Yeah it kind of feels dirty having all these mutable variables around after doing any functional programming at all.
I've found using const a lot also goes hand-in-hand with raii. If a member of a class is const it must be initialized in the constructor, and it just seems to make me code a bit more "hygienically".
I'm always looking for a legitimate excuse to use a goto in my C++ code because I'm perverse. It's very rare to find one but this looks like it might be okay.
That's one thing I've noticed with my C++ code lately is that I'm writing const absolutely everywhere. Having mutability where you need it is awesome but it is interesting to see languages like Rust where immutability is the default.
It's an interesting time for native development with all these languages making some serious attempts to dethrone C++ when in comes to combining high/low level in one language.
I'm still using C++ myself until the dust settles a bit, but I've found that my C++(11) code is trending towards being less stateful and more functionl-ish.
It's cool to see things changing in this space after feeling like it would be old style C or C++ forever.
It's all very interesting if true. I've always wondered why some people just seem to get nauseous so quickly when interacting in 3d environments.
In my anecdotal experience I've found adjusting things like depth-of-field of the viewport and increasing framerate to have a significant impact on simulator sickenss type effects.
It would be interesting to find what kind of minimum threshold of realistic lighting might be needed to help overcome the problem.
I've suffered pretty severe depression and anxiety for most of my adult life. While the idea that we should all just grow a thicker skin and 'just deal with it' is both understandable and practical given the nature of the internet - it just wont happen for me. I know myself well enough to have recognized that even a tiny drop of vitriol could have me questioning my every decision and shatter my self confidence for days or even weeks. So I simply write code and keep it to myself, and I'm sure there are plenty of others like me.
The idea of open sourcing our work is truly admirable however there are some of us out there who just can't stand the hate and Alpha-nerd jockeying, so we opt out. I don't think the world is missing out on much by my own lack of contribution but who knows how many truly brilliant yet fragile minds are self selecting out of the open source community because they just cannot cope?
Articles like this reduce games to some grey, by the numbers marketing exercise. The reason so many games on the app store sink like a rock is because they just plain aren't enjoyable experiences and treat their players very cynically. It's totally disappointing that micro transactions, sneaky psychological tricks and nagging the player at every stage is so actively encouraged in the mobile space.
Gameplay and designing experiences for the player is seen as some sort of afterthought.
Games can be such a wonderful immersive medium, but it's hard to get lost in another world while there's a bright bouncing icon asking for your credit card or facebook details every three seconds. Mobile games really could be so much better than this.
I for one would love to see more focus on building great things and less on monetization. Long live the indies and hats off to people like yourself who are out there pushing things forward.
I can't recall if it required a cheat or not (secret stuff didn't show up on the map by default), but you could absolutely see every entity in the level from the map screen.
This included enemies, projectiles, powerups, bullet sparks and assorted decorations. Many of them were shown as little arrows indicating which direction they were facing.
The games that do float to the top tend to be reasonably solid (or at the very least they do what they say on the tin) but even then a lot of them just aren't that great.
It just seems like a lot of mobile game developers have resigned themselves to shallow one trick games, riddled with poor value paid DLC and without even attempting to capture any of the charm or depth of their console (or PC) contemporaries.
It would be great for there to be that sense of buzz and excitement about the latest 'cool' games like there is on other platforms. I'd really like to be amazed every now and then.
Thanks for the kind wishes, and yeah it's something I feel pretty strongly about.
There are obvious problems going this way (how do you get people past the hurdle of paying for a game they haven't played?) but it just feels... better.
It also seems like a better way to build trust between the developer and the player. The way I see it is if you've taken the risk and bought my game, I love you! We're best friends now! So here's the best damn game I can give you for trusting me enough to pay for it.
And then hopefully they'll come back for the sequel.
Wonderfully put. As a developer working hard on an iOS game I feel exactly the same way.
Back in the day loading a video game was a very private, safe almost sacred experience. The world melts away and it's just you in the fantasy world the game presents to you.
For this reason I'm going with the boring old model of pay once, own the game. Everything I read says free + IAP is the way to go for maximum return, but I really feel something crucial is lost when you make the player contemplate their credit card bill while supposedly experiencing escapism.
Your story rings true for me. I dabbled in programming in my teens, but like you I was a hobbyist at best. When things got tough I would just give up. Programming seemed really hard and I just couldn't figure out how people who did it knew all the stuff they did (this was the mid 90's and there was no stackOverflow if things went wrong).
I didn't really start taking it seriously until I was in my mid twenties by which time the quality and quantity of free educational material, languages and tools for programmers had exploded. Learning how to program has never been easier. It's really a great time to be in this field, beginner or otherwise.