Blog for Ron Yacketta at GarageGames.com

Linux aquirers TSTPro in a bold attempt to take over the world!!

Ron Yacketta — 2006-03-14T12:51:54+00:00

Over the weekend I was able to get TSTPro up and functional under Linux with only 1 know issue (Directory picking), which I plan on resolving with new gui to list directories in a TreeViewCtrl. Right now one can manually type in the Project Directory name and path; one small caveat: don't enter the root directory as the path, TGE's resource Manager will parse your entire HDD. This is also true for both Windows and Mac (had fun last night waiting for TSTPro to scan c:\ *snicker*)

Spent Monday evening playing with TSTPro to ensure things were working, as you can see in the screen shot I am able to load dts models, play with lighting (that's why the orc looks greenish, used a Lt cyan light). I was also able to load the crossbow from TGE-L and mount it on the orc. So far everything appears to be working, need to toss this to someone who has more experience with TSTPro to beat the heck out of it.

Well, enough rambling for now. I'll leave you with a screenshot to ooo and aah over ;)

If you would like to learn more about TGE-L, Constructor, TSTPro or need someone to-do some Linux development just drop me a line.

TGE-L, Constructor and TSTPro

Ron Yacketta — 2006-03-10T21:39:49+00:00

Sure has been a long time sense my last blog, bet you have been wondering what I have been up to (or maybe not ;) )

After IGC 2004 I hoped on board with MGT to help them shore up DH:L on Linux as well as to add cnr (linspire authentication), helped with some bot code (getting bots to dynamical load based on game settings) and added a player list gui (not sure if it is fully functional, still waiting for feedback). Things started to dry up a bit with Lore, think that was more of my fault for not being around on IRC as much. Don't blame them one bit for the lack of work tossed my way :) they are a bunch of great guys who I have nothing but deep respect for.

Shortly before IGC 2005 I was asked by Ben G if I would like to get TGE up to snuff for 1.4 seeing that they were planning on releasing it at or shortly after IGC 2005. Without hesitation I jumped on the opportunity and dove in head first. Man was I in for a shock ;) I have done a lot of things with TGE on the surface, but nothing with the finer internal portions of TGE. It was a learning experience to say the least. The port fizzled out after IGC, had personal family issues that kept me from working on it as well as a desire issue. Jeff T. posted an interesting 'Linux Expectation Management' blog which was promptly followed up with a thread by Ben G titled 'Linux Collaboration'. Porting began to pick up, the community got involved and e-mails/patches were flowing through my inbox. After a few months of poking and prodding at the TGE-L we finaly have a stable working 1.4 in CVS and the installers for the SDK and DEMO shipped to Matt F for testing and hopefully posting to the GG products page for mass consumption.

I have also been working on the port of constructor to Linux as well as TSTPro, constructor is near completion for porting. That is, it is up to snuff with the current feature set. We do have one major obstacle to takle and that is the application menu. Currently TGE-L is not setup to use a windowing system that has a menu system. We use SDL/OGL and stock Xlib api calls, neither of them have menu system capabilities. I enlisted the help of Gregory McLean to investigate the possibility of using qt/gtk for menu code, it could be done but would require a major rework of the linxu platform. NOT something we are looking to invest time into right now. So, we are planning on using the current TGE menu system and attach it to the base canvas and have it always visible for linux only. Here is a screen shot (thanks to Tim A for resizing/compressing :)) of Constructor running under Linux.

The topic of T2D (TGB) has a habit of popping up when I speak about TGE-L, right now I am not in the know of any porting being done for it. I have asked and was told that someone in the community was working the port, but to date I have not heard of or seen any posts of a port being done.

All linux dev has been done using Kdevelop 3.2.3, Ubuntu 5.10 and GCC4, not sure if that will be the primary support env or not. I know of several community members who are using Gentoo, Debian, Slackware, Fedora and mandriva. Community members are also using a range of compilers from 2.95 (me for testing ;) ) to GCC 4.

Well,looks like it is time to finish this blog for now. If you would like to learn more about TGE-L or need someone to-do some Linux development just drop me a line.

-Ron

Wednesday Nov 19 16:07

Ron Yacketta — 2003-11-19T16:07:42+00:00

minGW/Eclipse/TGE and Vacation!!

Got some initial feedback from GG (Tim specifically). In short, he was able to get TGE imported into Eclipse and compiled (though he used cygwin). I will be working on the resource (after my annual hunting trip) and possibly a patch (maybe GG will incorporate it into HEAD :)) and send it in for mass consumption.

I will be in the Adirondack Mountains from 11/21 - 12/1 returning on 12/2. Hopefully I will come back with a couple of ~140LB bucks :) Spotted a nice 10 pointer while scouting the area the weekend of 10/24, lets hope he is still hanging around...

-Ron "Track'em, Whack'em and Stack'em" Yacketta

If it's Brown ... It's Down!!

Saturday Nov 15 21:44

Ron Yacketta — 2003-11-15T21:44:51+00:00

UAT and the college thing..

Been thinking a lot about UAT lately and how I would rather be getting a BS in CS instead of a BS in SE. I have been doing some research and the BS in CS route seems to be the best route for me. No biggies about UAT, can take most if not all of the 64 credits I have and transfer them once I find a decent distant learning school that offers a BS in CS. on that note, does anyone know of such a school? I found Kennedy western and some ASCISS school.

-Ron

Monday Sep 8 17:45

Ron Yacketta — 2003-09-08T17:45:33+00:00

Started the fall semester at UAT

Well another semester of online / distant learning has begun. This semester I am taking the following courses

Win2K Server / Professional
MS Project 2k
Unix/Linux
Game Design Theory & Practice

I am looking forward to the Game Design course, will add a great deal of insight and enable me to provide info/help etc to the project I am currently working on.

Friday Sep 5 15:08

Ron Yacketta — 2003-09-05T15:08:08+00:00

Preparing for IGC!

I have been makeing plans and getting my affairs in order so that I can attend IGC this year.

I'll be out in GG country on Wednesday the 8th around 3PM'ish GG time, hopefuly I will meet up with the BT/GG and 21-6 guys on the 8th and 9th.

I have hotel reservations at the Hilton and a rental car, if yah need to bum rides while in town just ask...

Now I just need to get the wife off my back about going and leaving her and the kids behind ;)

-Ron

Friday May 9 14:10

Ron Yacketta — 2003-05-09T14:10:37+00:00

Semester #2 begins on 5/12, man that was a short break between semesters :(

Well its that time again, time to hit the books and spend oodles of hours cramming my brain full of crud that might never be used ;)

My second semester at UAT begins on 5/12, this semester I am planning on taking the following 4 courses (13 credit hours)

VB .NET II
Intro to C
Networking Essentials
College Algebra II

Should be a fun semester, only class that I might have troubles with is College Algebra (got a C last semester in Algebra I :( ).

I will be spending far less time involved with the community and TGE starting on 5/12, don't worry I will check in frequently and stick my nose in where I can ;)

-Ron

Saturday Mar 8 22:29

Ron Yacketta — 2003-03-08T22:29:44+00:00

WoW! it sure has been a while sense I posted one of this thingies ;)

Nothing much going on in this camp, just hanging back and enjoying the freedom. I contacted Neilson who will be tossing me a copy of Trakers to play with, we both agreed that it will not be published nor is their to be any money made from it. I basically want a copy for educational (my own) purposes.

The youth Soccer team that I coach (Webster Eagles U9 - Yacketta) had a 4 game tournament today, we played two solid "B" level teams and two "C" level (which we are) teams. Yes, we lost both "B" games.... ONLY by 1 goal each! I was absolutely amazed that our team did so well and kept pace with 3rd year players. My team is mostly comprised of 1st year 8 year old players. Needles to say; we manhandled the "C" level teams, both games were shutouts with each game bringing in 7+ goals. I will be posting pictures on the Soccer clubs website over the next few days, head over and check them out.

Well back to doing nothing here ;)

-Ron

Wednesday Jan 8 3:50

Ron Yacketta — 2003-01-08T03:50:22+00:00

Finaly decided to go back to school and get my degree

I have been spending the past several months looking into Universities that offer Software Engineering Degrees with an emphasis in game programming. After much research, talking to colleges, conversing with friends and family I decided to enroll with UAT (www.uat.edu) as a distant learning student.

They offer a very aggressive degree opportunity (Bachelors Degree in 2 years 9 months) with instructors who have worked in the video game industry.

My enrollment processes completed today with my selection of courses for the first semester that starts on January 13, 2003. I have elected to take 14 credits (4 courses) this semester (yes, 14 credits (4 courses) for online learning!).

My course outlook (semester 2 and beyound) will have me partake in the following courses:

2D and 3D animation
Maya
Director
3D StudioMax
object oriented programming
interactive gaming environments
interface design and game play
algorithms and data structures
optimization
gaming models, including multi-player network games
artificial intelligence techniques
project management
surface modeling
real time graphics hardware
drawing the human form
character and story development
materials and textures
low-polygonal count modeling, animation, and texturing techniques
industry platforms for game development
working game documentation

These courses (and others) will help me to accomplish my personal goal of being a well rounded game programmer/developer.

Needless to say, my time spent here and having fun with TGE will be severally limited for a considerable amount of time. I will still check the forums on a regular basis and communicate with the masses.

Regards,

Ron

Wednesday Apr 10 14:53

Ron Yacketta — 2002-04-10T14:53:26+00:00

Vacation!!!

Well I will be taking next week off, heading to Connecticut for the week with the wife and 3 kids.
If anyone is in the Old Lyme area and would like to get together let me know.

-Ron