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• What's the best way to generate an NPC's face using web technologies?

  - by Vael Victus

  I'm in the process of creating a web app. I have many randomly-generated non-player characters in a database. I can pull a lot of information about them - their height, weight, down to eye color, hair color, and hair style. For this, I am solely interested in generating a graphical representation of the face. Currently the information is displayed with text in the nicest way possible, but I believe it's worth generating these faces for a more... human experience. Problem is, I'm not artist. I wouldn't mind commissioning an artist for this system, but I wouldn't know where to start. Were it 2007, I'd naturally think to myself that using Flash would be the best choice. I'd love to see "breathing" simulated. However, since Flash is on its way out, I'm not sure of a solid solution. With a previous game, I simply used layered .pngs to represent various aspects of the player's body: their armor, the face, the skin color. However, these solutions weren't very dynamic and felt very amateur. I can't go deep into this project feeling like that's an inferior way to present these faces, and I'm certain there's a better way. Can anyone give some suggestion on how to pull this off well?

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• Character movement on a 2D tile map

  - by Chris Morris

  I'm working at making a HTML5 game. Top down, closest thing I can equate it to is the gameboy zeldas, but open world and no rooms. What I have so far is a procedurally generated map in a multi dimensional array. And a starting position on the map. Along with this I have an array of movable and non movable tile ID's. I also have a class for my player and have him being rendered out in the center of the starting tile. My problem however is getting the movement sorted out for the player. I want to be able to have the character free move around the map (pixel by pixel essentially) ontop of this 2D generated world. Ideally this would allow the user to move around the walk able area of the canvas. this is simple enough for me to do, but I am having problems now moving the world. If the user is 20% from the edge of the screen i want the world to start panning in the direction the player is heading. But I'm rather lacking in ideas of how to do this. I've looked around for some tutorials, but am coming up blank on ideas of how to generate the playable area (zoomed in) and to then move this generated area under the player when they reach near the end of the screen. My current idea was to generate a certain amount of tiles full size to fill the screen and place the player i the middle. Then when the user approaches the edge of the screen start generating the tiles offset by the distance moved and the direction. I can kind of see this working but I really have no idea if this is the best or easiest to code of methods for generating the world. sorry for the lack of code but I'm still just in the theory stages of working this all out.

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• Biome Transition in a Grid & Borderless World

  - by API-Beast

  I have a universe: a list of "Systems", each with their own center, type and radius. A small part of such a universe could look like this: Systems: Can be very close to a different system, e.g. overlap Can be inside another, much bigger system Can be very far away from any other systems Spawn system specific entities and particles inside the system radius Have some properties like background color So far so good. However, the player can fly around freely, inside and outside of systems, in real time. How do I interpolate and determine things like the background color now, depending on camera position? E.g. if you are halfway between a green and a red system you should see a background halfway between red and green, or if you are inside a lilac system near the center and at the border of a green system you should get a mostly lilac background etc.

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• Using a permutation table for simplex noise without storing it

  - by J. C. Leitão

  Generating Simplex noise requires a permutation table for randomisation (e.g. see this question or this example). In some applications, we need to persist the state of the permutation table. This can be done by creating the table, e.g. using def permutation_table(seed): table_size = 2**10 # arbitrary for this question l = range(1, table_size + 1) random.seed(seed) # ensures the same shuffle for a given seed random.shuffle(l) return l + l # see shared link why l + l; is a detail and storing it. Can we avoid storing the full table by generating the required elements every time they are required? Specifically, currently I store the table and call it using table[i] (table is a list). Can I avoid storing it by having a function that computes the element i, e.g. get_table_element(seed, i). I'm aware that cryptography already solved this problem using block cyphers, however, I found it too complex to go deep and implement a block cypher. Does anyone knows a simple implementation of a block cypher to this problem?

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• Comprehensive system for documentation and handoff of developer project

  - by Uzumaki Naruto

  I work on a technology team that typically develops projects for a period of time, and then hands off to other groups for long-term maintenance and improvements. My team currently uses ad hoc methods of handing off documentations, such as diagrams, API references, etc. Is there a open source solution (or even proprietary one) that enables us to manage: Infrastructure/architecture/software diagrams API documentation Directory structures/file structures Overall documentation summaries in one place? E.g., instead of using multiple systems like Swagger, Wikis, etc. - is there a solution that can seamlessly combine all of these? And enable us to generate a package including all 4 key items with one click to hand off to other teams.

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• Algorithms for rainfall + river creation in procedurally generated terrain

  - by Peck

  I've recently become fascinated by the things that can be done with procedurally terrain and have started experimenting with world building a bit. I'd like to be able to make worlds something like Dwarf fortress with biomes created from meshing together various maps. So first step has been done. Using the diamond-square algorithm I've created some nice hieghtmaps. Next step is I would like to add some water features and have them somewhat realistically generated with rainfall. I've read about a few different approaches such as starting at the high points of the map, and "stepping" down to the lowest neighboring point, pooling/eroding as it works its way down to sea level. Are there any documented algorithms with this or are they more off the cuff? Would love any advice/thoughts.

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• Seeking advice on system documentation

  - by Shadders

  I have a rating engine (it is basically an algorithm) which when I started had no formal documentation. We have created a functional specification/decomposition which is our business level document but now I need something more technical (a technical specification). What I am struggling to understand is what that document looks like, what format it should be in and to what level of detail we should go into. We are in the process of commenting all of the code. We also have a rough document called a Blueprint which reflects the flow of the model and is written in pseudo code. Is the combination of this blueprint and the model comments sufficient as a Technical Specification?

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• How is the terrain generated in Commandos and Commandos game clones/look-alikes?

  - by teodron

  The Commandos series of games and its similar western counterpart, Desperados, use a mix of 2D and 3D elements to achieve a very pleasing and immersive atmosphere. Apart from the concept that alone made the series a best-seller, the graphics eye-candy was also a much appreciated asset of that game. I was very curious on what was the technique used to model and adorn the realistic terrains in those titles? Below are some screenshots that could be relevant as a reference for whomever has a candidate answer: The tiny details and patternless distribution of ornamental textures make me think that these terrains were not generated using a standard heightmap-blendmap method.

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• How to document experimental or incomplete APIs like @deprecated?

  - by Michael Levy

  Is there a good term that is similar but different than "deprecate" to mean that a method or API is in the code base but should not be used because its implementation is not complete or will likely change? (Yeah, I know, those methods shouldn't be public, yada yada yada. I didn't create my situation, I'm just trying to make the best of it.) What do people suggest? Experimental, Incomplete, something else? If I'm building javadoc documentation for this API that is still in flux, should I use the @deprecated tag or is there a better convention? To me @deprecated implies that this API is old and a newer preferred mechanism is available. In my situation, there is no alternative, but some of the methods in the API are not finished and so should not be used. At this point I cannot make them private, but I'd like to put clear warnings in the docs.

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• How should we deal with multiple transaction-report requests?

  - by Mithir

  We are developing a system for the retail market which one of it's features will enable clients(actually consumer clubs) to go through all transactions made by end-clients. One of the ways to get this information will be via an API. The idea is that there will be requests for reports with a start date and an end date, and a response will have all the transactions between those dates. We are worry that some reports may be very large, and that some clients will repeatedly request for reports, in this case the DB and CPU will be very overloaded. The same server that will service those requests, also takes care the the actual retail transactions (received by proprietary devices) and a Web application. We are not sure about how to limit the report requests from the API so that it won't affect the system too much. So, how should we deal with this scenario? any thoughts? EDIT: just to make clear: When I mentioned proprietary devices I meant "On-Location" devices which are used during sales with end-clients, this means that these requests shouldn't get delayed, and this is the main concern.

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• What significant progress have we made in Rapid Application Development?

  - by Frank Computer

  Since the introduction of OOPL's and event-driven programming, I feel like developing an application has become harder and more tedious, when it should have been the other way around! We should have development tools which can generate prototype apps which can be quickly and easily customized into sophisticated applications, even by novice users! We really need new ideas in this area of software development and I would like to know of any good ideas. If we can't really find them, then we should ask "Where did we miss the boat?.. Why?.. and What should we be doing?"

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• Finding inspiration / help for making up (weapon) names

  - by Rookie

  I'm really bad with words, especially with English words. Currently I'm struggling to make a good weapon names for my game, it needs to display the weapon functionality (weak/strong/fast/ballistic etc) correctly as well. For example the best weapon in a (futuristic) game cannot be called just with the name "Laser", it's just too boring, right? Are there any tools, websites or anything that helps me finding good names for weapons? (or anything else similar). I was thinking to use scientific names, but noticed that they are really hard to write, and they get very long, and I also lack information about science, I only know I could use the atomic sub-particles names in the weapons for example. How do I get started with becoming good with making up names? (this could apply in generally to any naming problems).

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• How do I efficiently generate chunks to fill entire screen when my player moves?

  - by Trixmix

  In my game I generate chunks when the player moves. The chunks are all generated on the fly, but currently I just created a simple flat 8X8 floor. What happens is that when he moves to a new chunk the chunk in the direction of the player gets generated and its neighboring chunks. This is not efficient because the generator does not fill the entire screen. I did try to use recursion but its not as fast as I would like it to be. My question is what would be an efficient way of doing so? How does minecraft do so? When I say this I mean just the way it PICKS which chunks to generate and in what order. Not how they generate or how they are saved in regions, just the order/way it generates them. I just want to know what is a good way to load chunks around the player.

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• Languages with C/C++ output [closed]

  - by Vag

  Which languages have compilers able to emit plain standard C/C++ code? For a start: Haxe // uses Boehm GC Haskell (JHC) Haskell (old GHC) // -fvia-c, removed recently (emitted code is super ugly) Clay ATS Cython RPython (Shed Skin) // experimental RPython (PyPy) Python (Nuitka) // although author claims there are no speedups Common Lisp (ECL) COBOL (OpenCobol) Scheme (Chicken) APL // So far I've not found working implementation available for free download Ur/Web // GCC-specific output, and intended to be used only for web developments (included for completeness only) I'd like to build comprehensive up-to-date list but found only these ones so far. I've tested only Haxe and it works pretty well and quite fast. What about other ones? What is your expirience? How much ugly is generated code? Update. Any language chains (e.g. X - Scheme - C) will be perfectly OK as answer if its use is practical enough and suited for production use.

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• How to divide hex grid evenly among n players?

  - by manabreak

  I'm making a simple hex-based game, and I want the map to be divided evenly among the players. The map is created randomly, and I want the players to have about equal amount of cells, with relatively small areas. For example, if there's four players and 80 cells in the map, each of the players would have about 20 cells (it doesn't have to be spot-on accurate). Also, each player should have no more than four adjacent cells. That is to say, when the map is generated, the biggest "chunks" cannot be more than four cells each. I know this is not always possible for two or three players (as this resembles the "coloring the map" problem), and I'm OK with doing other solutions for those (like creating maps that solve the problem instead). But, for four to eight players, how could I approach this problem? As always, any and all help is appreciated. :)

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• Reporting Solution in PHP / CodeIgniter - Server side logic vs client side

  - by dot

  I'm building a report for an end user. They would like to see a list of all widgets... but then also like to see widgets with missing attributes, like missing names, or missing size. So i was thinking of creating one method that returns json data containing all widgets... and then using javascript to let them filter the data for missing data, instead of requerying the database. Ultimately, they need to be able to save all "reports" (filtered versions of data) inside a csv file. These are the two options I'm mulling over: Design 1 Create 3 separate methods in my controller/model like: get_all_data() get_records_with_missing_names() get_records_with_missing_size() And then when these methods are called, I would display the data on screen and give them a button to save to csv file. Design 2 Create one method called get_all_data() and then somehow, give them tools in the view to filter the json data using tables etc... and then letting them save subsets of the data. The reality is, in order to display all data, I still need to massage the data, and therefore, I know which records are missing attributes. So i'd rather not create separate methods by each filter. I'm not sure how I would do that just yet but at this point, i would like to know some pros/cons of each method. Thanks.

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• Where should a programmer explain the extended logic behind the code?

  - by SRKX

  I have developed a few quantitative libraries in C# where it is important to understand not only the classic information that goes with the XMLDoc comments (which contains basic information with the method signature) but also the mathematical formulas being use within the methods. Hence I would like to be able to include extended documentation with the code, which could contain, for example Latex formulas, graphs, and so on. Do you think such information should be included in the API documentation? Or should it be included in a dev blog for examples? Are there common tools that are usually used for this kind of purposes?

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• How to write comments to explain the "why" behind the callback function when the function and parameter names are insufficient for that?

  - by snowmantw

  How should I approach writing comments for callback functions? I want to explain the "why" behind the function when the function and parameter names are insufficient to explain what's going on. I have always wonder why comments like this can be so ordinary in documents of libraries in dynamic languages: /** * cb: callback // where's the arguments & effects? */ func foo( cb ) Maybe the common attitude is "you can look into source code on your own after all" which pushes people into leaving minimalist comments like this. But it seems like there should be a better way to comment callback functions. I've tried to comment callbacks in Haskell way: /** * cb: Int -> Char */ func foo(cb) And to be fair, it's usually neat enough. But it gets into trouble when I need to pass some complex structure. The problem being partly due to the lack of type system: /** * cb: Int -> { err: String -> (), success: () -> Char } // too long... */ func foo(cb) Or I have tried this too: /** * cb: Int -> { err: String -> (), * success: () -> Char } // better ? */ func bar(cb) The problem is that you may put the structure in somewhere else, but you must give it a name to reference it. But then when you name a structure you're about to use immediately looks so redundant: // Somewhere else... // ResultCallback: { err: String -> (), success: () -> Char } /** * cb: Int -> ResultCallback // better ?? */ func foo(cb) And it bothers me if I follow the Java-doc like commenting style since it still seems incomplete. The comments don't tell you anything that you couldn't immediately see from looking at the function. /** * @param cb {Function} yeah, it's a function, but you told me nothing about it... * @param err {Function} where should I put this callback's argument ?? * Not to mention the err's own arguments... */ func foo(cb) These examples are JavaScript like with generic functions and parameter names, but I've encountered similar problems in other dynamic languages which allow complex callbacks.

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• Randomly spawning bitmaps on cnvas

  - by Toystoj

  I need some ideas in order to finish algorithm. I'm randomly placing objects (bitmaps) on canvas without overlapping. Time needed to finish it is my problem. When I need to spawn for example 80% of canvas it takes to long. So i was thinking : I should make some change when the bitmaps take off 50 % of canvas. I want to tell algorithm that it should generate new locations (x,y) where it is free space. My question is : How to render new location (x,y) in place where is free space. In summary: Things I know : object location (x,y) 4 corners (x,y) of object object width, height canvas width, height Any suggestions?

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• How can I generate Sudoku puzzles?

  - by user223150

  I'm trying to make a Sudoku puzzle generator. It's a lot harder than I expected and the more I get into it, the harder it gets! My current approach is to split the problem into 2 steps: Generate a complete (solved) Sudoku puzzle. Remove numbers until it's solveable and has only 1 solution. In step 1, since I'm using a brute force methods, I'm facing some run time issues. Is there an optimal way of filling in a complete Sudoku puzzle? In step 2, what kind of algorithm should I use to "puzzlize" a solved sudoku?

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• How to decompose a rectangular shape in a Voronoi diagram, only generating convex shapes?

  - by DevilWithin

  I think this is a very straighforward question, lets say i have a building in 2D, a rectangle shape. Now i want to decompose that area in a lot of convex shapes, as seen in a voronoi diagram, or closely like it, just so I can add those shapes to the physics engine, and have a realistic destruction. Bonus: Possible suggestions on how to make the effect more dynamic and interesting. Please keep in mind we re talking about realtime calculations..

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• Ad-hoc reporting similar to Microstrategy/Pentaho - is OLAP really the only choice (is OLAP even sufficient)?

  - by TheBeefMightBeTough

  So I'm getting ready to develop an API in Java that will provide all dimensions, metrics, hierarchies, etc to a user such that they can pick and choose what they want (say, e.g., dimensions of Location (a store) and Weekly, and the metric Product Sales $), provide their choices to the api, and have it spit out an object that contains the answer to their question (the object would probably be a set of cells). I don't even believe there will be much drill up/down. The data warehouse the APIwill interface with is in a standard form (FACT tables, dimensions, star schema format). My question is, is an OLAP framework such as Mondrian the only way to achieve something akin to ad-hoc reporting? I can envisage a really large Cube (or VirtualCube) that contains most of the dimensions and metrics the user could ever want, which would give the illusion of ad-hoc reporting. The problem is that there is a ton of setup to do (so much XML) to get the framework to work with the data. Further it requires specific knowledge, such as MDX, and even moreso learning the framework peculiars (Mondrian API). Finally, I am not positive it will scale much better than simply making queries against a SQL database. OLAP to me feels like very old technology. Is performance really an issue anymore? The alternative I can think of would be dynamic SQL. If the existing tables in the data warehouse conform to a naming scheme (FACT_, DIM_, etc), or if a very simple config file/ database table containing config information existed that stored which tables are fact tables, which are dimensions, and what metrics are available, then couldn't the api read from that and assembly the appropriate sql query? Would this necessarily be harder than learning MDX, Mondrian (or another OLAP framework), and creating all the cubes? In general, I feel that OLAP is at the same time too powerful (supports drill up/down, complex functions) and outdated and am reluctant to base my architecture on it. However, I am unsure if the alternative(s), such as rolling my own ad-hoc reporting framework using dynamic SQL would remove any complexity while still fulfilling requirements, both functional and non-functional (e.g., scalability; some FACT tables have many millions of rows). I also wonder about other techniques (e.g., hive). Has anyone here tried to do ad-hoc reporting? Any advice? I expect this project to take a pretty long time (3 months min, but probably longer), so I just do not want to commit to an architecture without being absolutely sure of its pros and cons. Thanks so much.

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• Using PhysX, how can I predict where I will need to generate procedural terrain collision shapes?

  - by Sion Sheevok

  In this situation, I have terrain height values I generate procedurally. For rendering, I use the camera's position to generate an appropriate sized height map. For collision, however, I need to have height fields generated in areas where objects may intersect. My current potential solution, which may be naive, is to iterate over all "awake" physics actors, use their bounds/extents and velocities to generate spheres in which they may reside after a physics update, then generate height values for ranges encompassing clustered groups of actors. Much of that data is likely already calculated by PhysX already, however. Is there some API, maybe a set of queries, even callbacks from the spatial system, that I could use to predict where terrain height values will be needed?

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• How do audio based games such as Audiosurf and Beat Hazard work?

  - by The Communist Duck

  Note: I am not asking how to make a clone of one of these. I am asking about how they work. I'm sure everyone's seen the games where you use your own music files (or provided ones) and the games produce levels based on them, such as Audiosurf and Beat Hazard. Here is a video of Audiosurf in action, to show what I mean. If you provide a heavy metal song, you would get a completely different set of obstacles, enemies, and game experience from something like Vivaldi. What does interest me is how these games work. I do not know much about audio (well, data-side), but how do they process the song to understand when it is settling down or when it's speeding up? I guess they could just feed the pitch values (assuming those sorts of things exist in audio files) to form a level, but it wouldn't fully explain it. I'm either looking for an explanation, some links to articles about this sort of thing (I'm sure there's a term or terms for it), or even an open-source implementation of this kind of thing ;-) EDIT: After some searching and a little help, I found out about FFT (Fast Fourier Transform). This maybe a step in the right direction, but it is something that does not make any sense to me..or fits with my physics knowledge of waves.

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• Can I randomly generate an endless road?

  - by y26jin

  So suppose we stand on a position(x0, y0) of a map. We can only move on the horizontal plane(no jump and stuff) but we can move forward, left, or right (in a discrete math way, i.e. integer movement). As soon as we move to the next position(x1, y1), everything around us is generated randomly by a program. We could be surrounded by one of mountain, lake, and road. We can only move on the road. The road is always 2D as the map itself. My question is, are we able to play this game endlessly? "End" means that we come across a dead end and the only way out is to go backward.

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