One of my pet peeves is how data stream rates are always represented in bits per seconds. It's extremely deceptive to people who don't know the difference between a bit and a byte. We shouldn't measure storage in bytes, but internet speeds in bits.
Interesting! This reminds me of the new Playstation Vita's rear touch sensor. I think it's definitely a step in the right direction of preserving screen estate for what its primary function should be.
I understand where you're coming from, but my point wasn't "I don't want an iPad", but rather that I feel like these prizes specifically cheapen the feel of the jam, especially considering how big github is. I don't know, I guess I've never participated in a game jam with a prize. But seeing as Ludum Dare pulled >1000 participators last jam, it doesn't seem like game developers need too much of a monetary incentive to jam.
In any case, I'm happy that this is happening; prize or no prize :)
Oh man I'm psyched about this. I love game jams, and GitHub's event will surely draw people new to the concept. The more the merrier!
I'm honestly a little turned off by the prize though. I'd rather there be no prize at all but instead some internet recognition maybe (like Ludum Dare). Perhaps they'll introduce some alternative prizes later on?
I couldn't agree with you more. It's really fun to hack a game together in Javascript. I tried out JS + HTML5 two Ludum Dares ago and managed to create something fun within 72 hours[1]. The biggest issue I had at the time was dealing with cross-browser compatibility issues. Although my game would run flawlessly on Chrome, every other browser had at least one issue. I've been meaning to get around to fixing it up, but it's not much fun debugging browser compatibility weirdness...
I suspect most browsers have improved a lot in the time since then. I'd like to use Javascript for another game soon; I really like the language, despite its rough edges.
On the other end of the spectrum, I thought the presentation was impressive. I have a typical broadband connection, and I thought it worked just fine. The loading time seemed instantaneous.
I actually appreciate that modern websites are increasingly being designed for higher standards of internet bandwidth/connectivity. It's not that I think bandwidth isn't precious, but when websites can deliver beautiful content at the cost of an extra 10th of a second of loading time on a modern connection, I think it's worth it.
A four minute download time on your part implies you have some kind of dial-up connection, is there a reason why you haven't upgraded to a faster service?
I think the greatest use case isn't printing stand-alone objects, but rather replacement parts for existing products. Say, your laptop screen hinge breaks. Instead of ordering a new one from the manufacturer, you could print your own replacement at home.
Despite being a pretty active participant in Ludum Dare, I've never pursued the October Challenge yet.
Working on the last 10% of a game (the polish) is the hardest part of the development process; not only is it a lot of work, but at that point you're much more likely to be burned out from working on said game.
Despite this, I'm currently working on a game with great potential that I hope will end up somewhere :)
From Carmack's post in the comments of the Kickstarter:
The early prototype could not be worn with glasses. If you modify it to stand off far enough from the face to allow glasses, the fov will be reduced a lot. One reason it can be so light is that it has smallish lenses very close to your eyes. With the limited resolution, you don't really need 20/20 effective vision.
I hope someone experiments with the kits and builds a variable focus version, but the standard system is fixed focus.
This effect seems to happen commonly among news aggregating site communities.
Digg used to be pretty cool when it was used largely by people excited about the start-up/tech enthusiasts. As it became more popular, the user-base seemed to devolve as the content started to cater to the LCD.
Reddit has done a good job combating this, with their implementation of subreddits that focus on specific core user demographics. But most of their largest subreddits have a dubious quality of users.
Hacker News seems to have the best quality of discourse/users at the moment, but I attribute this to its relatively small user-base.
Chronodrive: A Time-travel SHMUP(shootemup)!
Play in your browser (HTML5): http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-27/?action=preview...