
22  Games Center / Showcase / Re: DuoBall - My first finished project on: 2013-04-13 12:06:43
Well, I gave it a try.

I enjoyed the game's simplicity and ease to get the concept. It managed to keep me hooked all the way until the end. Is there a specific specification for these types of games, like Timed Puzzler or something? I just find games like these very fun and challenging. The ramp up of difficulty really spikes during the last 3 levels. It was frustratingly difficult (due to my two sides of my brain conflicting with each other), especially the 2nd and 3rd to last. It made me want to rip the two halves of my brain out.

Other than that, it is a pretty fun game... (maybe java4K smaller version worthy?  Pointing )  

 
23  Discussions / General Discussions / Re: Managing gamestates and entities, singletons on: 2013-04-12 21:42:18
Who actually unit-tests game code anyway?

At first, I thought unit testing was a bunch of bologna. However, there are two types of errors in coding. The first is syntax, which is the errors that you can find because your compiler says so. The second type is logic, which usually means that you have to set up breakpoints and search through to find the error yourself.

Unit tests fall into the latter category. They allow you to snapshot your code so you can find out when something is not working logically. The time unit tests become very useful is when your project becomes very large and you want to change a small section. Those tests will prevent you from having to use breakpoints completely (in some cases) and get your code working faster.

I don't recommend it for small projects, but for any project that is very big. Writing those tests can become very beneficial in saving time looking for logic breaks.
24  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: How to divy things up using threads on: 2013-04-12 21:26:14
http://www.java-gaming.org/topics/game-threading/27492/msg/246284/view.html#msg246284

This thread should answer your question. (I know it is a little hard to find Grin )

25  Discussions / Miscellaneous Topics / Re: Procrastination Issues on: 2013-04-12 21:19:30
I think procrastination is getting a lot more common now-a-days then all of us are going to like to admit.

It is very difficult to sit down and concentrate daily on how to solve problems. If you combine school with programming, then you really have a lot to do brain wise. Regardless of how much I wished I was a robot that can just sit down and pump out code every second of the day without fail. I think that, being human, our bodies are trying to tell us that there is a little bit more to life than just sitting around all day long doing work.

The times that I am able to program for a long stretch of time is right after I've finished doing a lot of physical activities. But, the problem I've realized is that I burn a lot of that energy away by checking up on the various forums/blogs/social networks. So, by the time I actually get around to thinking about programming, I am already wondering about the next TV show/game/movie I want to see, and do that instead.

I know for me, JGO has been a double-edged sword when it comes to my motivation.

On one hand, it is very inspiring and I learn a lot of new programming concepts and techniques when browsing through the various threads in this site. There is soo much knowledge here that I get lost for hours reading and searching. However, the time I spend here just happens to be the exact same time I could have used actually coding something. So, I am learning a lot of new techniques but in no way am I applying them at all.

But, hey, it is no one's fault but my own. I can say this about any online activity that I involve myself in...

I guess what I'm trying to say here is, prioritize. It is just like with anything, really. When you go to your computer, don't open the internet browser, just start programming instead. Yeah, it might start to feel like a job, or you might want to instantly gratify your needs with something else. Just because you feel like that, doesn't mean you don't like programming anymore. There are just other tasks that are taking up that time.

The funny part is procrastinating takes effort. In your mind, you know that you have to do a task, but you ignore that feeling by overriding it with another one. It is like a drug... you end up feeling guilty for it afterward. To stop feeling guilty, you do another task... and the snowball begins. It is a never-ending cycle.

Break the cycle. Prioritize.

Now let me get back to reading all those "unread posts".  Grin



 
26  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: Generating three random booleans on: 2013-04-11 00:44:18
Well, since your learning how to code, I'll bail you out of this one with a solution Smiley

Instead of this...

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 public static void ballIncup(){
       cup1 = ball.nextBoolean();
       cup2 = ball.nextBoolean();
       cup3 = ball.nextBoolean();
       if(cup1 == false && cup2 == false){
          cup3 = true;
       }else if(cup1 == false && cup3 == false){
          cup2 = true;
       }else if(cup2 == false && cup3 == false){
          cup1 = true;
       }
    }


Try this...
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 public static void ballIncup(){
       int temp = ball.nextInt(3);
       cup1 = false;
       cup2 = false;
       cup3 = false;
       if(temp == 0){
          cup3 = true;
       }else if(temp == 1){
          cup2 = true;
       }else if(temp == 2){
          cup1 = true;
       }
    }


oh and one more thing...

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public static void playerChoice(){
       System.out.println("Please pick cup 1, cup 2, or cup 3" + name);
       choice = input.nextLine();
       if(choice.equals("cup 1")){
-         if(cup1 = true){
+        if(cup1 == true){
             System.out.println("You win!");
-         }else if(cup1 = false){
+         }else if(cup1 == false){
             System.out.println("Please pick again");
          }
         
       }
    }


Be careful not to mix up the assignment operator (=) with the equality operator (==). The code is still, incomplete, but I'll leave you to figure out the rest.
27  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: Simple Math Problem on: 2013-04-09 03:22:36
Even though I agree with StumpyStrust, the code snippet you posted should work. If I were you, I'd separate the statements and figure out exactly which one is messing up.

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         // Decides whether to render the sprite or not.
       int x = player.getXLocation();
        int y = player.getYLocation();
       
        //Always try to render the enemy. Print out the player and enemy locations.
       renderMe = true;
        System.out.println("Player Location: ("+x+","+y+")");
        System.out.println("Enemy Location: ("+xLocation+","+yLocation+")");
       
        //Put each test case into the "fake" debugger to see which ones trigger. Same code but stretched out.
       if ( xLocation < (x-400) ){
              System.out.println("Render Fail: Enemy Too Far West!");
              renderMe = false;
        }
        if ( xLocation > (x+400) ){
              System.out.println("Render Fail: Enemy Too Far East!");
              renderMe = false;
        }
        if ( yLocation < (y-400) ){
              System.out.println("Render Fail: Enemy Too Far North!");
              renderMe = false;
        }
        if ( yLocation > (y+400) ){
              System.out.println("Render Fail: Enemy Too Far South!");
              renderMe = false;
        }

        //Split up the readout... so that you can read it easier.
       System.out.println("-------------------------------------");

         
Replace this code snippet with the one you currently have. This should be able to tell you exactly where your code is failing. (Either that, or the code will work...) Either way, it should be much more informative in figuring out what is going wrong, because that code is 100% accurate in my book.
28  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: A good resource for anyone, first post introduction on: 2013-04-09 01:09:47
Just start writing code Smiley...
29  Games Center / Featured Games / Re: Heroes of Loot on: 2013-04-03 21:56:40
The game is alright and fun depending on the strategy you take. It was kind of weird to me that the different avatars didn't create different play styles, but that is just nit-picking. The game is pretty decent.

I found one major bug that interferes with game play though. You can go through locked shop doors which will take you to a small room on the other side of the door. When you try to escape, then you'll be taken to the shop window and able to buy the potion item. Afterward, when you leave the shop, you'll be locked in a small room behind the shop door with no escape. I did it by accident the first time, but then I managed to do it with each character avatar.

Other than that, it is very cute, like-able, and fun to play.
30  Game Development / Newbie & Debugging Questions / Re: What have been/are your learning techniques? on: 2013-03-27 22:11:35
- Why did you want to start programming? (What was your motivation?)

I actually didn't want to start programming at first. I started programming when I realized that I wanted an easier way to teach my fellow students about Geometry in High School. So I wrote a program using my TI-83 Calculator to do just that. It was then I realized that I was pretty good at it, and continued learning and writing small programs ever since.

Quote
- Why did you choose to begin with the language you begun with? And if applicable, why are you using the language you are using now?

I chose BASIC because that is what was on the TI-83 calculator at the time. Ever since then, I dabbed in a lot of other languages like Perl, C++, JavaScript, etc. The reason I'm sticking with Java now is because I think Java has a lot of untapped potential. If people can just start writing more games in it, it might be able to take off as a very solid contender to the top languages. (Well, as long as Oracle stops messing the security up...)

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- How long ago did you get started? And where are you at now?

I started coding in high school around 13-14. Now I know multiple languages and have been coding small applications and games for them. At the moment, I'm working on a small scripting engine for JavaScript. Real-life wise, I'm delving into machining and mechanics to see what methods can be employed to make tools like AutoCAD run better.

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- What learning methods did you employ personally to help you develop your skills in programming?

To be honest, I used my projects as a learning experience. Every project I created, I treated it like a challenge and used the challenges of the game to figure out what I should do next. This allowed me to finish my applications/games, but as a bonus, I also learned a lot about the programming languages and the similarities they all have with one another. As a programmer, I find that splitting up your work load is invaluable. Tackling your jobs in small pieces vastly improves the chances you'll get something done. "Divide and Conquer... and all that jazz."

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- What advice could you give to other programmers who might be feeling a little lost in what direction to take?

- Well, first and foremost is, don't give up on the task of finding a direction.
- Secondly, always do something that will interest you.

Not everyone is going to feel motivated to produce snake, pong, or pac-man. The most important thing is to find a project that you would like to put onto the screen, and work to do that. Direction, time, and motivation all fall into place once you have a goal you want to achieve. (Well, as long as the goal is a very manageable one, like making a simple screen saver Tongue).

On that thought, don't set your goals to be unmanageable. It is important that you pace yourself as you program so you can actually absorb the techniques. Like all exercises, programming is best taken in small chunks. Treat programming as a journey, and treat the project you create as a reward.

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- Is there anything you believe should be a "Rite of Passage" for programmers (such as the need to create hello world, or a snake program, etc etc).

Finish something. Then, finish something else. Treat each finished program as a trophy.
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