From: gamer
Subject: game enthusiasts/developers?
Date: 
Message-ID: <Uce4c.54822$aZ3.38302@fed1read04>
Hello,
    I am the lead on a game development project, an innovative mmorpg. We
started in C++ for about the first year, and have since moved to Common
Lisp.

    The project has had two full time developers up until now, and our main
motivation is the love of game development and a passion for excellence in
what we are doing. We don't make any money, in fact we spend money on the
project, although there will most likely be money made later.

    We have just begun to explore looking for people with a similar passion
to work with us. If anyone here has an interest in lisp game development as
a serious hobby or as a career, say hi or send me an email.

Happy coding,
Blake

BlakeTNC @ -yahoo- .com

From: Joe Marshall
Subject: Re: game enthusiasts/developers?
Date: 
Message-ID: <u10upafh.fsf@comcast.net>
"gamer" <········@-yahoo-.com> writes:

>     We have just begun to explore looking for people with a similar passion
> to work with us. If anyone here has an interest in lisp game development as
> a serious hobby or as a career, say hi or send me an email.

Where are you located?  If you are in Boston, I may be interested.


-- 
~jrm
From: Kenny Tilton
Subject: Did someone ask about Cello? [was Re: game enthusiasts/developers?]
Date: 
Message-ID: <3Fl4c.15846$c73.5160093@twister.nyc.rr.com>
gamer wrote:

> Hello,
>     I am the lead on a game development project, an innovative mmorpg. We
> started in C++ for about the first year, and have since moved to Common
> Lisp.

What? And you haven't signed on to help with?:

    http://www.common-lisp.net/project/cello/

Hmm, that page looks like a CLIM demo. But my homework today is to 
finish the copy and artwork for a proper page, so watch that space. 
Sneak preview:

"An emerging open-source, industrial-strength, fast, powerful, 
easy-to-use, portable GUI for Common Lisp, by Common Lisp, and of Common 
Lisp.
- MIT-licensed
- anti-aliased text using any installed font
- 2d- or 3d-graphics, vector or bitmapped, and straightforward display 
of a wide variety of image formats such as GIF, JPEG, and AVI.
- hardware-accelerated.
- planned: hardcopy via PDF, sound via SuperCollider.

"Those are the fundamental capabilities. Stepping back to a wide-angle shot:
- component architecture allowing selective adoption of Cello sub-systems.
- Cells Inside, making GUI development an order of magnitude easier, 
faster, and more fun. Cells support a declarative paradigm for...
- Cello, a complete application framework with a full suite of standard 
GUI widgets, implemented fully in Common Lisp/CLOS. Combining Cells with 
efficient, powerful graphics capabilities, Cello permits easy 
construction of efficient, bug-free interfaces providing users with more 
facile control of your application.
- For OpenGL developers, Cello serves as what is known as a scene graph 
manager, providing a higher-level framework for the development of games 
and other applications using OpenGL primitives to model 3D worlds."

Current official activity is:

-- /actually/ porting the in-principle portable framework to more Lisps/OSes

-- making the code easier to install

-- rounding out the widget set

Current actual activity (for me) is:

-- just having a ball pissing around with OpenGL to make a killer 
screenshot for...

-- the above web page


kenneth


-- 
http://tilton-technology.com

Why Lisp? http://alu.cliki.net/RtL%20Highlight%20Film

Your Project Here! http://alu.cliki.net/Industry%20Application
From: Timothy Moore
Subject: Re: Did someone ask about Cello? [was Re: game enthusiasts/developers?]
Date: 
Message-ID: <wdrd67hamwk.fsf@serveur5.labri.fr>
Kenny Tilton <·······@nyc.rr.com> writes:
> - For OpenGL developers, Cello serves as what is known as a scene
> graph manager, providing a higher-level framework for the development
> of games and other applications using OpenGL primitives to model 3D
> worlds."

That sounds interesting! What kind of features does Cello provide in
this area?

Tim
From: Kenny Tilton
Subject: Re: Did someone ask about Cello? [was Re: game enthusiasts/developers?]
Date: 
Message-ID: <Gpp4c.15906$c73.5216125@twister.nyc.rr.com>
Timothy Moore wrote:

> Kenny Tilton <·······@nyc.rr.com> writes:
> 
>>- For OpenGL developers, Cello serves as what is known as a scene
>>graph manager, providing a higher-level framework for the development
>>of games and other applications using OpenGL primitives to model 3D
>>worlds."
> 
> 
> That sounds interesting! What kind of features does Cello provide in
> this area?

All the 2D GUIs I have built with Cells -- hell, the reason I developed 
Cells -- involved widgets that decided on their own where they belonged. 
They also did so dynamically, in light of unpredictable user input, so 
as to provide the most seamless experience possible interacting with the 
application. Now with OpenGL, I just need to add a Z parameter, 
rotation, scale, texture, color, etc etc and away we go.

Today I got side-tracked into cleaning up the handling of lights, 
because my attempt at advanced features such as cutoff and spot-exponent 
made clear I had not achieved usual level of dynamicity. But when done, 
clever/powerful lighting stunts should be a lot easier than doing it by 
hand. Likewise I have a "layers" mechanism that lets me avoid a lot of 
programming. In general, the Cello SG features are primitive utilities 
just one step above raw OpenGL.

Of course a /real/ scene graph manager offers a kazillion features, and 
it was not my intent originally to do a scene graph tool, but we have a 
start and we have something others don't have: a declarative programming 
paradigm facilitated by Cells. Cells are brilliant for modelling and 
animation, since one just defines how they should react to their 
environment and the Cells engine makes it happen. I am even toying with 
calling this "animus-oriented programming" or, more mellifluous I think, 
"programming with animus". But so far I cannot resist "Cells Inside".

I am /supposed/ to be working on educational software, but this 3D stuff 
is just too beautiful to ignore (new-improved screen shot RSN). I might 
have to do a game. Just thought of one today. Hmmmm... of course first I 
have to wire in a few more libraries. Supercollider, a speech 
synthesizer,...

:)

-- 
http://tilton-technology.com

Why Lisp? http://alu.cliki.net/RtL%20Highlight%20Film

Your Project Here! http://alu.cliki.net/Industry%20Application
From: André Thieme
Subject: Re: game enthusiasts/developers?
Date: 
Message-ID: <c3fik9$na1$1@ulric.tng.de>
gamer wrote:
> Hello,
>     I am the lead on a game development project, an innovative mmorpg. We
> started in C++ for about the first year, and have since moved to Common
> Lisp.

Beeing a fan of mmorpgs and a starter in Lisp this sounds very 
interesting to me. Although I am not able to help I would be interested 
in more information. Maybe you can post here some facts?


--
Andr� Thieme