Does everyone here know what TANSTAAFL stands for? I didn''t so I had to ask. "There ain''t no such thing as a free lunch". Now isn''t it ironic that this stoic creature is looking for handouts to put on the CD with his up and coming book? Can they even really call this a contest? Well if you look at the definition of contest in a dictionary I suppose you can. But hey, the 3D guys got a video card. c''mon old man, throw in a GDNet t-shirt too Actually I''m not just here to stick it in your ribs Tans, I had a couple of questions about submissions. A lot of people consider the side scrollers to be tile games, or at least use ''tile-type'' technology in many circumstances. So do you want any submissions along those lines? Maybe it would be a good idea to include the chapter titles to give some people an idea of a direction to take for ya. How about a signed copy of the book for the grand prize? Who knows, you may become notorious one of these days. Calen ~freedom

TAN posted the TOC here.

ok, calen, you figured me out.

to answer your question, i want to see diamond shaped tiles, hexagonal tiles, and/or texture mapped diamond shaped polygons... your choice.

you think the pot needs to be sweetened? ok. i take your challenge. if just being published isnt good enough, i''ll see what i can come up with.

and yes, there will be some signed copies. i''m going to talk with the publisher and see if they''re willing to cough some up for this. if they arent, i''ll have to limit the number of books (authors dont make as much as you think)

oh, and concerning what the programs entered are supposed to be about, it really doesnt matter much. something isometric or hexagonal, and with some sort of user interaction.

some ideas:

z-order/layering/multitextured iso/hex maps
height mapping(slopes/d3d)
minimaps
"fog of war"
object/unit selection and movement
fine scrolling
fringe/tile transition(coastline, smooth transition from one terrain to another)
roads/rivers (connecting structures)
pathfinding AI

Don''t get me wrong when I give you a hard time about the prize Tans. The point I was trying to make was a small point.

A call to arms of your friends here at GDNet is a good idea and I know you''ll get some great material for the CD. Hopefully even from me (more on that later). I just think I didn''t see it so much as a contest as I would have expected the next contest to be. (read as: needs a new video card and can''t do 3D yet )

But mostly I was just being clever to start a thread to ask a few more questions. We all know how hard you''ve been working on this book and I''d say everyone is looking forward to it. It''s great that you''re giving the users here a chance to put some quality stuff on the book.

Anyhow, your post gave me some good ideas along the lines of some things I am working on so lets see what I can come up with.

Calen

~freedom

If you want to include my D3D Isometric tutorial on your CD, that would be fine by me. Does that get me a T-shirt? ;-p

I think I should point out that since the contest deadline isn''t until December, we''ll have other contests running at the same time.

Can we have some more 3D contests? And how about a car for a prize... I was thinking maybe one of those nice shiny Ferrari things.

(looks hopeful)

http://www.geocities.com/ben32768