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1651
General ENIGMA / Re: Marketing Enigma
« on: October 21, 2010, 05:21:11 pm »
ENIGMA is free as in speech. But yes, we call it free and open source.
1652
General ENIGMA / Re: Marketing Enigma
« on: October 20, 2010, 09:24:08 pm »
I think just three groups would be fine. The hope is that veterans are smart enough and humble enough to choose "veteran" over "advanced", which would mention C++ in its description. If not, ENIGMA's no the GMC, yes: they'll realize really fast they have the wrong board.
1653
General ENIGMA / Re: Marketing Enigma
« on: October 20, 2010, 08:48:47 pm »Quote
Thanks for the response Josh, I figured you would have thought about most of these points already. I was prompted to make this topic because I saw Omega_red saying he posted about Enigma on the u3d forums. As said I think advertising Enigma too early could damage it, timing when Enigma is at the correct stage is an important factor.Yep. I was thinking the same thing. Every now and again, the same sort of thing happens. Or I/someone say/do something particularly interesting, and we have an influx of fresh meat. They hang around for a while, then bob in and out randomly.
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However once Enigma has full (or near full) support with GM you may find a greater form of advertisement in people posting about it in topics. ... I'm unsure whether the gmc administration may ban these types of posts though.Yes. I myself used to post games compiled ENIGMA, along with the source, under the premise that it "can't be decompiled, as it was compiled in ENIGMA." I don't promote PMing the intelligent ones, though; that'd be annoying and spamish. The intelligent ones will probably notice and make their judgment on ENIGMA accordingly.
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If a complete beginner stumbles across Enigma and sees it being described with things like "C++", "re-compiled" it is likely to deter them from using the software. Enigma should ultimately be just as easy to use for beginners as GM is however.Indeed, but this has to be done in phases. We'll never end up in a good place on a search index if we try to appeal to everyone at once. I'm learning that one the hard way. We need to start by raking in as many GM users as we can, then shigting our home page's focus to general game development applications. "Game Maker" has the perfect name for the job, as far as search indexing goes.
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You also have to think about the forum set-up in the same way. Is there going to be a board specifically made just for gml? Because I guarantee if GM users post here for help and members start reeling off C++ to them it will drive them away.Keen prediction. A while ago, I started writing a CHM documentation similar to GM's, and I decided then and there to divide the users into three groups. Where GM divides them into two (Novices and Advanced users), I will divide them into three (Beginner, Veteran, Advanced/Expert). Beginners will be your typical DND tilers. Veterans will know GML well. Advanced users will know GML really well and have started into C++ features. I may add a fourth group for experts, who have grown comfortable developing with and for ENIGMA in C++.
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how difficult could they make your life if they intentionally changed GM in future versions to try and make it incompatible with Enigma?They could not. They'd drive away their own userbase. This was one of my first fears in the planning stage. The changes between GM5 and 6 were catastrophic (in magnitude, not in reaction). I don't think they can afford to do it again without a complete change in userbase, as far as I can tell (He couldn't even remove image_single from the spec like he threatened).
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Also as mentioned previously the administration could also decide to take a zero tolerance approach to the mention of Enigma on the gmc, this will largely cut off the ability to reach the average GM user.I welcome the notion. Sony took a similar approach to *sings* 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0-----------------------*voice trails off*
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Put a little ad at the start of the games made with Enigma (or GM)?I object.
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should be recommended that they do it in their own way. Not in some stupid, forced wayI'm okay with requesting it, but I won't mandate it. I'd at least like any successful games to tell us they use the engine. That much is common courtesy. But no, I'm not going to mandate any of it.
1654
Off-Topic / Re: Hey guys, thanx.
« on: October 20, 2010, 08:16:52 pm »
Correct. We've been working for a while now on making it easy to implement such ports.
1655
Issues Help Desk / Re: Can someone explain how to use enigma
« on: October 20, 2010, 08:14:30 pm »
14. And yeah, That's quite a lot, especially on top of the GCC info. 'tis one of the few drawbacks to not using a pre-compiled runner. Some day, maybe we'll distribute compressed object code instead of the source, but right now, source is a really nice system.
1656
Proposals / Re: Decrease Code Size?
« on: October 20, 2010, 08:12:22 pm »
I'm way too lazy to do that, but since we keep stable releases under tags/, I find that a viable suggestion. Wait until Ism finishes the YAML and run it by her, because ENIGMAbot handles all tag pushes. It's likely it could remove excessive newlines and whitespace while doing that.
I really like the idea. If Ism refuses, I'll look into it personally.
@Rusky- He was thinking about download time for SVN checkouts. My code is like, 30% removable.
Thought:
This does interfere with licenses. Perhaps we should only strip comments not beginning with /** or containing less than 300 characters.
(habit: )*/
I really like the idea. If Ism refuses, I'll look into it personally.
@Rusky- He was thinking about download time for SVN checkouts. My code is like, 30% removable.
Thought:
This does interfere with licenses. Perhaps we should only strip comments not beginning with /** or containing less than 300 characters.
(habit: )*/
1657
Function Peer Review / Re: GML: draw_sprite_tiled_area + draw_sprite_tiled_area_ext (Custom, not in GM)
« on: October 20, 2010, 08:07:51 pm »
Brett--
You are assuming all power-of-two textures. I see you multiplied tbx and tby by the necessary factor. Those variables, however, are only 1 (meaning the edge of the sprite) when the sprite is a power of two across both dimensions. I proposed such a fix after the check for each against 1, but no one has implemented it, yet.
Also, can you elaborate on a circumstance where doubles would be necessary for X and Y for the sake of accuracy? I'm not sure if a highly zoomed in view would produce such a case or not; can you test that for me? (I realize that many GL demonstrations have axises from -1 to 1, but I am not sure what GM's behavior would be in that case.)
RetroX--
No good reason. Originally I was using floats for x and y, but then I changed to doubles, and now I'm using int. I never updated the code, though, because I was waiting for someone like Brett to justify why they should be doubles.
You are assuming all power-of-two textures. I see you multiplied tbx and tby by the necessary factor. Those variables, however, are only 1 (meaning the edge of the sprite) when the sprite is a power of two across both dimensions. I proposed such a fix after the check for each against 1, but no one has implemented it, yet.
Also, can you elaborate on a circumstance where doubles would be necessary for X and Y for the sake of accuracy? I'm not sure if a highly zoomed in view would produce such a case or not; can you test that for me? (I realize that many GL demonstrations have axises from -1 to 1, but I am not sure what GM's behavior would be in that case.)
RetroX--
No good reason. Originally I was using floats for x and y, but then I changed to doubles, and now I'm using int. I never updated the code, though, because I was waiting for someone like Brett to justify why they should be doubles.
1658
General ENIGMA / Re: Marketing Enigma
« on: October 19, 2010, 05:41:20 pm »
- How are main stream Game Maker users going to hear about Enigma?
Eventually, I'll create signature banners for people to use on the GMC. Most of ENIGMA's users are intelligent enough to be giving frequent help on the GMC. If each of them has ENIGMA in their banner with an enticing message (see next answer), we are bound to start drawing in new users.
- What information is best displayed to GM users in order to entice them into using Enigma?
The first phrase in every ad will be about how ENIGMA is free. ENIGMA's strength is in extensibility and speed, but compared to GM, It is parsecs ahead in security, as far as the unlikelihood that games will be decompiled. It seems at this point that ENIGMA will offer an improved size compared to GM games. Also, we're leagues ahead of GM in the race for cross-platformability. Users who wish to display ENIGMA's banner in their signature can choose their favorites to brag on.
- Do you expect there will be any backlash from YYGs in the future over the development of Enigma?
They might try. We're not concerned; they have no legal ground to tell us to stop, as no copyrightable material is used from GM in ENIGMA. (A language cannot be copyrighted, and we don't distribute anything they own).
- How are users of other game development software going to hear about Enigma?
I don't intend to subtly invade other projects' sites. If other projects' users are discontent with pricing or speed of that project, they may happen upon ENIGMA in the same way they happened along GM, or whatever.
- What information is best displayed to these people?
Again, start with how ENIGMA is free. From there, we'll make mention of the fact that ENIGMA uses C++, and is easily re-compiled for a different platform. We'll also make clear that ENIGMA offers a number of easy-to-use, unified resources.
- How in general are people going to hear about Enigma?
Largely word of mouth. (As in, on message boards or in blogs related to game design). Only after ENIGMA catches on that way will search engines point our way.
- How common will it be for people to stumble across Enimga using Google?
As I mentioned earlier, not very, until ENIGMA gains popularity by other means. That's just how search engines work.
- What information should be displayed to these people?
Same as to those coming from other projects.
- Is it likely members of this community will take it upon themselves to advertise/mass spam Enigma?
Spam implying unwelcome messages with the sole purpose of advertising ENIGMA, I don't encourage it, but it may happen. I'm not opposed to using signature banners as a small-scale Goo gle b omb, though.
- Is this a concern for you?
I'm not worried about it, especially if I'm offering signature banners (which are a subtle but effective alternative). I will probably post a message discouraging it so as not to be held accountable.
- At what stage in Enigma's development should marketing be considered? (Advertising before Enigma is reliable/useful enough can obviously have negative effects)
When the collision system is done, I have all functions of std::map working in ENIGMA, and I have all local groups (such as path_ variables) managed by a set of YAML files that allow local-based resources to be added without modifying the compiler. At that point, ENIGMA will have more than enough functionality to make a decent game, and the rest of the the functions and resources will be trivial.
- How fast do you think the community will grow?
Slowly at first, but faster with time.
- How popular will Enigma ultimately become?
I can't say. I know ENIGMA has great potential, but that often isn't enough.
- What kind of users will end up here?
I Don't think there's a particular kind of user that will be attracted to ENIGMA. If you're getting at the average IQ of GM users, then yes, we have some of those.
- How many users do you expect will be willing to work on Enigma's development?
Right now we have more than I expected. At this rate, we'll have at least a dozen people with notable contributions.
- How is the forum/website/development going to change in order to cater for an increase in it's user base?
In my wildest dreams, sure. As ENIGMA starts to gain popularity, we will move the ads to the forum pages like Yoyo did. Those will, I hope, generate more revenue from the increased traffic, some by accident, some by people who aren't sure if they want to go with ENIGMA or just any old game development toolkit from the ads. As we gain more revenue, we can move to a larger host, and start game hosting like Yoyo does. The more we grow, the more stuff we can do that Yoyo does now (Higher capacity hosting, competitions for small cash amounts, etc). At this phase, all of that is completely impossible; the ads on the front of this site barely generate enough revenue to cover this site's current host. But, if all goes this well, we can grow.
- At what point do you need to start actually thinking about all these things?
I've been thinking about most of these all along, but they are quickly becoming necessary to consider.
Eventually, I'll create signature banners for people to use on the GMC. Most of ENIGMA's users are intelligent enough to be giving frequent help on the GMC. If each of them has ENIGMA in their banner with an enticing message (see next answer), we are bound to start drawing in new users.
- What information is best displayed to GM users in order to entice them into using Enigma?
The first phrase in every ad will be about how ENIGMA is free. ENIGMA's strength is in extensibility and speed, but compared to GM, It is parsecs ahead in security, as far as the unlikelihood that games will be decompiled. It seems at this point that ENIGMA will offer an improved size compared to GM games. Also, we're leagues ahead of GM in the race for cross-platformability. Users who wish to display ENIGMA's banner in their signature can choose their favorites to brag on.
- Do you expect there will be any backlash from YYGs in the future over the development of Enigma?
They might try. We're not concerned; they have no legal ground to tell us to stop, as no copyrightable material is used from GM in ENIGMA. (A language cannot be copyrighted, and we don't distribute anything they own).
- How are users of other game development software going to hear about Enigma?
I don't intend to subtly invade other projects' sites. If other projects' users are discontent with pricing or speed of that project, they may happen upon ENIGMA in the same way they happened along GM, or whatever.
- What information is best displayed to these people?
Again, start with how ENIGMA is free. From there, we'll make mention of the fact that ENIGMA uses C++, and is easily re-compiled for a different platform. We'll also make clear that ENIGMA offers a number of easy-to-use, unified resources.
- How in general are people going to hear about Enigma?
Largely word of mouth. (As in, on message boards or in blogs related to game design). Only after ENIGMA catches on that way will search engines point our way.
- How common will it be for people to stumble across Enimga using Google?
As I mentioned earlier, not very, until ENIGMA gains popularity by other means. That's just how search engines work.
- What information should be displayed to these people?
Same as to those coming from other projects.
- Is it likely members of this community will take it upon themselves to advertise/mass spam Enigma?
Spam implying unwelcome messages with the sole purpose of advertising ENIGMA, I don't encourage it, but it may happen. I'm not opposed to using signature banners as a small-scale Goo gle b omb, though.
- Is this a concern for you?
I'm not worried about it, especially if I'm offering signature banners (which are a subtle but effective alternative). I will probably post a message discouraging it so as not to be held accountable.
- At what stage in Enigma's development should marketing be considered? (Advertising before Enigma is reliable/useful enough can obviously have negative effects)
When the collision system is done, I have all functions of std::map working in ENIGMA, and I have all local groups (such as path_ variables) managed by a set of YAML files that allow local-based resources to be added without modifying the compiler. At that point, ENIGMA will have more than enough functionality to make a decent game, and the rest of the the functions and resources will be trivial.
- How fast do you think the community will grow?
Slowly at first, but faster with time.
- How popular will Enigma ultimately become?
I can't say. I know ENIGMA has great potential, but that often isn't enough.
- What kind of users will end up here?
I Don't think there's a particular kind of user that will be attracted to ENIGMA. If you're getting at the average IQ of GM users, then yes, we have some of those.
- How many users do you expect will be willing to work on Enigma's development?
Right now we have more than I expected. At this rate, we'll have at least a dozen people with notable contributions.
- How is the forum/website/development going to change in order to cater for an increase in it's user base?
In my wildest dreams, sure. As ENIGMA starts to gain popularity, we will move the ads to the forum pages like Yoyo did. Those will, I hope, generate more revenue from the increased traffic, some by accident, some by people who aren't sure if they want to go with ENIGMA or just any old game development toolkit from the ads. As we gain more revenue, we can move to a larger host, and start game hosting like Yoyo does. The more we grow, the more stuff we can do that Yoyo does now (Higher capacity hosting, competitions for small cash amounts, etc). At this phase, all of that is completely impossible; the ads on the front of this site barely generate enough revenue to cover this site's current host. But, if all goes this well, we can grow.
- At what point do you need to start actually thinking about all these things?
I've been thinking about most of these all along, but they are quickly becoming necessary to consider.
1659
General ENIGMA / Re: TGMG - A word...
« on: October 19, 2010, 03:18:43 pm »
Which is the only way to consistently pull of the code I posted above. Otherwise, the b could be misaligned with the a for everyone not using a tab width of 2, or whatever.
1661
General ENIGMA / Re: Android support
« on: October 19, 2010, 09:31:32 am »
Yes. In the beginning, when the earth was young and ENIGMA was just an idea entering the planning phase, Dave asked me why I would bother keeping GML. I told him it could attract some of the GM crowd, of course, but that having a wrapper to everything would mean that we could switch out the API without changing any of the high-level code. Three years later, that's a reality.
Right now, only Apple can compile for Android, because that's what TGMG was writing it on. But I imagine he can make it work for Windows. I'll not volunteer him for the job, though.
Right now, only Apple can compile for Android, because that's what TGMG was writing it on. But I imagine he can make it work for Windows. I'll not volunteer him for the job, though.
1662
General ENIGMA / Re: TGMG - A word...
« on: October 19, 2010, 09:11:41 am »
I like consistency, and tabs don't offer that. Wherever I open my code, I want it to look the same.
I like pressing tab two or three times, then just backspacing to where it lines up.
I also like leaving indentation on blank lines. That way, I just click where I want to insert, and press enter. But no, damn IDEs keep stripping trailing blanks.
Anyway, iirc tabs are illegal in YAML, Firefox strips them from non-first-char pastes, replacing them with spaces.... they're a dying breed.
Code: (C++) [Select]
{
float a = 0,
b = 1;
I don't like going out of my way to make it [tab]float...[tab][space][space][space][space][space]b...I like pressing tab two or three times, then just backspacing to where it lines up.
I also like leaving indentation on blank lines. That way, I just click where I want to insert, and press enter. But no, damn IDEs keep stripping trailing blanks.
Anyway, iirc tabs are illegal in YAML, Firefox strips them from non-first-char pastes, replacing them with spaces.... they're a dying breed.
1663
Off-Topic / Re: Hey guys, thanx.
« on: October 18, 2010, 07:28:09 am »
I'm not going to volunteer at this point, but it seems more than likely that if U3D is so popular, someone will implement it as part of ENIGMA's official API. So I don't at all oppose its use if you feel strongly about it.
1664
Announcements / Re: What's happening now
« on: October 17, 2010, 12:44:24 pm »
We may need to set up our own repository. I doubt ENIGMA will just waltz into the main Ubuntu repo (But never say never. I intend to try).
1665
Function Peer Review / Re: GML: draw_sprite_tiled_area + draw_sprite_tiled_area_ext (Custom, not in GM)
« on: October 17, 2010, 12:43:33 pm »
Good point. Maybe I'll drop him a letter later.
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