Hello everyone,

My name is Frank, a book-author and avid-gamer in Taiwan (I've played
over 500 well-known computer games, most of them RPGs.) Recently I'm
trying to learn VC++ and game programming, but the game-programming
industry in Taiwan is very immature compared to other countries.  The
education system shuns game-designing entirely (can you guys believe
it?), resulting in most advanced programmers doesn't know where to
start with game-designing.

I have no background in programming at all.  When I start thinking
about designing a game, I try to find friends familiar with C++, but
nearly all of them shook their heads when I ask them to teach me
practical game designing basics.

I've been studying "Introduction to VC++, Teach Yourself in C++ in 21
Days" type of books for almost 1 month now, but without a solid
background and a clear direction what to remember and what NOT to
concentrate on, I find the learning process not very practical and
often-confused.  I tried to ask help from programmer friends, but
they have this idea that "I don't want to teach you something that I
make a living for."  Find a tutor?  I tried but can't find any
knowledgeable enough to teach me about GAME designing.

Frustrated, I turned to internet and have found so many game
programmers here willing to share their game designing experience!
I'm so touched!

Anyways, enough introducing myself.  If whoever has the patience to
read this message through should already know that I'm very green to
programming, knowing only the basics (I did learn a bit of VB-type
weird programming language when I studied computer science in high
school, so I think I understand the ideas of for/if loop concept,
declaring variables, etc, but no more than that).  If there is any
suggestion, or anyone patient and nice enough to guide me out of the
dark, I'd be extremely, extremely grateful.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Frank Chang

Hi Frank,

Welcome to the group.  Learning game programming often seems a
daunting task, don't start out trying to make a complicated game.
You should check out our tutorials and books.  Also you can look at
the pong game I'm about to upload.

Thanks,
Forest

--- In EastCoastGames@y..., asmilingface@h... wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> My name is Frank, a book-author and avid-gamer in Taiwan (I've
played
> over 500 well-known computer games, most of them RPGs.) Recently
I'm
> trying to learn VC++ and game programming, but the game-programming
> industry in Taiwan is very immature compared to other countries.
The
> education system shuns game-designing entirely (can you guys
believe
> it?), resulting in most advanced programmers doesn't know where to
> start with game-designing.
>
> I have no background in programming at all.  When I start thinking
> about designing a game, I try to find friends familiar with C++,
but
> nearly all of them shook their heads when I ask them to teach me
> practical game designing basics.
>
> I've been studying "Introduction to VC++, Teach Yourself in C++ in
21
> Days" type of books for almost 1 month now, but without a solid
> background and a clear direction what to remember and what NOT to
> concentrate on, I find the learning process not very practical and
> often-confused.  I tried to ask help from programmer friends, but
> they have this idea that "I don't want to teach you something that
I
> make a living for."  Find a tutor?  I tried but can't find any
> knowledgeable enough to teach me about GAME designing.
>
> Frustrated, I turned to internet and have found so many game
> programmers here willing to share their game designing experience!
> I'm so touched!
>
> Anyways, enough introducing myself.  If whoever has the patience to
> read this message through should already know that I'm very green
to
> programming, knowing only the basics (I did learn a bit of VB-type
> weird programming language when I studied computer science in high
> school, so I think I understand the ideas of for/if loop concept,
> declaring variables, etc, but no more than that).  If there is any
> suggestion, or anyone patient and nice enough to guide me out of
the
> dark, I'd be extremely, extremely grateful.
>
> Thank you and have a nice day.
>
> Frank Chang

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the EastCoastGames
group.

   File        : /C++/pong.zip
   Uploaded by : forestj@...
   Description : A DirectX version of Pong.

You can access this file at the URL

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EastCoastGames/files/C%2B%2B/pong.zip

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit

http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/files

Regards,

forestj@...

Hello Forest,
Thanks for the remark.  I won't (and can't) make complicated games at
this moment anyway.  I've been looking through the tutorials you post
in East Coast website and found the explanations about C++ very
newbie-friendly.  The thing I'm trying to get the hang of is how to
make an object and make it move on a map.  (No, I'm not trying to
make a RTS game, I'm trying to make a simple quest oriented RPG.)  If
you have any suggestion can you tell me the best concept to work on?
Thanks a lot.

Yours,
Frank




--- In EastCoastGames@y..., "Forest Handford" <forestj@y...> wrote:
> Hi Frank,
>
> Welcome to the group.  Learning game programming often seems a
> daunting task, don't start out trying to make a complicated game.
> You should check out our tutorials and books.  Also you can look at
> the pong game I'm about to upload.
>
> Thanks,
> Forest

Into Networks is having an open house August 1st for Boston Area game developers. Come and learn about how streaming software is impacting your business and how you can impact streaming software. 

Into powers software streaming over the Internet.  Yes, that's full version CD ROM software at Into Powered sites like Electronics Boutique's EB1.com and Disney.com.  Game developers make the products that our customers offer consumers.  We hope you will take this opportunity to speak with us about how we can work together to make streaming games the best consumer experience possible.

Into Networks - Open House
Learn about IntoMedia and the best methods for delivering your software products online.

Join us for pizza and beer while Joe Croman, VP of Engineering,  introduces you to IntoMedia with a system overview and Dave Newbower, Senior Encoder, will show you how to optimize your content for broadband delivery.

When:  Wednesday, August 1, 2001
5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. 
Where:  Into Networks Offices, 150 CambridgePark Dr., 5th floor, Cambridge, MA 

RSVP and/or questions? Contact Laura Dalton at ldalton@... or 617.575.1172.

Into Networks www.intonet.com

Hi All,

I just banned incense@... and deleted his or her spam.  Sorry
about how long it took me.

Thanks,
Forest

ok, this is probably more of design/graphics question, but maybe
someone can help. I'm learning a lot more about programming (C++),
but I'm also messing around with the idea of a fantasy RTS game.
Well, yesturday I started making models of buildings in 3D Studio
Max. Is there any special way I need to render them so that later
when I start on the programming I can use them in the game? Also,
When I render them, they look like they're just sticking up out of
the ground and its extremely annoying and ugly. Does anyone here have
any suggestions on how to make a little area of mud around the
buildings that blends in with a grass texture around the edges (as in
most RTS games)? That's about it. If anyone can help me out with
these problems, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Mitko

It all depends on the type of game you are writing. If you are doing a 3/4
Isometric, then you can probably just render them as bitmaps. If you are
making a 3d program, you'd probably have to convert them to dfx or some
other open format and then write your program to translate that.
the way you'd do the fade in to mud (for a tile based game) would be to have
a second tile (in addition to your building tile) that would contain the mud
to grass transition and be a little bit bigger than the building. That way,
you could put it down over grass and it would appear to blend, but if you
put the building over an already "muddy" area, you wouldn't need to put the
transition tile in. Hope this helps...


>    Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2001 15:31:13 -0000
>    From: "Mitko" <mhris@...>
> Subject: ugly! these buildings are ugly!
>
> ok, this is probably more of design/graphics question, but maybe
> someone can help. I'm learning a lot more about programming (C++),
> but I'm also messing around with the idea of a fantasy RTS game.
> Well, yesturday I started making models of buildings in 3D Studio
> Max. Is there any special way I need to render them so that later
> when I start on the programming I can use them in the game? Also,
> When I render them, they look like they're just sticking up out of
> the ground and its extremely annoying and ugly. Does anyone here have
> any suggestions on how to make a little area of mud around the
> buildings that blends in with a grass texture around the edges (as in
> most RTS games)? That's about it. If anyone can help me out with
> these problems, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!
>
> Mitko

I had another idea about how you might want to proceed with this problem:

I'm not sure if you'll be able to do this as it would depend on the
specifications of the format you are using for the images, but if you could
set some pixels along the edge of the "mud" section of the building image to
be transparent, I believe it would be possible to create the effect of the
mud blending with the grass and any other surface you would place it on by
simply having the surface show right through around the edges, and maybe
even extend the effect by having some translucent pixels(not sure how you
would go about doing this) placed between the building's mud and the
transparent pixels, in order the create the effect of the mud and the other
surface texture blending together.

Hope this helps, it was just something that struck my mind while reading
your post.

- Rob Z

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mitko" <mhris@...>
To: <EastCoastGames@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 11:31 AM
Subject: [www.EastCoastGames.com Forum] ugly! these buildings are ugly!


> ok, this is probably more of design/graphics question, but maybe
> someone can help. I'm learning a lot more about programming (C++),
> but I'm also messing around with the idea of a fantasy RTS game.
> Well, yesturday I started making models of buildings in 3D Studio
> Max. Is there any special way I need to render them so that later
> when I start on the programming I can use them in the game? Also,
> When I render them, they look like they're just sticking up out of
> the ground and its extremely annoying and ugly. Does anyone here have
> any suggestions on how to make a little area of mud around the
> buildings that blends in with a grass texture around the edges (as in
> most RTS games)? That's about it. If anyone can help me out with
> these problems, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!
>
> Mitko
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from the East Coast Games Forum, send an email to:
> EastCoastGames-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>

Thats a good idea, and it would be pretty easy to do, since I think Direct
Draw will let you set a color-key and automatically blit it as transparent
any pixel that equals the color-key.

> Message: 1
>    Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 15:57:46 -0400
>    From: "Rob Zimmerman" <rob.z@...>
> Subject: Re: ugly! these buildings are ugly!
>
> I had another idea about how you might want to proceed with this problem:
>
> I'm not sure if you'll be able to do this as it would depend on the
> specifications of the format you are using for the images, but if you
could
> set some pixels along the edge of the "mud" section of the building image
to
> be transparent, I believe it would be possible to create the effect of the
> mud blending with the grass and any other surface you would place it on by
> simply having the surface show right through around the edges, and maybe
> even extend the effect by having some translucent pixels(not sure how you
> would go about doing this) placed between the building's mud and the
> transparent pixels, in order the create the effect of the mud and the
other
> surface texture blending together.
>
> Hope this helps, it was just something that struck my mind while reading
> your post.
>
> - Rob Z
>

That sounds like a really good idea. I dont know how I'm going to do it yet, but I'll definatly give that a try. Thanks :).

Mitko

  EastCoastGames@yahoogroups.com wrote:

To unsubscribe from the East Coast Games Forum, send an email to:
EastCoastGames-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com


------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is 1 message in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. Re: ugly! these buildings are ugly!
From: "Rob Zimmerman"


________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 15:57:46 -0400
From: "Rob Zimmerman"
Subject: Re: ugly! these buildings are ugly!

I had another idea about how you might want to proceed with this problem:

I'm not sure if you'll be able to do this as it would depend on the
specifications of the format you are using for the images, but if you could
set some pixels along the edge of the "mud" section of the building image to
be transparent, I believe it would be possible to create the effect of the
mud blending with the grass and any other surface you would place it on by
simply having the surface show right through around the edges, and maybe
even extend the effect by having some translucent pixels(not sure how you
would go about doing this) placed between the building's mud and the
transparent pixels, in order the create the effect of the mud and the other
surface texture blending together.

Hope this helps, it was just something that struck my mind while reading
your post.

- Rob Z

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mitko"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 11:31 AM
Subject: [www.EastCoastGames.com Forum] ugly! these buildings are ugly!


> ok, this is probably more of design/graphics question, but maybe
> someone can help. I'm learning a lot more about programming (C++),
> but I'm also messing around with the idea of a fantasy RTS game.
> Well, yesturday I started making models of buildings in 3D Studio
> Max. Is there any special way I need to render them so that later
> when I start on the programming I can use them in the game? Also,
> When I render them, they look like they're just sticking up out of
> the ground and its extremely annoying and ugly. Does anyone here have
> any suggestions on how to make a little area of mud around the
> buildings that blends in with a grass texture around the edges (as in
> most RTS games)? That's about it. If anyone can help me out with
> these problems, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!
>
> Mitko
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from the East Coast Games Forum, send an email to:
> EastCoastGames-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>



________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________



Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

----- Original Message -----

From: Dimitar Hristov

To: EastCoastGames@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2001 12:01 PM

Subject: Re: [www.EastCoastGames.com Forum] Digest Number 39

That sounds like a really good idea. I dont know how I'm going to do it yet, but I'll definatly give that a try. Thanks :).

Mitko

  EastCoastGames@yahoogroups.com wrote:

To unsubscribe from the East Coast Games Forum, send an email to:
EastCoastGames-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com


------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is 1 message in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. Re: ugly! these buildings are ugly!
From: "Rob Zimmerman"


________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 15:57:46 -0400
From: "Rob Zimmerman"
Subject: Re: ugly! these buildings are ugly!

I had another idea about how you might want to proceed with this problem:

I'm not sure if you'll be able to do this as it would depend on the
specifications of the format you are using for the images, but if you could
set some pixels along the edge of the "mud" section of the building image to
be transparent, I believe it would be possible to create the effect of the
mud blending with the grass and any other surface you would place it on by
simply having the surface show right through around the edges, and maybe
even extend the effect by having some translucent pixels(not sure how you
would go about doing this) placed between the building's mud and the
transparent pixels, in order the create the effect of the mud and the other
surface texture blending together.

Hope this helps, it was just something that struck my mind while reading
your post.

- Rob Z

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mitko"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 11:31 AM
Subject: [www.EastCoastGames.com Forum] ugly! these buildings are ugly!


> ok, this is probably more of design/graphics question, but maybe
> someone can help. I'm learning a lot more about programming (C++),
> but I'm also messing around with the idea of a fantasy RTS game.
> Well, yesturday I started making models of buildings in 3D Studio
> Max. Is there any special way I need to render them so that later
> when I start on the programming I can use them in the game? Also,
> When I render them, they look like they're just sticking up out of
> the ground and its extremely annoying and ugly. Does anyone here have
> any suggestions on how to make a little area of mud around the
> buildings that blends in with a grass texture around the edges (as in
> most RTS games)? That's about it. If anyone can help me out with
> these problems, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!
>
> Mitko
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from the East Coast Games Forum, send an email to:
> EastCoastGames-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>



________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________



Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

---

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Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger.
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Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

Ok, I read that DirectX 8.0 got its DD messed up and microsoft is
concentrating on D3D instead now... I can't find the DirectX 7.0 SDK,
anyone know where I can get it? I can't even find it on Microsoft's
site.

Direct Draw is still in there, but instead of just creating a
DIRECTDRAWOBJECT or whatever it is, you would use DIRECTDRAWOBJECT7 (or
replace 7 with whatever specific DD version you want) the DX8 SDK will tell
you how to do this.

> Message: 4
>    Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2001 23:02:15 -0000
>    From: "Mitko" <mhris@...>
> Subject: DirectX 7.0 SDK
>
> Ok, I read that DirectX 8.0 got its DD messed up and microsoft is
> concentrating on D3D instead now... I can't find the DirectX 7.0 SDK,
> anyone know where I can get it? I can't even find it on Microsoft's
> site.
>
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>

To add to what Cevin Milner, there is a good article on how to use
DirectDraw using DirectX 8.0 at
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20010629/geczy_01.htm .  The Pong
game I recently posted used DirectX 8 but I had used the same calls I
learned from DirectX 5.  If you really want the DirectX 7 SDK you can
buy a book about DirectX 7 and it should come with the SDK.

Thanks,
Forest

--- In EastCoastGames@y..., "Mitko" <mhris@y...> wrote:
> Ok, I read that DirectX 8.0 got its DD messed up and microsoft is
> concentrating on D3D instead now... I can't find the DirectX 7.0
SDK,
> anyone know where I can get it? I can't even find it on Microsoft's
> site.

Hello everyone,

Well, I've got a group of people (including me) that want to make a
Spycraft (if you've played it) or Myst/Riven type game. The way we'd
like to try is using live video... Question is, how do I get it to
pull that specific video segment up when the player makes a move?


-Michael Krueger

hi every one,
can any one tell me which is the best site for
downloading the projects in c/c++.like gaming,system
level programming.
thanks,

____________________________________________________________
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Send a newsletter, share photos & files, conduct polls, organize chat events.
Visit http://in.groups.yahoo.com

hi every one,
can any one tell me which is the best site for
downloading the projects in c/c++.like gaming,system
level programming.
thanks,

____________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send a newsletter, share photos & files, conduct polls, organize chat events.
Visit http://in.groups.yahoo.com

can any one tell me where i can download the microsoft
c/c++ compiler for free
thanks,

____________________________________________________________
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Send a newsletter, share photos & files, conduct polls, organize chat events.
Visit http://in.groups.yahoo.com

Hi,

Anone interested in Game Development under Linux can join this group.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxgamed/

Bye.

I got to say you have a very useful web site (East Coast Games) and I
am a very happy camper now that I have found it for it was exactly
what the doctor ordered, literally… …A long story, but the short of
it is I am an in-house graphic designer and medical illustrator in
the Chicago area working for a Java based research group of a medical
school radiology department, though what I really want to be is a
Christmas Elf, I mean dentist, I mean…

My interest has always been in illustration and visual story telling
as I trained on the east coast at Temple University's Tyler School of
Art in painting and illustration with the intention of becoming a
children's book illustrator, but as they say, the best laid plans of
mice and men- Actually I can't remember what they actually say from
that point on, all I know is it can't be good… So after a few years
of meandering through the graphics industry, learning through
experience the new tools of our age I have found my self washed
ashore in my current occupation, a virtual paradise for the Neo
Renaissance man wanting not but for one thing.

Large busted, and leggy scantily clad Amazon babes who will take me
back to their tribe to worship me for the conceptual god that I
am. !!!POP!!! Where was I..? Oh yes, so there is really only one
thing that my job has yet to offer me to make me truly happy as a
graphic artist and illustrator. A public outlet for some of my
less "professional" and certainly less conservative, if not just
wholly outrageous concepts, ideas, creations, and designs.

Basically I want to be able to draw guns, girls, spaceships and
things, and one day see them come alive on the pages of books,
magazines, TV, movies, and games- Ah, games, now there in lays the
rub. Imagine being able to design characters, mecha, and worlds and
seeing them take on lives of their own as others pick and choose
their fate, bringing them together, pulling them apart in a virtual
world where chaos is an ideal state of being as a test of one's
cunning.

But whatever shall I do… I have these ideas, but only half the
skills, I can draw and paint by hand, and I can draw and paint via
computer, but that only gives me semi perfect 2D worlds where
everything is stagnant until the next page, the next canvas, even
upon learning to create my images with the aid of 3D software I am
still trapped in a still world, one without interaction, one without
life.

I desire to set my sails, and cast myself out of this Sargasso Sea
that holds my imagination and find the oceans of knowledge that are
within my sight…

In other words, I really want to do two things, work with a group of
creative, motivated people, to supplement my own talents to create
really cool highly interactive games, and I want to learn how to
program, not because I want to become a programmer (I'm an artist,
and shall always be an artist), but because knowledge is power and
with enough power thing of the imagination can become real.

Umm I'm new to the C++ part of game programming, and wanted to know a
little about where I can find a free C++ program, that's pretty
good.  Thx-JC

http://www.darkbasic.com DarkBASIC Game Programming-Great VisualBasic
type game maker.  Top notch

Errr compiler, my bad.-JC

Check out DJGPP at www.delorie.com.  Also look at
members.tripod.co.uk/lpfglc for info on it and the
game programming library Allegro
--- Cloud_Strife_SOLDIER
<cloud_strife_soldier@...> wrote:
> Errr compiler, my bad.-JC
>
>


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Thx Maegwyn :) -JC




--- In EastCoastGames@y..., Maegwyn <kathyk77_2000@y...> wrote:
> Check out DJGPP at www.delorie.com.  Also look at
> members.tripod.co.uk/lpfglc for info on it and the
> game programming library Allegro
> --- Cloud_Strife_SOLDIER
> <cloud_strife_soldier@y...> wrote:
> > Errr compiler, my bad.-JC
> >
> >
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail!
> http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/

Anyone know of another one where I don't have to edit my whole web
shell or autoexec file to use?-JC

Try Bloodshed or GNU.

***On Wed 5:41a Jan 23 Cloud_Strife_SOLDIER <cloud_strife_soldier@...>
wrote***
Anyone know of another one where I don't have to edit my whole web
shell or autoexec file to use?-JC



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I hate sounding totaly ignorant, but where might I aquire these fine
pieces of software :) -JC


--- In EastCoastGames@y..., "Forest Handford" <fhandford@m...> wrote:
> Try Bloodshed or GNU.
>
> ***On Wed 5:41a Jan 23 Cloud_Strife_SOLDIER
<cloud_strife_soldier@y...> wrote***
> Anyone know of another one where I don't have to edit my whole web
> shell or autoexec file to use?-JC
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from the East Coast Games Forum, send an email to:
> EastCoastGames-unsubscribe@y...
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

I think GNU comes free with most versions of LINUX as well as UNIX.  For
Bloodshed try http://www.bloodshed.net/ .

***On Wed 9:49a Jan 23 Cloud_Strife_SOLDIER <cloud_strife_soldier@...>
wrote***
I hate sounding totaly ignorant, but where might I aquire these fine
pieces of software :) -JC


--- In EastCoastGames@y..., "Forest Handford" <fhandford@m...> wrote:
> Try Bloodshed or GNU.
>
> ***On Wed 5:41a Jan 23 Cloud_Strife_SOLDIER
<cloud_strife_soldier@y...> wrote***
> Anyone know of another one where I don't have to edit my whole web
> shell or autoexec file to use?-JC
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from the East Coast Games Forum, send an email to:
> EastCoastGames-unsubscribe@y...
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/


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