 Sigil Developer Tracker
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The dev tracker is no longer actively scanning, however you may continue to browse the archives collected over the past several years here.
Please remember that these developer posts
are taken out of context, so beware of any silky venom being spewed forth.
Color Key:
Green - Sigil Games Online Employee
Pink - Sony Online Entertainment
Gray - Microsoft Game Studios Employee
Orange - Community Member
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Over the years I've spent the most time, by a long margin, playing the quake series. Fast paced deathmatch shooters are my bread and butter. Behind that is Tetris...personal best is 1137 lines with well over 2 million points on GB Color. Once you hit level 30, it stops getting faster so you get into a rythm and it becomes a test of how long before your thumbs give out.
Right now, I play a little quake 4, a little WoW, trying to finish Gran Turismo 4, and the old school Megaman games (that anniversary collection with 1-8 on it is probably the best $30 I've spent in years).
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Find all posts by Crestone.
Find all posts in "Dev's favorite Game? (besides V:SOH)".
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baadan
In my head, it code looks like this:Code:
if (c[0].ard.compare(0, 3, c[1].ard) == 0)
cout << "You have a pair!" << endl;
String comparisons have never been my favorite thing for a few reasons:
1. the compare functions are very cryptic (including the descriptions in help docs), as you've undoubtedly found.
2. they're slow.
3. their behavior rarely seems to be what you want
I'd actually suggest a different approach if you're getting to the point where the string comparisons are becoming too unwieldy to deal with.
Create a struct that just contains 2 integers:Code:
struct card
{
int suit;
int value;
};
suit goes from 0-3 (or 1-4 if you don't like 0 indexing), and value 0-12 (or 1-13).
Then just create an array for each player of that struct and fill the 2 values for each card.
To check for a pair, you just need to see if they have two cards where the value member of the struct is the same. For a flush, just check to see if the suit member is the same.
When you go to display what is in a player's hand, you just loop through a player's hand doing switch statements on the suit and value of each card:Code:
switch player1[i].suit
{
case 0:
cardsuit = "hearts";
break;
etc etc etc;
}
switch player1[i].value
{
case 0:
cardvalue = "Ace";
break;
etc etc etc;
}
cout << "card 1: " << cardvalue << " of " << cardsuit;
The syntax probably isn't correct for some of that...it's been ages since I've dealt with the c++ libraries like iostream and stock strings, but that should give a good idea.
You could also create a 2 dimension array for the players and support more than 2 people. You'd need to keep track of whether or not a card is already dealt somehow, so that could lead to even another approach:
Create a 2d int array of the deck with 4 columns and 13 rows where [0][2] could be the 3 of hearts. When a player is dealt a card, put their player number at the corresponding location. To look for pairs, you have to search for the same player number in a row, and for a flush, 5 of a single player in a single column.
Finding that google is a great programming resource is also a good move, and you did that, so you're not far from being done now.
Good luck getting it done!
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Find all posts by Crestone.
Find all posts in "C++ Question about the string1.compare(x,n,string2); function".
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Travisty
Thank you Crestone and everyone else who has commented on this!
I would agree that XP is not best for many situations, but until now I really only knew about more of a waterfall method 
On a side note: Im enjoying Software Methods and Tools so far. It's the First class that I am programming with Java and using eclipse (where the tool side is) for the programming. Also have learned quite a few design patterns and now getting into refactoring
Glad I could provide insight. It sounds like the CS program at CU is starting to become a little more practically oriented. It was established as a scientific computing program, so being asked to do something besides crunch numbers coming out was a bit of a context switch. The senior project helped with that, but I sure could have done without all the documentation in that course 
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Find all posts in "What’s the programming methodology utilized at Sigil and Elsewhere?".
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Travisty
I am curious and would like to inquire into the programming methodology which is used by Sigil and other companies. I am currently a CS major at the University of Colorado -Boulder and am taking a class in/called Software Methods and Tools. I was introduced to Extreme Programming which is quite remarkable in my opinion on its efficiency, in smaller projects at least. I am also knowledgeable in the waterfall method and have heard about the iterative waterfall method, which is a branch of extreme programming from my understanding. I would greatly appreciate it if a dev or anyone else in the CS world could elaborate on their programming methods and, if it doesn’t get you fired, whether you enjoy that approach or what you would rather use.
Programming Methodology has been an eye opener for me and I would like to hear and know about other approaches which are taken and used.
Thanks to all who share their experiences!
We use an iterative approach. The closest officially defined method to what we do is a spiral, but even defining a specific method, in my mind, seems too corporate for the atmosphere here. We get requirements, write some code, test it, have other people test it, and revise with new approaches or new requirements, at least that is how it works from the gameplay side. It can often be a question of "Is this actually fun?" or "Is this too limiting/too complex?" that prompts another iteration, or it could just be a question of polish.
I'd say that the closest we have to the pair programming portion of extreme programming (is it just me, or does that name evoke images of a *very* absurd Mt. Dew commercial?) is helping each other track down and fix particularly obnoxious bugs, or a little good natured heckling.
The quote from Amanda's interview is very accurate. We have a very open atmosphere where suggestions from each other are seriously considered, and we all learn a lot from each other which is a testament to how well we get along and work together.
Completely off topic - I'm glad to see that the Software Methods and Tools class at CU is better than when I took it. Man, talk about a worthless class. I had some prof who was a guest from industry and basically told stories and tried to force everyone into his favorite things (to the point of needing to alias m to "make all" in a unix environment and being unwilling to accept that another key would work just as well). I think I used vi as opposed to emacs and made my aliases longer than the actual commands just to spite him.
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Find all posts by Crestone.
Find all posts in "What’s the programming methodology utilized at Sigil and Elsewhere?".
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dr4255
First, and I humbly beg Crestones forgiveness in this matter I personally dont know everyone on your team and would not like him to feel left out. Kudos to him and everyone else you have supporting the crafting part of the game. (since it was my goof again, I guess I just go hide in a dark corner.)
<snip>
Since you've wandered off to sleep, hopefully you, Jansan, and Crestone, or some of the other cronies will see this. Please, please, please, forgive this lowly one.
Haha. No worries. Seeing people so interested in the system we're working on is more than enough recognition for me, but kudos are appreciated.
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Find all posts by Crestone.
Find all posts in "honesty --- not an opinion?".
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkin
Do you have a model number by chance? and do they keep your head cool? (bad joke, Zalman also the name for a company that makes CPU coolers)
I actually have had both the Zalman surround sound and lightweight Sennheiser headphones. The Zalmans are great for games and are quite comfortable, but the 3 plug thing is a bit annoying. The surround sound works very well, and since they're headphones, you hear things much more clearly, and they do sound good besides. I don't see a model number anywhere on them, unfortunately.
I, however, mourn the loss of my Sennheisers. I had the HD 455s which were incredibly lightweight and extremely comfortable, but the best part about them was the sound quality. I've never heard a pair of headphones like them for less than $250 (these were $100). No distortion, phenominal range, bass that sounded like a 15 inch woofer, and everything was crystal clear. After 8 years of heavy use, they hadn't deteriorated at all with 1 exception. It's something they don't do any more, so I can't get the replacement, but the cord was detachable, so the point where it connects to the headset got all honked up. I looked all over N County San Diego for another decent pair of Sennheisers and finally had to get some top shelf Sony pair for work that don't sound nearly as good as the bottom of the line Sennheisers.
Personally, I'd recommend Sennheiser because their sound quality is so astounding, but if you want surround sound, Zalman won't do you wrong.
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Find all posts in "Sennheiser Hd 595".
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 Quake 4 |
O F F I C I A L V A N G U A R D F O R U M S
Oct 20, 2005 - 06:47 AM - by
Crestone
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I can't speak to the single player because I haven't tried it at all (usually don't with FPS games because I plow through them too quickly), but the multiplayer is very well done. Very fast so you have to keep on your toes, you really have to work for your kills, and the level design, from what I've played, is very good (I so excited they recognized that q2dm1 was one of the best multiplayer maps ever made and tweaked it a bit for q4). They pretty much kept all the good aspects of q3, ditched the bad, and added some new stuff that works really well.
I gotta talk Glip into getting a copy...
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Find all posts in "Quake 4".
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My worst was, as 90% of bad dates are, a blind date. The story is too long to tell in full, but here are the highlights:
She insisted on driving, apparently thinking she's Mario Andretti from the speeds she went through downtown Denver, in her 1980's Camaro with flame decals on the side.
She tried to feed me some of her meal without asking and ended up dropping a fork full of spaghetti down the front of my nice blue shirt.
When she saw the food fall from the fork, she thought it was a good idea to go after it...with the fork. If you've never seen a fork streaking toward your junk, believe me, it's something you can do without ever seeing. Thankfully, I became Jet Li for that split second, knocked the fork out of her hand with my own and saved myself from permanent injury.
She almost got us kicked out of the symphony for talking through the whole thing, increasing volume during the music so I could hear the lewd things she was saying.
Finally, she asks me to walk her upstairs. I oblige since it's downtown at night fully intending to bolt once she's safely on the other side of the door. Well, it wasn't even an apartment she wanted me to walk her to...it was the office where her mom worked, and she said the couch in the breakroom is just as good as a bed. Mercifully, my pager was running low on batteries, but the beep was enough for me to capitalize on. I looked at it, called my house on my cell phone and faked a work related call back which I couldn't work out over the phone, so I "had to go to work".
She called twice the next day and I didn't answer.
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Find all posts in "Worst date ever! ... what's yours?".
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