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Post by Vectronic on Jun 14, 2017 23:37:33 GMT -5
Thanks for all the Reviews of current progress hcmffm! Wow, some of the Vector characters in these games look amazing! I've been a bit behind on following up on all these, but your reviews are a quick course in what's been happening. Thanks! I'm more excited than ever to check these out and play some demos! I hope I find the time to provide feedback as well. Cheers! |
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Post by hcmffm on Jun 15, 2017 4:28:33 GMT -5
Thanks for all the Reviews of current progress hcmffm ! Wow, some of the Vector characters in these games look amazing! I've been a bit behind on following up on all these, but your reviews are a quick course in what's been happening. Thanks! Thank you for your accolade, Vectronic. Just to make sure: The Vectrex project gallery 2017 (and 2016) is maintained and updated by Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Peer Johannsen ( Peer), only. The project gallery really gives an excellent insight in the status of the projects and it's Peer's effort and achievement. Malban's excellent reviews for the first five alpha versions inspired me to also dive in. I'm more excited than ever to check these out and play some demos! I hope I find the time to provide feedback as well. Cheers! Already, what the students created is quite impressive. Sure enough these aren't top-notch games like Protector or Vectrexians (yet), but for first games and considering the time (with a lot of extra time outside regular lessons) these games are all very well done and definitely worth while having a look at. Retro programming course is just one of many courses the students have. In one of his above post Peer described the dedication of the students very well: - The students seem to put a lot of work into their projects. One of them admitted to having continued working on the project and programming while sitting in a colleague's lecture, following the lecture with one eye and having the other eye on the code. I must officially state here that, of course, I cannot condone such behavior. Both eyes should have been on the code!!!  |
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Post by Peer on Jun 16, 2017 14:31:59 GMT -5
Greetings to you all, here is a short update:
- 14 of the students were present in class today. Among those were the 6 authors of the projects which have already reached alpha status. Of the others, almost all are very close to alpha, so there might be more releases soon.
- Interesting coincidence(?): When the course started in March, I had asked all students to report their project ideas and game titles within two weeks. The very first 6 to answer this request are exactly those 6 projects which now have reached alpha status first.
- I agree with what Malban wrote several posts earlier. This course has made better progress compared to last year's course, despite the reduction of classroom hours from 60 to 30 hours and project hours from 180 to 90. This was a big (and welcome) surprise for me, and I am really happy about this. In defense of last year’s students I must state that this, of course, is to blame on the instructor. Last year was the very first time I gave the Vectrex course, and we were figuratively jumping into cold water. I have had my own Vectrex learning curve since then, and this year’s course could take advantage of that. Also, I have changed the style of the lectures a bit, introducing several project management aspects, like project reports, milestones, external testing, release schedules, etc. in a playful way. The idea is to give the students a practical experience of how software projects are done in the "real world", in contrast to the typical front stage powerpoint lectures in which such things are usually taught. It seems that this approach has helped to advance the projects.
- Therefore, many thanks again for the great reviews! I would not have been able to provide the students with a true "customer's" point of view without your help. This experience was very well received by the students, as they told my today.
- Regarding the "player 2 rotates with player 1" issue in "Spaceball": We observed this behavior on the real machine (a "buzz" Vectrex) if there is no controller plugged into port 2. If two controllers are attached, then everything behaves and works as expected. The code itself looks fine. Could this be some analog Vectrex hardware phenomenon?
- Regarding the vector fonts and vector scores that are used in some of the projects: The implementation is something the students came up with on their own, after we had investigated the drawbacks of the bios print routines and discussed several ideas how to deal with this in class.
- To my shame I must admit that my own game "The Count" is running way behind schedule. There was simply no time left to bring it to alpha status as planned. Basically, all the essential parts are there, but the code is a mess, as I have used this as a sample projects to demonstrate all sorts of game programming techniques (and also all sorts of ways of how not to do things) in class. I have to clean the whole things up to turn it into a playable alpha version.
- Time flies. This semester is almost over. The course will meet one more time next Friday. Project deliveries are due by end of July. The last week of June and the first week of July will be occupied by the regular written exams, so most of the students will soon take a break from Vectrex development and will finalize their projects during the second half of July.
Regards,
Peer
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Post by VectorX on Jun 16, 2017 15:21:23 GMT -5
- Interesting coincidence(?): When the course started in March, I had asked all students to report their project ideas and game titles within two weeks. The very first 6 to answer this request are exactly those 6 projects which now have reached alpha status first. Guess they're a bit eager! - To my shame I must admit that my own game "The Count" is running way behind schedule. The irony/shame! Bah ha ha. |
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Post by Peer on Jun 17, 2017 0:09:20 GMT -5
Yeah, I spent "countless" hours coaching the students instead... |
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Post by hcmffm on Jun 18, 2017 9:25:50 GMT -5
Thank you for your latest update, Peer. Could be interesting to analyse how comes that those 6 students were that fast both with deciding on their idea and providing a first alpha version: Perhaps these students were familiar with video games, already? Or these students felt very comfortable with the programming course? Or just coincidence?
This year, I guess the standard use of "C" as programming language made things easier. And if I understood right some students even swapped their code pieces (e.g. vector font). Such an exchange might also be one of the many factors that made this year's projects such a success.
Having a close look at the games and writing up reviews/feedback needs quite some time, I'll see whether I'll find this time. If a student really wants a review/feedback make sure to contact me and I'll see what I can do.
Playing on real hardware
Today, I've played Kingdom of Heaven, Doodle Jump, Spaceship Centauri, and Star Fuel on the real hardware. For Star Fuel this is a big positive difference; control is much better. I've edited my above reviews and added various comments and minor bugs. Please note that I've marked my changes with "Added 18th June:".
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Post by Malban on Sept 4, 2017 3:49:19 GMT -5
Is it just me and my browser - or can the project pages (the students projects) not be accessed anymore?
Malban
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Post by hcmffm on Sept 4, 2017 4:25:52 GMT -5
Is it just me and my browser - or can the project pages (the students projects) not be accessed anymore? Both links to the Project Galleries work fine for me. Project Gallery 2016Project Gallery 2017 Must be a problem on your side or a temporary problem. Or perhaps the old access problem (see some posts ago)? |
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Post by Malban on Sept 4, 2017 5:55:30 GMT -5
These work, yes - but the students project pages for 2017 don't.
Anyway I just emailed with Peer - he deliberately switched them off - and they will be back online soon.
Malban
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Post by Peer on Sept 4, 2017 13:32:06 GMT -5
Greetings, and sorry for the long silence. Here is a short update:
In June I have been completely busy with grading papers and exams of my other lectures. All students of the Vectrex course successfully handed in their final projects on time. The original deadline was by end of June, but we then had another (unscheduled) week of testing and bug fixing. Grading the projects took me another week, which simply did not leave enough time to update and finalize all the project web pages before I went on a long planned glorious three-weeks-without-any-internet-access vacation. Currently all links on the gallery page pointing to the individual project pages are temporarily disabled. Right now I am on yet another business trip, but I will try to finish the update as soon as possible and then post again here.
Cheers to you all,
Peer
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Post by VectorX on Sept 4, 2017 15:01:38 GMT -5
I went on a long planned glorious three-weeks-without-any-internet-access vacation. That takes guts!  |
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Post by Peer on Sept 5, 2017 9:26:42 GMT -5
I went on a long planned glorious three-weeks-without-any-internet-access vacation. That takes guts! ... the more so as there was also no TV, GPS or smartphone |
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Post by VECTREXER on Sept 5, 2017 10:32:58 GMT -5
That takes guts! ... the more so as there was also no TV, GPS or smartphone Three weeks vacation in a Polish salt mine? |
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Post by japjac on Sept 6, 2017 9:02:51 GMT -5
hspfpj-Out of this years projects my favourite is 'Kingdom Of Heaven'. Please pass on my gratitude to the programmer. I look forward to playing all the games in their finished states. Cheers.
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Post by Peer on Sept 6, 2017 14:55:23 GMT -5
hspfpj-Out of this years projects my favourite is 'Kingdom Of Heaven'. Please pass on my gratitude to the programmer. I look forward to playing all the games in their finished states. Cheers. Thanks a lot! I will do so. Best regards, Peer |
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