Remember, Remember the Fifth of November
I’m not going to reiterate past posts, they’re available under each November in the right menu. There are only two “new” things I have to say. One, as Israel “officially” marks this event on the Hebrew calendar and this is the 19th anniversary, it finally falls on the correct, Gregorian, date. I will reserve further comment on this because I’m in a bad mood. Second, besides her birthday, which is in my calendar for years now, this will be another date that will remind me of Keren. The Fifth of November was something we talked about every year. Because of Yitzhak Rabin. Because of V for Vendetta. Because of Guy Fawkes especially. So I’ll also remember the Fifth of November because of that
Posted in Humanity, No Category, Practice, Thinking Out Loud by Eran with comments disabled.
Corporate Hijacking
Microsoft has been recently accused of trying to hijack another company’s private property, NoIP’s DNS service. While that is definitely not a good thing, if looked at just on its own, it is important to remember that Microsoft is, currently, one of the biggest and more active players in the fight for internet security and safety. They are running multiple operations to take down botnets and disable malware running systems all over the globe. So, dear legal system, don’t let a company order another company to hand over property but let’s try and do accommodate the, maybe self-appointed, sheriff trying to bring order to this wild west country we call the internet even if they do need a slap on the wrist every once in a while to figure out how to actually get things done properly.
Posted in IT, Less Interesting News, Practice, Thinking Out Loud by Eran with 3 comments.
Selling Overhead
Is what this Gamasutra article called the recent trend in game development to sell “the things that usually end up on the game studio’s cutting room floor”. It’s talking about things like Early Access, selling the game while it’s being developed, and mostly about selling the “Prologue” to Metal Gear Solid V and selling access to Double Fine’s Amnesia Fortnight. First of all, I don’t think it’s really surprising in this age where Publishers are mostly going the way of the dinosaurs and more developers retaking control of their creations and trying to hit the audience directly, saving money while still trying to make hiqh-quality (i.e. expensive) titles. The money has to come from somewhere. The writer stresses the Double Fine and Metal Gear Solid V angle a lot, Double Fine selling access to their prototypes (things we usually couldn’t, and probably shouldn’t see) and Metal Gear Solid being split into (at least) two parts with the first one serving as “prologue” whose content might or might not later also appear in the full game, but I would like to point out two counter examples and say that, once again, when satisfaction is concerned, it’s all about expectations. The current customer expects that when she pays 60$ for a new game it will contain at least 10-20 hours of meaningful gameplay. Whether this is reasonable considering what we pay for movies, music, etc… is a different discussion – this is what we currently expect. In the days of the first StarCraft it Continue Reading →
Posted in Gaming, IT, Practice, Programming, Thinking Out Loud by Eran with comments disabled.
My Posting Policy
It revolves around the idea that the most valuable resource any human has currently is time and that I respect that time by trying to waste as little of it as possible. So, to not make the select few who decide to watch this space decide to leave it, I try to keep my posts as short and to the point as possible and only post something when I have something important I want to say. And even when I have a lot, I try to space it out to allow the time to do other things. Thanks for watching.
Posted in Practice, Thinking Out Loud by Eran with comments disabled.
Bushido Mentality
I didn’t go into game development lightly. I thought about it, we thought about it, we know the risks and we know the sacrifices needed. I still do it because this is the best job in the world and I’m willing to do this for a year, knowing it will only be a year, than look for a more stable, higher paying job. I know the competition is hard, saturation is high and it’s difficult to make it big, or even make it something, in this day and age. I came in, at first, because I thought I was so lucky to get this wonderful job. But that’s not why I put in the long hours. I come in early and leave late because I believe. I believe we can make it, I believe what we’re doing is worth doing. I believe this will find and audience and people will enjoy it. But I’m not delusional. I know what’s out there. But I heard a story about Samurais once, probably from Sensei Nico or someone in his vicinity. I looked it up just to be sure and I found this: Uesugi Kenshin, Lord of Echigo in the sixteenth century, explained the samurai’s fatalistic approach to combat: Fate is in Heaven, the armor is on the breast, success is with the legs. Go to the battlefield firmly confident of victory, and you will come home with no wounds whatever. Engage in combat fully determined to die and you will be alive; wish Continue Reading →
Posted in No Category, Practice, Thinking Out Loud, Work by Eran with 1 comment.
My Coding Conventions
When I run my own company or lead a brand new team, everyone will follow coding conventions. My Coding Conventions! Here they are, to the best of my current knowledge and by probable order of importance. Every method will be documented! That includes purpose, parameters, proper usage, etc… Every property will be documented! Yes. Exactly the same. Every class will be documented! Especially about recommended uses and where it is suppose to go. Every public field which is not incredibly obvious will also be documented! Every conditional block will be an actual block, with parentheses. Even if it’s one line! Starting parentheses always get a new line! Exception: if it’s a conditional or property and it fits in one line. Every method shall appear in full before its first use. This makes the code more readable! Do It! Design for any part of the program should be ironed out ahead of time and with as much detail as reasonableness allows. To be continued… (Suggestion welcome)
Posted in IT, Practice, Programming, Thinking Out Loud by Eran with 6 comments.
Dice Hunter – A Game
In an article I read about game designers, one tip was to start with tabletop games: Design one dice game, one card game and one board game and show those off. The guy who gave that tip said that that is immediately impressive. And if the games are good, that’s a guaranteed instant hire. So, right after finishing that paragraph the following game popped into my head. Dice Hunter! (Revision 3) This is a strategic guessing, press your luck dice game in which you try to get other player’s dice before they can get yours. Requirements: 2-whatever players and enough six-sided dice to give 3 to each. Setup: Give each player 3 dice and have every one roll them. Highest sum has first Turn. Reroll ties between those players. Game proceeds clockwise. Turn: Everyone rolls their dice in secret. The current player picks a target from the other players and Attacks that target. Attack: Current player selects one of his dice and shows it. If the target has a die with that number, they give it to the current player and game proceeds. If they don’t, the current player could give up and let the game proceed with no penalty (the target reveals their dice to deter cheating) or Press the Attack. Press the Attack: The current player may sacrifice one of his dice to change the number of the first die by +1 or -1. Place it near the first die. The current player may continue doing this until Continue Reading →
Posted in Gaming, Practice, Thinking Out Loud by Eran with 7 comments.
And the correct answer is… Logitech!
ביום חמישי שלחתי את הדואל הראשון ל-Logitech. ה-G700 שלי עשה לי בעיות כבר חודש, בערך מאז שהחלפתי את הסוללה הישנה והמתה שהגיעה איתו. הוא היה עובד כשהיה טעון לחלוטין אבל מהר אחרי זה הוא היה מאבד את הקשר האלחוטי. הייתי יכול לעבוד איתו מחובר, אלחוטי לשעה-שעתיים ואז הייתי חייב לחבר אותו שוב. אז ביקשתי תמיכה. קיוויתי שהם ייעצו לי לגבי המצב, אולי להחליף לסוללה אחרת. התכתבתי איתם בחמישי ושישי. דבר ראשון, התשובות היו נהדרות. אדיבות, מקצועיות, לעניין וממש מהירות. הם ביקשו יותר מידע, סיפקתי יותר מידע. הם רצו תמונות של העכבר לווידוא, סיפקתי תמונות של העכבר, מספר דגם, מספר סידורי. ואז ביום שישי הם הודיעו לי שהעכבר שלי עדיין תחת אחריות והבקשה שלי התקבלה והמכשיר החלופי בדרך. מה?! לזה לא ציפיתי. אבל מתברר שזה מה שהם חשבו שצריך לעשות. הם אמרו לי שהמוצר יגיע אליי עד יום ראשון, סוף היום. יום ראשון! הוא היה פה ביום ראשון בבוקר. אבל זה לא היה ה-G700. זה היה ה-G700s, האח הצעיר והמגניב יותר של ה-G700. ועכשיו יש לי עכבר חדש. לסיכום: אחרי יום וחצי של שיחת דואר אלקטרוני עם Logitech, במהלך סוף השבוע, הם שלחו לי עכבר יותר טוב כדי להחליף את העכבר הישן שלי שעדיין, סוג של, עובד. אז בפעם הבאה שאתם חושבים על לקנות עכבר או מקלדת (או ג’ויסטיק או אוזניות או…) תחשבו על Logitech ותחשבו על שרות הלקוחות המדהים הזה. אחרי ה-G7, ה-G700, עכשיו ה-G700s וגם ה-G510s (או ה-G19s, עוד לא בטוח) שאני רוצה לקנות מהם, אני כנראה אקנה ציוד של Logitech כל החיים שלי. אולי כדאי גם לכם.
Posted in Gaming, No Category, Practice, Thinking Out Loud by Eran with 1 comment.
RSS Feed for Google+
מבחינתי, הבלוג הוא המקום הפרטי שלי בשביל לשמור דברים שמעניינים אותי, לדבר על דברים שחשובים לי, לשמור זכרונות חשובים. אבל עכשיו, יש לי גם חשבון Google+ וחשבון Facebook שבהם אני גם משתמש. לחודית, אני כותב ל-Google+ וכלי מגניב בשם MagentaRiver מטפל בלהעביר את זה ל-Facebook. ועכשיו גיליתי ש-Magenta River שומר לי גם RSS של כל מה שהוא לקח מ-Google+. אחד הדברים שמאוד אהבתי ב-Google Reader (עד שהם הסירו את זה, והסירו את Google Reader) היא האפשרות לחלוק עם חברים ולעקוב אחרי חברים. ככה יכולתי לחלוק את הדברים המעניינים אותי ישירות ב-Reader. אז עכשיו, כשאני חולק ב-Google+, אפשר לעקוב אחרי זה עם RSS, למי שלא רוצה להצטרף ל-Google+. אני יודע מי אתם, אני מקווה שאולי תעקבו אחרי ה-RSS הזה. רק חבל לי שאי אפשר להגיב אליו ושהוא עדיין קצת עקום.
Posted in Less Interesting News, No Category, Practice by Eran with comments disabled.