Hi Dark, No offense, but that's not quite right. Some of the things you said is just not correct. Let me try and clarify here.
Dark wrote: I may be wrong, but i do seem to remember you originally writing using direct X, then changing your mind to include cross platform support. My reply: You are missing some of the facts here. When I began converting the Genesis Engine from .NET to C++ I first did so by using the SDL cross-platform libraries. I did a lot of the early testing of the new engine on Linux rather than Windows. However, as I was having some technical issues with the cross-platform engine I decided to create a Windows specific version to market to Windows users until i could resolve those technical issues. Once I discovered SFML and added it to the cross-platform engine I decided to release the game using the new engine. So my point here is that my intentions were for a cross-platform version of the game all along. Clear back when i was using .NET I had been tinkering with a cross-platform engine using Mono 2.6 and SDL .NET for Linux. I've always had this in mind. It is just that I was focused on trying to target the Windows market which is my biggest market, and have not released the Linux specific versions before now. Dark wrote: There then followed a period when you seemed to go through a number of rewrites both of mota and of the genesis engine generally. My reply: For the most part that is true. One of the down sides to being skilld in several different programming languages is deciding on one to actually use. I know Visual Basic .NET, C# .NET, C++, Java, Python, etc. I wanted to know how the same game performed in each language and which APIs would give me the best results. Plus I wanted to find the right combonation that will work on Windows and Linux. I've learned a lot, but to an outsider, someone who isn't a programmer, what I'm doing must look like goofing off. To put this in some perspective when I took over Montezuma's Revenge and Raceway I had just started USA Games. I really hadn't decided on what I'd use, but was pretty sure I'd use Managed DirectX and the .Net Framework. Well, in 2007 Microsoft dropped Managed DirectX like a hot potato and in 2008 had replaced DirectSound with XAudio2, etc. Everything I had decided upon had just ben dropped by Microsoft and I was litterally back at the drawing board. However, I forged on with the .NET Framework and DirectX until I discovered wonder of wonders that Managed DirectX is buggy. I had to go to C++to fix it, or adopt something else like SlimDX. I chose just to use C++ and native DirectX libraries. Dark wrote: Now however, you state that you are rewriting the windows engine to use direct X, and then writing a separate lynux engine. My responce: I think you are confused what I'm talking about here. I don't have to rewrite anything. I have a fully operational Windows engine that uses DirectX, PB Streemway, etc which MOTA beta 13 used. All I need to do is upgrade or modify it with some of the changes the cross-platform engine has, and recompile MOTA beta 16 using the Windows engine. That's not as bad as it sounds. Although, it will take a week or so to make the necessary updates. As far as a Linux engine goes I've already got one. The cross-platform engine beta 14, 15, and beta 16 currently uses works fine on Linux. So there is no need to do anything to the cross-platform engine to make it run on Linux. It already does just fine. Dark wrote: this is not intended to be rude or in any way be a personal attack, however, ---- to put it bluntly, I wish youd just finish the game! My reply: Yeah, I'm sure you do. Believe me when I say I wish I was done with it too. Problem is I thought for sure the engine was done around beta 15, but now discovered this blasted bug in SFML that has caused me no end to grief. If it weren't for that bug I'd be working on levels 3 through 12 right now. Dark wrote: While I understand more people are using lynux, I wonder if, from a utilitarian perspective, spending this amount of time and trouble on a lynux port was actually worth it. My reply: Yes, from my point of view it is worth it. It doesn't matter if there is one Linux user or one million Linux users playing my games, because all along I created the Linux version for purely personal reasons. in fact, the only reason I create the games at all are for purely personal reasons for that matter. That reason is for my own personal pleasure. Without any personal satisfaction/pleasure I wouldn't bother spending any time writing accessible games. If I weren't using Linux personally I wouldn't have bothered creating a linux version in the first place. However, getting back to the point, you are speaking purely from a Windows user point of view. Let's face it you have games like Tank Commander, Shades of Doom, Super Liam, and loads of other accessible games all for Windows. If you went out and purchased a brand new MacBook with Mac OS, or purchased a new Del notebook with Ubuntu Linux 10.04 on it you'd want to know what games are available. The sad reality is there aren't that many to choose from that is accessible for a blind gamer, and playing accessible games through an emulator like Wine sucks. For example, let's reverse the situation for a second. let's assume that GMA, Draconis Entertainment, USA Games, and a couple of other accessible game developers decided to go out and buy Macs and forget about writing games for Windows. How would you feel if the developers told you that in order to play their games you would need to buy a copy of VMPlayer for Windows, purchase Mac OS, and then run it in VMPlayer just to play their games? Well, that is the way Linux gamers are being left out right now by accessible game developers currently. The majority of game developers don't own or use Linux personally so don't support it. If I want to play GMA Tank Commander I have to run Windows through a virtual machine or try and get it working with Wine, because Linux isn't supported officially. I don't blame GMA for not supporting Linux, but none-the-less I would really appreciate having a native Linux build rather than trying to emulate Windows and DirectX in one way or another. Since I am a game developer, I use Linux a lot, I have a personal stake in seeing that a linux version of my game is available. Obviously, no one else is going to do it for me, and it seams sort of stupid to create a Windows only version I would have to run through an emulator like Wine when I could create a native Linux version as well as a Windows version. From a personal point of view I've got more of an interest in a Linux version than I do a Windows version. Since I do most of the development and testing from Linux the last six months has been a case of porting MOTA from Linux to Windows. Not the other way around. Dark wrote: if the second rewrite with specifically lynux components is as necessary a matter if it is going to slow down developement even further. My response: I think you misunderstood my meaning. I already have the cross-platform engine that runs on Linux. Therefore I don't need to rewrite anything. I was merely thinking ahead, down the road, that someday I could update that engine to use native Linux APIs like Speech-Dispatcher for speech output rrather than recorded wav files. I didn't mean to imply that any of those changes or updates would have anything to do with MOTA beta 16. I was merely pointing out that by using two different engines each could support native APIs better, and each version of the engine would have more to offer me for each specific platform. On Windows I could use Sapi 5 and on Linux Speech-Dispatcher for speech output. However, not all of the changes or updates discussed were necessarily planned for the near future. I was thinking more long term rather than short term. HTH --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
