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QB Express #24

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 9:39 am
by Pete
<p><strong>QB Express #24</strong> -- Posted by <a href="mailto:pberg1@ithaca.edu">Pete</a> on September 12, 2007<br>
The <a href="http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/exp ... >September issue</a> of QB Express is now available!<br><br>This issue features NINE tutorials, FIVE articles and the results of this year's Qlympics.<br><br>Read Lachie Dazdarian's review of <i>Lodestar</i>, RubyNL's tutorial on "Time Based Motion and Collision Detection", learn about Wireframes from Mentat, or discover what makes a game great, thanks to Joe King. We've also got comics, the Gallery and all the other QB Express mainstays you look forward to every month.<br><br>There's all this, and a whole lot more in <a href="http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/exp ... x.html">QB Express #24</a>!</p>

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 2:54 pm
by Codemss
Nice issue! I posted accidentally the wrong tutorial to you, but it's actually better like this, because the PEEK/POKE tutorial that I intended to send you had some rude mistakes in it. I had the chance now to correct them, write some extra stuff, and explain everything better etc...
Also nice that my site was featured.

Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:27 pm
by Mentat
So what counts as an article?

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 8:53 am
by Pete
As far as QB Express goes...

"Articles" are stories about the community, editorials or rants, or commentary / discussion about specific programs (like a review of a game, or a preview of an upcoming release). Articles don't describe how to create your own programs, though they may talk about programming theory that you could incorporate into your programs.

"Tutorials" are articles about the nuts and bolts of programming, or specific programming techniques, and usually include source code.

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:14 pm
by Codemss
:lol: sometimes I call something a tutorial, while I call it a day later an article. On my site, I list my own tutorials under "Tutorials" and those of other under "Articles". This may sound a bit dumb or egoistic, and it's one of the things I'm going to change very soon. (Instead of the download section there will be a code junk section :P)

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 4:29 pm
by Mentat
So what would a comp_arison of QB to another language count as?

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 5:38 pm
by Lachie Dazdarian
Ok, boy. I would say what a great job, but you completely forgot to check my latest news briefs update: http://lachie.phatcode.net/Lachie_LastV ... Briefs.zip

The email containing this file was sent to you (qbexpress@gmail.com) on Sat, 8 Sep 2007 15:27:47 -0700 (PDT) as a zig file. This is rather annoying, and I hate myself for commenting this instead of the magazine content.

It probably took me more than an hour to compile that ciw1973 compo results news which was so NEEDED to be included in these news briefs. Also, I posted some news about notthecheatr's new font lib, not to mention tons of nitpicks on notthecheatr's news and the ones I previously wrote. Like, I added many more links.

And I don't want to think about some of the Qlympics results. ZeroG?!? YAGL?!? Anyone actually coded something is this "ultra fast" lib that died before it took of the ground?

Yes, that's the way for me to become popular.

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 8:06 pm
by Nodtveidt
YAGL died because of me. :( Well, that and another reason, but it turned out to be best for marzec in the end. No one seems to want to pick up where he left off though, even though it wouldn't really be necessary, since YAGL is pretty complete as it is. And hey, Z!re and I coded a few things in it...

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 2:15 am
by BadMrBox
I haven't even gotten around testing YAGL yet :oops:

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:32 pm
by Lachie Dazdarian
Nodtveidt, you could have been so kind to point me to these things you and Z!re coded in YAGL, as you know I would be interested.

I was mainly annoyed with YAGL as it was never completed, and I?m not aware of a full game or a graphics demo done in it. The other thing that annoyed me is the fact it relies on bunch of other third-party libraries (including OpenGL), which doesn?t seem very practical nor something to really respect from programming perspective. Regarding OpenGL, it makes the library dependant on hardware acceleration, while FBGfx lib has the ability to fallback on various drivers, and you can freely use OpenGL with it or not. It?s up to you.

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:00 pm
by Nodtveidt
I think Z!re's demos can be found on the old YAGL forum, or on QBN. I only ever released one demo, Megan Walks, which just showed multiple sprites in a single texture. I know I posted that at QBN. I was working on a fighting game in YAGL though, but I did eventually terminate it in favor of a proper 3D version using Irrlicht.

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 12:27 am
by Pete
Lachie, I'm sorry that we missed your updated newsbriefs. I will make an updated version of the magazine that includes them when I can. (I'm on the road for the next week, so it will be tough.)

Considering how many submissions we get, and also the number of people who resubmit the same article with minor changes, it's inevitable that we will occasionally make a mistake. I apologize. If you want to quit submitting news over this, so be it.

Please remember that QB Express is just a hobby I do in my spare time, and every once in a while, I mess up.

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 8:21 am
by Dav
Wow -- thanks Pete for giving my site so much advertisment. :)

I think it's a great issue, as they always are. I'm going to try and work up a tutorial of some kind and join in the fun.

- Dav

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 10:20 am
by Lachie Dazdarian
No problem, Pete. I know you didn't do it on purpose. I just wish it didn't happen.

Anyway, finally found time to go through this issue. I was surprisingly enjoyable to read. Not that I expected it to be boring, but some articles/tutorials turned out to be much more from what I expected reading their titles.

Joe King's article on game design is yet another gem on this topic. Just when I thought nothing new can be said on this subject without dealing with some specific game design problem, another author pops-up and offers a fresh new inspiring perspective.

RubNL's tutorials were a rather nice surprise, mainly in the style they were written in, the style I endorse.

I must say I didn't get Game Design Novice?s article. Is that a joke or what? I?m puzzled.

Another fine selection of comics in this issue. Diffeecult was much cleverer this time, and provides the best comic in the issue. Love the analogy.

Anyway, didn?t have time to check the rest of the work properly, but it is ?interesting? to see Pritchard?s tutorials in QBE.

Expect another boring letter for the next issue.