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Doesn't this overlap with StackOverflow? – Gelatin Jun 4 '10 at 1:09

@jalf What about Art, Design and Writing questions? – Noctrine Jun 4 '10 at 19:04

There are plenty of other proposals out there that can be considered spin-offs from SO. That is because there is a need for specifics. SO is not conducive to game development. Yes, there will be some overlap. I feel the impact on SO will be minimal. There is plenty more about game development than simply asking code questions. – IAbstract Jun 4 '10 at 23:47

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70 Example Questions (8 closed)

active newest votes

up vote 22 down vote

added by Spoike Jun 3 '10 at 13:21

Here's a few resources I found useful when figuring out A* 1) policyalmanac.org/games/aStarTutorial.htm 2) theory.stanford.edu/~amitp/GameProgramming/… Hope those help – Anonymous Jun 16 '10 at 2:04

up vote 21 down vote

added by Spoike Jun 3 '10 at 13:21

This is a great question but perhaps include the XNA version in the question as the API can differ radically (Basic tutorials break horribly in the transition from 3.1 to 4.0). – Justin Jun 3 '10 at 13:28

Replace good with in-depth, detailed. – IAbstract Jun 4 '10 at 21:34

Might want to edit this to make it more general: "Where can I find good [Game Platform] tutorials?" – cstack Jun 6 '10 at 21:44

I don't think it should be more general - if someone is using XNA, they likely want a tutorial about it, and not a random platform. :) – Cyclops Jun 7 '10 at 18:52

@Cyclops: The point is that this example question would be equally valid for any other game platform. – mmyers Jun 9 '10 at 19:50

show 1 more improvement suggestion

up vote 21 down vote

added by Noctrine Jun 4 '10 at 12:42

I remember seeing this question answered by an actual lawyer before (answer was no of course). If you quote that you'll get a good answer to a commonly asked question. – Firas Assaad Jun 4 '10 at 13:07

up vote 20 down vote

added by Corey Jun 4 '10 at 0:13

	Not all games use XNA... this question could be answered with "Game Maker" or some basic books on C++ development or Pygame, the list goes on. – Corey Jun 7 '10 at 17:48
	@Corey: I know all games don't use XNA; I just think questions about specific platforms are going to be more common, so that question would be the better example. – cstack Jun 7 '10 at 17:54

up vote 19 down vote

added by Simurr Jun 3 '10 at 20:21

What kind of answer are you expecting? Is there a version control software that is better suited to game development? I do agree that it's an interesting question. – Firas Assaad Jun 4 '10 at 1:24

@Firas: yes, that way I take this question. Managing game assets on VCS can be much more difficult due to complexities and file types. – IAbstract Jun 4 '10 at 1:31

Why is this off-topic? Game development has programming in it. Sure, it overlaps with SO, so what? – Kensai Jun 4 '10 at 3:14

This is a great question and definitely on topic. – Justin Jun 4 '10 at 12:39

There are some things to consider when you have large art-assets to manage as well since a game is not all source code. Some VCS are really slow when it comes to versioning large files... there are alternative solutions. – Spoike Jun 5 '10 at 7:48

up vote 18 down vote

added by Chris W. Rea Jun 3 '10 at 14:27

I would recommend a slight word changing to remove 'major', that part is subjective and always changing as new features are released for engines. Otherwise a very good question. – B. Onstot Jun 3 '10 at 14:43

Might want to add what platform you are talking about, or just add: "on [Game Platform]?" – cstack Jun 6 '10 at 21:45

up vote 12 down vote

added by Chris W. Rea Jun 3 '10 at 14:26

up vote 11 down vote

added by rlb.usa Jun 3 '10 at 20:24

up vote 10 down vote

added by Foster Brereton Jun 4 '10 at 18:34

up vote 9 down vote

added by Justin Biard Jun 4 '10 at 22:45

"Free" games help promote independant publishing, which promotes innovation and helps the community survive and grow (not all game devs are going to work for, or have their game picked up by, the major publishing houses). – slugster Jun 7 '10 at 2:29

up vote 8 down vote

added by rlb.usa Jun 3 '10 at 20:25

up vote 6 down vote

added by Firas Assaad Jun 3 '10 at 11:08

I think it's a good question. A friend of mine was looking for resources about that subject recently. – Firas Assaad Jun 3 '10 at 11:18

up vote 6 down vote

added by Firas Assaad Jun 3 '10 at 11:09

A good game design question if the asker tailors the question to a specific example. If not, then it's still a good question, but perhaps it should be community wiki as it's subjective. – Firas Assaad Jun 3 '10 at 11:20

up vote 5 down vote

added by Firas Assaad Jun 3 '10 at 11:11

Programming related questions are probably better suited for Stack Overflow. On the other hand, questions about game algorithms or patterns are okay. – Firas Assaad Jun 3 '10 at 11:18

I don't agree, a Direct X boo boo would be easily picked up on a game development focused site. It may be missed entirely on Stack Overflow. – Justin Jun 3 '10 at 13:00

Game programmers are still programmers, and SO is a site for programmers. Since this would be part of the same family of sites as SO, programmers can easily have an account on both sites. On the other hand I did notice that game programming questions on SO don't get many answers. Can stack exchange sites overlap in functionality? – Firas Assaad Jun 3 '10 at 21:11

Game development has programming in it, I don't see how this is off-topic. Sure, it overlaps with SO, I don't find that too disturbing. – Kensai Jun 3 '10 at 22:28

@Justin: Have you seen any directx questions on SO be ignored? The ones I've seen have been answered. – jalf Jun 4 '10 at 13:56

show 6 more improvement suggestions

up vote 5 down vote

added by Foster Brereton Jun 4 '10 at 18:36

up vote 4 down vote

added by B. Onstot Jun 3 '10 at 14:45

up vote 4 down vote

added by cstack Jun 6 '10 at 21:54

up vote 4 down vote

added by cstack Jun 7 '10 at 0:17

up vote 4 down vote

added by Andreas Bonini Jun 7 '10 at 13:54

up vote 4 down vote

added by David Basarab Jun 7 '10 at 18:14

By fixing whatever caused that error and write better code. :) In seriousness, there is no good standard on this. The best way I guess is to dump the error log and ask the user if it's okay to send it to QA (which can be sent easily by email or to some web service that the developer has). – Spoike Jun 11 '10 at 12:01

up vote 4 down vote

added by IAbstract Jun 9 '10 at 3:22

up vote 3 down vote

added by Firas Assaad Jun 3 '10 at 11:10

This question comes up often because it's hard to find good sound effects for games. – Firas Assaad Jun 3 '10 at 11:21

up vote 3 down vote

added by Justin Biard Jun 4 '10 at 22:38

up vote 3 down vote

added by cstack Jun 7 '10 at 0:15

up vote 3 down vote

added by Simurr Jun 9 '10 at 20:28

up vote 3 down vote

added by Jawa Jun 16 '10 at 13:29

up vote 2 down vote

added by Spoike Jun 3 '10 at 13:22

up vote 2 down vote

added by percent20 Jun 3 '10 at 16:30

	Sounds too broad. – Firas Assaad Jun 3 '10 at 21:18
	I can see that. I was told once that linear algebra is used a majority of the time in this instance. I am more of a business app person, but thought I would try to help out with this question. – percent20 Jun 3 '10 at 23:32

up vote 2 down vote

added by David Basarab Jun 4 '10 at 17:51

better suited for stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/algorithm – Lazer Jun 5 '10 at 18:01

For game development you'd probably make a different CPU time/best path tradeoff, which heavily influences algorithm choice. I think the best answer might well be different here than on SO, so I vote on-topic. – jilles de wit Jun 16 '10 at 21:28

up vote 2 down vote

added by Foster Brereton Jun 4 '10 at 18:35

maximize? in what way - distribution, participation, response? – IAbstract Jun 5 '10 at 13:19

up vote 2 down vote

added by Justin Biard Jun 4 '10 at 22:35

up vote 2 down vote

added by Andreas Bonini Jun 7 '10 at 13:52

Distributed computing & gaming? Woah, awesome. – rlb.usa Jun 8 '10 at 20:21

up vote 2 down vote

added by rlb.usa Jun 8 '10 at 20:17

	oh please let there be something I can do besides grind... – IAbstract Jun 9 '10 at 3:07
	would be more interesting to have a discusson on to make things feel less like a grind. – Spoike Jun 11 '10 at 11:52

up vote 1 down vote

added by Justin Jun 3 '10 at 13:15

There is already a question about path finding, and it would have a more specific answer. You guys should move your votes over there. – cstack Jun 7 '10 at 17:37

up vote 1 down vote

added by Spoike Jun 3 '10 at 16:09

up vote 1 down vote

added by Foster Brereton Jun 4 '10 at 18:33

up vote 1 down vote

added by Justin Biard Jun 4 '10 at 22:37

up vote 1 down vote

added by IAbstract Jun 6 '10 at 13:16

	Perhaps the question would be better: What language do WoW uses for its addons? (LUA) – Martín Marconcini Jun 7 '10 at 11:02
	@Martin, Lua & Xml - yes, it is fairly broadly scoped. Making a slight change to reflect the type of answer I expect. We do need to determine whether this line of question belongs or not. This can be answered with a fairly short answer. Therefore I don't believe it to be off-topic. – IAbstract Jun 7 '10 at 12:16

up vote 1 down vote

added by Gordon Gustafson Jun 16 '10 at 21:30

The answer would probably cover most AI from most genres - once you get over the animation, aiming and walking code, the decision-based stuff could be a simple hierarchical state machine, goal-orientated action planner, behaviour tree, etc. All of which apply in lots of AI situations, not just shooters. The question may be good - but what's a good answer? – tenpn Jun 17 '10 at 11:54