Programmers section?

Xaltar

Ok, you guys can shoot this idea down if you like but I figured it was worth a mention.

How about adding a coders section? So all the guys coding the awesome engines we create for can have a place to chat here? It would also be very usefull for us artists to be able to talk directly to programmers about what exactly can and can't be done in the various game engines. Its all well and good making game art but if you are only getting into it and have never had the chance to work with a full dev team it makes learning that little bit harder. Working with team Blur on the Overdose project has enabled me to speak to our lead programmer frequently and it really has helped me understand the dos and don'ts of our particular engine. It would also be a nice place for coders to pimp their apps and such that pertain to game art creation. Not to mention how usefull it would be for the programmers themselves to be able to compare notes and such with artists and other coders on the same boards.

Just a thought...

Thegodzero

That would be pretty cool, would be nice to see some tools given the same critiques as models get. Help even a place where you can get feedback of what features artists are looking for and what UI and work flow works best. Id love to see more kick ass artists tools come from PC.

Michael Knubben

Wouldn't the 2d/3d discussion forum be good for this? I don't really see the need to create another subforum, where you'll likely get less views than in 2d/3d. It's where tools get discussed atm, so why not?

MoP

Yeah, I think it's a general enough thing (and never gets that much talk anyway) that the 2D/3D forum is fine.

Xaltar

True enough I guess but no one really knows they can use it as such.... I was thinking of trying to atract more coders to the boards

ElysiumGX

I know several guys who focus on coding primarily for games, and they also do some art on the side. They may find it useful. I've been hoping to continue learning Python for use with XSI lately...and the 2D/3D Discussion doesn't seem like the first place I'd think of to post any scripting concerns. Perhaps others can flex their Max/Melscript muscles in an area that would more likely be seen. It would organize the threads with plugins, and 3rd party apps.

Rob Galanakis

I'd be down for this too.

Keg

2d/3d section works. look at the thread for xnormal.

Pimping also works if you're wanting to show something off.

Problem would probably be that polycount is known as an artists forums, so attracting programmers would be a little harder. That being said I am probably going to pimp a program either today or tomorrow.

Mark Dygert

I'm not too sure how much programmer traffic an artist site like polycount gets but I could see it being handy if artists had a place to talk about Mel and MaxScript.

Keg

Another thing I noticed is, maybe adding descriptions for pimping and 2d/3d letting people know programmers are welcome to pimp?

Rob Galanakis

There are a number of polycounters who are code-oriented already, and many who experiment with different coding. It'd be nice to have a dedicated place to discuss shaders, scripting, technical rendering/graphics discussions, etc. Its already covered in the 2d/3d forums, but I'd rather have a dedicated forum for it so its easier to read up on discussions and keep track of things. Let's not say a forum for programmERS, but a thread for programmING.

Slum

I think the current status of the 2d/3d section is fine for tools/programming talk. I think the issue here is that the name doesn't suit the content, even as it is now. It's more of a technical help forum, rather than "2d and 3d discussion"

I propose simply changing the forum name.

"Technical Talk" ?

MoP

That's a pretty good suggestion, Slum.

I'll check with R13 and various mods/admins to see what they think, personally I'd be happy for the forum to be renamed - 2D/3D Discussion is occasionally confused by newbies with P&P, I've moved several threads from 2D/3D into P&P over the past month or so, perhaps if it was called "Technical Talk" that would de-mystify it a bit.

Michael Knubben

Good suggestion, that. I certainly wouldn't mind if it'd be instantly clear that people can post their cody bits there.

Rick Stirling

And use the forum descriptions to add a real description perhaps? Also, Pimping and Previews is the header for 3 subforums, would "Artwork Discussion" not be a better main heading? "Work opportunities" is a good main header for the 3 job forums for example.

MoP

Yes, I was planning to add descriptions to P&P and 2D/3D.
Not too fussed about the forum header since nobody really looks at that anyway but hey, it could easily change

HarlequiN

Dunno, I'm often clicking the header not the forum by mistake when I'm half asleep or drunk

Whargoul

[ QUOTE ]
Good suggestion, that. I certainly wouldn't mind if it'd be instantly clear that people can post their cody bits there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahhh no! Please don't post my bits there, I need them!

CrazyButcher

the renaming to technical talk is a good idea indeed, cause the forum was always the place for exactly that, and although imo it was kinda clear (even more if you look in its threads before you post), technical talk is easier to get.
While I am more coder-oriented these days, I think polycount should not give up its root and stay on focus on the "art" side and not become a "über" board for all kinds of game work,
the place here is nice and cool because it is quite focussed and not super crowded (read cgtalk,gamedev.net). Also there is many pure technical gamedev/code forums, so instead of throwing all under the same place, I'd suggest people to look around and look into other forums as well, and you will find detailed answers there. of course the problem of different communication will prevail.
I am glad polycount is a place for artists, and therefore we speak the same language sorta, very glad we dont have talks her about which code language/api is "better", what compile settings faster or which pointer nightmares some people entered, leave that to the regular max/maya/xsi shootouts, RTT settings and so on
However I do think that maybe in a few years (not there yet) we might see a bit more regarding artist created shaders... Although I still think that shader basecodes will remain in coders hand, just the tweaking and some "mixing" will be artists main work.
But 2d/3d is already a great place imo for all artist tech needs just ask more hehe

Xaltar

That may be true but there are numerous benefits to artists having the ability to get feedback from coders. We make art and they make it work in game. Many people here are n00bs like myself and hence don't have the advantage of being able to talk to a team coder about what can and can't be done in game (particularly important to enviroment artists). I wasn't meaning have a section for "api" and code base discussions (though that may happen too) I was more wanting to see more coders here. Giving them insentive to be here would be the easiest way. It would be awesome to have coders sharing apps that they have made that we as artists can use to streamline our pipelines. There are only so many engines out there and a number of larger games use the same engine. Whilst new games have legal restrictions on sharing information a lot of older games and engines are now open source. The toughest thing for a new artist to come to terms with is getting their art working in a game. You can't get your stuff into newer engines in most cases (at least not to the extent of makin your own game out of it) and the older games are just so hard to work with because although the engines themselves are open source the only editing software for them that has been released is crappy mapping apps like q3radiant (since upgraded and modified to GTKradiant). It would be nice to see more tools to view shaders as they would be ingame or apps that help check your texture paths and provide easy ways to correct such issues.

Rick Stirling

[ QUOTE ]
We make art and they make it work in game.

[/ QUOTE ]

haha.

Richard Kain

I agree with renaming the 2D-3D section. "Tech-Talk" is a good compromise. It's what it's always been used for anyone. It's where people discuss all the technical aspects of game modeling. I don't see any reason to keep calling it "2d-3d." A differnt name would make its purpose a little clearer to any visitors unnacustomed to polycount.

MoP

Ok, it has been done (thanks r13!). Hopefully less confusing to any newcomers now

Uly

MoP, I think you borked the Contest forum's moderator list. There's a huge indent for the moderator list in my browser. (IE)

MoP

Very strange. You're right, it looked odd in IE but it was fine in Firefox. I've added short descriptions to every forum, seems to fix the problem.

KaosNKorruption

I think "Technical Discussions" would sound much better for a forum title than "Technical Talk." "Technical Talk" just doesn't sound technical enough.

MoP

Hahaha! Technical Talk sounds plenty technical to me...
Plus it's alliterative!

indian_boy

yes but its easy to say it 5 times fast.
i suggest Technical Talk of Tools and Techniques!

rooster

well ultimately who cares.. but I thought the same thing, technical discussion sounds better! and more serious!

Uly

Cacophony sinks ships.