Castle Paradox

[Artimus Bena]

Isn't 2003 um... 3 years after 2000?
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SACRE BLEU!

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[Uncommon]

Honestly, knowing how different actually working in the industry is from making my own games is one of the things that transformed game design into a pure hobby rather than a career aspiration. I think working with OHR is much closer to living the dream than going to college, amassing a ridiculous amount of debt via loans, and basically killing my soul to end up in some lame number-crunching job as a little worker drone far down the ladder of the employment of a possible but not necessarily real industry hero.
Doing this as a hobby, I trade the probability of getting paid for having to spend the years climbing that ladder and actually doing what I want with the game I'm working on. I have friends who are entering the industy, having just graduated from Full-Sail, and unless you're all about messing with code, a job in the industry isn't really that great. I've got bigger dreams to worry about, anyway.
And seriously Squall, stop hating fun. You're too young too already be thinking like the crothetiest old guys. It's been said already, but just because something you do doesn't lead to the big bucks doesn't mean it wasn't worth doing at all. Do not give up your life for a rocking chair on the porch. I've made this plea with you before, but kid, I'm more serious now then I have ever been.

Never give up on life for work's sake. It is totally not worth it.
And don't take life so seriously. You'll never get out alive.
Enjoy it, fucking cherish it. Don't forget to live!

[FyreWulff]

That's because Full Sail degrees are worthless and won't get you any decent jobs


The best way to approach it is to either start indie or pursue a degree that isn't specifically game design oriented (english, ai programming, mathematics, engineer).

[PlayerOne]

I've started to reply to this a couple of times, and even finished a reply yesterday which failed to get submitted to the site.

I am (now) a professional cellphone game developer. I really like my job, and it's the job I have pursued for many years.

On the one hand, I did take a major risk a few years ago, which didn't initially pay off, but was highly significant in getting me my current job. I quit my old job to develop cellphone games commercially working for myself. It didn't work out, but the experience was instrumental in getting my new job.

On the other hand, my hobby programming was probably also at least as significant in getting me the job.

And on the other other hand, if you want to make RPGs, make RPGs. Don't mess about making it harder for no reason.

People who make games in C++ only because they think they should annoy me intensely. Using the right tools for the job is a pretty useful skill to have, too, you know.

[no_shot]

The Multi-Million Dollar Gaming Industry, Then & Now



Everyone has to start somewhere.
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Play Horrible Fantasy NOW!

[Rinku]

Actually, look at this game:

http://www.tomdownload.com/games/puzzles/images/bejeweled_2_big3.jpg

Bejeweled is a multi-million dollar making game *now*. Simple 2D games still make tons of money.
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Tower Defense Game

[Uncommon]

Doesn't hurt that basically everyone's mom plays Bejeweled.

[Bob the Hamster]

[Rinku]

I can't believe that game only has 30 downloads, it looks great (trying it now).
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Tower Defense Game

[Rinku]

I think it's a good game except for the annoying delays (when you switch two plips and so on) -- are those intentional (using the sleep function) or just a consequence of the code checking whether there are any 3's that are matched?
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Tower Defense Game

[Shadowiii]

To a degree, I agree with Squall, though I don't think his post will accomplish much. The reason being is that everybody has to make their own decision as to when to "move on" and how to move on. A few years into the OHR I thought I'd keep persuing game design and make a career out of it. I took classes at a university and decided I didn't like it. However, the OHR lead me to start seriously writing, and I'm currently working on several manuscripts for publishers. Did the OHR lead me to this? In a way, yes. But it was on my own time. I still plan on dinking around with the OHR now and then, it's a fun hobby and I like pretending I make good games that people play. Sure, it probably wont net me any income or make me famous, but I'm doing it for fun.

Granted, I guess Squall won't be talking to ME on this, since I've "moved on" with regards to writing, but what ever. It's a good point, but it unfortunatly won't change anything. People have to make their own decisions, I guess (though I'd love to see Orchard and Fenrir working on some cell-phone or DS games).

Ok, that's it.
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But enough talk, have at you!

[Bob the Hamster]

[Rinku]

One way to optimize it (assuming it checks the entire board for matches) is to only check matches for positions that have changed. Also it could only check for match-3s when one detects match-2s.

Assuming,
nx = the changed position of an x to check;
ny = the changed position of a y to check;

[Rinku]

Actually the +1, -1 case would have to be done differently, as the 'if there's a match-2 check for a match-3' trick wouldn't work. For that case one optimization would be to check if the +1 and the -1 match, and if so, then compare one of them to the middle.

But I suspect that if you are currently checking every single possible match-3 on the board that's where most of the delay is coming from, and the 'only check for match-3's if you have a match-2' optimization wouldn't give much of a benefit relatively.
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Tower Defense Game

[Rinku]

Another thing that'd improve this game would be mouse support; I don't know if the game was made before it or not, but it'd really add to the game.
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Tower Defense Game