Comments on: A Whirlwind Tour Through GDC 2006 http://gamesfromwithin.com/a-whirlwind-tour-through-gdc-2006 Living the indie life Tue, 15 May 2012 19:19:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: weshunt http://gamesfromwithin.com/a-whirlwind-tour-through-gdc-2006/comment-page-1#comment-365 weshunt Wed, 19 Apr 2006 17:10:16 +0000 http://www.gamesfromwithin.dreamhosters.com/?p=344#comment-365 Quote: "But it still means that there will be no hardware improvements until a new API is released." Sure, but how is the different than now with DX9? If there isn't a caps bit there, vendors can't expose it without "back-door" hacks. If the updates come even every 6 months, its more frequent than we get now. It's the elimination of the caps bits that the real difference, and a welcome relief if the IHVs can all agree on high-level features they want to implement. This has the potential to turn the PC into a much more manageable set of discrete "platforms" like Xbox and 360. As to whether the reality will be so, we'll have to see. Quote: “But it still means that there will be no hardware improvements until a new API is released.”

Sure, but how is the different than now with DX9? If there isn’t a caps bit there, vendors can’t expose it without “back-door” hacks. If the updates come even every 6 months, its more frequent than we get now.

It’s the elimination of the caps bits that the real difference, and a welcome relief if the IHVs can all agree on high-level features they want to implement. This has the potential to turn the PC into a much more manageable set of discrete “platforms” like Xbox and 360. As to whether the reality will be so, we’ll have to see.

]]> By: Ash Matheson http://gamesfromwithin.com/a-whirlwind-tour-through-gdc-2006/comment-page-1#comment-364 Ash Matheson Sun, 16 Apr 2006 17:46:53 +0000 http://www.gamesfromwithin.dreamhosters.com/?p=344#comment-364 Finally! Someone else that was left pretty unimpressed with Iwata's keynote! It was amazing to see everyone after the session babbling about how impressive his keynote was, when all I got out of it, to paraphrase a friend, was "You guys take the risk and we (Nintendo) will keep on doing the safe thing, by churning out more Mario, Zelda and Metroid games". The talk you and Sean gave on TDD really hammered it home for me. Put the fire in my belly, so to speak, to actually start doing it in the code that I'm writing. As a suggestion for next year, if you decided to do another TDD presentation, one thing I would suggest is actually have a block on 'how' to write a good test. I think that would be invaluable to all the folks new to TDD (I know it would really help me out). Finally! Someone else that was left pretty unimpressed with Iwata’s keynote!

It was amazing to see everyone after the session babbling about how impressive his keynote was, when all I got out of it, to paraphrase a friend, was “You guys take the risk and we (Nintendo) will keep on doing the safe thing, by churning out more Mario, Zelda and Metroid games”.

The talk you and Sean gave on TDD really hammered it home for me. Put the fire in my belly, so to speak, to actually start doing it in the code that I’m writing. As a suggestion for next year, if you decided to do another TDD presentation, one thing I would suggest is actually have a block on ‘how’ to write a good test. I think that would be invaluable to all the folks new to TDD (I know it would really help me out).

]]> By: Noel Llopis http://gamesfromwithin.com/a-whirlwind-tour-through-gdc-2006/comment-page-1#comment-363 Noel Llopis Sat, 15 Apr 2006 02:51:41 +0000 http://www.gamesfromwithin.dreamhosters.com/?p=344#comment-363 ZMan, that's right about the "updates" to D3D10. But it still means that there will be no hardware improvements until a new API is released. That combined with the API tied to new OS releases, changes things quite a bit from how they are now. Unless you're saying that the API will change more frequently than the SDK? Anybody have any good links from Microsoft explaining this? ZMan, that’s right about the “updates” to D3D10. But it still means that there will be no hardware improvements until a new API is released. That combined with the API tied to new OS releases, changes things quite a bit from how they are now. Unless you’re saying that the API will change more frequently than the SDK? Anybody have any good links from Microsoft explaining this?

]]> By: GameSetWatch http://gamesfromwithin.com/a-whirlwind-tour-through-gdc-2006/comment-page-1#comment-366 GameSetWatch Sat, 15 Apr 2006 02:48:24 +0000 http://www.gamesfromwithin.dreamhosters.com/?p=344#comment-366 <strong>GDC's Nintendo Keynote, Game Developer Perspectives</strong> Yes, yes, we know it's a little while after the show, but there's still some interesting GDC-related videos and reports wandering out there onto the wide world of the Interweb. GDC’s Nintendo Keynote, Game Developer Perspectives

Yes, yes, we know it’s a little while after the show, but there’s still some interesting GDC-related videos and reports wandering out there onto the wide world of the Interweb.

]]> By: Zman http://gamesfromwithin.com/a-whirlwind-tour-through-gdc-2006/comment-page-1#comment-362 Zman Fri, 14 Apr 2006 04:49:00 +0000 http://www.gamesfromwithin.dreamhosters.com/?p=344#comment-362 Regarding D3D10 'growing' during Vista. Someone asked the same question in a different D3D10 talk (or maybe you had skipped out). It sounds like the current plans are to have a similar group of features that HAVE to be implemented and call it D3D10.1, .2 etc. The ahrdware vendors have to support that set. So caps bits will return but they will be as simple as 'Are you a D3D10.2 card' and if so you instantly know the entire feature set they support. So basically a single caps bit per API upgrade. And by API upgrade I don't mean the bi monthly SDK update. Regarding D3D10 ‘growing’ during Vista. Someone asked the same question in a different D3D10 talk (or maybe you had skipped out). It sounds like the current plans are to have a similar group of features that HAVE to be implemented and call it D3D10.1, .2 etc. The ahrdware vendors have to support that set. So caps bits will return but they will be as simple as ‘Are you a D3D10.2 card’ and if so you instantly know the entire feature set they support. So basically a single caps bit per API upgrade. And by API upgrade I don’t mean the bi monthly SDK update.

]]> By: Chad Austin http://gamesfromwithin.com/a-whirlwind-tour-through-gdc-2006/comment-page-1#comment-361 Chad Austin Sat, 08 Apr 2006 23:39:58 +0000 http://www.gamesfromwithin.dreamhosters.com/?p=344#comment-361 Hi Noel, I'm the CA (guy in the orange shirt) who asked at your presentation whether, if you test two classes against mocks of each other, the two can grow apart. I work for a 3D IM company and we have BuddyState and BuddyWindow classes. The former manages communication with the server and passes change events to the latter, which updates the actual UI. The interface between the two is quite narrow: just a single "hereIsAnEvent" callback. I haven't yet had a situation where one of the classes changed in a way that broke the app as a whole but still passed the tests, so it was more of a theoretical question... Some people on the TDD mailing list talk about integration tests (MockServer -> BuddyState -> BuddyWindow -> MockBuddyUi), but it seems kind of difficult or pointless to write tests for the individual components ((MockServer -> BuddyState -> MockBuddyWindow) and (MockBuddyState -> MockBuddyWindow -> MockBuddyUi)) _and_ the buddy system as a whole. Rather, I can't seem to figure out how to capture the essential notion of "BuddyState sends messages in a way that make sense to the actual UI". Maybe it's just academic. Or maybe customer tests solve the problem. Thoughts? Anyway, we're practicing TDD in three languages: C++, Python, and PHP. Your articles test-infected me, and now I'm converting others, so thanks. :) Cheers and nice presentation, Chad Austin IMVU Hi Noel,

I’m the CA (guy in the orange shirt) who asked at your presentation whether, if you test two classes against mocks of each other, the two can grow apart. I work for a 3D IM company and we have BuddyState and BuddyWindow classes. The former manages communication with the server and passes change events to the latter, which updates the actual UI. The interface between the two is quite narrow: just a single “hereIsAnEvent” callback. I haven’t yet had a situation where one of the classes changed in a way that broke the app as a whole but still passed the tests, so it was more of a theoretical question… Some people on the TDD mailing list talk about integration tests (MockServer -> BuddyState -> BuddyWindow -> MockBuddyUi), but it seems kind of difficult or pointless to write tests for the individual components ((MockServer -> BuddyState -> MockBuddyWindow) and (MockBuddyState -> MockBuddyWindow -> MockBuddyUi)) _and_ the buddy system as a whole. Rather, I can’t seem to figure out how to capture the essential notion of “BuddyState sends messages in a way that make sense to the actual UI”. Maybe it’s just academic. Or maybe customer tests solve the problem. Thoughts?

Anyway, we’re practicing TDD in three languages: C++, Python, and PHP. Your articles test-infected me, and now I’m converting others, so thanks. :)

Cheers and nice presentation,

Chad Austin

IMVU

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