Not Dead, just resting: What would juice this community?

[WILL]

Hey folks!

Sorry it seems like I've been away a lot lately. I have been quite busy with some of my more serious than ever projects and my family is growing by 1 very soon. (It'll be a girl! :))

You all know that I like to stick my nose in all those places that it may or may not belong (you choose, I obviously don't care ;) You read the "sticking nose" part right?) such as talking up and the FPC dev team including Florian himself, nagging Delphi poster guy David I. or talking with "top men" at RemObjects for reasons of getting you guys some free stuff, pushing dev tools towards our interests or trying to get new platforms officially supported. Thanks again Francesco! :D

Well what would help really juice the community here? More moderators, more connections with social mediums such as Facebook & Twitter? Continuous news posting? (What if we hired a guy or paid you somehow for your news posting?)

Would more community ran projects help?

Would another PGD Challenge compo do the trick? (Sorry we were late on publishing results. They will be up very, very soon!)

What if we had some kind of special service that you can easily adapt to your games that would help provide a game center-like presence for high scores and award systems? (It would be named something cool and not be overly patriotic about all things "Pascal". But it would be made with Pascal game dev first in mind.)

What if we struck a deal with a major player in the Pascal dev tool industry to start doing something great for game developers?

Would new console development that actually has a chance of happening make a difference? Who doesn't want their games on theirs and other's TV screen with gamepad-like play? Are you excited about the OUYA?

Tell us what you think and what would make you excited about this community!

[FelipeFS]

I would LOVE to port my game engine(which is already a bit functional) to work on OUYA development, but I think that they will build the hardware to work only with the Android API. And this is really discouraging for me.

[User137]

I'm mainly into games for desktop PC's ;) Would be cool if someone managed to get his game on Steam. I have actually no TV or android capable small device, and absolute no desire to get one...

[Legolas]

Hey folks!

Sorry it seems like I've been away a lot lately. I have been quite busy with some of my more serious than ever projects and my family is growing by 1 very soon. (It'll be a girl! :))

Congratulations! :D
inc(family) here too, but it will be a boy :baby:



You all know that I like to stick my nose in all those places that it may or may not belong (you choose, I obviously don't care ;) You read the "sticking nose" part right?) such as talking up and the FPC dev team including Florian himself, nagging Delphi poster guy David I. or talking with "top men" at RemObjects for reasons of getting you guys some free stuff, pushing dev tools towards our interests or trying to get new platforms officially supported. Thanks again Francesco! :D

You are welcome ;D




Well what would help really juice the community here? More moderators, more connections with social mediums such as Facebook & Twitter? Continuous news posting? (What if we hired a guy or paid you somehow for your news posting?)

Would more community ran projects help?

Would another PGD Challenge compo do the trick? (Sorry we were late on publishing results. They will be up very, very soon!)

What if we had some kind of special service that you can easily adapt to your games that would help provide a game center-like presence for high scores and award systems? (It would be named something cool and not be overly patriotic about all things "Pascal". But it would be made with Pascal game dev first in mind.)

What if we struck a deal with a major player in the Pascal dev tool industry to start doing something great for game developers?

Would new console development that actually has a chance of happening make a difference? Who doesn't want their games on theirs and other's TV screen with gamepad-like play? Are you excited about the OUYA?

Tell us what you think and what would make you excited about this community!

Maybe some code snippets aimed to game development? I mean, we could even create a library by categorizing the tricks and the code snippets that have been posted in the forum over the years. Or some small examples that could attract beginners, like: drawing and moving sprites, collision detection, tile based maps, parallax scrolling, platform engine and gravity, etc.
Oh, and I like the "Image Of The Day" idea, that pops out every now and then ;)

[WILL]

New platforms is always cool. Especially when the tools support them and you don't have to explore a scary code jungle to make it work. :P

Something that Lifepower would complain about is not enough Delphi stuff. Frankly from my end, there is nothing new to report about it other than what Embt releases. So it falls on you guys to post your general Object Pascal code stuff. I know noone here has claimed that we gave up on Delphi, (yet ;)) but to those that would I'd suggest that those people post more Delphi related things. I'm too busy to post everything out there unfortunately.

The way I see how the site functions now, I can post the links, report the news and help with the networking/cataloging part of the community, but for content like that, it's up to the members to post it and provide it. Not sure how we are going to encourage people to do something that we've asked them to do (for the community) all along and still hasn't happened. What would you (all) propose we do to get people to write these mini tutorials?

Image of the Day is something that I have been pondering for a while. The site software does lend it's self to make it easy to do honestly.

[Super Vegeta]

Well, the activity here is quite low, so Image of the Day might be too much, but Image of the Week should be good.

Also, how's PGM4 holding up? I sent You some articles back in the while; maybe they could get a place among site's articles too?

[WILL]

Yes, you are right. I meant to say Week or Month not Day.

I'm not sure what we will be doing for the near future of Pascal Gamer "Magazine". We (and I actually mean we this time) are working on what will be Issue 4, however I'm hoping to be able to work in a different format. I'd love to do something exciting with iBooks Author (http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/), but not everyone has iOS devices. If there was a technology that was like it that could lend it's self to all platforms, as all Pascal programmers are span many mobile and desktop platforms, I'd be willing to look at it. I'd like future issues to be more than simple print to paper format.

As for Pascal Gamer it's self, it still has a place in the community other than the magazine. My plan is to start doing podcasts with my new Pascal Gamer partner. Who that is, I'll leave until he decides to reveal himself. :) Or something gets released.

I'm open to others joining me on Pascal Gamer, but I'd be foolish not to illicit their help in adding content and keeping PGD active first and foremost. Still no beginner tutorial article authors yet.

I hope to do a podcast for sometime next month if possible. We will be looking at who will be the first guest. Someone who has released a game or done something else really great. I've already installed the software on my Mac that can to all the work. ;)

[Eric]

Blog syndication ala DelphiFeeds, but more game oriented could be good too (not sure how much activity there really is though).
For IOTD, not sure what the site supports, but using pages and rss, it could be done in js rather than php, which might be simpler?

[WILL]

I've been trying to get PGD's News on DelphiFeeds. There are somewhere over 80+ votes towards this and we are the top suggestion for the better part of a year now. Why we are not added is beyond me, but how else can I get the guy's attention?

There is a lot of game related news. However most aren't posting their game projects here and I've not had the kind of time to seek many of them out. Cezar and Momor are making a killing, I'm sure, creating games. Then there is the Russia community at IGDC, but they don't usually post about them here. Not so sure about the German community, but I've heard very little about it here. Sascha Willems is of course working on his project slowly.

Warning: I get a little ranty here...

There is a lot going on, but in truth the community its self has only it's self to blame. I've been pushing the news and going "out of my way" to find all the ins and outs over the years. Then when I get busy I stop and you notice how all that exposure and activity seems to disappear from the site? I was told when I joinned the first forums that the site is what "I" made of it. And it's true. This is what "you" make of it and if you want it to go quiet, then let it go quiet. If you want activity and news posts, then post. I paid for the site domain and hosting to be up until 2016. I paid for the portal and forums software that runs the site so everyone can post in the forums and make news posts that will be seen on the front page and can all be syndicated via RSS. It's there for you guys. So use it.

End rantiness...

The only major issue we have right now technically is new membership to the site. Spammers are aware of whats running the site and they know the vulnerabilities of the software. The only sure way to keep them out is to have a human gateway. That's the admins manually changing them from a restrictive access to the New Members forum only until we can deem them no longer a threat and give them access to the rest from that point. Sadly Athena's script seems to be a little glitchy and it's not working as planned. I don't know if this is really such a huge thing as new users barely post again after that.

I lied, there is another major problem and that's this funny spam that keeps showing up from Google. I go to post the www.pascalgamedevelopment.com domain on Facebook and I see it everytime. That can't help our reputation. I don't know where this spam is, but I'm about to give it a huge bounty on it's head. Fix it and keep it away permanently I'm considering a nice prize for that person who does so.

Barring that we have a lot of registered members at PGD. We're linked into Facebook somewhat. And I've been tweeting about all kinds of stuff that goes on here. Maybe when the podcasts start up Pascal Gamer will pickup activity and that'll help bring more interested parties.

So if anyone wants to help where we've dropped the ball or are stuck, these are a list of things you can do or help with.

[WILL]

I do want to point out on a very positive note, that the PGD Challenge competitions have been a total joy to do. We have had at least a handful to take part and the results have always been quite fun to play with. I'm planning on getting up the PGD Challenge Showcase site soon. The domain is reserved and just waiting for me to have time to get it up and available to you all. So thanks for being patient in waiting for that. I hope to share that with you soon!

[code_glitch]

It runs android on ARM... http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android anyone?

[WILL]

It runs android on ARM... http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android anyone?

Do these guys get that Android is the software where the hardware is what the individual companies made? How does Android still have a factor if they replace it with Ubuntu Linux? I don't get it.

[code_glitch]

Well, since the android kernel was forked from the main linux kernel way back when it started (although maybe not so long ago) because google wanted better power manangement as well as driver support for devices on the mobile platforms the fact it runs android can mean a few things - for instance it may mean that it uses some hardware that the main linux kernel doesnt support out of the box - for which the ARM/Android ubuntu initiative tries to fix up a little.

Then theres the issue that if you did replace Android with Ubuntu or some other linux distribution and did not make it dual bootable, which even if you did would require a keyboard for GRUB or LILIO, you'd end up with a slightly ugly user interface - similar issue that causes some usability issues on touch screen devices and desktop linux and so on... So in short - unless you want to replace all the goodness of android that may be your best option :)

[chronozphere]

I'm not dead either, just busy with other projects. I just finished a big one (java, not gamedev related) and I'm about to quit my current job, so I can devote all my time to my studies. I might do a game development in my spare time but I'm unsure about the language and tools to use as well as the game concept, the scale of the project and the possibilities for distributing the product and making a bit of money. Pretty much everything. ;)

If I will start a big gamedev project in pascal, it will almost certainly be a remake of Tuberunner. :D Still playing around with ideas.

[code_glitch]

Oh yes, and Im not dead either. Just on holiday, mostly off grid and when I'm at home I have a dead line which BT refuse to fix... Awesomo. :D

[phibermon]

(The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated. I've had my engine (JenJin) and a couple of game-like tech demos in constant development since my last spat of activity here on PGD. It's a massive project and is nearing the stage where I'll be either inviting people to join me or possibly open sourcing it for version controlled development (git/cvs whatever))

I think some form of PGD community lib that can be used in game projects would be a good idea (some system for web high scores, a framework intergrating popular pascal audio/graphic libs etc)

Also a more extensive suite of pascal specific tutorials ('step by step', much in the vein of NeHe etc) seems like a good approach.

But I'd take my opinions with a pinch of salt being I was a strong advocate of the chat room and it hasn't really taken off ;)

[SilverWarior]

But I'd take my opinions with a pinch of salt being I was a strong advocate of the chat room and it hasn't really taken off ;)

I belive that the chat hasn't picked up becouse the fact that PGD members are from all around the world. What this means is that it is hard to synchronize to do any live chating. I myself had about half dozen times to do any live chating with someone and for that I had to stay up verry late (middle of the night). So unfortunately it doesn't look good for live chat system usage unless maybe for some pre aranged events.

[Dan]

was the chat ever implemented? cause I sure haven't seen it.

[WILL]

The AJAX Chat was given a testbed, but it never really caught on. I had thought of having a sort of webinar like series of events which one could chat online about each one as it played, but organizing is a factor there. And with everyone scattered around the globe as much as we are, it's hard to organize.

[Carver413]

As a sometimes woodworker I thought adding a few cad like elements to the explorer model might be useful. things are progressing nicely although I don't have a lot of time to code right now.

[phibermon]

The AJAX Chat was given a testbed, but it never really caught on. I had thought of having a sort of webinar like series of events which one could chat online about each one as it played, but organizing is a factor there. And with everyone scattered around the globe as much as we are, it's hard to organize.

I for one would be happy to stay up on a weekend (for example) for some form of online community event.

A webinar with some interesting game/pascal peeps with time alloted for Q/A sections, coincide with the results of a PGD challenge etc. Perhaps throw in a death-match or two ;)

[SilverWarior]

Then why don't you start a new thread inviting pepole to join you on certain date for a conversation. I think that for the first time we don't need to have specific topic for a conversation.
The chat is still available on http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/chat.
Also when you do this do include the next instruction:
To stay conected into chat without timeout disconection members should first login to PGD webpage by check the "Remember me" checkbox before loging in. This creates permament sesion for both PGD site and the chat system. If members won't use this they will be automaticly disconected from Chat system 15 after las activity on PGD site no mater how active they are in chat.

PS Google Chrome is detecting some site script errors on http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/chat which prevents using it. I have no problems using Chats system on IE thou.

[Dan]

I think it would actually help if you made the link available on the main page of the website. you know so that the other people would know that there is a chat.

[SilverWarior]

I think it would actually help if you made the link available on the main page of the website. you know so that the other people would know that there is a chat.

The reason why there is no link available on main page is due the fact that Chat is still being considered to be in testing version. There might be bugs in it and one of them is the need to use permament login sesion to avoid timeout disconects - the chat uses same cokie for sesion tracking as it is used for rest of PGD site. And the valididy of this cokie is 15 minutes. Meaning that if you are incative on PGD site for more than 15 minutes it will be as if you have loged out.
In the beggining lots of pepole were drawn away from chat becouse of theese timeout logouts and we didn't know why this is happeneing until one day I actually figured it out becouse I used permament sesion login for PGD.

[WILL]

What if I made up a small coin logo that people could state their membership of this community?

Small image that you could put on your blog or showcase/project site. Then use that to link to the PGD site it's self.

[Super Vegeta]

http://svgames.pl/gfx/pgdbutton.png
PGD is already among the buttons on my site. :)

[WILL]

http://svgames.pl/gfx/pgdbutton.png
PGD is already among the buttons on my site. :)

Very nice! :)

[Ñuño Martínez]

http://svgames.pl/gfx/pgdbutton.png
PGD is already among the buttons on my site. :)

Nice. :) I must redesign my web site, so I'll add it. :)

[Jimmy Valavanis]

Long time no see folks!




Sorry it seems like I've been away a lot lately. I have been quite busy with some of my more serious than ever projects and my family is growing by 1 very soon. (It'll be a girl! :))



Excellent news, congratulations!!!



Tell us what you think and what would make you excited about this community!

The showcase with the PGD mini competions would be a good choice to promote PGD and also attract new members.
Also a repository with games labeled appropriatelly (eg Delphi/FPC, Win32/Win64/Linux/Mac, Easy/Medium/Advanced, OpenGL/DirectX/Other, 2D/3D/Text etc) with contributions from our members. Simple games including source code could also attract newbies, and also could give ideas to all of us. (all of us should have 1 or 2 simple games written in the past to contribute)
Another thing I would like to see is more tutorials (I know it's hard)

[User137]

The AJAX Chat was given a testbed, but it never really caught on. I had thought of having a sort of webinar like series of events which one could chat online about each one as it played, but organizing is a factor there. And with everyone scattered around the globe as much as we are, it's hard to organize.
You could use existing IRC servers (quakenet, ircnet, ...) to host webchat too. Just 1 or more operators to control the channel, and it could go on 24/7 with no expense.