The Fighting Programmer

I'm an aspiring programmer and entrepreneur who wants to make an impact on as many lives as possible.

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

Flash game update

 So after a few days  of tinkering my character is capable of  shooting in both directions. Understanding how the Bullet class works in actionscript3 took a while but thankfully I have a good teacher.  If I can I'll update the post with images  see you can see. Tomorrow my mentor will start teaching me Object-oriented programming as  to make game development easier.  I hope that I'll be able to give you guys a demo at least.  Any tips from as3 users or  indie game developers on making your first game?

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

Return of the Programmer. A New Angle

   I"mmmmmmmm Back everyone! Classes are over and I'm now a free man. And as promised, I'm going to try to post everyday/otherday On my new project.  In November I've acquired an internship and Visual Goodness, an interactive studio that focuses on a combination of coding/development with creative visual elements in the end combining to make some really cool stuff. So far  my project is to create a game in flash. It's my first really big project that'll become even bigger over time(I hope). So over the summer I'll post on the progress of the game  from beginning to eventually completion. im sure you'll like what you see. So the main language you'll see so far is Actionscript 3. I''ll occasionally post code along with the images. Here's something to get you guys started.

Controlled character. So far my code can make it jump and move left and right. Sorry Guys i don't know how to make it interactive to tumblr useres yet. Once i figure it out, you can have fun moving him.  Well guys wish me luck and keep waiting to see the improvements, ciao.

PS. The title will change. The game will be spiritually inspired by Mega Man if you've guessed.

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

An Apology and important update

Hey guys I know its been a really long time since I've last posted. I know I know still no code. Well, I've been really caught up with my classes and it seems like I wont have to much time on my hand until about may after finals. I'm sorry to everyone whos been waiting ffrom me for ahwhile. Just keep it on your calendar(Even though I'm not major league important lol) That may is code time. Plus, I'll be starting my internship with Visual Goodness in the summer as a back and front end programmer, so I can telly you real life applications of my code and what feels different from just school. It'll be a great learning experience for me and the readers. So wait till then if you can. If i get time to post again before that it'll be on the fighting part of my name (basically fighting game stuff since i also promised that) Well, you'll hear from me again in about to months. I wish everyone success with what they're doing in the meantime.

[theendlessdonut-blog]

Finally I uploaded a fairly solid version of EpIc_2D-mAsSaCrE! I’ve only had the chance to test it on a very limited set of configurations, so I apologize if for any reason it won’t be running on your machine.

The build I’m releasing is stable on any pc I’ve tested it on and it’s memory-leak-free, so you shouldn’t encounter any particular problem while playing it. You need DirectX 9+ in order to run the game. Plus, you might have to get

Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (64-bit version here)

because it doesn’t ship with some Windows installations.It’s a very small download and a super-fast installation though.

In order to be able to compile the source code you will need the latest DirectX SDK and FMOD sound library.

The current version of the game includes three playable classes (each with its own weapon, health points, speed, armor etc.), three “buffs” to choose from (speed, armor and damage), four maps, a working map editor and five different levels of AI.

I still have to set up a proper website, meanwhile I’ll just put everything on mediafire.

EpIc_2D-mAsSaCrE - game

EpIc_2D-mAsSaCrE - source code

Just let me know if you have any questions :)

Luca

P.S. If you haven’t read any of my other posts and don’t know what this game is about, check out some gameplay footage here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HCtoF_MupY

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

will definitely will be glad  to try this out. It says fmodex.dll is missing from the computer when i try to run the exe file despite the game coming with it.

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

yet somewhat overwhelming lol. opened up the source file of pychess and im scoping around it so I can understand it line by line. I realized that’ll take a while so I’ll have to try a different approach. It’s really pretty to look at though. It was suggested by a contributor that i make a clone to…

[ldo17]

When trying to get to grips with a large piece of code, I’ve found it’s helpful to have some specific goal in mind—some feature you want to add, some bug you want to fix, that kind of thing. It helps to focus your attention on looking for the particular code that affects the behaviour you’re trying to change.

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

Thanks for the advice. It's my first real open source project and I'm still a python rookie. With that combination seeing so much code is attractive yet a little scary. It feels better now that i have a strategy to handle these things. 

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

NYU-Poly's Black History Event

Really enlightening. I felt my mind was flooded with new ideas and understanding. I really feel like I want be not just a better programmer but i better me. By doing that, I think I'll be able to help  and do more for more people with my software. Stay inspired guys there's a lot we're capable of. I'm thankful for being invited and attending the event. Thanks NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers)

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

How I learned to program

http://rdegges.com/how-i-learned-to-program

It's an interesting article that has reinspired me and is something i look at time and again. Maybe you coders can relate to this.

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

Hundreds of Lines of code.........It's Beautiful!

yet somewhat overwhelming lol. opened up the source file of pychess and im scoping around it so I can understand it line by line. I realized that'll take a while so I'll have to try a different approach.  It's really pretty to look at though.  It was suggested by a contributor that i make a clone to play with  then  tackles some bugs. I think I'll do it in reverse. I want to make sure  i can float before I try swimming. I don't want to drown in code in my first project. Sorry the page is codeless. I wouldn't know where to start. But I am determined. I'll try to post a part of a bug or error im working on first. Baby steps. And I'll explain some code for the best of my ability  so anyone new to python could understand. teaching is a form or learning too. But I'm happy to have something to work on and get my hands dirty. To progress! 

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

Rook to A6....Wait

Hey guys just so you know the title is based on the python opensource project I've decided to work on and contribute to as a way to learn hands on. Pychess. It's a very active project and I've always had an interest in learning chess so it's two-fold. The next post will finally contain some code. Yay!. Keep reading and wish me luck that i don;t struggle to much.

For more info about Pychess or getting involved visit  PyChess.org

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

To endless donut

Ala Scott Pilgrim, I am in lesbians with you my friend lol.  I'll update everyone when I choose a project.

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

Quickie

This will be short guys. Downloaded pygame to supplement my python training and development. I've been a gamer since the days of the mario/duckhunt double pack on my nes when i was 3.  The prospect of making a game is like a dream come true, so I think this will be a nice way to have programming projects that'll interest me. I'm still looking for an open source project  written in python that has mentors/is friendly.  I'd appreciate it if you guys to recommend something. I'll thank you in a post if I choose yours. I have of track and cheetah. Can anyone say anything about them?

[theendlessdonut-blog]

Pheeww, at last the map editor is done. It’s pretty straight forward to use, all you have to do is select a tile, draw on the map, drag n drop the spawn points where you want them to be. BAM, your map is ready to be played. It could use some refining, but all in all I’m quite satisfied the way it currently works.

On a side note, AI is sooo much fun to code! :D And challenging, of course.

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

Did you use any other software besides C++? I'd love to make an 8 bit game down the line, maybe something like this.

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

Programming is in my blood. My father was the head of a Software crew when I was a kid and I would go to his office afterschool, watching everyone work, live, and play in that environment. It was so cool. Creativity and intuition are the rules of the game, and anyone can play. What keeps me going as a programmer is the inevitability of a solution to any problem. No matter how hard or intricate a problem may seem, it gets solved -- you just gotta keep thinking about it. I love that.

Something to think about for beginners like myself.

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

I know it’s not the cleverest title ever but it’s something. Considering that I’ve only dabbled in programming languages without sticking with them consistently for too long, I’ve decided that I have to really buckle down and settle and one. That, and maybe I have to go about learning them a…

[invaderxir]

What open-source projects are you working on?

I joined a game called Freedroid a while back. I actually haven't done much with in it but i'll try to get back with contributing. Right now I'm looking for a python based open source game or project. Games tend to keep my interest more.  Ps. It's a great project if you like rpg games, they mainly use C and Lua and they are always welcome to help. :)

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

Building and Open Source Community

That's one of the goals i hope this blog will start to do somewhere along the line. I mentioned in my first post that I want to have a software company that specializes in open source software. I got the idea from my cs 101 professor when I aksed him what software has the most potential and he got me on to linux( I'm an ubuntu guy). From there, Ive keep thinking of the possibilities having a company like that can have on bussiness, teachers, hobbyists and virtually the world( sounds silly i know. I've got a passionate 6 year old in this body who keeps me going)  But its what I want. I hope that as I become a better programmer that I can start showing you guys the software in alpha stages, get feedback etc. I want you guys to help me make this happen. Because in the end, I wanna do this because i want to help people. I have chosen a specific domain of software yet like cloud, education but that'll come over time. Also this will be a small business. I dont plan n being exactely the same as red hat linux. I'd like to do something a little innovative and creative because my goal isn't to compete. One thing I know will make me happy in some 20 years if i hear reports of kids learning how to program because of the business.*Sniff* It'd bring tears to my eyes.  Sorry If i bored you by rambling about my ideal dreams. I just thought it'd be nice to share.

If you have any ideas on building this community/company please be free to tell me. While I can't pay you for the idea if I decided to use it, I will gladly appreciate and I'm sure other future users would too. 

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

To C, or not to C? That was the question.

 I know it's not the cleverest title ever but it's something.  Considering that I've only dabbled  in programming languages without sticking with them consistently  for too long, I've decided that I have to really  buckle down and settle and one. That, and maybe I have to go about learning them a different way. My main way used to just consist of reading the Computer science text book I was given and just do the examples. While it wasn't bad, I was really dull. And sometimes not even the textbook gave me the clearest of answers.  

I've devised a new plan to tackle these challenges. First, my main language will be Python, with a little bit of C on the side because i have to learn it for my programming class in college. Why Python? Simply because it's fun. It does a lot with less code and it easier for me to understand. Thankfully because of my dabbling with C, i can understand some of the underlying principles that is actually taking place in the program.  Yay dabbling! The second part of my plan is to use more combined methods of learning. I'll be working on open source projects and have the aid of  Google's python programming class as well as  thenewboston.com(Check them both out if you wanna leanr python, their awesome in my opinion). This way I'll be learning and developing hands on material about things that do more than tell me "Hello, world!". 

So the  format the blog  is hopefully going start taking are the project I'm working on, what I've learned to solve the problem  and other interesting tidbits that will be useful to other rookies. Firs python, then the WORLD! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

     Ps. I haven't forgotten to write about fighting game related stuff. That'll come really soon. And I'm currently looking for an open source vide game in python. If anyone of you can think of one or a website to work that wouldn't mind help, please be free to let me know. It'll benefit us all.

[the-fighting-programmer-blog]

All right, just 9,981 hours to go!

  Hello guys, sorry it took me awhile for another actually post. I'll try to become more consistent. If you hadn't picked it up immediately by the title, I;m referencing  Malcolm Gladwell's theory of 10,000 hours to expertise. Basically according to your theory, it takes about 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become an expert in a chosen field. Keyword being deliberate practice. So I can't become an expert programmer by just helplessly staring at my laptop. This blog and hopefully readers will be my motivation to make sure I put in at least 1 hour a day into programming and getting better a day. I know the goals i have won't  get anywhere near creation if i don't. I promise to post about things that have become clear and things that I have started working on so you know I'm not just full of hot air.  The title of this article is my own estimation of the amount of hours I've honestly put in.  I also would like to challenge some of you guys to earnestly put in those hours into your field too. The pencil wont move itself, artists, and those calculations wont  stare at you and explain its meaning engineers. We all have to put in the work.  my serious work starts today and i'm not backing out of this commitment. to success everyone.