Comments for Third Party Ninjas http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog Subcontracting ninjas since 2006 Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:53:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 Comment on Review: Kingdom Elemental by Maxim http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2007/01/03/review-kingdom-elemental/#comment-1405 Mon, 15 Oct 2007 08:39:02 +0000 http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2007/01/03/review-kingdom-elemental/#comment-1405 Graphic is perfect!!! Graphic is perfect!!!

]]> Comment on Review: Kingdom Elemental by Jill http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2007/01/03/review-kingdom-elemental/#comment-1113 Fri, 03 Aug 2007 05:52:39 +0000 http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2007/01/03/review-kingdom-elemental/#comment-1113 i need to try this game. where at? i need to try this game. where at?

]]> Comment on Review: Mr. Robot by Third Party Ninjas » The Return http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2007/01/02/review-mr-robot/#comment-583 Mon, 02 Apr 2007 21:04:26 +0000 http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2007/01/02/review-mr-robot/#comment-583 [...] It’s a shame things worked out quite the way they did. Right after writing the reviews for Mr. Robot and Kingdom Elemental, my number of readers shot way, way up. And then the crazy overtime at work kicked in, and I haven’t written anything since. So the readers went away. [...] […] It’s a shame things worked out quite the way they did. Right after writing the reviews for Mr. Robot and Kingdom Elemental, my number of readers shot way, way up. And then the crazy overtime at work kicked in, and I haven’t written anything since. So the readers went away. […]

]]> Comment on Review: Mr. Robot by jt_bombtrak http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2007/01/02/review-mr-robot/#comment-19 Mon, 05 Feb 2007 16:35:38 +0000 http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2007/01/02/review-mr-robot/#comment-19 This....looks....great! This….looks….great!

]]> Comment on Review: Kingdom Elemental by Supra http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2007/01/03/review-kingdom-elemental/#comment-18 Wed, 31 Jan 2007 18:48:47 +0000 http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2007/01/03/review-kingdom-elemental/#comment-18 This is truly a very good game. I've played my way to the third stage so far and am able to look at the last set of unlockable characters. The gameplay is very unique due to the fact that there are many different ways to beat a level as mentioned in your review. The 'professional' game this reminds me of the most is the Myth series of games by Bungie (makers of Halo if you live in a hole). I would be extremely curious to see if the creator of Kingdom Elemental got much of his inspiration from Myth since a lot of the characteristics are similar. The pause feature in combat is well thought out. I was disappointed when I was introduced to the idea during the game's tutorial, but I game to rely on it during the second and third boss battles. There is one drawback to the game that I found. There are not too many hotkeys available which cause a lot of mouse clicks. A hotkey for switching unit types during the match would have been nice as well as a hotkey for selecting which units to purchase at the beginning of a round would have been nice. Those are minor quibbles however and the creator of the game probably intended things to function this way so players would use the pause feature. Still, they would be nice in a patch. All in all - this is a great game. Buy it! This is truly a very good game. I’ve played my way to the third stage so far and am able to look at the last set of unlockable characters. The gameplay is very unique due to the fact that there are many different ways to beat a level as mentioned in your review. The ‘professional’ game this reminds me of the most is the Myth series of games by Bungie (makers of Halo if you live in a hole). I would be extremely curious to see if the creator of Kingdom Elemental got much of his inspiration from Myth since a lot of the characteristics are similar. The pause feature in combat is well thought out. I was disappointed when I was introduced to the idea during the game’s tutorial, but I game to rely on it during the second and third boss battles. There is one drawback to the game that I found. There are not too many hotkeys available which cause a lot of mouse clicks. A hotkey for switching unit types during the match would have been nice as well as a hotkey for selecting which units to purchase at the beginning of a round would have been nice. Those are minor quibbles however and the creator of the game probably intended things to function this way so players would use the pause feature. Still, they would be nice in a patch. All in all - this is a great game. Buy it!

]]> Comment on Switching to Linux (and back?) by Jesse http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2006/12/05/switching-to-linux-and-back/#comment-11 Tue, 05 Dec 2006 19:15:24 +0000 http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2006/12/05/switching-to-linux-and-back/#comment-11 I also found autotools to be quite gross when working with anything complicated. I mean, I love it when I can build and install apps that way, but it was a mess for me. Though I'll admit I gave up pretty easily. I looked at CMake, Perforce jam, and SCons, and they all seemed pretty good. SCons is what I'm currently using, and I'll probably continue using it for my cross-platform builds in the future. (I wonder if anybody has made a .vcproj to SConstruct converter. I've gotta look into that.) Thanks for the comment. :) I also found autotools to be quite gross when working with anything complicated. I mean, I love it when I can build and install apps that way, but it was a mess for me. Though I’ll admit I gave up pretty easily.

I looked at CMake, Perforce jam, and SCons, and they all seemed pretty good. SCons is what I’m currently using, and I’ll probably continue using it for my cross-platform builds in the future. (I wonder if anybody has made a .vcproj to SConstruct converter. I’ve gotta look into that.)

Thanks for the comment. :)

]]> Comment on Switching to Linux (and back?) by GBGames http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2006/12/05/switching-to-linux-and-back/#comment-10 Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:56:44 +0000 http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2006/12/05/switching-to-linux-and-back/#comment-10 Games and developer tools seem to be the only things I hear people complain about. Most everything else is covered (except for some pieces of software needed for work that only exist because of that work). As for games, you can try using Wine, or you can start looking for other native games. happypenguin.org and linuxgames.com are two sites that post news about games available for GNU/Linux. Some are in development, some are finished, and some are new. Obviously you won't find as many games as you would on Windows, but it might help to open your eyes to what is out there. As for dev tools, I'm starting to encounter problems myself. You would think that an open source environment would allow for all sorts of great dev tools, but they are really only useful if you already know what you are doing. I think Microsoft's advantage is that it is pretty much one platform (for now), and so there is no concern about different implementations of Windows. They can provide all sorts of great tools that will "just work", whereas creating similar tools on GNU/Linux is harder to get them to "just work". For instance, if you want to distribute your code and get it running on not only the various versions of GNU/Linux but also BSD variants, cygwin, etc, you would use autotools. Well, I started learning about it, and it is really not that easy to use. I can get text-based games distributed, but once I started using graphics, I hit a roadblock. Tutorials just don't seem to exist, or at least nothing comprehensive. It's basically a pain. So my choice is to ignore it and learn something simpler like CMake, which means isolating myself from the platforms that don't use it, creating my own build system, isolating myself from most everyone who expects to just do ./configure && make && make install, or tough it out, slowing down development until I learn. Eventually I will get it, though. The adantages just seem too great, and once it is learned, I know it pretty much for life. But for now, it is a pain. I think development on Windows is also a pain, just a better-documented one. B-) Good luck! Games and developer tools seem to be the only things I hear people complain about. Most everything else is covered (except for some pieces of software needed for work that only exist because of that work).

As for games, you can try using Wine, or you can start looking for other native games. happypenguin.org and linuxgames.com are two sites that post news about games available for GNU/Linux. Some are in development, some are finished, and some are new. Obviously you won’t find as many games as you would on Windows, but it might help to open your eyes to what is out there.

As for dev tools, I’m starting to encounter problems myself. You would think that an open source environment would allow for all sorts of great dev tools, but they are really only useful if you already know what you are doing. I think Microsoft’s advantage is that it is pretty much one platform (for now), and so there is no concern about different implementations of Windows. They can provide all sorts of great tools that will “just work”, whereas creating similar tools on GNU/Linux is harder to get them to “just work”.

For instance, if you want to distribute your code and get it running on not only the various versions of GNU/Linux but also BSD variants, cygwin, etc, you would use autotools. Well, I started learning about it, and it is really not that easy to use. I can get text-based games distributed, but once I started using graphics, I hit a roadblock. Tutorials just don’t seem to exist, or at least nothing comprehensive. It’s basically a pain.

So my choice is to ignore it and learn something simpler like CMake, which means isolating myself from the platforms that don’t use it, creating my own build system, isolating myself from most everyone who expects to just do ./configure && make && make install, or tough it out, slowing down development until I learn. Eventually I will get it, though. The adantages just seem too great, and once it is learned, I know it pretty much for life.

But for now, it is a pain. I think development on Windows is also a pain, just a better-documented one. B-)

Good luck!

]]> Comment on Getting back to work by Jesse http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2006/12/04/getting-back-to-work/#comment-9 Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:21:22 +0000 http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2006/12/04/getting-back-to-work/#comment-9 You're on the short list for getting to try out the prototype. I'll get to to you as soon as it's ready. You’re on the short list for getting to try out the prototype. I’ll get to to you as soon as it’s ready.

]]> Comment on Getting back to work by cylver http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2006/12/04/getting-back-to-work/#comment-8 Tue, 05 Dec 2006 05:14:43 +0000 http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/2006/12/04/getting-back-to-work/#comment-8 Well, I've already had an outline of the concept, and my feedback so far is "Sounds awesome! When do I get to play with it?" Then again, that's what I said to the last two concepts too. Well, I’ve already had an outline of the concept, and my feedback so far is “Sounds awesome! When do I get to play with it?”

Then again, that’s what I said to the last two concepts too.

]]> Comment on Games by Third Party Ninjas » Recent Developments http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/games/#comment-7 Mon, 11 Sep 2006 15:33:52 +0000 http://www.thirdpartyninjas.com/blog/games/#comment-7 [...] games [...] […] games […]

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