The course is built on the book Andre wrote and we added a bunch of extra labs that you build up to the final game station. So there is new stuff but not enough to justify the cost if you already own these systems.

However during the class you do get two (1 hour) chat sessions with us each week to ask whatever questions you want. That in itself is worth its weight in gold

Josh

Please do! Whenever you get a chance of course.

One problem:
The call to SetCurrentDirectory() should have appPath passed in, not appDir. strrchr() returns a pointer to the last position of the character in the original string. Therefore setting it to 0 (zero) results in an empty string beginning at appDir. Passing appPath to SetCurrentDirectory works because appDir is set to 0 (zero), which is really just pointing into appPath!

– Nate

The default protocol is also documented in the javadoc for the server API. Look at the SimpleSGSProtocol doc.

I wasn’t saying Mac is a “dead-end”. I was just alluding to if I go into a games store to buy a non-console game my choice are pretty much mostly PC. Interestingly, I did see recently that Bungie has alluded to Mac games post Microsoft split.

What amazed me is that it wasn’t so long ago that C# was lumped together with Java under the “too slow for games” myth.

I think the big difference here is that Microsoft stepped up and proved that C# is good enough. First, it was Managed DirectX and then XNA. And on top of it all they put it on the XBox 360 which I think hits a homerun in cool factor with a lot of hobbyist/indie developers. Sun hasn’t really done enough in that area compared to Microsoft.

I realize that Sun’s bread and butter is on the server with big business/enterprise and that is probably why they went the way of Project Darkstar instead of putting a comprehensive desktop strategy together. I know that there’s JOGL, and JOAL, etc but it seems these are more community led than company led.

My own perspective is that the path of least resistance is REAKKT attractive. I’m old (LATE 30s), not a programmer (but do work with computers), have a family and work obligations and to try and learn diverse technologies that don’t integrate well at times or are difficult to integrate or make distribution a challenge makes for a daunting task. I’m not saying I’m pro XNA but it is an attractive package. It’d be really nice for Java to have a “path of least resistance” too.

The opportunity is there but I think a corporate backing is necessary to take it to the next level. A JRE on a console would be cool. Nowadays consoles aren’t so fixed in their software loads due to their online connectivity and the ability to modify the software on the system.

I know quite a few indie developers who will disagree with you about the Mac. Windows has a larger market, but Mac tends to have a higher conversion rate. That’s what’s important. Indie games are thriving on Mac.

I’m pulling for Java but it’s up against a juggernaut in Microsoft and XNA.

What amazed me is that it wasn’t so long ago that C# was lumped together with Java under the “too slow for games” myth. I remember reading a post over at GarageGames where one of the employees was bashing C#, saying it will never be useful for games. Then a couple of years later they announced TorqueX, or whatever it’s called, which is a C# engine for XNA. It’s also all the rage over at GameDev.net these days.

But ultimately, it doesn’t matter how widespread Java becomes in the game market. There are enough people out there using it and enough game development tools that it’s easy enough to get going with. I doubt they’ll be going away. And I do anticipate that we’ll be seeing wider adoption as NCSoft folds JMonkey Engine improvements back into the source tree and more companies line up for the Sun Game Server.

At the end of the day though, all that matters from my perspective, and all that should matter for any indie developer, is what works for me. I really don’t care what others are doing. I’m not actually using Java for a game project at the moment, but that’s for reasons that have nothing to do with Java. There’s a strong possibility I’ll be using it for a future project. I have no interest in C# or XNA.