MechaSource Competition - Beginner Interface, Prizes inside!

I think I'll just go ahead and not make some far fetched attempt to be revolutionary and beat Zeph. (because IMO Zeph's is the best)

Good luck all, looking forward to tomorrow and seeing who wins.

I guess I'll try to whip something else up before midnight aswell then...

Think it was Mecha-Midnight that it ended at.

As in an hour and a half ago.

Alright then.


Sounds good.

No more entries are being accepted. We're looking through the entries, please be patient!

14 minutes Mecha

If you miss this deadline I quit the internet.

EDIT: Le Gasp! Oh well, just hope you get it up tonight or I'll have to go to bed unfulfilled.

This post has been edited by Keyser Soze on Oct 22 2009, 05:35 PM

that is usually when it's time to move on to the grids

also someguy that video brought back so much nostalgia oh god

step-through was pointless
even clickteam thinks it was crap which is why they never bothered adding it to mmf2

I can see it being useful for like... somebody's first game who has no knowledge of code in any language whatsoever.

But imagine coding an RTS like that.

*Unit 1 spawns, what happens?*
*Unit 2 spawns, what happens?*
*Unit 3 spawns, what happens?*
...
*Unit 48 spawns, what happens?*

well that's exactly why: just about everything that happens causes your game to pause while you select an action for the event

it's intrusive and in the end probably 90-95% of what was triggered is irrelevant and tossed out

THE RESULTS ARE IN

Finally. There has been a huge discussion on the team which entries we'd reward and which not. They've all been great and contributed to the greater good. All of them. Some entries I've taken every single detail and used, some I've taken small parts and aspects of, and some I've been toying with to work better, differently and be more suitable. We've picked the entries that made the most indepth, complete and most importantly, simple interface design.

Let us look through all the entries.


BurningLeo - Link
This entry is, as Leo himself mentioned it, inspired by Visual Basic. Having a whole lot of premade scripts that the user could incorporate into his project. One of the main problems with this is however, that the user doesn't get the understanding behind the snippet and could end up confused. That, and the user will feel like he isn't really coding, just putting a whole lot of snippets together. It doesn't really appeal much to a beginner audience. Though I am hoping that at one point the community will provide snippets equal to this idea, and the users who use these snippets will take the custom features over the consequence of not understanding it. Though this shouldn't be an inbuild approach towards beginners.
The solution explorer is a great idea though. Doesn't make up a whole beginner interface but it's a neat small addition that I may look further into.

Black Boo - Link
Black Boo's idea is equal to that of BurningLeo's, but also equal to that of MMF2s. You may not know it, but MMF2 uses - not puzzle pieces - but a grind system that is somewhat equal to your idea.

Zero Kirby - Link
Much equal to Keyser's idea (see below). Is is based on BurningLeo's idea but is not as detailed as Keyser's. I feel bad for not selecting this and selecting an idea which contains elements equal to this idea, but Keyser's idea is just much more detailed, simpler (important) and part of a whole pile of ideas that uses this.

Xgoff - Link
I must say I really like this and the moment I saw it I was inspired. I am definitely using elements from this, and features such as the variable list is already implemented. The concept is great, and users love to simply modify variables to customize (partly why RPGMaker is so popular I believe) and adding this is a flexible system would be fantastic.

Keyser Soze - Link
I don't even know where to start with this. It's excellent. I never considered the use of actual objects - keep in mind, Lua doesn't really have predefined objects or anything - so this came as a huge surprise to me, and I soon thought "duh, why didn't I think of that?". Users need something concrete to work with, a lot of people were unsure what was actual objects and what was code, functions or variables. This puts it straight: 'image', 'physics object', 'text' etc..
One of the key features that I especially liked though, is that for the most part its all interface, but sneaking a little bit of coding in the mix. This makes it easier for users to convert to advanced by having something they can relate to. Another thing it does great is take use of the callback system - I know Keyser was unaware of this system but that's how a lot of MechaSource actions are checked: through callbacks. You say "run this function every time my object does this or the engine does that" and it does. Keyser's idea does the exact same: you add an event to the object, say, "keyboard button pressed" and you can write what you want to happen when this happens. It's the exact same thing, really excellent, and makes it much easier to understand the callback system, which I've had problems explaining.

Fez - Link
When I read it I thought of Keyser's entry. Not that that's a bad thing, this developed the idea a bit and kinda outlined it the way I was already picturing it in my head - but the problem is I had already reached that conclusion. It doesn't bring too much new.

Zephyra - Link
It brings some features from Keyser's entry. But that's alright - if something is requested multiple times it just shows that it needs to be added. The main feature of Zephyra's idea is the ring menu though.
I've had some problems with my own function list: it's boring, small, efficient but not very user friendly. This would be the perfect alternative, and I've been messing around a little in my own little sandbox to see how this could work out for real. It's a neat idea, and the only flaw it has is the lack of information that can be shown at once in such a ring menu. Though I'll keep messing around.



Now before I put up the winners, do not think of this as the ultimate goal you can achieve for MechaSource. This isn't the end of the road. MechaSource still needs feedback, beta participant or not. The user is the main focus, and if the user keeps quiet the development will only be heading one way - which could be a wrong one. Please keep contributing and I will do everything I can to help you too :D

THE WINNERS ARE

2nd Place
Xgoff
Bringing in ideas that can be tied with Lua, expanding the idea of objects and nodes, I think this makes a worthy 2nd place. I like to think of this entry as a great expansion on the 1st place winner's idea.

1st Place
Keyser Soze
I mean is anyone really surprised. Keyser has contributed so much to MechaSource it's unbelievable. Please never stop. Keyser's entry makes up an entire system, explaining in details how it should work and allowing room for additions, modifications and customizations. It's simple, smooth and elegant. It's just what I've been looking for. Amazing job, excellent dedication, just right for this purpose.


Now what happens?
In the upcoming days, I'll be adding this system to MechaSource and update it for everyone who has the SDK. It's already in construction and I'm going to turn this sketch:



into this



It's still in construction, but hopefully it'll be done during next week or the week after that.

PRIZES

There's a MechaSource SDK beta and a Medal of Contribution ready for Keyser Soze and Xgoff.
Since Keyser, you are the 1st place winner, you get to pick which item you want first.
So which do you want:

MechaSource SDK Beta - Medal of Contribution

Pick now!

As for everyone else who contribution: Thank you!! MechaSource is a tough road to try and complete, and your help makes all the difference in the world.

The competition is over!

Thanks Mecha, that bit about contribution to MechaSource was really nice, I rarely use emoticons, but hey, what the hell, .

Now for my choice, which you probably guessed already, I'll take the MechaSource SDK Beta (sorry Xgoff)

Can't wait to dive into it yet again (I was really loving the beta I had previously before I screwed up and stopped helping)

So thanks again Mecha, it's really cool seeing the little sketch I made transformed into a real UI in this excellent program. Looking forward to seeing it in action.

Keyser, out.

Keyser you will receive your MechaSource SDK Beta key the moment the new system launches. Hopefully you of all wouldn't find it too alien :D

Xgoff gets his Medal of Contribution. He won't be seeing it in concrete form for a while though ): hope it is worth the wait for you.

You will both get a mention on the MechaWare site - not the biggest of sites but you'll appear there for ever and ever and ever

Hats off to the winners, and hats off to Mechaware contribution

So Mecha, I clicked over to the MS site after reading the whole "you will get mentioned on the site" thinking "no way he did anything yet"

But lo and behold, http://mechaware.net/mechasource.html, this warrants another

It may not be much since I am not exactly the best html'er, not is anyone on the team, but I thought it was the least I could do

This post has been edited by Mecha the Slag on Oct 23 2009, 03:17 PM

Congratulations, you two. :3

Congrats you guys o: