While running the game in class last time, we came up with a lot of stuff that needs improvement. The list of all the things we're working on right can be found on our wiki's Timeline page. While we don't have specific dates, we are all very well aware of how much time is left in the semester. Some tasks are bound to be harder than others, and will require more time than others, but this won't be realized until we're actually working on them.
I also updated the wiki to include some testing tips. I had to force the resolution on my external monitor to a larger one (which I know the 22-inch TV can support), and found some relevant xrandr stuff from googling. i added detailed instructions for my other team members. Using the scale function, we can at least see the entire game on our laptop monitors, even if it's less than ideal clarity.
I played the game a few times (the right way) and realized the progression of the dungeons. I was worried because the feedback from Jon and our actual experience with the game seemed to indicate that most of the first version's features hadn't yet been implemented in our second one. Jon sent us over to Justin Lewis, who claims to have done most of the code for the second version and would be able to answer our questions. Jon also mentioned that the dungeons are noticeably different when going from one to another, because the scenery/theme changes. Yea, that never happens in the second version and we couldn't play the first version well enough to find out. But I did discover that you actually do progress through the dungeons in the second version, the only indicators being that "the door slams behind you!" and an "INVALID FLAG" error in the console. Sounds great. However, upon arrival in the 3rd dungeon, I really was stuck, and couldn't move through any of the doors. I know where the dungeon room files are located, and now that I can get to that part in the game, I can test to make sure I fix the right line.
I also found a way to deal excessive damage to the enemies during an attack, so we can progress easily through the game for testing purposes (such as to get to the third dungeon).
They seem to be in the process of implementing all these old features into the new game, but at a slower pace. They also seem to be willing to take whatever help they can get, and that's what we're here for.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
POSSCON
We left for POSSCON bright and early Friday morning. Actually it wasn't even bright yet. We got fancy, scan-able IDs with our information loaded into them. The intro speaker said the day was going to be a lot more laid-back and low-paced than the previous days (which I'd missed).
The first workshop I went to was the Great OpenOffice.org Challenge, even though nobody submitted Microsoft documents as requested (I'm not a Microsoft user). David Both explained his history in open source and his experiences with OpenOffice(.org). It was all very interesting information but as one guy mentioned, he was "preaching to the choir." Most people attending POSSCON already have an interest in open source so telling us the wonders of this open source office suite wasn't anything new, at least not for me. However, people started discussing open source software's use in business and in churches, and the workshop definitely veered off course from OpenOffice related stuff.
After the workshop, we were released for a long lunch break before the next workshop. Some classmates who'd attended the 3D printing workshop were telling us about it. Later, as I was wondering through the conference hall, I noticed the 3D printing machine was still running in one of the lecture rooms, so I ventured on down to check it out. The android figure was just finishing up, and the presenters Neil Underwood (from RepRap) and Jim McCracken were getting ready to pack up the machine. I told Neil I'd missed the 3D printing workshop so he started telling me all about the machine in front of us and the other machine he works with, the self-replicating 3D printer, explaining the effects on costs when the printer can print itself. It is a very interesting concept and I think it could easily be taken further into other aspects of technology. Both Jim and Neil pointed out a few things on the machine when I asked about them such as the connections (since the circuit board was mounted in the open). John "maddog" Hall had wandered in to the room too since he was waiting on his little android guy to finish printing.
Maddog presented the second workshop I attended, on the history of Linux. His first slide asked if Jesus would have attended POSSCON, and he thought yes, he would have been an advocate of open source. His presentation was pretty interesting, especially learning about the transition from open source to closed source and now back to open source, and why things have gone certain ways. I think it's important to understand that history when considering the future of open source software. Near the end of his presentation, he gave some examples of some very young guys who'd entered the computer science world with the help of open source and have been very successful with it; however, I was wondering where the women were? It's almost as if our society steers young girls away from technology, which is going to have very detrimental effects in the technological-oriented future if we keep this up. It would have been nice to ask Maddog about this, but it was hard to approach some presenters when others were swarming them or when they were in the middle of eating during lunch. Either way though, some of these problems are very evident and need to be addressed, which can start with people like us as students.
Overall I think it was a pretty good conference, I'm just disappointed that I wasn't able to attend the earlier two days (what's up with conferences in the middle of the week anyway?). I most likely won't be able to attend next year either since I won't be in this area, but I think the northeast is going to have even more to offer, so that's something I'll look into.
The first workshop I went to was the Great OpenOffice.org Challenge, even though nobody submitted Microsoft documents as requested (I'm not a Microsoft user). David Both explained his history in open source and his experiences with OpenOffice(.org). It was all very interesting information but as one guy mentioned, he was "preaching to the choir." Most people attending POSSCON already have an interest in open source so telling us the wonders of this open source office suite wasn't anything new, at least not for me. However, people started discussing open source software's use in business and in churches, and the workshop definitely veered off course from OpenOffice related stuff.
After the workshop, we were released for a long lunch break before the next workshop. Some classmates who'd attended the 3D printing workshop were telling us about it. Later, as I was wondering through the conference hall, I noticed the 3D printing machine was still running in one of the lecture rooms, so I ventured on down to check it out. The android figure was just finishing up, and the presenters Neil Underwood (from RepRap) and Jim McCracken were getting ready to pack up the machine. I told Neil I'd missed the 3D printing workshop so he started telling me all about the machine in front of us and the other machine he works with, the self-replicating 3D printer, explaining the effects on costs when the printer can print itself. It is a very interesting concept and I think it could easily be taken further into other aspects of technology. Both Jim and Neil pointed out a few things on the machine when I asked about them such as the connections (since the circuit board was mounted in the open). John "maddog" Hall had wandered in to the room too since he was waiting on his little android guy to finish printing.
Maddog presented the second workshop I attended, on the history of Linux. His first slide asked if Jesus would have attended POSSCON, and he thought yes, he would have been an advocate of open source. His presentation was pretty interesting, especially learning about the transition from open source to closed source and now back to open source, and why things have gone certain ways. I think it's important to understand that history when considering the future of open source software. Near the end of his presentation, he gave some examples of some very young guys who'd entered the computer science world with the help of open source and have been very successful with it; however, I was wondering where the women were? It's almost as if our society steers young girls away from technology, which is going to have very detrimental effects in the technological-oriented future if we keep this up. It would have been nice to ask Maddog about this, but it was hard to approach some presenters when others were swarming them or when they were in the middle of eating during lunch. Either way though, some of these problems are very evident and need to be addressed, which can start with people like us as students.
Overall I think it was a pretty good conference, I'm just disappointed that I wasn't able to attend the earlier two days (what's up with conferences in the middle of the week anyway?). I most likely won't be able to attend next year either since I won't be in this area, but I think the northeast is going to have even more to offer, so that's something I'll look into.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Fortune Hunter Update
Last week in class, we discovered this merchant/shop system Jon talked about isn't even implemented in the released Sugar version of Fortune Hunter. So we decided to scrap those plans, since that would be way too much work for these last five weeks of class. We're going back to our original plan of fixing the last bug and implementing smaller tasks described in the ticket list, such as graphics and documentation. Much more manageable considering the time we have.
I looked into the code for the dungeons, can be found here, so I'll know how to fix it, and found the text file for Dungeon 3 under MAFH2/assets. However, while Jon claims this is an easy one-liner fix, and I really do believe that, knowing WHICH line to fix is the problem, especially since we have yet to really understand the code.
I looked into the code for the dungeons, can be found here, so I'll know how to fix it, and found the text file for Dungeon 3 under MAFH2/assets. However, while Jon claims this is an easy one-liner fix, and I really do believe that, knowing WHICH line to fix is the problem, especially since we have yet to really understand the code.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
POSSCON Plans Next Week
I will be attending POSSCON in Columbia next Friday, March 25. Since it's the last day, not a lot is going on unfortunately, but it's the only reasonable day my schedule can allow. They're having two workshops that day (and lunch!), so I'm planning to attend the ones on OpenOffice and the history of linux.
I actually use OpenOffice all the time (even though Office 2010 looks pretty nice, but won't run under wine), so learning more about the suite and what I could do to help improve it would be awesome.
David Both is hosting this workshop, so he be will one of the speakers I'd like to approach. I'm not really sure yet what kind of questions to ask him besides the usual "how do I get involved?" and "how can OpenOffice make my life easier?", but I'm sure after the workshop, I'll have some other relevant topics to address.
The second workshop is on the history of Linux, again something I use everyday, and is hosted by Jon "maddog" Hall. With a nickname like "maddog" how could you NOT want to meet him? Also, as someone who seems to have been there since the beginning of (CS) time, he would be a good person to ask where he thinks Linux and open source are headed in the future.
Hopefully all the speakers will stick around for the final day, and will be easily identifiable. Other possible candidates to harass would be Walter Bender, the co-founder of Sugar Labs and One Laptop Per Child, or even better, David Nalley, whose name we've seen before because he is involved with the Math4 project. While the Math4 project is a good idea in theory, it really doesn't seem to be picking up as much as its developers had originally hoped. Sugar Labs and OLPC seem more likely to hold out longer into the future, and I really like the idea of sending internet-enabled laptops to developing countries as a means of educating the people there, starting with the children. I would definitely be interested in learning about more ways to get involved with OLPC and in general how we can use technology to make education more accessible to everyone.
I actually use OpenOffice all the time (even though Office 2010 looks pretty nice, but won't run under wine), so learning more about the suite and what I could do to help improve it would be awesome.
David Both is hosting this workshop, so he be will one of the speakers I'd like to approach. I'm not really sure yet what kind of questions to ask him besides the usual "how do I get involved?" and "how can OpenOffice make my life easier?", but I'm sure after the workshop, I'll have some other relevant topics to address.
The second workshop is on the history of Linux, again something I use everyday, and is hosted by Jon "maddog" Hall. With a nickname like "maddog" how could you NOT want to meet him? Also, as someone who seems to have been there since the beginning of (CS) time, he would be a good person to ask where he thinks Linux and open source are headed in the future.
Hopefully all the speakers will stick around for the final day, and will be easily identifiable. Other possible candidates to harass would be Walter Bender, the co-founder of Sugar Labs and One Laptop Per Child, or even better, David Nalley, whose name we've seen before because he is involved with the Math4 project. While the Math4 project is a good idea in theory, it really doesn't seem to be picking up as much as its developers had originally hoped. Sugar Labs and OLPC seem more likely to hold out longer into the future, and I really like the idea of sending internet-enabled laptops to developing countries as a means of educating the people there, starting with the children. I would definitely be interested in learning about more ways to get involved with OLPC and in general how we can use technology to make education more accessible to everyone.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Timeline update
Last class we came up with a list of ideas each of us would work on for the remainder of the semester (and added a cool new Google calendar to our wiki). However, after sending an email to Jon, he suggested we work on adding back in the merchant/shop feature of the previous version of the game to the current version. He also mentioned that the bug I was going to work on is actually a very simple fix, and that he wasn't really sure about Ryan's proposed contribution to the graphics.
We've updated our wiki to reflect these changes and the calendar to show due dates within our group. As of now, our progress updates include:
We've updated our wiki to reflect these changes and the calendar to show due dates within our group. As of now, our progress updates include:
- Playing the game and getting to know the code (both versions)
- Designing our contributions, including implementation of menus, creation of graphics, and any accompanying documentation
- Modifying our contributions for consistency and overall design
- Adding them into the code, with lots of testing
- Finally, submitting them to the official game and accessing any feedback we receive
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
(Not much to) Update?
Since class was cancelled Tuesday, there's not much to update on our team's progress. Everyone seems to be on board with our ideas so far and we'll come up with a more definite timeline very soon.
I did skim over Chapter 8 in TOSS. It looks like it's all about documentation, which of course is important (along with making code more understandable in general so minimal documentation is actually needed).
Documentation is one of our possible contributions to Fortune Hunter later, especially to make things easier for developers working on the project in the future (like the submodule stuff for the fortune engine, which another team was also having trouble with).
I did skim over Chapter 8 in TOSS. It looks like it's all about documentation, which of course is important (along with making code more understandable in general so minimal documentation is actually needed).
Documentation is one of our possible contributions to Fortune Hunter later, especially to make things easier for developers working on the project in the future (like the submodule stuff for the fortune engine, which another team was also having trouble with).
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