Mars Lander. Any collaborators? Noobs welcome.

[Philbywhizz]

I love the concept, especially the bouncing.

[togFox]

Release v0.10 is out. A truely collaborative effort. There are a lot of changes but most of them are under the hood but the player will see some improvements.

https://github.com/togfoxy/MarsLander/releases

[MadByte]

I made an asset-loader tool to get rid of some clutter in the source code like:

Code: Select all

	garrImages[1] = love.graphics.newImage("/Assets/tower.png")
	garrImages[2] = love.graphics.newImage("/Assets/gastank1.png")
	garrImages[3] = love.graphics.newImage("/Assets/Background-4.png")
	garrImages[4] = love.graphics.newImage("/Assets/engine.png")
	garrImages[5] = love.graphics.newImage("/Assets/ship.png")
	garrImages[6] = love.graphics.newImage("/Assets/gastank1off.png")
	garrImages[7] = love.graphics.newImage("/Assets/building1.png")
	garrImages[8] = love.graphics.newImage("/Assets/building2.png")
	garrImages[9] = love.graphics.newImage("/Assets/apollo-11-clipart-9.png")

It's not very good in automatically loading the assets atm, but it gets the job done and should make things a lot easier
if we can use it for the project.
I didn't want to use an existing library because they are made in a way that has to suit to many different projects - I wanted to have something
more 'tailor-made' for the project with functionality that wouldn't make sense for other projects like being reliant on anim8 to
make it easier to create new animations etc.
For more information see the comments in main.lua.

[togFox]

I hope to release v0.11 in the next day or two. This will hopefully resolve some nasty performance issues that were reported by someone on github.

@madbyte and @PhilbyWhiz have been contributing enormously and I can no longer claim this is my project - but a community project.

@gunroar has provided some pixel art and hopes to do so again and milon has dropped off but he might return.

[togFox]

I've lost count of the numbers of hours I've spent on UDP and enet. I think I have genuine progress now ...

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[milon]

milon has dropped off but he might return.

Maybe, we'll see.

My only dev time is during my downtime at work, hehe. That means no evening/weekend contributions. Once Mars Lander started gaining more interest, it began moving faster than I could keep up with. Also, it's been pushing into areas I'm less familiar with, so there's been less accessible to me. I'm just a self-taught hobby coder, after all.

But I'm still interested and I'll pop in where I can.

[MadByte]

Also, it's been pushing into areas I'm less familiar with, so there's been less accessible to me.

Would you mind sharing what areas you mean by that? I feel like I'm a big reason for pushing many recent structural changes in the code since I joined and if any of this is holding you back I'd like to know what it is so I I/we can work on it.

I'm just a self-taught hobby coder, after all.

Same ...But I'm failing to code for many years now and feel like I get better at it

But I'm still interested and I'll pop in where I can.

There are many small tasks open in the issues section of togfoxy's repo. And since there's no real concept for it (yet?) many things can just be added as you please, if you think it could work. ppl just need to be open for feedback and different ideas I guess.

[Philbywhizz]

There are many small tasks open in the issues section of togfoxy's repo. And since there's no real concept for it (yet?) many things can just be added as you please, if you think it could work. ppl just need to be open for feedback and different ideas I guess.

Indeed there is lots to do, and we hope people can feel like they can contribute (and not feel intimidated or scared).

I've been busy with my day job lately, so I haven't had the headspace to do much love coding. But I've been updating the wiki, reading up on github workflows and actions and contributing to the discussions and code reviews. To me that's been fun and I'm not doing a 'solo' project.

Even having a discussion on an open issue contributes to the project in a big way... it creates collaboration!

It doesn't all have to be about just code.

[togFox]

I have to admit the recent code restructure was daunting but it isn't really that far from what it use to be. The function and variable names are mostly the same. The flow is slightly changed. I think if you took it upon yourself to tackle a small issue and followed the bouncing ball I think you'd get it pretty quickly. Start the journey now because in 3 months time the gap will be even wider!

And then there is play testing and coming up with great ideas. We are often full of bad ideas so some good ones would be great!

[milon]

Also, it's been pushing into areas I'm less familiar with, so there's been less accessible to me.

Would you mind sharing what areas you mean by that? I feel like I'm a big reason for pushing many recent structural changes in the code since I joined and if any of this is holding you back I'd like to know what it is so I I/we can work on it.

Multiplayer and collision detection are the 2 biggest areas that are unfamiliar to me. And it's not a hurdle I can't overcome - it's more an issue of time. I had some constructive things to add, so I did, and then the next time I was able to login and check on things, there had been like 3 more releases. It's not that you or anyone else has done anything problematic - it's just that I have so little time to invest, none of regular or reliable, and it would take a lot just to catch up on where we are. And I try to work on my own Love projects too.

Anyway, I don't think I'm done with Mars Lander. I just have to find another area I know something about or can learn about easily enough.