Zuka the crazy programmer

[Zuka]

Hey everyone. I'm gonna be your favorite 14 year old C++ programmer, supposedly capable of a lot more than you'd think.

Anyway, I'm very interested in AI, and I've been playing around with name generators, pathfinding, some basic natural language generation, and decision-making. I don't have anything to show, unfortunately. I just had to reinstall Windows because of an unfortunate accident (yeah, right) caused by my (stupid) cousin. I do plan on recoding a lot of the stuff, though. I'll give you something soon.

I also like working with physics. I've done several small implementations of space physics.(they weren't great, but they looked nice). I'm working on my own MMO almost exactly like Pangea. (By the way, it's spelled Pangaea, if you're referring to the ancient supercontinent.) I just found it yesterday and I'm definitely going to try to pitch in, most likely putting my game on hold. I have a website, if anyone's interested - here. I made it all myself (except for the template), so I'm a decent enough web developer. If anyone cares, that's the 20th time I've rewritten the entire site system - no joke. I'm a freakin' perfectionist.

I really love Lua. It's how I got started with game programming. Although I hate to admit it, I learned it all on a game called Roblox. Hey, it used to be decent, before the millions of stupid little kids came. Now it's just stupid kids trying to find dates on the internet. Horrible. Anyway, it uses Lua for its scripting engine. You can edit the scripts in "Roblox Studio", and you can manipulate bricks and stuff. It's pretty cool... I'm implementing it into my own game, Exoterra.

I'm pretty tired of typing now. I hope this is enough to keep you occupied.

[Jochen Stier]

Hey everyone. I'm gonna be your favorite 14 year old C++ programmer, supposedly capable of a lot more than you'd think.

Programming is like drawing. You are either a born talent, or you have to become one through practice. If you keep programming from now on you may never find out... “supposedly”? Who has been the judge of that ?

By the way, it's spelled Pangaea, if you're referring to the ancient supercontinent

Someone else mentioned it before. I googled it ... apparently in English it is (can be) spelled "Pangea". You are referring to the Latin word. But, Alea iacta est.

He, what compiler are you using. There is an open source version of the scene graph api of Geist3D out there. Check google code or sourceforge. It is a bit old, because I haven't found time to update it. It can be a guide to how the internals of Geist3D work. If you like to work on AI, then try to solve a targeting problem. I have outlined it on the forum before but it is something like that:

Imagine you have a battleship with n number of cannons all over the ship. The ship is attacked by a fleet of fighters and bombers. You know the location and range of each cannon and the position, damage and weapons of each attacker. The problem is which cannons should target which attacker. This needs to work over time…

I think this is pretty cool challenge and quite useful for Geist3D. Plus you can build this somewhat independently without getting too much into the internals of the graphics engine. We can integrate it later on, but have a look at the scene tree structure of Geist3D first and figure out how events, rendering and time is being handled.

Or, you can use the editor and build some cool shaders. That will get you into parallel programming which will be the future of computing. It is C syntax but you have to think in terms of parallelism. With 3D graphics the structure is pretty much given in terms of geometry, vertex and fragment shaders. That why it’s a good start. When you get into University in a couple of years, parallel programming is hopefully high in their course load.

[Zuka]

I'm using Visual Studio 2008, got it off DreamSpark as a student.

I started programming when I was 5 or 6, with HTML. I was super-obsessed with making a virtual pet game like Neopets. That never got too far, even after hundreds of Google searches about making a login system using only HTML. Hahah.

I do have the Geist3D API, I just have no clue which version it is.

I've never made a single shader in my life before, mainly because I could never figure out how to implement one in DirectX (compiling and running it). I could easily pick up the syntax. Once you know a couple languages, any new one is pretty easy. Most languages share a lot (maybe except for LOGO...), so it's really not too hard if you know one. The hardest part is adapting to the paradigms. That's why I've always had trouble with C#. I don't have a problem with it now, but before a few days ago, I couldn't find the main() function, and that ticked me off.

[TorakunSama]

Hello Zuka, and once again, Welcome to Geist3D!

I started programming when I was 5 or 6, with HTML.

Here in Africa, we call you born Genius (with good parents).

I wish I had the time to learn programming, but I'm merely an half assed Artist (at least I'm trying to get good at that).
Hope to see your work soon.
Make us proud son!

[Zuka]

Hahah, good parents, sure. They are good at parenting, but my mom's not too brilliant. She asks me to spell everything for her, she's one of those people that thinks that if you click on something, the computer will spontaneously combust, just because they know nothing about computers. My dad's pretty good, he's great at all kinds of math, and he's the reason I'm even on this forum right now. I started using a computer when I was only one year old, I think I first got on the internet at around 3. Good old Putt-Putt.

[TorakunSama]

She asks me to spell everything for her, she's one of those people that thinks that if you click on something, the computer will spontaneously combust, just because they know nothing about computers.

Yep, she's good! She wasn't against a 1 year old having a PC. She also supported your dad so he can do what he does, and most importantly, she brought you to this world.
So a mom is by default good at anything!
Carry on Zuka! You'll do wonders!

[Zuka]

Actually, my dad's the one supporting the family. He works two jobs and can't get out of his current one, which he's been in for 10 years, they treat him horribly, but... not my problem. Typical teen attitude, huh?

I love programming. I have the opposite of ADHD, whatever that's in. I can't do it without music, though. Ozzy is awesome.

About a month ago, I actually pirated some of the Putt-Putt games, and I honestly had fun playing them again. Hahah, who knew a purple talking car saving a zoo could be so much fun? And jeez, that game is so full of stereotypes... you just have to see it. I don't think anyone really cares if you pirate a game as old as that... I'm betting all the copyrights are expired and stuff. I don't even think HE is around anymore.

[Jochen Stier]

I've never made a single shader in my life before, mainly because I could never figure out how to implement one in DirectX (compiling and running it).

The Geist3D editor does the compiling for you. Just import any trimesh and then double click on the "shader" node in the treeview. That will bring up the shader editor where you can change the vertex or fragment shaders

[Zuka]

I'm aware. I'm writing my own engine.