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CodeOptimist

WFG Retired
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    Syntax highlighting within a <textarea>?

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    There are a couple of JavaScript-based "extended" textarea editors that might suit your needs:

    * HTMLArea - I've used an older version of this in the past, and it works pretty well. I'm not sure if it would support programmatically changing the contents (syntax highlighting), but my guess would be that it would.

    * Xinha is actually a seperately-developed fork of HTMLArea which is supposedly more feature-rich and less buggy. (I haven't tried it myself)

    Microsoft Found Guilty of patent infringement

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    If only this sort of news got on NBC or something.  Then the common people (as in, not reading Slashdot) might think twice about buying Microsoft products...

    Well, the whole Microsoft antitrust trial shenanigan a couple years was all over the news. Not sure how much it hurt MS's sales, but it must not have hurt too much...

    The future of RTS and Games

    in Gaming Discussion & Match-making

    Posted

    When each individual character has 600,000 polys, and you can play in an entire city with hundreds of others, with just stupidly realistic effects and animation and physics, do you really need to get a new system?

    "Yes, so I can render everything twice and view it with stereoscopic glasses. Plus, the newer system can do twice as many polygons per character, at 30 frames per second, at HDTV-level resolutions. Besides that, it's newer."

    :torch:

    My point being: people will always have a reason to upgrade to the 'latest and greatest' in technology, even when there isn't a major need for it. And, just when you think there isn't a need for the latest technology, some manufacturer's marketing team will try very hard to convince you otherwise. ("Our machine can play a thousand movies at the same time. This increases your productivity... somehow...")

    An interesting trend I can see in the future is the hybrid between first person shooter and real time strategy games, such as the system set up in Natural Selection.

    Take a look at Rise and Fall. While not on a MMORPG scale, it seems to be a hybrid RTS/RPG game.

    (I don't think it helps that RTS developers seem to rebuild the entire engine for almost every game - I imagine a lot of programming time would be saved if there was something equivalent to e.g. the Unreal engine (but for RTSs rather than FPSs), as a pre-built base upon which they could add their own gameplay and art.)

    The closest thing to something akin to this in RTS history would be ES's "Genie" engine, which was technically used for four games (two games and two expansion packs).

    Plus I hate those controllers for consoles... played some games at a friends house... so hard to get the joysticks to move where it's supposed to go.... :axeman:

    I share your predicament. To me, a mouse is ten times easier to control than a gamepad analog stick - *especially* for FPS games. I tried playing Splinter Cell on an Xbox once, and couldn't aim the crosshair to save my life. ;)

    I enjoy reading your brainstorming, LZ. Your ideas of an 'ultimate game' come close to some I've had. The two games I'd *love* to see (and play!) are:

    1) A "persistant state" MMO RTS-type game - akin to Rome: Total War on an MMO scale. Instead of the (relatively) small R:TW world, entire planets would be broken into hundreds (or thousands?) of small regions that could be controlled by the player. Or, going a step further, an entire "galaxy" could be simulated, with R:TW-style gameplay on land and Homeworld-style space battles in the sky. (OT: Anyone play Homeworld? It's an older game, but still quite good)

    2) A history-based MMORPG (i.e. not fantasy/magic) with some RTS influences and a constant server-side progression of "time" (i.e. persistant world, random events, and so on). I'd like something that allows me to interact with a (semi-)realistic world and with other players - basically everything that would happen if you lived in that era of history: build a place to live, buy food, learn a trade, and whatever else you might think of.

    I've been watching the development of Roma Victor for the past couple of years, in hopes that it might be similar to what I'm dreaming up. Plus, it's free - I loath the idea of paying a subscription fee for a game. :P

    Can you believe it?

    in Fun and Games

    Posted

    I saw part of that commercial too. I thought it was an advertisement for a History Channel special on WWII right up until it said "Medal of Honor". :)

    My brother played MoH:AA and it looked pretty good. I'm not sure about any of the other sequels.

    The music in Allied Assault was amazing. I listen to it quite often and it constantly reminds me of some of John Williams' works (especially mus_aircraftfacility.mp3).

    Cypher This!

    in Fun and Games

    Posted

    Looks like sequences of character IDs to me. (A = 1, B = 2?)

    However, running that pattern on the text results in the string "GJYM QG RYM QL Y WYL". I also tried assuming A = 25 by rotating the alphabet forward two letters, but ended up with "ILAO SI TAO SN A YAN", which phonetically sounds similar to an Asian language, but nothing more. (y)

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