Blog for Charlie Malbaurn at GarageGames.com

An odd thank you

Charlie Malbaurn — 2007-03-15T02:26:49+00:00

Like most people here, I post .plans to either say what i'm up to or to get general feedback on what I'm up to. I find it a good way to get to know people and learn some new things.
What ended up happening recently is a bit more then that.

I spoke to my father the other day and he told me that my sister, whom I've never met, had got in contact with him after 40+ years between them and 32 between her and I.

I found out today from my Stepmother that My sister found him by doing a search on his name--which i also share-- and came across my .plans.

If i understand correctly, she didn't even know I existed. So now because of it, she was able to find my father and I will hopefully be meeting her this weekend.

So i guess my babling has finally paid off. Just not in anyway that I ever imagined.

Wierd stuff..

Simplify

Charlie Malbaurn — 2007-02-11T22:30:32+00:00

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything and even then it's probably been a real long time since I posted anything worth while.

Today, I wanted to kind of talk about my problems. Most of these problems are shared by a lot of different people.

Anyway, as a software developer, I've almost always been a VB programmer. I know a lot of people have this and that to say about VB but the fact is it's made my life pretty damn comfortable. I've picked up c# because I've become accustomed to C syntax working with JavaScript and also because it affords me the same kind of visual layout VB does.

The problem that I face as a would be game developer is that with VB I've always been able to throw controls on a form, get the design the way I want it and then go from there. It's the classic Top Down design. Most of the time I take it as far as doing documentation before design to work out everything that I want to do on paper. Sure the designs changes --and the docs change after all is said and done-- but it's always made me really fast at what I do.

Back to the problem at hand; I have the artistic ability of a carrot. I either make an awful attempt at graphics and get depressed and give up or I spend so much time with the graphical elements that it still ends up fug and I get so off track that I totally loose interest.

The second problem is that the more people you bring in --especially in a product that will probably pay little to no money up front-the more they may want to change X and Y and then god only knows what the product is going to be like. I know that's being selfish but what's the point of indie development if you're not making what you wanted to in the first place?

So what I decided to do is this: Design the game knowing the my graphics are ass, hopefully make it as solidly enjoyable as possible and then hope beyond all hope that someone will like it enough (or at least see exactly what I'm trying to accomplish) to help with assets and not try to change it too much. I realize input is important but I've also learned over the years that it's not so easy to explain what you are trying to do. The bosses say 'well let's do this' and you fold and do it and then they say, 'You know, you should have done this' and your like 'um yeah, that's what I was saying to begin with'

I also figure that if you can make a game that holds up play wise, but doesn't look so hot, you may be able to solidify how great your game could possibly be and you may have a better chance of getting the assistance you need. After all, it would show artists that you're serious and that you probably know what you're doing. Or you may realize that it's awful.

At least that's what I hope; the former not the later. I guess we will see...

Let me know what you think.

-Charlie

Edit:
Sorry, forgot the obligatory image

Sunday Feb 27 13:44

Charlie Malbaurn — 2005-02-27T13:44:16+00:00

The editor and what I am doing now

Well, for those of you who are interested, I am still working on my Torque script editor. I have done a lot of things that I didn't really plan on and things are working out ok.

One of the biggest hurdles that I have had is getting the intellisense to know when to offer suggestions. In other words, Knowing when I do object.something(), it knows to only show the box for.something when the object in question is in scope.

I can say that right now, It has been worked out.

Currently, I've been bouncing around how to handle grabbing functions methods and objects from the code. Out the door, I have been designing the program so that is scans all of the script created objects so that the intellisense can call it at a later time. Now doing that I also wanted to scan the entire engine code to get all of the predefined objects, methods, etc so that they could be accessible also.

The problem is, not everyone who may be using the engine will have the source. So I am including a prefab set of all the information along with the option to scan the engine source itself to pull out the info.

Another reason that I wanted to scan the source is because of add-ons. In theory, since it is grabbing from the source, if a add-on (like the rts kit) is included in the source all of its objects and methods will be available through the intellisense and autocomplete. And (hopefully) if it is documented, it will show up on the help page.

Demos, screens and release:

Are not going to happen for a while. Although there are some areas that I would like to get people to play with, I recently found out that I am still under a non-compete agreement until September.

I can still work on things but I cannot release or publish anything until that time. Although I have released screen shots in other plans, I have recently found out that I am not even supposed to be doing that. Whatever.

I need to spend a little more time practicing the scripting itself. So I'm going to take a break from this for a bit and get my hands on T2D and practice with that.

That's about where I am at for anyone who wants to know......

Oh and to explain the non-compete: I still have a role in the company that I used to work for. After some discussion, it was decided that Ii would be a little better if I followed the rules set forth on my hiring. In other words, I don't know if I'll ever go back to work full time with the m so I don't want to rock the boat.

Thursday Sep 23 21:35

Charlie Malbaurn — 2004-09-23T21:35:38+00:00

current state of my work

For anyone wondering, I'm still at work with the syntax editor. I've taken some time off due to being hit by a hurricane and then taking a long trip back north to visit family. There will probably be another short break as we are about to be hit by another hurricane.

Right now I've directed my attention to creating a xml representation of the object structure and functions so that others who want to throw a quick editor together that has intellisense and auto complete and from there finish building the one I have.

I have been asked to work on an editor that would be pre-built into the engine.

I have one problem with this. That's the fact that I cant see much point doing live script editing since some of these scripts might already be in memory when there being edited.
I was considering using an outside looking in approach. Meaning that when you run the scripts you can than run Torque from within the editor. I am also looking at how to go about real time editing of scripts.

I plan on releasing the editor as freeware with the option to donate due to the fact that everyone's been helpful with helping me out with questions here and there.

I know this plan is a jumbled mess but I got some storm shutter putting up to do.
Peace to all,
Charlie

Sunday Aug 22 20:48

Charlie Malbaurn — 2004-08-22T20:48:05+00:00

Script editor with Intellisense, method tooltip, project explorer etc..

This is a continuation of my last plan located here

So it's a new week and I've been pretty busy with the current editor that I've been working on. Here's an early Screen shot of some of the basic stuff.

So far I have managed to finish off the highlighting and have been working on the method tool tips. Well looking back at this screenshot you can see that it's not highlighting strings within strings, so I guess I'll have to work on that.

I decided to put off how the program handles projects until I have flushed out the intellisense for objects. Considering that objects are hierarchical and that they can be called by there base name, it's been a little more complicated then I expected.
Since projects are going to keep track of all custom methods and objects so that they can later be used with the tool tip and intellisense, I figured that would be best for last.

One other thing that I am adding is a tree list of all form loading calls so that there's a viewable order on how forms are loaded.
There are two reasons for this. First it's nice to see how things are being addressed and second because I don't want to be able to use the intellisense and tool tips on things that haven't already been loaded into the engine. Think of it as a sort of error checking.

As you can see by the screenshot, I've bitten off from Visual Studio .net. I like the idea of having stuff available without hogging up a bunch of space.

So that's about it for now. Let me know if anyone has any questions or suggestions

-Charlie

Saturday Jul 31 6:34

Charlie Malbaurn — 2004-07-31T06:34:11+00:00

TorqueScript Editor with color syntax,autocomplete and intellisense Continued from Here

Here is a bit of information of where I stand now with the script editor.
===============================================================
Design
The following items are a brief overview and can change at any time.
Project Workspace

- The project workspace is designed so that you can choose to create a project and point it to the folder that includes your current compile. The workspace will show all folders and .CS files that you choose to include in your project. The reason for this is obvious; to keep all your files in a nice ordered area within your natural project folder.

-Users will be able to remove unneeded folders and files without having to worry about messing with the original files.

-Using a project workspace is also good because it will cause the editor to keep a running track of all global variables and functions within all the files in the current project.

-When Files are saved the files are also backed up in the workspace folder.

-The workspace folder is a separate area away from your compile. Think of a workspace like a visual basic .PROJ file. It keeps track of all your settings and other project related information.

Method Viewer

-The method Viewer shows a running log of all declared methods, global/local variables on the current form. Clicking on any of these will bring you to where the call was made.

Intellisense

-Users will have the ability to use a (.) to show a list of functions and variables for the declared object; Much like Visual Studio.

- When using a ( ( )Methods show a ToolTip of what arguments are expected for the function. Also a description of that method will show in the object help window for all torque functions. User declared functions will also do the same thing minus the description.

-Things like Datablocks will have a similar functionality. When a user creates a Datablock, they will get an AutoComplete window for each thing they enter within the block; more on this at a later time.

Object Help Window

-OHW will give users an automatic description on Torque objects and methods as the user declares them to help clarify there purpose.
===============================================================
So now to where I am right now

Progress

As it stands right now I have the official layout completed. Also the project manager is in place but adding some of the serious parts like string parsing for variables and stuff.

I have my workflow on paper for the Intellisense and the syntax coloring is just about complete.

I am doing this without ownership of the engine so at times I've been slowed down a bit.
I would like to thank everyone that has and will take the time to help me answer questions that come up. Also for all those that put up those really informative resources.

Sunday Jul 25 23:10

Charlie Malbaurn — 2004-07-25T23:10:21+00:00

TorqueScript Editor with color syntax,autocomplete and intellisense

Currently I am working on a script editor for Torque.(As are alot of people)
I have a working scriptor that I created a while back for MDX and other data mining things and I figured it could not be all that tough.
As it stands now, the following items will be part of the final product.
- Syntax highlighting

- Autocomplete for Objects, datablocks, etc..

- Function ToolTip to show you where you are in your functions and what is expected

- Auto help to explain the function that you are currently working on.

-Project workspaces to keep track of all the files,functions and variables in your current project

-Script run to start your scripts within the torque demo

-Generalized script checking

Some of these things will take alot more time then others.Considering that I am not a Torque SDK owner(Kids to feed)
It may take more time to dig up some of the information that I need.

I am doing this for myself but will make it public and Free because I think this is a great comunity and since GG is good enough to sell such a product in such a cheap manner it's the least that I can do.
If anyone has a list of all the functions and there methods please send them my way.
The dumps don't seem to include them all for some reason
Thanks
EDIT:
As it stands right now I will most likely release a free version and a pay version. If there is a pay version it will be to keep up with website charges and other stuff. Not more then a few dollars I suppose. Let me know what you all think on the subject.