So hit up their web page, check out the trailer below, tweet about it, and tell your friends. This is on my eagerly awaiting list.

http://www.hobbygamedev.com/beg/cs-major/

For my take on the subject see below…

I’m not a video game professional, indie or otherwise, but I am a comp sci major and very interested in the video game industry. So mine is also an outside perspective.

The TL:DR (man I hate that) version of Chris’ article to me is: “A Computer Science major is still valuable for game programmers, even if it’s difficult.” I particularly like the line “…for a CS degree is that its emphasis is on fundamental concepts, which aim to extend well into the future largely independent of specific technologies or how the market may change.” (Emphasis added.)

The changes in the world of programming in general is staggering, doubly so for game programming where customers drive development towards the latest and greatest. Consequently every new platform has to throw away a certian part of their knowledge and experience because they’re not applicable to the new platform. Have you ever noticed that the end of a console’s support cycle, or sometimes after it, is where the really amazing games manifest. Developers at this point have learned what they need to learn and can really focus on making a good game, instead of the part game/part learning experiences that preceded them. That’s why in my opinion PC games tend to be, on the whole, on a higher level. It’s an older platform that, while it is in constant development in some ways, has a large base of developers with enough knowledge in the inner workings (at any given point) that they can focus all their energies into the game part of the game.

I support the weekend developer. If your only goal is to be able to program for fun and show off your stuff to family and forums then take the easy road. Self-teach, use online tutorials, ignore any problems you don’t want to deal with and have fun. But if you have any aspirations to make a living doing video games, or even some pocket change, you need to be ready to learn something new. I mean studiously grapple with knowledge that you haven’t got and in some cases may not yet be readily available. So if you’re thinking about dropping out of a college program because it’s “too hard” then drop your dreams of being a professional game programmer. Because not only are you throwing away basic knowledge that is very applicable but you’re also training yourself to give up.

And if you say…

that’s alright, I’ll just do game design and leave someone else to program. I’m more of an idea person anyways.

…you will be putting me in the uncomfortable position of having to find where you live so I can visit you and deliver you a kick to the genitalia.

The funny thing is I feel like I can’t talk about the stuff I’m doing because it doesn’t “fit” with what Cymon’s Games “is”. However I’ve never really defined what Cymon’s Games is. It started out as a type-in revival that never really took off. Now it’s a library of reference code and tutorials. Of course for many people the only time they’ve heard of Cymon’s Games is through ASCIIpOrtal… which I have neglected for far too long. For some it’s the MrJoeRants… which I’ve also neglected, but that’s not my fault. This Android game that I’m dabbling in is getting the “Cymon’s Games” logo on it, so maybe Cymon’s Games needs to change into more of a game development company? Maybe Cymon’s Games should just evolve to be “Whatever Joe is working on at the time.”

There are things I want to do. I want to change the programs section so it will more easily accept user generated content. I want to update ASCIIpOrtal with a wiki and links to the github for it. I want to make an interactive lesson section to teach programming online. I want to do a video review series on the classic BASIC books that I’ve collected. I want to get a 3D printer and make a video series about the projects I’m working on with it.

And maybe that’s my problem. No focus. Or rather there’s focus but not in the right areas.

Sorry, this is turning out all livejournally.

The point is, I’m sorry about the hiatus and if you have any suggestions for what you want to see more of comment below.

1. Steve is apparently married to Liza Gibbons (News)
2. He may or may not work for Bank of America (linkedIn)
3. He has a website that wears his ASCIIpOrtal work like a badge.

Wow, google. What would I have done without you?

And there it is on Steve’s website, under ASCIIpOrtal, the song “Almost Invisible”.  It thrills me to see this for reasons I can’t quite enumerate. Go check out his site, check out his other work, and compliment him for all the ear candy on ASCIIpOrtal.

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=21212.0

Plus the source code is in C++. So if it doesn’t do what it want I can crack it open and fix that.

Oh, you’ve heard that one.

Well, cynddl ran a build of the latest beta on mac and with all the changes we need someone to test it. but I’m a windows guy, zorun like the unix, so if any of you have mac love (MertenNor?) will you follow this link and try out the mac version?

Plus you get to see all the new features and hours and hours of ASCIIpOrtal maps.

http://cymonsgames.com/zorun/test-website/?download

All the other versions are there too, but I really need a “Yeah, this works on my mac” comment below.

Now the video is pretty funny, but am I the only one who’s disappointed that ASCIIpOrtal is the only game to do a 2D portal look through mechanic right? To everyone else they’re just portable teleport points. I mean, I get it in this video and it may not have worked as well had they done it any other way, but I couldn’t help but get my hopes up, just a little, when I saw this one in my RSS feed.

That next version is looming ever closer, and this time when I say that I mean it’s actually being worked on. Jump on the IRC to get in on the conversation before the release and for links to the latest beta.

Link to the game. 27 is the score to beat.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve never heard of anything Chris has done. That’s kinda the point of the title. He’s not a professional game developer. He’s like you and me. Well, me at least. He’s making silly little games because he wants to. The last 2 posts on Chris’ blog were fantastic: Clone a game to learn about it? Yes please. I’ll bet you can also learn a bunch if you just type-in the code yourself. And you can actually mess up your perception by talking about a thing? So much for MrJoeRants. (Not really. Recording a new one right now.)

His posts are insightful and well written. Like I said, go RSS that thing.

So where have I been? What have I been working on? Well… dancing buddahs, that’s what. And now that’s done what’s going to become of ASCIIpOrtal, Cymon’s Games, and MrJoeRants? Watch to find out.