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Thread: EyeCandy Contest

  1. #11

    EyeCandy Contest

    Hi,
    So, is there anybody interested in the contest ?

  2. #12
    Legendary Member cairnswm's Avatar
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    EyeCandy Contest

    Hi MarcP

    I'd be interested in doing something but I only have access to windows. So

    -The program MUST : *Compile and work in fullscreen mode under Ubuntu 6.10 (i386), in at least 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768 with Gnome or KDE
    *Support some options : or the use of a "bpm" global (to synchronise it with music)
    *Be used as a screensaver in Linux
    I have no idea how to do

    Cheers
    William Cairns
    My Games: http://www.cairnsgames.co.za (Currently very inactive)
    MyOnline Games: http://TheGameDeveloper.co.za (Currently very inactive)

  3. #13

    EyeCandy Contest

    Quote Originally Posted by MarcP
    Hi,
    So, is there anybody interested in the contest ?
    I am interested, but I have no idea how to create a screensaver in Linux with Free Pascal (or Lazarus). Nor have I seen or heard of anyone else doing that.
    [size=10px]"In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite." -- Paul Dirac[/size]

  4. #14

    EyeCandy Contest

    That ain't so hard no? I'd there are enough toolkits available to do some graphical things; JEDI-SDL, PTCPas, GLScene, ...

  5. #15
    Co-Founder / PGD Elder WILL's Avatar
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    EyeCandy Contest

    Hey Marc! Welcome to the PGD forums.

    I really like the concept of the Eye Candy contest, however my years of experience of being involved in the Pascal game programming community is telling me that your contest is trying to break down too many barriers.

    1) Take up a new dev tool (FPC/Lazarus) for many.

    Even though the usage of these great projects is growing, it is still nowhere near the level of Delphi. Eventually if things continue to go the way they are I'm sure it can be very different, but take-up of a new tool such as Lazarus or even FPC alone [size=9px](the concept of a the command line at this era of software design is quite foreign to most young people just getting into 'fun' programming these days)[/size] is a barrier in it's self to overcome.

    2) Linux

    Most eye-candy gurus in the Pascal world come from a Windows only background. Ala Delphi or Turbo Pascal. As of yet only Free Pascal/Laz and GNU Pascal [size=9px](though it's basically a dead project by now)[/size] offer Linux solutions let alone other platforms. Kylix doesn't count as it was plagued with problems and dropped on it's head at birth by Borland. [size=9px](*ahem* Inprise, I mean *ahem*)[/size] Linux is a new platform for many so this is a yet a challenge as the transition is not so easy for quite a few Windows users. Furthering issues Lazarus packaging not too long ago was a horrible mess from distro to distro [size=9px](probably because Linux standards are such a horrible mess from distro to distro)[/size]

    3) ScreenSavers

    As point #2 shows, Linux is a new neich, yet. So it's obvious as to why not very many, if any is it where would be up to the task of learning how to make a screensaver in Linux of all things. Many don't even know how to make a screensaver in Windows let alone another OS. This one is probably the toughest out of the bunch mostly because it's a cascade of the Linux issue and so far removed from the mainstream.


    That all said, I honestly and truly do commend your efforts. It's great that we have interest in creating and running more competitions where Pascal and graphics are concerned. I think the concept of an eye-candy contest would turn out great, however if approached right.

    My rather strong recommendation [size=9px](and this is from someone who has hosted and helped run soon to be 3 competitions where external participation and involvement is key)[/size] is to keep the basic concept in place and continue to try to knock down barriers, but just take smaller bites. One major barrier is okay to challenge, but 2, 3 or more can get daunting and will scare away most if not all participation in your ventures.
    Jason McMillen
    Pascal Game Development
    Co-Founder





  6. #16

    EyeCandy Contest

    I'll leave 1) and 2) as they are but point 3 is nonsense; a screensaver is just a normal program that runs full screen.

  7. #17
    Co-Founder / PGD Elder WILL's Avatar
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    EyeCandy Contest

    Maybe in Linux to a Linux programmer this is a reality, but not quite so to a Windows programmer. At least the way he understands it. Hence part of the barrier.

    See in Win32 you have to do a few tricks to make a .scr file. There is a little bit involved in compiling it. [size=9px](I've played with it just a little bit some time ago. Enough to know it's not compile and go to make a Windows screensaver anyways.)[/size]

    It very well may be simple and easy to do, but noone knows how to do it or how it's done. You have to cater to your audience not yourself. If you want to introduce something simple, but not commonplace knowledge, provide a tutorial or a demo and/or concept for others to see and follow.
    Jason McMillen
    Pascal Game Development
    Co-Founder





  8. #18

    EyeCandy Contest

    I think there is only one answer to this problem: Team up with a Linux developer. It is no problem that not every programmer has no Linux experience, in fact, thanks to portable toolkits you can develop pretty well on Windows. But you need a Linux developer to answer these trivial questions.

    Removing the Linux requirement is no option, as we'll never get portable software then.

  9. #19

    EyeCandy Contest

    Hi, happy to some some people react
    Well, i said that the program COULD be run as a screen saver. It's not necessary (even if quite easy to do).
    For the Linux, you can do as i do :
    I had to recognize that Lazarus is not as user-friendly as Delphi.
    So i do most of my code with Delphi, then use Linux to change the few parts that need to be converted. But if Lazarus is not so user friendly, FPC is really Delphi-Compatible and the programs needs only small changes to run with Linux.
    So why i ask Linux and not Windows ? Because it's way much easier to convert Linux=>Win32
    So i would say : Start to see what run under Linux (i'm not sure that all Delphi stuff like GLScene is already ported to Linux), code it and test it with Windows, then port it. The idea of Daniel is also good : team up with a Linux developper.

  10. #20

    EyeCandy Contest

    Yes, WILL gets it. The only Linux screensavers I have on my system are xscreensaver ones written in C, and using the xscreensaver API. How to get xscreensaver to run my Pascal program? That may be trivial, but if it was trivial, someone would tell us how with a very short post.

    As I said before, I have never seen a Linux screensaver written in Free Pascal (I've seen Windows screensavers written in Free Pascal, because there we have Pascal translations of the win32 screensaver API). I suspect if it was trivial, it would have been done by now, even taking into account the relatively small number of Linux Free Pascal developers.
    [size=10px]"In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite." -- Paul Dirac[/size]

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