Hey there, Flocke here,

for some reason my account over here got "manually deactivated", so I registered again.
Might be cause I didn't log in for years.
thunderchero can't log in here either, same issues. I sent Jigalypuff a mail but didn't get any response yet.

Nm, over on afc, interest in learning to program recently increased alot, and I started a C++ course open to any interested botf fan. No pre-requirements but some basic computer knowledge. I'd like to invite every interested over here as well. The more the better.
We just started with: C++ Lesson1: Preparations.
If there's good interest I might also give an introduction to C# programming, but for the basics you're going well to learn some C++.

Sincerely yours,
Flocke

Matress_of_evil might be a better person to ask about the account. Jigalypuff has fallen on hard times and he is no longer hosting it.


If you are interested in coding for Supremacy please send a private message or IM to Mstrobel to find out more about what is needed.

If you are a programmer experienced in C# and have a strong background in either AI or 3D graphics with Managed Direct3D (or, even better, the XNA Framework), then we would especially love to talk to you.

Sad to hear on Jig.

I am not asking to develop on Supremacy, I'd not have the time nor motivation.
But I know development slowed down with Supremacy and thought some might be interested to join on learning to program.

cheers

We sure will send anyone your way that is interested.

I learned CG by working here but it is the professional help that makes the real difference.
Thanks

Have seen some real great CG over here.

Ofc to become professional and write a whole game alone you need years of practice and many more years to actually get it done as seen with Supremacy. The most troublesome with such huge projects as I've learned is concepts. When programming there are tons of ways to get something done, but many are inefficient or inflexible and complicate later development. Often you end up refactoring your code again and again to get it to your needs.

However even with just a bit of programming knowledge you can do real great and fancy stuff.
And when working on a large project there's always work for non-professionals.
Thinking of CG, instead of modeling the perfect ship, have a massive fleet in mind with just some important ships to do by yourself.
It would need someone to take care on that the rest does not completely go out of order, that's for sure, but still it would help reduce work.
As for Supremacy that only could be Mike, even if you find another professional, Mike is the only one that really knows on what he did or planned for.

One very sad thing with us professional hobbyist programmers is that we all have our own preferred languages, tools and libraries to use. It's almost hopeless to find one with same interests, not to think of gameplay aspects.
For example 3D graphics. For Supremacy you wanna use XNA (or managed DirectX), well. CdrWolfe went with Irrlicht, sadly failed due to .Net porting issues, time and experience (no easy thing such a combat engine). On AFC one and a half year ago Xordan showed up wanting to start a new botf project using the CrystalSpace 3D engine, but then disappeared again after all tried to hunt for him. Just recently on AFC someone showed up willing to develop a new botf using the Unity 3D engine, had no interest in other projects either and already disappeared again. Then right now there's QuasarDonkey who's quite active on AFC. He develops on linux using OpenGL and SDL. And with me it's no different, I use Ogre3D and develop on my own thing as well. It's all kinda ridiculous.

Does this go a step further? With all the people who disappeared who wanted to program a BOTF, what about the learning of C++ or C#? I mean this politely as an honest question, will you still be around to see someone through to being an accomplished programmer? It is a really great offer and generous of you, if so.

Well, I'm already around at afc for more than ten years by now, think I'll also keep there the next ten years.

Cool! There is supposed to be a big shortage of programmers projected. At least in the US. With the job situation, it is hard to understand why more aren't moving in to this.

I Guess I'm too old for this, I dropped school at 8th grade to start to work and earn money but that was a long time ago. Never ever learned the binary code. In my young years, this was thought in some special classes, like A, B, C.. I was in C, the lower class. A was scientific, B was mathematics, and C was...general purpose, a tiny bit of everything but not enough to make a career.

Reading here and around, it looks like it's a very long process, where one needs patience, organization and time, a lot of time. Am I right?

..Don't want to sound negative but I pull my hat high up to those who have all this and are still willing to give it a go.

..Too old and...dumb in this situation.

by all means, when you still have enough brain to play a botf session, you also am capable enough to learn some programming
I mean that for real!
To learn programming is not hard, to master it, that is hard.
To plan and organize a whole game with thousands and thousands of lines of code, that is what requires a master. You won't learn to accomplish such a big project without lots of practice if it shall be any good.
But that is not what this course is for.

When you get done with this course you know what programming is about, you know how to create your own little programs and maybe give some support on larger projects. You can have much fun with a little programming, but I'd not recommend to aim for a huge project on your own without of lots more practice.

The course I'll split to several lessons. The first two already are available by now. The first one is nothing more than to install a development environment and click a few buttons to get your first "Hello World" program run. That shall not take more time than one hour.
The next is a bit more challenging as you'll build your first own application. But support is around and together with other participators you'll get it done.

It's just a decision whether you want to give it a try.
Lateron you can tell that was too hard, but then rather tell where you failed and ask!
And chance is good there are older people already participating, ask thunderchero.

Save us Captain Bashir. Learn c+. You are our only hope.

Thank you for the nice explanation, but no, this is not for me. I've got patience, but time lacks on me.
Thanks anyway.
It's good to know that one needs not have so much knowledge in programming and do useful things.

Yeah I know, time is always an issue.
I'd wish it was not and we'd already have ten new BotF games!

Yeah! If it was that easy... we'd all have successes flowing around the world.