Give me the CODEZ!
Miscellaneous Forums/General Discussion/Give me the CODEZ!
A recent e-mail I received ( noone from this community I hasten to add ) ... he he
This is *******, we talked before about my game project...well I'm going to go out on a limb here and ask for some help from you, if you don't mind providing it that is.
Basically, I think it would be a great help to this game project if you could give or lend us out the source code used to make your Stramash game, or whatever the name of your Ragdoll Physics game is.
I don't intend to steal or rip-off your code and claim it as my own. If you would support this game project, your name would be mentioned first and foremost in any credit that is taken for the project. I know its a lot to ask of someone, especially since its all your own code and your game, but you would be doing a great service to the game industry and fellow gamers like yourself.
I certainly wouldn't copy / paste the code, as you said it was programmed in Blitz2D? I think it was. I just wish to analyze the code to get a better idea of how I can produce similar physics in my own game, thats all. Let me know if you'd be interested in helping out in this way.
I packaged up and shipped off the code immediately - at least he'll give me credit!
Stevie
oh boy, i've had plenty of those emails. I think they are rude for asking that of someone.
It's like 'mr complete stranger' coming to me in the street and asking to borrow £50, promising to pay me back in a week, saying he just wants to hold onto it for a while to show his mates.
ps if you are willing to share the code, i promise i won't show it as mine or rip it off, just send it to my email address thanks and you will see a game i will make using all your hard work :-)
His follow up to my polite - GTF and some verrry old source to a 2d ragdoll example!
could send you some of my work that I have going for my current platformer game...but why should I when you can't even send me some reference ragdoll code from your game? You must be concerned with losing money or thinking I'll steal your game idea...I know its next to impossible to proof to you over the internet that I'm an honest, hard working person, but I would hope people could have more trust in others than that. Especially game creators like you and me...share your ideas freely, don't hold them to yourself..though I suppose you're more concerned with the business side of it. I sent you my whole game doc, no questions asked...you could rip off my f'in awesome game idea at any time...but that doesn't mean you'd make it anywhere near the quality I intend for it.
BTW Blitz3D looks shitty compared to Torque X...no offense. I'll check out the code you sent and see what I can decipher from it, thanks.
If you're at all interested in the progress of my game..I'm just starting to get a rough prototype built in Torque X Builder...its nothing complicated at this point. I have a character sprite with all the necessary animations and a simple platform level layout going...theres some minor code improvements that have been added by the programmer I'm working with as well. Besides that, I just started back classes at the game design school I'm attending so I have to now divide my time between this game project, school work, and my own free time.
The offer still stands for you to join..I could use the help of a programmer that is more familiar with physics in 2D games. You wouldn't even have to help on a day-to-day basis...just whenever you have the time and I'm available to get your input.
I find this all great fun. I wish I could show you the idea as it's highly amusing - alas I may be sued.
Just give his e-mail address to Puki. PUki will surely track him down to his street number. :-)
Barney
"I'm an honest, hard working person,"
"Especially game creators like you and me...share your ideas freely, don't hold them to yourself"
"though I suppose you're more concerned with the business side of it."
Ugh. Business. He uses it like it's a swear word.
Puki can probably get a satellite picture of him.
Hahah, you're making this up, right?
I wish I could show you the idea as it's highly amusing - alas I may be sued.
How do you figure that? I mean it seems quite clear to me that he's advocating game developers should share ideas freely and not be concerned with the possibility of someone stealing your idea.
I mean what's this guys agenda anyway? He's asking for your help then goes on to insult your abilities, and your tools of choice. Why would you do that?
[Removed]
What's your point?
Either you say "Yes" or "No" and that's it. I don't see any benefit beside of beeing kind of spiteful when posting such personal stuff on the forum.
when posting such personal stuff on the forum
It's not personal when we don't know who this person is.
It just seems people never learn that there's no shortcut to excellence. Although there might be a shortcut fame and fortune, but they might go as they came if you're not excellent... ???
taumel, maybe some of us have had previous experience of people who will happily take our hard work, then return nothing.
I remember years ago there was a (hackers) saying of "The code wants to be free."
Yeah - but only quoted by those who couldn't write their own, and felt that the world owed them.
I think the point is obvious. I told him a polite 'No' and offered help and advice, yet this guy seems to think I owe him a living - it's very frustrating!!
It's not about - yay, someone wants my code - it's the manner in which it's done which I found, and thought others would find amusing.
Clearly this is not the case so now removed.
To me this looks like a personal email exchange and if you read through the first entry it's already clear that this won't lead to something good. Posting further examples doesn't bring up any new insights. If the guy is this way, then he is. It just feels like making fun of someone else without a goal. But that's just my opinion. If others enjoy this, go on...
When people ask me for my code, I'm more than happy to give it to them, unless it's a system I'm trying to sell to them.
I imagine most folks who ask for code are beginners who need help... kids mainly... who are gonna learn from the code despite trying to simply plug it wholesale into their game.
They're also not likely to do much with it. IF they finish their game, it's not likely to be something that's gonna be competitive with my own projects.
When I was a kid people were pretty tight fisted with their sound libraries and back then if you didn't have a sound library you didn't have sound in your game and it was only something pros could develop with expensive books. So I know how some kid might feel when they see games with cool ragdoll physics and they want to emulate that in their own simple projects, but there's no way they're capable of coding the math for something like that themselves.
I think you should give the kid the code and let him play at being a game developer. :-)
I think you treated him just fairrly, Steve. Giving him an earlier version of your code was fine to give him an idea of what was going on, and his response seemed pretty ungrateful.
I find this pretty amusing, it evidently shows how ungrateful people often are. Kind of Satyr. Slightly off topic.
When people ask me for my code, I'm more than happy to give it to them, unless it's a system I'm trying to sell to them.
That's exactly it, I'm happy to help anyone but who is their right mind would give someone 9 months of hard work for free, especially if they're in the middle of developing something with it!
I told him that I was happy to explain the techniques involved if he ever had any specific questions. I also offered web links for some excellent resources ... but, after sending him some working verlet ragdoll code, his last comments put paid to that ...
"Again, I'm sorry to see that you have such a cynical approach when dealing with people. I was wrong to contact you in the first place, but I could have never known such an ill hearted person would be receiving my questions"
I just don't understand some people.
The END.
I remember years ago there was a (hackers) saying of "The code wants to be free."
It's "Information wants to be free" - and your implication that it's a "hackers" term is somewhat misguided.
Yeah - but only quoted by those who couldn't write their own, and felt that the world owed them.
Yeah. Incompetent programmers like Richard Stallman, Bruce Eckel, Erich Gamma, Kent Beck, Linux Torvals, Eric S. Raymond and hundreds of other people who wrote the software you use every day - who felt you owed them something. Right.
That guy is such a gnome!
He must be the kind of guy who thinks all code should be open source, and all people who keep code to themselves are bad, bad, very bad people.
What is Torque X?
That guy is such a gnome!
He must be the kind of guy who thinks all code should be open source, and all people who keep code to themselves are bad, bad, very bad people.
Who, FlameDuck?
If so, you have just opened yourself to a world of pain as your every word is shot back against you. "That guy" is like an English ninja.
The philosophy of open software is definitely not that, Mark. (Well, for most people). The platforms, like web servers and operating systems, should be open; people should be free to develop for the platforms they use, just as it should still be possible to work on the engine of a car without giving out money to the official repair people. This actually is good for business; with a platform like the iPhone, it's pretty much Apple and ATT making the money. If that platform is completely open like OpenMoko or Maemo, other developers can build on it themselves as they wish, without having to shell out to some evil central corporation. There, it's open and it's good for businesses -- particularly for the little guys.
Really, an open platform can be good for everyone. It creates an equal landscape, which, down the road, means a diverse selection of products for that platform. I think Windows proves that having a platform which offers such a broad range of solutions is a really powerful thing.
For everything else, free / open software is a development model people can choose based on what they are trying to achieve. If it's a productivity tool, designed to aid in the construction of projects (but not as a source of income), why not make it open? It has proven to be quite beneficial. With an open project, you may get a lot of attention. Thanks to advertising and donations, there could be a bit of money on the side, too. (Just don't tell people it's for beer).
If it's a final end product, you probably want to earn some money directly from it, and that (except with the zealots *cough*KDE*cough*) is completely fair.
Torque X is Torque programming kit for the XBox 360...
Pickelsworth, I meant the guy who emailed Stevie G, that's why I said "that guy" because Stevie G has concealed his identity.
Also, I think you massively misinterpreted my sentence, probably because you thought I was refering to Flameduck. Although in that light, I still can't understand why you thought I was criticizing the philosophy of open source software. FYI, I have nothing against open source software, I think it's great.
Flameduck is an english ninja? I thought he was from denmark!
No problem, Mark. I realized my error a few minutes after posting, but couldn't be bothered to erase all that ;)
(And by English ninja, I of course mean the language).
Stevie G: if you do feel like give that code away you know my email address ;OP
Ive had code given to me before, but ive never asked for someones project, the most ive asked for is a short example.
I wonder how many people send code to people who ask nice?
Id love to see how a few things are done in war wound?
Wow so is this where I can ask for the code I need to make all those amazing game concepts floating about in my noodle!
Excellent...
I just need a quick FPS engine, about the level of the QuakeEngine and while were at it could I have a nice set of 3D models to make up a sci-fi gore fest with their own unique style, now what else...
Sorry couldn't resist, but even a code example is only the strings that control the puppets you still need the set, puppets, storyline... well you get it.
Personally I think good examples are great to learn from or good open source routines can greatly aid the complex problem of building a game, e.g. Ogre 3D engine ect.
But once your into the business side of games development then you start to think about how much your time is worth and therefore how much you code is worth!
http://www.blitzbasic.com/codearcs/codearcs.php?code=2105Nothing major but nothing I would't give to anyone who asked.
I wonder how many people send code to people who ask nice?
I remember back in the Amiga scene days, a mate of mine wrote to one of the guys in TSL ( The Silents ) who had written this particularly cool demo which included a "realtime" fractal fern, hoping to get some hints on how it was done.
What he got back ( by mail ) was a complete printed listing of the entire source code for the demo. Dozens of pages of code all printed out for him.
I don't think Open Source has anything to do with someone being cheeky.
There seem to be a few people that think that Open Source is the source of all evil. But I wonder if anyone here could have developed anything if all knowledge was closed source.