I suppose I should have done this a long time ago, but I''m just now getting to it. I am putting together then Isometric Land FAQ. Now, I fully realize that after about 40 replies to this message, things will be rather silly, and I''ll have to close down the thread, but I figured its *YOUR* community, so if you have suggestions for what should be added to the FAQ (be sure to actually LOOK at the FAQ before making your suggestion so that you don''t look silly--I''ve already got a link to the Iso articles and to my book in the FAQ) then by all means let your suggestion be known.

How about:

Question: What is Isometric?
Answer: (You can handle this one T)

Question: Should I use C/C++ or VB or Delphi or .NET or blah blah blah?
Answer: It''s your choice. Go to the Game Programming or General Programming for a better answer

Question: Should I use OpenGL or Direct3D if I do Iso3D?
Answer: It''s your choice. Goto the Graphics Programming Forum if you need a better response

Question: Where can I find source code for the ???? engine?
Answer: If you know the engine name, you can probably find the author''s name. E-mail them.

Question: Where can I read up on Isometric Games?
Answer: Look in Articles & Resource section.

I’m really not sure that it’s worth having a FAQ if every answer is going to state “Isometric and Tile-based Games” section with a provided link. Maybe, if every question is answered in the provided documentation in the Isometric and Tile-base Games section, it would be best to just write a paragraph explaining this fact and provide a link.


(Please forgive my rant, but I just can not let this one go)

quote:Original post by TANSTAAFL
Now, I fully realize that after about 40 replies to this message, things will be rather silly, and I''ll have to close down the thread, but I figured its *YOUR* community, so if you have suggestions for what should be added to the FAQ (be sure to actually LOOK at the FAQ before making your suggestion so that you don''t look silly--I''ve already got a link to the Iso articles and to my book in the FAQ) then by all means let your suggestion be known.

I just love the negativity that Staff and Moderators alike have been giving in recent months. Do you feel unappreciated? Have you been tainted?

At GDC I sat in a roundtable with a certain industry MMO guru discussing customer service for an MMO… Now, I had met this person the year before and thought that he was an ass, I think anyone that knows this individual would say that he is an ass – hell he even knows that he is an ass and that’s what make him so likeable. In fact, I think people that do hang around him do so because they know he is an ass and they are ok with it. Anyway, during this round table he ranted an raved about how customers where idiots and that they were whimpering blobs of shit and on and on and on.

I realized that there was probably some truth to his words and I know that customer service does have to deal with the 80% of the population that cannot flush a toilet – but what is your guys excuse?

Yea, I know that there are some folks here that post without researching and do not know that Googleing is a verb , there are also some folks that just like to make trouble and would prefer to answer a post with a smart-ass response than to provide an milliliter of help. Even with all that I find it very difficult to understand how someone on the Staff can get away with writing something like the above.

I apologize for posting this response to the board but if you can be as negative as you desire on the public boards then you should accept the fact that some people might take offense and be incensed by your words.

Dave "Dak Lozar" Loeser

quote:Question: Should I use OpenGL or Direct3D if I do Iso3D?

Direct Draw is good enough to do iso IMO. Anyways, T I wonder why there is an isometric forum, but no 2D graphic forum... Why not make it an Isometric and 2D tile Faq? Just my little wish.

The more I think, the more confussed I get.

OK, I don''t really know what was going on in TANSTAAFL''s head when he posted... and I may have read between the lines... as some have suggested... My message about tollerance seems to have been intollerant itself...

TANSTAAFL, I apologize if I read too much into your comment.

Dave "Dak Lozar" Loeser

if you want to know what was going on in my mind while writing the post, let me put you into my shoes for a second.

i came to the forum, as i do most days, to see if there were any questions that had been left unanswered that should be answered (i.e. non "how do i make a game" type questions).

i then noticed the "arena" thread announcement, so i figured i''d give that a look-see, saw what kevin was planning on doing, felt it was kind of neat, just not my thing (sounds a lot like making a bot to play rock, scissors, paper to me, but kev has his interests and i have mine and sometimes they differ blah blah blah).

then...

i saw the nine pages of replies to that thread, protesting every nit-picking detail about the contest, mostly consisting of "no, you should do it *MY* way because *I* know better than you how *YOU* should run *YOUR* contest."

at that point, thoroughly disgusted with most of the posters on that thread and hence people who post on message boards in general, i looked at the isometric land faq to find that there was no faq, and realized that i(or at least somebody) should probably write one. since somebody seems to be unavailable, i decided to at least put the obvious stuff in there, like what articles to look at and what book to get.

in my opinion, a FAQ should consist of more than two Q&As. a faq, when done correctly, just *FEELS* complete.

so, i left a post in the forum for suggestions, but with the arena thread freshly in mind, i fully anticipated junk posts, for which you have supplied us two, Dak, and with this reply, I have also supplied one(a comment on a junk reply is just as equally a junk reply). There is no need to reply to this junk reply, as they will just add up that way(and the LAST thing you want to do at this point is prove me right)

now, in fairness to the visitors of isometric land, the folks who post here are in general much better behaved and typically more on-topic than any other forum, for what reason i''ve never been able to guess, but i''m thankful for it.

for the record (just to set everyone''s mind at ease): it is never my purpose to go about offending people, but on message boards it happens with irregular frequency, generally because someone misinterprets what i say, but occasionally because i am an insensitive prick who doesn''t care.

Putting on my constructive hat... here''s what I have come up with so far...

I. The Isometric Land FAQ
1) What Is This Forum For?
2) What Can I Post Here?
3) What Should I Not Post Here?

II. What is Isometric?
1) What games use Isometric?
2) What is the math involved?

III. More stuff here...
IV. Even more stuff...
.
.
.
??. More information and external resources
1) Various link
2) Various link



Dave "Dak Lozar" Loeser

quote:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question: Should I use OpenGL or Direct3D if I do Iso3D?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Direct Draw is good enough to do iso IMO.

No offense or anything, but since when did DirectDraw do 3D?

Since when is isometric 3D?
Sorry for crap posting but...

A few ideas for questions for the faq, to make this post not a complete waste of space.

Why choose Isometric?

How to create tiles and artwork that are Isometric?

How to calculate what tile the mouse is in, in Isometric view?

That could be slightly longer answers, but I''ve seen them a few times on the forum. Unfortunately I''ve never done ios, so I can''t help much with the replies, just telling you what I''d find helpful in the faq. I''m here because this is the onlöy 2D forum, and most people in graphics P & T doesn''t even know what DirectDraw is anymore, and think a software renderer is D3D HEL...

Oh by the way Raloth, DirectDraw can do just as much 3D as D3D, just look at the latest André LaMothe book You could make Quake or Quake2 in DirectDraw, so there.