Friday, July 29, 2011

Games. Try to make one.

They say that sometimes it is hard to make a game. It takes a lot of time and effort just to make one. The game programmer must consider all the possibilities from gameplay up to the cheats on how to kill the AI (artificial intelligence) in 3 seconds or so. Now why did I brought this subject up? For the past 2 weeks my programming professor ask our class to make a Console Pokemon Game by using the console application of C#. I have to admit it even though it was just a simple console game it gave me a hard time just to debug the codes especially the loops for the battle. Right now I know you're thinking that I am a rookie. Well you're right. Let me share my fun experience and lessons learned in making a simple game for the past two weeks.

1. Concept Making. It is the simplest but yet the most delicate part of the project. The gameplay and designs will always depend on how you and your team will agree on what will be the main concept of your game. Sometimes the concepts will change it depends if the changes will be good for the improvement of the game but it is ok as long as you already know on how will you start the said project.

2. Writing the CODES. If you are already familiar on the programming language that you will be using I think this will be the easiest part of journey in making a game. If you fully understand the concept then it will be easier for you to write down all the necessary codes needed. During this phase I felt that I was already playing the game inside of my head. I got the feeling of excitement that I want to finish the program  as soon as possible.

3. DEBUGGING. The hardest part. That's all I can say. Well let's say that there are no errors on your codes. So normally you are now excited and relief that your job is done. Then once you play the game you will realize that game is not responding or not meeting the expectations that you expect on the concept making. Like if the health of AI is not going down after you make a hit or sometimes the AI will give you a one hit K.O or the other way around that your character is in GOD MODE. Of course you will think that "What is wrong?". I tell you, this part gave the sleepless nights that I don't want to encounter again for the rest of the year.

4. Playing your own GAME. The part that will put a smile on your face. It feels that all those nights in exchange for the game are worth it and will make you proud that you will say "I was a part of the team who made this game and I am proud."

The main lesson that I learned in this is "TEAMWORK". Having a group or team member that will assist you makes you feel that the pressure of making a game has lessen because you know that there are people that are willing to help in order to have a job well done. Also having a team member makes the completion of the job faster.


Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Joli OS: The Web based operating system

An Ubuntu based operating system. This system was once called as Jolicloud but when they released the version 1.2 they changed it to Joli OS and when you say Jolicloud you are referring to the cloud desktop that manages the web apps, files, and services. Joli OS was tweaked for the computers does have a limited space of disk storage and memory like netbooks, so even your 10 year old desktop can still use this OS and it will be useful just like before. It is like a combined version of a social network site and an operating system.


It has a simple and friendly user interface, re-organizing the web apps was made easy because it was all made on HTML 5. You can change the background of your Joli OS just click the button on the lower right to select on the list of pictures that Joli OS have in its system or you can upload your own picture to use it as your own wallpaper.



On the upper left corner there is an icon of a satellite dish. That is your dashboard/wall tab which they called "Stream". You can see the current events of your friends and you will also see who are you following and who are your followers as well. It has a Dropbox similar to the Windows Live's sky drive where you can place your files, well for me it is very convenient because I can have access on my important files wherever I am and you can also have access on your Google Docs. There is also an application tab section where you can add your web apps well the great thing here is that all of these apps are already installed and they are just waiting for you to add them on your device. This operating system also grants you to add a new web app.

Overall, This is an amazing OS very simple yet very user-friendly. You can have access on your account wherever you are even if you don't have your netbook at your side. Just log in to your account and there you have it you already accessed your account on Jolicloud. The downside of this would be the dependent of the system to the internet. It is totally built for web usages so when you need an important file and there is no wi-fi on the area you really have to do something in order to connect to the web and get the file that you want on your account.

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