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I'm trying to chop together a website for my tower defense game.

However, I'm quite inexperienced at this... So any help or C&C on elements and placement would be appreciated.



I imagine main content running in large window on left (an iframe) and buttons on right for simple navigation.

However, I'm not quite sure what should be on a game site. Yes, a demo, some screens, a trailer maybe... and forums for support and page for buying.... But what else?

Also, how to improve look?

EDIT: Please move thread to CL, sorry

I've been scratching my head several days... Cannot find a catchy name.
Game itself features modern/sci-fi creeps and weapons (jeeps, tanks, flamethrower turrets, etc) so easy way - having a fantasy name - won't do.

What I want is name to be really easy to remember, yet somewhat original.
Famous defense games, Protector or Onslaught for example are just something I'd like. Simple, yet memorable. And cool-sounding.
Also, name should be usable as in domain name also, should I make a website. If reserved, I can simply add "-game.com" or something.

What I don't want is "TD" or "defense" to appear in name. There's way too many of those.


Ideas?

Imagine our galaxy as 2D plane. Say, in a computer game.

Sun is in the middle.
Planet needs to move towards sun from random starting point. No physics involved...


How do I find exactly how much planet needs to move both on X and Y axis to go directly towards sun? Point is in that planet could be placed at random point when starting.
Sounds like junior geometry exercise, but I'm totally blocked!

Basically, planets were example. I'm actually making top-view rain and need to calculate each raindrop so they'd move towards center of the screen.

Okay. I have object with 3 sides. Sides are aligned 135° so two ones on edges make perfect 90° between them (see top view).

Like this:


Now what I want to do is cut edges so this object is tilted 5°

One edge stays as it is.
One edge should be cut at 5° angle.
What angle should be middle edge cut? It's not 0 or 5° and it's not 2.5°

Explanation of the problem and unknown (see side view and layout):


By hit & miss tries I've figured out the correct angle is around 4°, probably a bit more than 4°

But I want to know what formula or logic is behind this? How do I get EXACT angle?
Any takers?

I have this little plan of visiting United States.
Since I've never been so far from Europe, It's quite a dark ground for me.

Initial plan is to go through Munich and Montreal to Washington DC, rent a car, trip 1154km southwards to Jacksonville, Florida (friend's relatives there) and probably continue southwards to Miami, by car, also.
Same way back!

As much as I've googled, motel rates are around $30-40 which is not so cheap actually...

Trip is planned to span over 2 weeks, with 9 days between flights to/from Washington DC-

Anything for me to know, especially due the fact that I come from a country even 1 of million americans haven't heard of?

I've suffered under memory loss problems lately. (No not computer memory)

I mean, someone calls, I make a promise and about 10 seconds later, it's wiped out.
All the time! Especially at work. Making notes help somewhat but when I'm busy and multitasking, note-taking is not an option.

What to do? I'm also not sure what branch of medicine deals with this and what kind of doctor to attend if I do need one or if it's even treatable. I'm 26, no way I'm getting old yet. But memory fails and fails...

[tell me if my effort is noble]

Since I'm back in 2D phase right now, and trying to make something game-like, I decided to give it a try and make a
YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL!

*applause*

It is here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRZgK4kG2VY

Also, it's HD and sound CAN be turned off.

Anyway, even though people avoid YouTube links like plague - it seems, if interested, take a look, C&C if wanted or if I'm doing it wrong and tell me if my effort is noble.

Because if so, I will document whole creation of this background...

I decided to take up pixel making after a long 3D pause (I'm sooo rusty!), and ended up with this bus station...
It's almost complete, but lacks... something. Aside from buses, of course, which will be separate.

Can you help? Right side of image is where improvement is needed most - I have to compensate for this insane amount of gaussian noise somehow



2x, just for show, do not edit

[worse]

Story goes like this: I get a new multiplayer fps game, suck at it as every noob for few games, then gradually master the game. Normal, right?

This period lasts few months of active gameplay.

But then, just like that, I'm getting worse at game. Skills that went up all the time somehow get worse!

I mean, wtf? Experience should accumulate, not reduce! Soon I'm the worst of the worst, playing even worse than first-timers, whatever I try. I do know every corner of the maps, I can pick most suitable weapon for game type and map, I can consider all the variables I couldn't before... and this makes me -- suck.

First logical explanation is that "game is new, other players improve also so at some point your uber skills simply suck compared to others".

But no. It goes same for games which have years of history (Counter-strike, Team fortress 2, etc), therefore mostly experienced gamers. I tried to rest, try playing in different states of stress and tiredness, everything. It's still same.

[mw2] For example: month ago, my shotgun class in ground war domination game in Modern Warfare 2, map Runway, usually ended match with 20-30 (30+ with killstreaks) kills and <10 deaths. Past few weeks I'm unable to gather even 10 kills, yet closing to 30 deaths... it's inverted. On "high" period, I bathed in AC-130 killstreak rewards (11 kills without dying) and now struggle to get even damn care package... (4 kills w/o dying) (which I usually don't!) [/mw2]

Okay, MW2 could still be somewhat new game, but data is almost same for any game I play, from Battlefield 2 to CS to TF2 to UT3...
Also, I don't see highly changed style of playing. I still explore, surprise, camp and rush. Simply, I suck at aiming, reaction times AND luck... yet other forms of reaction testing, like online tests or different games I play at time - don't show that my overall reaction speed or aim were worse. Only for that particular game at hand.

Am I only one with such strange paradox? What could be the real cause? I'm not old enough to write this off as aging yet!

EDIT: Thinking about it - there MIGHT be another (scientific) explanation:

As game gets more and more known to my brain, so does the psychological experience of this game. So excitement goes down day by day and therefore - less adrenaline is released. And adrenaline is what gives us quick reflexes and instant reaction/problem solving, right?

To support this case, if I fire up counter-strike: source after every 4 months or so to play a quick round, I'm always amazed that I play much better than when I quit. But after few days, suckage is back and so is ragequit.

Since it's quite specific and hard to describe, I skipped "ask something" thread and made a new one.

There's a sound effect/filter I'm trying to find/replicate. What I don't know is how it's called or made.
And, I cannot provide anything to show it.

It sounds like reverb/echo, but when echo comes AFTER spoken words, here it comes BEFORE, gets louder and louder and has this ethereal-phasing-in-futuristic feel. Like someone's repeating some words on radio and you turn volume up while tuning in to a better reception also...
It's heard rarely on horror/sci-fi movies (ghosts speaking!) and more in some games, like alien woman briefing in Supreme Commander, and a bit in briefings in Metal Fatigue and so on. Also, it sounds somewhat robotic/mechanized/vocoded.

I hope anyone has a clue what I'm talking about! If you think you might have an idea, post a youtube link/sound clip/whatever for verification

Also, if so, does anyone know how to reproduce this? Is it some tedious technique using usual reverb/delay/flanger/vocoder mix or simply a VSTi plugin/vodocer preset I could use? Even correct technical name for this would help!

My life routine is simple: work and home. No friends, going out, women, outside hobbies, nothing. Just work and video games. So basically, I spend 16-18 hours infront of PC daily. I'm male and 26.

Only thing I have besides this, is creativity. And this also has become a terrible struggle lately. I mean, I have near-lethal urge to express myself somehow. Make something. Be known.

I try making music, drawing, making a game of some kind, make a video, 3D modelling... but sad fact is, I'm unable to finish whatever I start. And quite quickly really. I start a new track in FruityLoops, make a basic beat, try to add bass and I don't like it. Quit & play some game.

I start a project in AGS or Game Maker, animate main character with painful amount of quality and dedication, write huge portion of engine, save and close. And somehow, I cannot continue this project, ever. Whenever I'm the the mood, I open it, fix few lines of code, and close it again, without progressing thing much.

Opening old projects always make me go "wow" and think that "this is so awesome, I must be crazy not to finish it", but somehow, that feeling fuels me only to make little insignifant changes or addons and never to actually continue those. Also, I like video games. Too much. I start watching a movie, and 30 minutes into movie, I have urge to play something. Same with creating.

I have about 80 unfinished songs of different genres, over 300 game maker projects (of which most would surely be liked by players), about two dozens of AGS games... all unfinished with dim hope of ever seeing release.

Sometimes, I think that I'm doing it wrong. I shouldn't create at all and do something else. But there's nothing else to do. And this urge to do something, release, get famous - won't go away.

I won't add a question or anything to the end of this post. But if you have an opinion or advice or just anything relevant, I would love to hear this.

Does anyone know a good tutorial or way to animate an explosion?

Out of 7 or 8 tries, I ended up with this-




And I'm not happy with this at all :'(

I want my explosion realistic, not transclusent and not anti-aliased on edges.
What should I do (using real life animation/grab from movie etc is out of question)?

Imagine that there's a computer game. Quite arcade-ish and generic shooter really.
And yet, it has some levels that'll blow your mind.

Imagine there's a sequel to this game.
And in this sequel, you encounter a screen like this! (okay, maybe not so rage-modded)

Damn it! Superrealistic levels like AC-130 shooter level in first Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is exactly why I dished out â,¬49.
And now, the main campaign has none of those cool sequences original had AND for no reason whatsoever, this last cool thing, this last barricade before total suckage needs TWO players to even try. I know very clearly that I chose "SOLO PLAY" option from main menu of Special Forces campaign. SOLO.

ALSO, there's no way to start a server and hope anyone joins. You have to INVITE a FRIEND from steam friends list or something. It's a computer game, ffs. How did they even come to an idea that players actually have social life, let alone friends???

I've played Steam-supported games from the day Half-Life 2 was released, have plenty of them which I play online. Even had counter-strike disease! Over 5 years, number of friends in steam list is ZERO.

Q: Where do I acquire a friend?
A: Go outside

Q: But a friend who wants to play instead of being outside?
A: umm...

Hell, I've been hating firefox since image scaling got blurry. But not enough to choose other browsers, and they suck too.

...Today, I simply, out of random idea, pressed windows key and plus sign.

I've been aware of windows magnifier for ages and use it at work daily (for making precise CAD technical drawings), but somehow never came to an idea to use it for pixel sprites.

Result is awesome!

(Press plus and minus several times to change zoom factor)

I have too much funny ideas daily so I decided to give a try to a webcomic.

But!

I have near-zero knowledge of webmaking, or atleast dynamic enough to simply upload strips and make them almost automatically appear on page.

Any free and simple engines/sources/something for this? Or otherwise tips to easily set up solid page? Maybe I should pre-make some basic templates or something?

What I don't want to do is use some automatic mass comic site, because I have my own domain and server.

[Real-time strategy:]

So-
I was thinking about my gaming habits and found that I often play games that little of people know, but somehow shine over the genre. Yet-to-be-found gems or simply good case of underdogs...

For example:

Real-time strategy:
Act of War: Direct action and Act of War: High Treason


It's kind of weird how I simply picked this one up from discount game bin at local supermarket. I usually don't shop like this and I didn't even take a good look at the game disc. I though it would simply entertain me for an evening or so... boy was I wrong!

It became one of my very favourite games in genre - a RTS with modern, realistic touch, which always appeals to me. This game has units of modern day and even very realistic future, such as US Future Warrior combat gear or Stryker multifunctional troop carrier. Plus, it's all built onto a quite solid techno-thrillerish storyline.

And it's a RTS that stays true to original formula, having almost everything that made original Command & Conquer such cool game, unlike new games that try to change formula even if it makes game suck, just for the sake of having some "new approach to RTS genre".

Turn-based strategy:
Castles II: Siege & Conquest

It's quite simple game, best replacement for solitaire or other hour-to-waste filler I've ever seen.
Plus, there's not much games that have such wonderful music or option "behead him!" when enemy sends a messenger with peace offerings...

Adventure games:
KGB (a.k.a Conspiracy)

I would pay $100 to play a worthy sequel to this one. Or $300 to be able to make one myself.
When numerous death endings in Sierra's adventures often simply sucked, this game shows "game over" in style. It's realistic, gruesome, extremely thrilling & interesting and insanely difficult. Not something you hear in the review of adventure game too often.

I could continue this list, but it gets too long, I'm afraid.

Political strategy
Another titles of my reality-taste -
Conflict: Middle East Political Simulator, Shadow President, Hidden Agenda

Quite simply games that were once made, are unique, and there will be probably no more. Which is sad. Only company that makes games like this - is Paradox Interactive - and sadly, their games - while going into deepest detail - are not interesting enough for me to play. There's a deep strategy game and there's a damn Excel spreadsheet. PI makes latter, only with graphics. I wonder if there will ever be beginner-friendly versions of Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, etc--- much like three I mentioned..?

Do you have something similar to contribute? Games that are good, but less-known?

I'll start with an image, since text will be messy...



Observe. Starting square is (x,y). I drew only a quarter of the "circle" to keep it simple.

On 8 directions, there's a clearly visible pattern. We add or subtract an incremental number to X and Y, forming a cross similar to the one on UK's flag.

Now, in a code - as I drew, we would need 8 lines to define the possible variants of square position and a variable for increment. This would be simple for any amateur programmer. It would cover all squares I drew position values to -- to infinity. That's the amount of problem I *can* solve...

But as spiral gets bigger than 9 squares, there will be gaps... and uncovered variants will be infitite (squares marked with asterisk) so manual checking would be wild and some smart snippet of code should do it.

What I want is some kind of pseudocode to do grid checks in a perfect spiral. Code that spirals outwards and checks EVERY square, not only in 8 directions.

By pseudocode I mean anything readable to AGSer/C/delphi/basic programmer. All of those languages are similar and I guess that it's behind some simple (and similar in all languages) -  trigonometric function, but cosines and tangents at school managed to avoid me like cats do water.

It's not AGS-related really, I'm trying out my hand on real-time strategy game and this is last bit of pathfinding I cannot figure out.

EDIT: Fixed error.

Also, thinking about it, i've heard about crazy mathematical term "modulo"... could this be applied here? how?

I got 2 terabytes and 5 years worth of mess on my 3 hard drives and decided to do some clean-up.

Problem is, my both hard drives have survived over uncountable windows reinstallations, attempts to start over "organized", duplicate installations of same program, etc... and therefore, it's one helluva mess.

While everyday-essential stuff is more or less reachable, there's folders and files that need -- er -- archaeological approach.

Like misnamed big files, too well hidden pr0n : suspicious & LARGE files without extension, billion "this time I will keep it clean"/"save it wherever, erase later"-kind of download folders, impartial download files from numerous P2P programs I've had in the past, all kind of art, music and game projects that are forgotten or lost and covered with spider webs... and so on.

What I want to do is complete overview what's on my hard disks, is there some files where they don't belong & where they are, etc.

So basically, a program that gives me sizes of folders, finds files by size (under/over some size limit), finds all that hidden or forgot junk and so on.

Windows 7... doesn't really come with any tool to do this. Even search function doesn't start anymore for me  

I tried googling, but found only something named "simpli-file statistics" which doesn't even install since it fails to detect .NET framework even AFTER I installed both old 1.1 and that new beta. Maybe it's some kind of Vista incompatibility. So,

Does anyone know a powerful, Windows 7 (or Vista, same) -compatible tool to solve my mess?

Okay... a bit technical thread, but I haven't made one for a long time.

:: Prologue ::
I'm planning to have my 3-week vacation at country house.
3 weeks with camera, endless photo-opportunities and my darling machine. 3D-textures ahoy!

Problem is, there's no internet... and sooner or later I need internet. I will die without internet.
Also, it's raining all time. Especially there, since I live stone throw away from sea.

Shadowless, cloudy weather is perfect for 3D texture shooting, but I cannot do it 24/7, so I need internet in-between to amuse myself.

Okay.

:: Situation ::

Is following: About 160m from my house is one of 2 wifi transmitters in whole county. It's a local public library.


Rumors say that this particular wifi transmission reaches about 175m and has speed of 1GBit at best. I tried last summer, and from my house, I didn't get signal strong enough to have a working connection. Just some hopping on-off one barful of internets (in terms of windows wifi stuff). That's clearly not enough.

It looks like this:


"Normal" people would take laptop, sit infront or inside library and do their mail checks and facebook updates, but my lifestyle is a bit different - first, laptops are doings of devil, and second, I live at night.

So, I need to think of something.
Having fiberoptic cable in my reach always, I don't know much about WiFi thing. Only as much as I set up a wifi router to supply my cable connection to rest of 2 computers in my apartment.
As I mentioned, I've never been (and never will be) a laptop user, I like cables. Lots of em'.

:: The plan ::

I thought of using cheap USB wifi reciever (I have handful of those, they always break quickly) and moving it closer to the local library.
There's 2 versions:

1) Move it to the corner of the yard (thus being about 145m from transmitter, see picture below)
2) Move it to the intersection of little street to our house, at the corner of main street (100m from transmitter, see picture above)



3) Aquire super long USB cable to do this (will be really, really complicated)
4) Make some kind of cheap reflector to get more signal

About reflector: I've watched some DIY videos on this, the windsurfer and that one where all kinds of cheap kitchen utensils are used, bowls and tinfoil.

My own idea was to make much bigger reflector, and use carton or cardboard for this. I work as a designer for corrugated board-made stuff and I could make quite precise model with CAD & get good material for this. Either carton & tinfoil or even Metalprinted carton (which might or might not be super for such thing).

There's also a possibility: move reflector & transmitter to the roof. It will be considerably easier to do, I could make a high mast for this and use less USB cable (which is impossible to aquire I think).

:: Questions ::

...are:

1 )  Does whole thing have a point?

2 )  Could there be big difference between mentioned 105m and 145m reception? I couldn't use reflector with 105m version, only plain USB reciever hidden behind mailbox or bush so people on street wouldn't steal or break it.

3 )  Could mast & roof thing work better than moving closer to transmitter?

4 )  Would bigger reflector do better job than small one, and would it be considerable plus?

5 )  To keep USB reciever from rain, I think I have to cover it with little opaque plastic bag. Would it make connection worse?

6 )  Can I make my own long USB extender? I have some short cables around, would cutting one in two and putting wires between work? I'm not into soldering and such electronics much - so it would be messy, and I'm afraid that over 20-40 meters, that weak voltage USB-port provides (9V if I'm correct) would simply be lost in wires so antenna would work even worse if at all.

7 )  Can I fix issues of #6 with a battery...er... somehow?

8 )  Is there a sane alternative to my let's-make-long-cable madness?

Anyone who thinks (s)he might say something useful or has any thoughts on issue, I'd be really thankful.

...don't work very well. First. They start like 2 minutes. Then, Windows 7 bitches about color schemes and disables it.  Even though I run in XP SP3 compatibility mode. But comp-modes are crappy as always.

And ingame, whenever sound is played, there's random lag of 1 second. Worst case so far, Art of Theft. DirectX 11 issue perhaps?
Any tips?

On side, note, interesting that I haven't seen any Win7 threads or mention here anywhere... Or maybe I haven't looked well enough.

I got it on for like 1,5 months already? I doubt that even CJ has tested AGS with it yet.

For AGS being Win7-ready early would be a good idea because from what I've experienced so far, Windows 7 is the 'dream windows' and best thing Microsoft has ever done so far. If anything obsoletes XP, this will. Nothing like that godawful Windows ME second-edition called Vista.