| Little suggestion |
| VBBR | I think it would be a good idea to put a small area on the main page showing the latest topics... Would attract more people and make it easier for us to see if there are any new topis since the last visit. |
| Spodi | I concure. Maybe replace it with the "VBGamer News" thingy on the top of the screen since noone really uses that I dun be thinking. |
| sdw | I think something new like an IRC channel would speed things up. |
| Spodi | Well, look how active the forums are. Think having a live-chat will be too... active? =P |
| VBBR | quote:
Originally posted by Spodi
Maybe replace it with the "VBGamer News" thingy on the top of the screen since noone really uses that I dun be thinking.
Yeah... Kinda useless to have a small news list when you have the actual news list on the same page. |
| Spodi | Now... lets just hope Eric is feeling up to making the change! :D |
| Eric Coleman | Is the forum slow for you or the website in general?
I did have an IRC daemon running on the server once, but it was for a different website that I host, but I ended up removing it since no one used it.
Also, I added the message board because lots of people would register at the website but would never submit any news. At the time, the only thing registering would do would hide your email address from spam harvesting bots. I figured that since there were so many registered people that I would add a message board so people could communicate with each other. When I added the message board, I deleted all registered users that had not made any news submissions or had not posted any comments on any of the news content. If you look at the members list, the members that were here before the message board don't have a "member since" date since the original member database was extremly simple.
The message board hasn't changed anything. People still register and never post any news or make any posts on the forum. I have no idea why people register for something they never use, not even once.
The VBGamer news on the top of the forum is so you can bookmark the forum and only visit the news page if there is new news content. It would be redundant to post forum information on the forum since the "Active Topics" link will display any new topics for you since you last visited. |
| sdw | The IRC daemon would be nice because it's easier to get help and to help others since you're communicating in realtime. But I suppose the IRC activity wouldn't be any greater than the website activity. |
| Eric Coleman | There are a lot of other forums that people visit for game programming help. As I said in my post, I thought I was doing people a favor by adding a forum, but I guess this forum really isn't needed. |
| VBBR | Hey that's not what I said. The forum IS needed. Sorry if what I said was offensive. The idea was to make a "new posts" block in the main page of THE SITE, and the "news" block in the main page of THE FORUM as it is already. I NEVER wanted to say that this forum is useless.
I DON'T think the website in general is slow. This website was the most important thing I ever discovered in the WWW. I have to thank you a lot for creating it.
AND the message board.
I will edit the first post so it's a lot more like a suggestion (what was pretended) than an offense (I never wanted that).
I was just trying to improve the site a little...
Oh and I agree in the part that you say, "people register for nothing".
Come to think of it, how many people have done more than 10 posts here?
Eric, cbx, Spodi, Amrazek, Peter,
Me, Excaliber, Almar, sdw, Bryk,
Bonez2044, AT, Orkl, Sharima.
That's all the people that are not newbies. Just 14.
In page 7 to 19 of the members page EVERYONE has 0 posts.
That makes 180 members that posted nothing in this forum.
The total count of the forum is 277 members.
Just look at the main page of the forum:
quote:
87 of 277 Members have made 650 posts
it means 190 inactive members. (Even more than I counted before) |
| dxgame | This is an awesome website. The forum is great. I don't know how long it's been around, but give it time. 1-2 years or more before taking a serious look at it. Make sure all the search engines have a stable page they can reference. (Never delete a page that has been indexed in a search engine.) Thanks for a great site! |
| Eric Coleman | Your post wasn't offensive at all. If the forum is slow, then I need to know. I get everything served locally, so everything is fast for me, so if something isn't workly properly I'm almost always the last person to find out.
So I need to know if its just your internet connection or your computer, or if everyone thinks the forum is slow. If its the latter, then there isn't much I can do except change the forum. |
| VBBR | Oh, no... You understood somewhat wrong. I said 'slow' like 'few posts', not 'slow' like 'slow loading'. Sorry I though of saying 'dead' but THAT would be offensive. I wanted just to give an idea of putting on the main page of the site (www.vbgamer.com/index.asp) a little space showing the latest topics of the forum. Like in the GameDev site, where there's a small area on the right. Like you said, 'bookmark the forum and see the news', I use the main site as my home page but I would like to see the latest topics from there, and so don't need to go to the Forum page.
It would be very dynamic, to see the news from the Forum page, and see the latest topics from the Main page.
I'm really sorry if I made you think I'm saying the forum isn't good. The entire site is great, I'm just trying to make it even better. |
| Spodi | I love the forum, Eric, and I love you... Okay, maybe not that far. I'm just happy since VBBR said I'm not a newb, whooo! I just think VBgamer needs a bit more publicity. Anndd, maybe if you had another person who could help you verify the news submissions faster since, at least for me, when I finally release a project, I'm all like, "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Must show it to everyone as fast as possible even though it SUCKS!" Then when I see it not show up on the front page right after I submit it, and a day later.... I start to cry. :(
Okay, maybe not that far, but still, I think you get the point. :) I also think there needs to be a bit more publicity... now if there was only some way to send a message to everyone's email on this site, then to everyone in their mailbox, and so on... jk ;) |
| VBBR | Yeah and then we all will be accused of spamming! =P
BTW, Spodi, you finally got to be a Marine... 24 posts for me until then =( |
| VBBR | Oh and just one thing more, did you notice that since I started this topic the forum got A LOT more active?
Really curious... (serious)
PS. You know why I wrote this in another post, don't you? =D
(Apart from it being another thing, very different)
(And it has nothing to do with the fact that now it's just 23 to go... =P) |
| Eric Coleman | Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd.
VBBR, you're right, this forum is pretty dead. Then again, developing games in VB isn't exactly all that popular [8D]
I had considered adding a recent posts section on the main page, but I couldn't figure out where to put it so that it would be easy to see. I hoped that after I added the tutorials section that people would be more interested in providing some new content since most of the other vb websites are dead. Lucky's website hasn't been updated in ages, and Directx4VB's directx 9 "tutorial" is pretty much a rehash of the SDK, especially considering it was written when directx 9 was in beta. And it only covers graphics.
A busy message board would be nice, but I think to get to that point we need people willing to write tutorials and submit content. And for the record, I have been working on a tutorial that is a technical explantion of vectors and matrices. The matrix explantion is taking a while to write, and I only work on it when I have free time, which isn't that often. |
| Spodi | But Eric, remember, Lucky's VB and DX4VB, look how much publicity they get. I always see links to it on VBForum, which is the most active VB forum like... ever. So, lets get those spam bots out! =P |
| VBBR | I'm willing to make some tutorials or whatever to give VBGamer a boost. Just give an idea of what to make.
The main objective of this site, in my opinion, is to show that games in VB can be done AND compettitive. To take away that common sense of 'VB programmers are newbies' or 'c++ is the right language'. VB is a great programming language and I think this site is proving it.
(Did I write compettitive right???)
And if the forum is somewhat dead, it's for no-one than us to revive it. This forum has the potential to grow a lot.
(BTW, where I live there are some great local games, commercial, that are programmed in blitz basic. I think VB can make even better games.) |
| VBBR | Hum, Eric, if you don't know where to put it, take a look at www.revolution3d.net and see how they made it. I think that style is great. They give a little more emphasys to the Forum than to the news itself. (As the forum is a lot more active)
(Did I write emphasys right???)
And BTW, I made a little tutorial for the rev3d forum about calculating window borders that could be useful here. Take a look at http://www.revolution3d.de/postNuke/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=1361&sid=38a8db2cd16bd0b2948af693e909a67d and say what you think of it. I can adapt it easily for VBGamer. |
| Eric Coleman | Since this is primarly a news website, I don't want the forum to have more precedence.
The reason you see links to Lucky's or DX4VB is because they do have lots of content, even if its not updated anymore.
If you want to help out at VBGamer, here is a list of things that need to be worked on.
- Tutorials - A tutorial shows how to do certain things related to game programming by either explaining it in regular English so its not overly technical and/or by code examples.
- Articles - Not related to programming, but games in general, such as game design, ideas, content creation, etc.
- Files - Got any cool utilities or programs that would be usefull to other game programmers? It can be extra helpful if source code is provided, but its not necessary.
- Reviews - If you have a thing for writing, then we could always use more help in writing reviews of completed video games. Check out the Big Huge Games List for games that need to be reviewed.
- ASP coding - Are you any good with ASP? If so, then I could always use your help with adding more functionality and features to the website.
|
| Spodi | I believe more little competitions will also increase the publicity of the page since people will be telling their friends like, "Oh, go to VBgamer and vote for my game!". :) |
| VBBR | quote:
I believe more little competitions will also increase the publicity of the page since people will be telling their friends like, "Oh, go to VBgamer and vote for my game!". :)
Yeah, I think...
quote:
And BTW, I made a little tutorial for the rev3d forum about calculating window borders that could be useful here. Take a look at http://www.revolution3d.de/postNuke/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=1361&sid=38a8db2cd16bd0b2948af693e909a67d and say what you think of it. I can adapt it easily for VBGamer.
Hey Eric, see if this can be turned into a tutorial for VBGamer...
About the items you said above:
- Tutorials - I can help here if you have an idea for the subject. I'm really bad on having ideas.
- Articles - I'm not very good at writing, but maybe sometime I could write one.
- Files - I could search for some in the web or even write one if it doesn't exist.
- Reviews - See Articles.
- ASP coding - Sorry, I'm afraid I can't help you there. |
| Eric Coleman | Voting competitions won't happen anymore. That's off topic so I'll just ignore that.
As for that post on border widths, I guess its only usefull if you're using some sort of wrapper that screws up the mouse coordinates. So I can't say that it would be something usefull considering most people either use the form's mouse events or use direct input.
As for tutorials, what is your education level? Do you know Algebra, Calculus, Diff. Eq.? |
| VBBR | Hum, I think at least that the resizing code would be useful. (The RisizeClient function).
For the the education level... Hum, tell me more specifically. I'm reasonably good at maths, at least.
I think something about middle school maths... And I consider myself an intermediate-advanced VB programmer. The only thing I don't use in VB are databases (that I consider personally a waste because I probably wouldn't use them) |
| Eric Coleman | If you haven't taken any math courses that had names like Algebra or Calculus, then that makes tutorial ideas a bit complicated. |
| VBBR | Hum, I don't know what's the corresponding content of these courses in plain english, if you please post here what exactly do I need... And adding to this, my native language isn't english so I don't know the literal corresponding of these courses' names neither.
(I mean, I know the literal translation but not the real name of the course)
But you just post here an idea and I will tell you if I know what you're talking about, or if I can't understand a thing. |
| Lachlan87 | About reviews . . .
Are we supposed to ask the game creators before reviewing, or do we just make an effort not to be offensive? I've occasionally toyed with the idea of reviewing some games, but I tend to be a bit harsh I think. |
| sdw | I'd like to make a few reviews myself, but I don't know who I'd piss off in the process. |
| Eric Coleman | VBBR, you're really good with English, so I assumed that it was your native language. I even assumed that you were either Canadian or from the U.S., so sorry if that offends you! It is not easy to describe math, especially if it something you've never learned. I guess I'll just have an example, Which of these are you able to solve?
- Find X, (5X-3)(x+4)=34
- Calculate f ' ' if f(x) = sin(x) + ln(x) + x^-3
- compute x,y values for an equation of the form dy/dx + p(x)y = q(x)
Lachlan, you don't have to ask before reviewing. You don't have to make an effort not to be offensive either, but considering that the people that make the games don't have $10000000 dollar budgets and teams of artists, musicians, producers, marketing agensts, etc, what you see in the list is still pretty good. Do you have any games on that list? [:D] |
| VBBR | Since this thread is a little full, we could open up some others like "ideas for tutorials" or "games to be reviewed" or something like that, or a lot of off-topic subjects will appear here.
But the questions left open (mine exactly) may still be answered here...
[EDIT] Eric, the answers for your questions came up on page three. |
| VBBR | quote:
VBBR, you're really good with English, so I assumed that it was your native language.
Thanks for that. [:D] In fact you are the first one to say that.
(Maybe everyone thinks that way???)
quote:
I even assumed that you were either Canadian or from the U.S., so sorry if that offends you!
Well... If you didn't know then it's alright. I've actually learned english by surfing the web.
quote:
Find X, (5X-3)(x+4)=34
(5x-3)(x+4)=34
5x^2 + 20x - 3x - 12 = 34
5x^2 + 17x + 24 = 0
(a little later on...)
I think it can't be solved (with what I know).
It has fallen inyo a negative square root which is not a real number.
quote:
Calculate f ' ' if f(x) = sin(x) + ln(x) + x^-3
Is it right? Well I think I can understand everyting after the '='. (Sin, ln and x^-3). I also know what f(x) means but the "f ' ' if" part kinda confused me. Is it something like "f( )" ? Assuming inside the parenthesis there is a space.
quote:
compute x,y values for an equation of the form dy/dx + p(x)y = q(x)
Nope. Don't quite understand that. |
| Eric Coleman | The first problem was some simle algebra, and that's better than most people. The second question was to find the second derivative of a function, which is in the branch of mathematics called Calculus. The answer, by the way is f ' '(x) = -sin(x) - X^-2 + 4/5 * X^-5 for all X <> 0. The last equation is the standard form for a "first-order linear differential equation." The question stated doesn't have an "answer", but if you know what a "first-order linear differential equation is", then you would understand the problem is to solve an equation, then to generate a graph or field of of different values. You would use things like this in fluid dymanics simulations. Differential Equations are generally taught at a university. |
| Spodi | (5X-3)(X+4)=34
5X(X)(4) - 3(X)(4)=34
5X^2+20-3X+12=34
5X^2-3X=34-20-12
5X^2-3X=2
...
X=X
I've never delt with square roots much. Stupid Algebra I. No freaking idea about the other two also. |
| Peter | I can solve those Eric, do I get bonus points? :D
Ugh, that reminds me of the calc exam I have to write in about 2 weeks. Its all about differential equations (up to 2nd order homogeneous), taylor and maclaurin series, and functions of 2 or more variables. That and vector calculus :(
What grade are you guys in? In Canada you would learn the answer to the first question around grade 11, the answer to the 2nd one in grade 12 and the answer to the third in first year university.
Are people interested in just general math tutorials? It might help a bit in programming, but then again you might as well go to the library and pick up a book about it rather than reading an online tutorial. Although sometimes it is helpful to have a non-mathematician explain math, since mathmaticians are crazy (I'm not in math, but the crazy part is still up to the jury) ;)
PS: Spodi, I think something is a little wonky with your solution there ;)
(5X-3)(X+4)=34 expands to 5X*X + 20X - 3X - 12 = 34. You have to multiply the first term in the first bracket (5X) by all of the terms in the 2nd bracket in succession, then move on to the 2nd term etc.
If you want to find the roots of that equation you have to sub it into the quadratic formula. If you have an equation in the form aX^2 + bX + c = 0 then:
x= [-b +/- sqr(b^2 - 4ac)] / 2a
If you have a negative inside the square root that means no real roots exist, but there are complex roots. You can use the fact that i^2 = -1 to get rid of the negative, do the square root, and get a pair of complex conjugates. But I wouldnt worry too much about that, it isnt useful very often in games (but then again it sometimes is).
Oh yeah, and Eric does have other moderators on the site to help him out with approving news. I'm one of the admins and almar, brykovian, and rag on a stick are the other mods. I usually try to check the page at least once a day, but usually 3-4 times for any new postings.
Peter |
| VBBR | Hum... if that's something in university level then I definetly don't know it... I don't know how my grade is called in USA or Canada, so sorry about that. But I know everything up to matrices (if the order is the same, which probably isn't).
But if some very complex math is required, then Eric or Peter, the Mathematicians (seeing your post, Peter, I kind of got scared by math... or you =D) well they can help me (us) in the complicated parts. But I think the major is related to VB, DirectX, OpenGL etc.
Oh and I don't know how to solve negative square roots.
Yet. =D |
| Peter | Oh, I'm not really that good at math. I can take it and learn it, but I'm not anywhere close to brilliant at it. Kind of discouraging when some people in your class get 100s on all the tests and you get 70s lol. Then again I am a slacker =) |
| VBBR | Well I guess then that you've just learned more than I... [:D]
I was thinking... maybe a tutorial on simple collision detection would be a good idea? |
| Peter | Yeah, I have a lot of such tutorials at VoodooVB though, including ones one collision detection between rectangles, circles, and polygons, which even include utilities to even easily draw the collision areas. Check my signature for the link.
|
| VBBR | Hum... finally this signature of yours will be useful for something!
[:D] Just joking... The two links are in the right panel anyways...
BTW if I knew your site had these tutorials I wouldn't have cracked my head to discover how to do box-box collision... I know sphere-sphere also but discovering sphere-box collision code has been a real pain.
(And I haven't discovered it yet!)
Oh, and why aren't these tutorials here at VBGamer? It would have saved a lot of my brain! [:D] |
| Spodi | Holy crap... thanks for metioning that VBBR, never noticed Peter had those links on his sig, I couldn't find them/too lazy to find them. :)
Btw, Peter, the Talos Studios link dun be working, says Forbidden. WHY DOES NOONE ACCEPT ME! [V][:(] [B)] |
| VBBR | quote:
Btw, Peter, the Talos Studios link dun be working, says Forbidden. WHY DOES NOONE ACCEPT ME!
Funny that is. The link works for me.
Maybe the thing is you, really... [:P]
Oh and I will correct my last post, now I have seen the visible orthographic errors... [:D] |
| Spodi | Okay, it's working now. |
| VBBR | Hey, not to take this up again, but... The 'Latest' part on the left column of the site is completely empty, why not change it to 'Latest Topics' ? |
| Eric Coleman | The "Latest" refers to all the sections underneath, such as "Latest Headlines", "Latest Links", "Latest Tutorial." Putting the word "Latest" on each section would be repetivite, and it wouldn't fit either. Hopefully Peter will be inspired to create a new layout soon. [:)] |
| VBBR | Oh got it. Hum, then I guess it's all up to Peter then.
(BTW, I didn't knew Peter was responsible by the layout)
But then why not put a "Topics" among the "Headlines", "Links", "Tutorials" ? |
| Peter | I'm working on a few prototypes. Its a bit of a long process, since sometimes you can see the design in your head but once you start working on it often its not as good as you had hoped. Plus I also have to study for my finals, so please be patient =)
quote:
(BTW, I didn't knew Peter was responsible by the layout)
Yeah, I pretty much have a hand in a lot of things around the vb gaming community, or at least I did back in the day =)
So did you guys ever manage to take a look at Talos Studios? Alpha 7 is the game we've been working on for the past 2 years or so, but before that was DDCK, which was quite a hyped up project during its development from 2000-2001 (which in the end wasnt really a good thing, since on release it ended in some flaming upon release, but hey, I was like 15 when I started it) |
| VBBR | quote:
So did you guys ever manage to take a look at Talos Studios?
Of course. I pretty much liked DDCK, altough I can't seem to remember why I haven't downloaded it yet.
(In fact, everytime I access the Talos Studios page I think about downloading it but by some thing I always forget...)
And soon you'll be able to see my new (and first [:D]) game: A Tetris clone with some extras.
(Not quite the most original thing, but let me give a hint: it will be 3D...) |
| VBBR | Hey, now look at that: I went to FilePlanet to download the setup and it made me remember that I already went there. Then I looked at my HD and found the installer!
(How come I downloaded the game and didn't install it???)
Hey i'm a marine now! [8D] |
| VBBR | Cool!!!! You put it in the main page!!! (When did you do that? I only saw it today...!)
Indeed the transparent-rollover effect is really great! Also with the post preview...
Anyway thanks a lot! |
| VBBR | Hey Peter I can't download the Alpha 7 demo from the Talos Studios site... Good old 404 error. |