Difference between revisions of "User:Elbowroom"

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(My student application for Google Summer of Code)
 
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Description
 
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Allow wesnoth to support spritesheets and improving Wesnoth's AI
 
  
 
I've recently made an adventure RPG in AS3 and implemented spritesheet support in that project
 
(I'll send a link to any dev that is interested by email)
 
And I'm pretty confident I can add spritesheet support to this project as well.
 
 
Also, I'm very interested in lua & AI so I'd be happy to continue and work on that aspect.
 
 
I've read the manual so I already have a rough idea on game strategy.
 
 
I'd like to delve deeply into the AI of the game and upgrade it.(Extending Lua support)
 
 
IRC
 
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"elbowroom" , "3180wR00m"
 
 
Questionnaire
 
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1) Basics
 
 
1.1) Write a small introduction to yourself.
 
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My name is Arthur Wulf and I'm a student from the Tel-Aviv university.
 
I've some programming experience most notably completing an Adventure game for a reality show.
 
To make that game I wrote a modular engine that included support for spritesheets.
 
 
 
1.2) State your preferred email address.
 
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aturlevy at hotmail dot com
 
 
1.3) If you have chosen a nick for IRC and Wesnoth forums, what is it?
 
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elbowroom
 
 
1.4) Why do you want to participate in summer of code?
 
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a.)Because I love writing code and contributing. I love games and I'd be happy to contribute code to this game.
 
b.)It is an interesting learning experience.
 
 
 
1.5) What are you studying, subject, level and school?
 
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I'm studying Computer Science in the Tel-Aviv university, this is my second year.
 
 
 
1.6) What country are you from, at what time are you most likely to be able to join IRC?
 
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Israel and able to join IRC most hours of the day.. GMT+2:00 but I'm available at night sometimes.
 
 
1.7) Do you have other commitments for the summer period ? Do you plan to take any vacations ? If yes, when.
 
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No vacations.
 
I have a job but it's flexible.
 
During the summer I'll have five free days each week that I can spend on this project.
 
 
 
2) Experience
 
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I've completed an entire adventure RPG for a reality show where I wrote all the code.
 
To create that game I wrote a modular engine that can be reused for other projects.
 
 
2.1) What programs/software have you worked on before?
 
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I've worked with AS3 and C++.
 
I also have some experience with Scheme.
 
 
2.2) Have you developed software in a team environment before? (As opposed to hacking on something on your own)
 
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Yeah I've worked in a team environment on most projects I've been involved in.
 
This brings many challenges but I'm good at taking feedback and implementing suggestions.
 
I've always been very receptive to bug reports and criticism.
 
 
2.3) Have you participated to the Google Summer of Code before? As a mentor or a student? In what project? Were you successful? If not, why?
 
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No I have not participated before.
 
 
2.4) Are you already involved with any open source development projects? If yes, please describe the project and the scope of your involvement.
 
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No.
 
 
2.5) Gaming experience - Are you a gamer?
 
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Oh yeah.
 
 
2.5.1) What type of gamer are you?
 
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I've evolved over the years. Starting 23 years ago playing the Sega Master System with games such as Phantasy Star, Y's, Golvelius and other classics..
 
Later on I was into strategy games like X-COM, Dune, Civilization, Warcraft and Heroes of might and magic.
 
Also I've played and wrote some patches for the original Quake game.
 
 
2.5.2) What type of games?
 
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Mainly oldskul platformer adventure games and Strategy games.
 
 
 
2.5.3) What type of opponents do you prefer?
 
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Someone of a similar level of skill or slightly higher.
 
 
2.5.4) Are you more interested in story or gameplay?
 
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To be honest, both are very important but stories are what brings you back.
 
Good gameplay can only keep you addicted for awhile.
 
 
2.5.5) Have you played Wesnoth? If so, tell us roughly for how long and whether you lean towards single player or multiplayer.
 
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Hehe, I only heard about it recently and played it for a little while.
 
Currently since I am busy at school and work I prefer single player since I can start and stop whenever I wish to and it provides me with an opportunity to check all the factions out.
 
I normally prefer multiplayer.
 
 
We do not plan to favor Wesnoth players as such, but some particular projects require a good feeling for the game which is hard to get without having played intensively.
 
 
2.6) If you have contributed any patches to Wesnoth, please list them below. You can also list patches that have been submitted but not committed yet and patches that have not been specifically written for GSoC. If you have gained commit access to our SVN (during the evaluation period or earlier) please state so.
 
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Nope.
 
 
3) Communication skills
 
 
3.1) Though most of our developers are not native English speakers, English is the project's working language. Describe your fluency level in written English.
 
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It is my native language.
 
 
3.2) What spoken languages are you fluent in?
 
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Well mainly English but I also understand Hebrew.
 
 
3.3) Are you good at interacting with other players? Our developer community is friendly, but the player community can be a bit rough.
 
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I'm pretty good with taking criticism and I normally get along with people online.
 
 
3.4) Do you give constructive advice?
 
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I'd like to believe so. I teach in Highschool as a part time job so I have lots of patience.
 
And I try to provide others with beneficial insight.
 
 
3.5) Do you receive advice well?
 
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Yeah I take feedback well, and I'm also implement suggestions by other team members.
 
 
3.6) Are you good at sorting useful criticisms from useless ones?
 
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I'd like to think so.
 
 
3.7) How autonomous are you when developing ? Would you rather discuss intensively changes and not start coding until you know what you want to do or would you rather code a proof of concept to "see how it turn out", taking the risk of having it thrown away if it doesn't match what the project want
 
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Well, I'd be happy to find a middle ground, discussing your specific goals planning accordingly.
 
For the spritesheet implementation, I'd just need the technical specifics.
 
As far as AI, I think it will mostly benefit from feedback of more experienced players.
 
 
4) Project
 
 
4.1) Did you select a project from our list? If that is the case, what project did you select? What do you want to especially concentrate on?
 
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Spritesheet and AI.
 
The spritesheet seem like a simple project that I am confident I could complete.
 
The AI is an interesting project I'd like to work on.
 
 
4.2) If you have invented your own project, please describe the project and the scope.
 
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Currently no, I might when I get to know the game better.
 
 
4.3) Why did you choose this project?
 
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Because I'm very interested in gaming and I'm impressed with this game.
 
This seems like an important opportunity to learn and contribute.
 
 
4.4) Include an estimated timeline for your work on the project. Don't forget to mention special things like "I booked holidays between A and B" and "I got an exam at ABC and won't be doing much then".
 
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I have tests on 07.07.11 and 10.07.11 but I normally don't study(cram) for tests, I just study through the whole semester.
 
 
4.5) Include as much technical detail about your implementation as you can
 
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About the spritesheet..
 
Well, it is just like loading images normally only that you point to the pixels you need.
 
You load a big image an instead of displaying all of it, you display the portions you need.
 
So you basically store an array that points to 'rectangles' in the image.
 
And write functionality that displays those rectangles from memory.
 
 
4.6) What do you expect to gain from this project?
 
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I'm doing it for the learning experience.
 
 
4.7) What would make you stay in the Wesnoth community after the conclusion of SOC?
 
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If I'm needed and could continue to contribute to the project I'll stay.
 
 
5) Practical considerations
 
 
5.1) Are you familiar with any of the following tools or languages?
 
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    * Subversion (used for all commits) Yes
 
    * C++ (language used for all the normal source code) Yes
 
    * STL, Boost, Sdl (C++ libraries used by Wesnoth)
 
 
The STL is pretty standard for data structures.. Iterators and such
 
 
Boost - yes, I know it somewhat well.
 
 
Sdl - Yes I'm familiar with it.
 
 
    * Python (optional, mainly used for tools) Yes
 
    * build environments (eg cmake/scons) No
 
    * WML (the wesnoth specific scenario language) No
 
    * Lua (used in combination with WML to create scenarios) Yes
 
 
5.2) Which tools do you normally use for development? Why do you use them?
 
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AS3, I like to be able to advertise 'publish' my games on a portal.
 
Also I enjoy writing OO code.
 
I use FlashDevelop because it is free and provides great features.
 
I use Paint Shop Pro 7 to edit and merge sprites.
 
 
5.3) What programming languages are you fluent in?
 
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AS3 & Java
 
 
5.4) Would you mind talking with your mentor on telephone / internet phone? We would like to have a backup way for communications for the case that somehow emails and IRC do fail. If you are willing to do so, please do list a phone number (including international code) so that we are able to contact you. You should probably *only* add this number in the application for you submit to google since the info in the wiki is available in public. We will *not* make any use of your number unless some case of "there is no way to contact you" does arise!
 
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Yeah I'd be happy to talk on the phone.
 

Latest revision as of 21:33, 23 March 2011

This page was last edited on 23 March 2011, at 21:33.