Natural selection 2D mockup

This was made pretty long ago by me, all done in MSpaint. Tell me what you think! Oh and, I just started coming back to snarkpit, I completely forgot how much I loved it!!

Hehe, pretty cool mate, especially for paint! Have you ever done any game programming? With 2D art like that you could make some interesting games - mine always fail in the art department!

yeh, this would make a good side-scroller ... old skool ! :biggrin:

Im glad to see people still like 2D as much as me! I tried learning C++ a few times, but failed miserably, im only 14 too, so maybe that has something to do with it. Hey reno, if you ever need pixel art or anything, just ask me! =D

I'm really meant to do it myself to be honest mate, with the uni course and all. I guess its acceptable to have others do it provided you give credit but I like to make everything myself, even if it does end up crap. Thanks for the offer though, I appreciate it :smile:

ReNo said:
I'm really meant to do it myself to be honest mate, with the uni course and all. I guess its acceptable to have others do it provided you give credit but I like to make everything myself, even if it does end up crap. Thanks for the offer though, I appreciate it :smile:

No problem :biggrin: Though I know what you mean, when you do a project by yourself, its alot easier to keep track of and keep organized.

im only 14 too, so maybe that has something to do with it.

I just have to say that age really has nothing to do with it, to answer
your question. I know some teenage programmers that are programming
particle systems and whatever at age 15. As cheesy as it sounds, you
can pretty much learn anything if you put your mind to it.

...or if you have the right C++ book...

Yeah, thats one of the things that makes it harder to learn while young. Programming books really aren't cheap, but if you go to a uni to do computing (or just go to a uni that DOES computing) then you will most likely have access to a library that has plenty to offer. Obviously you CAN learn these things for free from the internet, but most of the time a book is far more in depth and clear, as well as consistant throughout.

Campaignjunkie said:

im only 14 too, so maybe that has something to do with it.

I just have to say that age really has nothing to do with it, to answer your question. I know some teenage programmers that are programming particle systems and whatever at age 15. As cheesy as it sounds, you can pretty much learn anything if you put your mind to it.

Agreed. I mean, take DesPlesda. He's what, 7, and is quite skilled in most things computer related. Impressive little gnome, he is.

Yeah, thats one of the things that makes it harder to learn while young. Programming books really aren't cheap, but if you go to a uni to do computing (or just go to a uni that DOES computing) then you will most likely have access to a library that has plenty to offer. Obviously you CAN learn these things for free from the internet, but most of the time a book is far more in depth and clear, as well as consistant throughout.

... and correct. You'd be amazed how many people release "working" code or ideas on the Internet for C++ (specifically) and there's crap wrong with it. Like, they'll use recursion in a menu or something stupid like that. Or, they'll make something that uses the most inefficient ways possible, like making 20 thousand temp variables, like morons.

A book is the way to go, because the author knows what the hell he's talking about. Most programmers ... don't, even though they can use the language, when they do certain things they're not really aware of the implications of that operation. (An example is the postfix increment or decrement operator).

Agreed. I mean, take DesPlesda. He's what, 7, and is quite skilled in most things computer related. Impressive little gnome, he is.

Wow, thanks Monqui. You're just out by a decade :razz:

Could always try learning plain C first. I'm pretty sure something like a sidescroller is possible with it, and there's not so much to take in at the start. Also it's easy to build from your knowledge of C when learning C++.

I'm primarily a C programmer, and I use elements of C++. Programming games is perfectly managable in C, though using certain benefits of C++ can help out.

Like, they'll use recursion in a menu or something stupid like that. Or, they'll make something that uses the most inefficient ways possible, like making 20 thousand temp variables, like morons.

I'll bet you get asked to help people with homework a lot, and you end up doing most of it for them and shaking your head at the bad code they bring in to begin with.

At least, that's how things work out for me. I've taken to hiding out at friends' apartments in the evenings before homework is due :razz:

EDIT: Oh yeah, this NS thing looks a lot like Codename Gordon. Anyone else tried that? It's a pretty entertaining Metal Slug-like game that is offered over Steam now.

I tried it, and it was a novel idea and entertaining enough, but all in all it certainly isn't one of my favourite 2D games.

Crono, that's something I would be worried about releasing code. I would be worried about getting flamed for doing it all the wrong way. I assume postfix increment is like i++; ? I use this and would like to know, what are the implications?

The only thing to really be concerned about (I think) is when you use it in an operation - be careful where you want prefix increment instead.
This:
i = 4 * (j++);
is different from this:
i = 4 * (++j);

If j was 3, then in the first case i would be 12, in the second i would be 16. After both operations j would be 4. Postfix does the operation first, then increments the variable, and prefix does the increment first, then the operation. Make sense?

With the post fix operator you create three copies of the object/variable (NO MATTER WHAT, even if you overloaded, since they have different operations). Now obviously this doesn't seem that big since you can use it only on integers ... but what if you did it in a recursive loop of a big ass tree and every node pointed to a linear linked list?

I'd hope if you came to that situation and you weren't using globals (and you really shouldn't they're more hassle then they're worth) then you better be passing a pointer by value, if not, you're passing actual data by value ... you're making a nice old copy of the entire thing. (You can use by reference to avoid that, obviously)

But just imagine this: You do all that, and you have three function calls, one with in each function. So in your main you call a function passing this monstrosity of a data structure ... it calls a function ... then that calls a function ... Depending on the size of your tree and lists you could be in some deep s**t.

What if this thing is a tree of information in a banking service?

There's so many goofs you can do with simple crap, like putting two plus or minus signs in back instead of front ... or forgetting an ampersands.

HOWEVER, post fix DOES have a purpose. You use post fix if AND ONLY IF you want to inc or dec the value AFTER it is used in an expression.
This is useful in pipelining ... everywhere else its probably a better idea to suck it up and add a line of code saying "++ var;" instead of making three god damned copies of the thing on the heap.

Its funny, I'd say take a class on optimizing code (I never did, but this is the way I learned it) but I've seen some of their course work at certain school .... and they suck balls. They're using post fix and all sorts of garbage.

[Another Note]
I'd suggest learning C++ first, just because the language has so much power, it will take longer to learn, and when you're done, you inadvertently know C ... thats that. You have to memorize the fact that there are no classes (this no ->) and you're good to go. Going the other way around is much harder.

And again ... C is really only good for building fast programs. I don't mean you build them fast, I mean they run fast. C++ tends to have overhead, because you have so much freedom (you do in C as well, just not as much).

C++ suits a programmer at any level of capabilities ... unless they go out and get ahead of themselves (which is most often the case).

C has too many restrictions for someone to be really happy with it if its their first language.

But then there are die hards out there (like my old CS instructor) who's first language is assembly (Or Fortran ... bleh).

But maybe that's just my opinion ...

Horn, Dude, you fail the class if you're caught doing that ... and if they really get pissed at you they can very well throw you out of school. And I mean at my school, not yours. Like, if you recycle your programs, such as print it out and throw it in the recycle bin. It can very well show up as someone else's assignment and you both fail ... no questions. However, its not as hard as it sounds, since if you think you left something like that somewhere you can inform your instructor and they will know that a duplicate of your work might be coming in without your name on it.

Jeff, Don't worry ... Microsoft releases code all the time, I'm sure your code would be beautiful in comparison

From http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug/2003/05/msg00747.html

I understand foo++ to be the postfix operator. The postfix operator
must return a copy of the object in its pre-modified state, ie:

Foo Foo::operator++(int) throw()
{
Foo old = *this;
++(*this);
return old;
}

Where as the prefix operator, ++foo, just returns the object after it
has been incremented.

Foo & Foo::operator++() throw()
{
// here is where your real code to do the increment goes
return *this;
}

Therefore, the postfix is the one with the superfluous copy, and hence
is inefficient. Prefix just returns a reference, there is no additional
copy involved.

And in any case, the compiler will probably optimise the postfix
operation anyway :wink:

Rgz,

Luke.

That totally depends on the compiler you're using.

Post fix does make three copies if you're not using some fancy (expensive) compiler. In which case, there buddy, you should know how to write code that works with all compilers. Believe me, it isn't an extinct issue. The compiler (whatever one you use) can't read your mind and go "Oh, he didn't really want three copies here". Most of the optimized ones have to be set up for you if you want it to act this way.

[NOTE]
Trust me, I spent like 2 months on this rediculous subject and read chapters upon chapters on it. It is less effecient, even if you overload it yourself (which if you overload the prefix you should overload the postfix)

Also, you'd be surprised how many books are flat out wrong when regarding C++ (Such as they say templates are a wonderful and EASY thing ... not true)