Thread: Starting a serious project

  1. #16
    spurious conceit MK27's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Epy
    I intend to get features working one at a time. Probably not the best way to go about it
    Yes, really you should try and get them all going at the same time. That would be the easiest and most prudent approach... o_O
    C programming resources:
    GNU C Function and Macro Index -- glibc reference manual
    The C Book -- nice online learner guide
    Current ISO draft standard
    CCAN -- new CPAN like open source library repository
    3 (different) GNU debugger tutorials: #1 -- #2 -- #3
    cpwiki -- our wiki on sourceforge

  2. #17
    Registered User VirtualAce's Avatar
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    It is good to design and completely necessary but do not get into analysis paralysis where you never code anything during this phase. Design is not all about sitting in a room with a whiteboard and sketching out every single small detail of a system. It almost always involves a few prototypes just to see if your design is actually going to work the way you intended it to. I think of it as more of an iterative process where you design for a bit, prototype some, go back to the design table, wash, rinse, repeat, etc. I hope you have some laid out some rudimentary requirements before doing all this as that will help a lot and will help you narrow the scope of your project and prevent the nasty feature creep that everyone here has been mentioning....in different terms.

    Also I think it is noteworthy to say that you never set out to build the next greatest thing. Often times you hear stories of how companies built the best thing they could for the job at hand and it then eventually became the next greatest thing. It is impossible to design the next greatest thing at the starting gate b/c you do not know what the next greatest thing is going to be. I remember reading some post-mortems on World of Warcraft and the devs were saying they never ever thought that it would become as popular as it did. In fact they thought the game was quite simple and wondered if it would take off. Little did they know they created one of the best and most popular MMOs to ever hit the shelves. I think you could probably read post-mortems on other pieces of software that the devs and designers never imagined would become as popular as they did.

    From a games standpoint here is an interesting tidbit. Terraria is a simple 2D game on Steam and it is essentially Minecraft in 2D. Graphics are dated and it is nothing to write home about in the tech department. However, the game is 100% super addictive and fun and continues to eek out gameplay every time you play it. In fact on Steam it is on par user-wise with Modern Warfare 3 which is simply insane. Did they know that their little 2D game would be the next craze? I seriously doubt it.
    Last edited by VirtualAce; 12-22-2011 at 01:38 PM.

  3. #18
    Registered User rogster001's Avatar
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    I had every intention of coding the majority of this on the plane ride to visit my family...but sleep got the best of me
    My word, coding the majority of it on a plane ride?? How long was that plane ride going to be , given the 'major project' alluded to earlier.

    From a games standpoint here is an interesting tidbit. Terraria is a simple 2D game on Steam and it is essentially Minecraft in 2D. Graphics are dated and it is nothing to write home about in the tech department. However, the game is 100% super addictive and fun and continues to eek out gameplay every time you play it. In fact on Steam it is on par user-wise with Modern Warfare 3 which is simply insane. Did they know that their little 2D game would be the next craze? I seriously doubt it.
    Pure quality, there is nothing that can beat top gameplay, that is the seller.
    Thought for the day:
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    Stroustrup:
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  4. #19
    Make Fortran great again
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    80/20 rule

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