Hey forum,

It's been a really long night studying for my CIS 163 class, or rather, trying to learn up different concepts that I can possibly apply to my latest project for the class (CIS 163 is, by the way Java Programming II). I know, a 100 level course must seem really mundane and elementary to you - which has me at my latest conundrum. I want to be in game development, I have a lot of ideas and if I give up on this, I'll never get to express them. I'm trying really, really hard to understand this material. I figured, the closest thing to creation is programming... at it's roots. But it's just not sticking T.T I feel like the examples I'm given are not applicable to what I need to do.

I have spent hours and hours looking over materials on the web, looking over my course book, looking at different pieces of code and I just cannot bring it together in my mind, to figure out how to apply any of it. I'm becoming so discouraged, but I don't want to give up. I hate asking for help because, even though it was very rudely put it makes sense, if I keep asking for help on this stuff, I'm not going to be able to work independent. I won't always have a hand to hold in my future of programming, and when I don't have that assistance to help me through anymore, will I be able to make the cut? My biggest fear is no.

I mean, I have been tasked to make a Connect 4 game, which should be a sum up of everything we did in CIS 162, but when I go to start the project, I just draw a blank. It's basic arrays, conditionals, GUI; stuff I should know... but I don't know how to put the pieces together. I feel like everyone else around me is getting it, but I'm just the cattle in the back of the herd, falling behind.

I've never had great insight into the actual career of Game Development. I was going to Davenport, which had a major in Game Development, but I transferred to Grand Valley because I was told it was more accredited and more impressive to employers. Since they don't have a "game design" major, I picked my next closest interest (looking at what I wanted to do as a whole) and that was computer science. I've looked online too, and I've noticed a lot of people saying that a degree in Computer Science is a good one to have for this field coupled with a year or so of technical training in a game design school, while many other people simply say, "Just try making your own games for training" or "I didn't need college to be a successful game developer". This day and age is different though, and if I want to pursue my interest I know I need that fancy piece of paper.

I'm sorry for just bursting out like this, but I've been apart of the community for a while and haven't posted a whole lot, and I know a majority of the people here know their stuff in this field and I guess I'm just screaming out in the wind. Now for some rest for my 9 AM class tomorrow XD

Hey forum,

It's been a really long night studying for my CIS 163 class, or rather, trying to learn up different concepts that I can possibly apply to my latest project for the class (CIS 163 is, by the way Java Programming II). I know, a 100 level course must seem really mundane and elementary to you - which has me at my latest conundrum. I want to be in game development, I have a lot of ideas and if I give up on this, I'll never get to express them. I'm trying really, really hard to understand this material. I figured, the closest thing to creation is programming... at it's roots. But it's just not sticking T.T I feel like the examples I'm given are not applicable to what I need to do.

I have spent hours and hours looking over materials on the web, looking over my course book, looking at different pieces of code and I just cannot bring it together in my mind, to figure out how to apply any of it. I'm becoming so discouraged, but I don't want to give up. I hate asking for help because, even though it was very rudely put it makes sense, if I keep asking for help on this stuff, I'm not going to be able to work independent. I won't always have a hand to hold in my future of programming, and when I don't have that assistance to help me through anymore, will I be able to make the cut? My biggest fear is no.

I mean, I have been tasked to make a Connect 4 game, which should be a sum up of everything we did in CIS 162, but when I go to start the project, I just draw a blank. It's basic arrays, conditionals, GUI; stuff I should know... but I don't know how to put the pieces together. I feel like everyone else around me is getting it, but I'm just the cattle in the back of the herd, falling behind.

I've never had great insight into the actual career of Game Development. I was going to Davenport, which had a major in Game Development, but I transferred to Grand Valley because I was told it was more accredited and more impressive to employers. Since they don't have a "game design" major, I picked my next closest interest (looking at what I wanted to do as a whole) and that was computer science. I've looked online too, and I've noticed a lot of people saying that a degree in Computer Science is a good one to have for this field coupled with a year or so of technical training in a game design school, while many other people simply say, "Just try making your own games for training" or "I didn't need college to be a successful game developer". This day and age is different though, and if I want to pursue my interest I know I need that fancy piece of paper.

I'm sorry for just bursting out like this, but I've been apart of the community for a while and haven't posted a whole lot, and I know a majority of the people here know their stuff in this field and I guess I'm just screaming out in the wind. Now for some rest for my 9 AM class tomorrow XD

It sounds like from your post that you understand the pieces to the puzzle (basic arrays, conditionals, GUI). Take the task assigned and break it down into its component parts. Start with identifying the mechanics to a connect 4 game... Identify how the data for the game must be represented and start with representing the game board... Once you can do this then you can also work towards drawing this game data to the screen (a hint would be to loop through the array). It looks like you can get by with very simplistic graphics.. You will also need a way to determine matches...these from my two seconds of research are horizontal, vertical, or diagonal.

Focus on small tasks... Figure out how to draw circles to the screen, how to have them change color, how to represent a grid of them (using a 2d array maybe?).

Good luck!

Hey forum,

It's been a really long night studying for my CIS 163 class, or rather, trying to learn up different concepts that I can possibly apply to my latest project for the class (CIS 163 is, by the way Java Programming II). I know, a 100 level course must seem really mundane and elementary to you - which has me at my latest conundrum. I want to be in game development, I have a lot of ideas and if I give up on this, I'll never get to express them. I'm trying really, really hard to understand this material. I figured, the closest thing to creation is programming... at it's roots. But it's just not sticking T.T I feel like the examples I'm given are not applicable to what I need to do.

I have spent hours and hours looking over materials on the web, looking over my course book, looking at different pieces of code and I just cannot bring it together in my mind, to figure out how to apply any of it. I'm becoming so discouraged, but I don't want to give up. I hate asking for help because, even though it was very rudely put it makes sense, if I keep asking for help on this stuff, I'm not going to be able to work independent. I won't always have a hand to hold in my future of programming, and when I don't have that assistance to help me through anymore, will I be able to make the cut? My biggest fear is no.

I mean, I have been tasked to make a Connect 4 game, which should be a sum up of everything we did in CIS 162, but when I go to start the project, I just draw a blank. It's basic arrays, conditionals, GUI; stuff I should know... but I don't know how to put the pieces together. I feel like everyone else around me is getting it, but I'm just the cattle in the back of the herd, falling behind.

I've never had great insight into the actual career of Game Development. I was going to Davenport, which had a major in Game Development, but I transferred to Grand Valley because I was told it was more accredited and more impressive to employers. Since they don't have a "game design" major, I picked my next closest interest (looking at what I wanted to do as a whole) and that was computer science. I've looked online too, and I've noticed a lot of people saying that a degree in Computer Science is a good one to have for this field coupled with a year or so of technical training in a game design school, while many other people simply say, "Just try making your own games for training" or "I didn't need college to be a successful game developer". This day and age is different though, and if I want to pursue my interest I know I need that fancy piece of paper.

I'm sorry for just bursting out like this, but I've been apart of the community for a while and haven't posted a whole lot, and I know a majority of the people here know their stuff in this field and I guess I'm just screaming out in the wind. Now for some rest for my 9 AM class tomorrow XD

I'm in much of the same boat in terms of trying to get an idea in my head into programming. I don't know what kind of rules your class has in terms of collaboration, but often, if I get an idea from another student on how to approach something, I take that and look at what will work and what won't and offer changes, to which other people do the same. It's hard to have a beginning idea on how to start, but once I get an idea on how to go about programming it, it goes downhill from there.

For the connect 4 game, you could look at the board as an 2D array with 3 possible entries for empty, blue and red. You could have a command-line version working (e.g. type in something like "red 2 4" where 2 and 4 are the column/row numbers) and play with that until it's working. Then you can replace the command-line outputs with the graphics/mouse input or however you want to do input.

i spent my saturday evening explaining command line Tic Tac Toe to my friend even though he has graduated from computer science.

He seamed to be having many of the same problems you are having. Along with the above advice, if your completely stuck just try any crap and see what happens.

Create a sequence of strict rules on paper which can be used to teach anyone connect 4.

It sounds like from your post that you understand the pieces to the puzzle (basic arrays, conditionals, GUI). Take the task assigned and break it down into its component parts.

This is sound advice. A lot of individual pieces of a program are not complex at all. The further you break them down, more times than not, the concepts are amazingly simple at the base level. It just gets more and more complex as you stack on these simple pieces. In that way it's very much like simple machines vs complex machines. At the base level of something complex like a crane or a watch you have the same 6 or so simple machines working together (pulley, inclined plane, screw, lever, etc).

It can be overwhelming because your trying to analyze all the pieces at once. Think about what is core and non core to the game. For instance a connect 4, what is core, foundational to the game which defines the game. Is it the gui? The little check pieces or the ability to drag them around? Or is it just the game logic a gird of pieces and rules set? You can always replace the GUI, heck u can replace it with text output and it would still be connect 4. The logic and how the pieces interact is core to that game, not so much the superficialities like GUI or look or feel or if it has sound fx or network play etc..

If your feeling lost then u need to start small, build from that foundation and incrementally add more and more. You need to also get practical hands on experience build these structures and logic, that trains ur brain to solve problems using them, once you get comfortable with that u can tackle larger problems, but still all the while use the basic building blocks from that foundation.. Get yourself a simple engine with a dynamic scripting language like pyGame and start making small little games/app and you'll get it in no time..

Good Luck!

-ddn

Thank you everyone for your very sound advice! I believe I often over complicate what needs to be done, and then I send myself into an endless loop of frustration >.< I'm going to try to just piece down the game, try to analyze the rules, what is done in the game and figure out methods that could be used to perform those actions. My instructor wants us to "separate the game from the GUI", so I have to do just that. Use the GUI to call methods from the game and his advice for doing this was, "Try to bend the rules. If your game still functions while changing the rules such as allowing player 1 to go twice in a row, then let player 2 go twice in a row as a small example, then you're getting it."

We have partners for this project, and I feel terrible. Every time I've come up with something, he either comes up with it already or it's just not very useful to the final result. I have been sitting at this code for 4+ hours tonight (immediately after getting home from campus) and I've only been trying to look at my array of drop buttons and trying to figure out a way for the code to know what button is being pressed and how to "drop" the piece. The GUI itself is extremely simplistic. It is composed of a reset, exit and color changer button (so the user can change their color at any time), has a grid layout for the drop buttons immediately above a set of buttons that represent the game board and the names and win score of the players below it. We had planned on just updating the button text to a particular character that represents the current player's color at the bottom of the grid of buttons below the drop button pressed. Every time I come up with an idea for it though, I keep coming back to the same problem... how is the program going to know what button has been pressed? And I haven't even tried separating the game from the GUI yet, I just want to get the game running and then worry about that detail later.

We have it so that you can choose between 2 and 4 players that you have playing at once, enter their names, select their color with a color chooser, and you can even select a different board size between 10 and 25 (rows and columns match appropriately, otherwise it just wouldn't be connect 4 XD)

But listen to me droll on. Again - thanks for being patient with my frustrations and rants and thanks for the sound advice. I hope I can apply this and I'll get some sort of epiphany or something that will help me figure out sound code to write that works >.<