Dashboard game contest?

[ss2 cire]

Well I've been thinking about this since I got Tiger
I was wondering would anyone like to participate in such a contest?

I don't think there could be any prizes and perhaps we could have a
"public vote thread" where the winner would be the one with the most votes

again, I doubt there could be any prizes, but the winner would be "honored" by
what else? winning :)

[Blorx2]

I don't care. I don't own Tiger and won't own it for a while...btw, how do you make a "Dashboard Mini-game"?

[ss2 cire]

well, I meant more like a Dashboard game, i said "mini-game" because the Dashboard docs say, in general, that a Dashboard widget should do one task only, or something like that

at any rate, the question was mainly targeted toward Tiger users :)

I personally would like to see this happen because I'd love to see what people come up with :)

regards
Eric

[Joseph Duchesne]

I'll take on anyone ;) . Any prizegivers? How about the lowest scorer pays the highest scorer's uDG 2k5 entry :P

[Blorx2]

How do you program for Dashboard? Any specific language/plug-in I need to use? I may try any way *grins*. I'll have to have you guys test it unless I can re-make Dashboard for 10.3...(it's possible...If I get the webkore) :lol:

[Josh]

How do you program for Dashboard? Any specific language/plug-in I need to use? I may try any way *grins*. I'll have to have you guys test it unless I can re-make Dashboard for 10.3...(it's possible...If I get the webkore) :lol:
Dashboard widgets are written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

[Joseph Duchesne]

Actually it's just a special bundle with a HTML file in it. Javascript is also given special powers. Most wigits are JS, some have plugins (look in dictionary). I'm not sure how those work.

[lightbringer]

Oh, worth mentioning here: http://www.dashboardwidgets.com/showcase/details.php?wid=341

(a well done pac-man game)

[kelvin]

After digging around for about 30 minutes, I got a transparent OpenGL view overlayed over the dashboard. So, pretty much anything is possible :D I should probably come out with HotMouseX for the dashboard... huh?

[Dan Potter]

An OpenGL app... written in JavaScript :wacko: Sounds like fun!

[kelvin]

An OpenGL app... written in JavaScript :wacko: Sounds like fun!
No. Not remotely. The OpenGL stuff is still C.

[Blorx2]

(a well done pac-man game) I'D SAY! Best re-make I've played...I'll study up on how to make one and get to work.

[Dan Potter]

No. Not remotely. The OpenGL stuff is still C.

Yeah, I figured... you can include pretty much anything in a widget as long as the user gives permission, right? (Or you have Safari set to auto-run "safe" downloads, that'll do it too.)

The idea of a JavaScript+OpenGL game was too funny to pass up commenting on though.

[funkboy]

Yeah, I figured... you can include pretty much anything in a widget as long as the user gives permission, right? (Or you have Safari set to auto-run "safe" downloads, that'll do it too.)

I believe the user still has to give permission even if Safari is set to run "safe" downloads. At least, for sensitive stuff, anyway.

[Joseph Duchesne]

Well, it took a few hours, but I ported the bulk of my simple old MetaL RPG engine to JS. Check out the widgit here: http://staronesw.com/temp/Leuardra.wdgt.zip. Note: although there is only one map, the "engine" supports multiple ones and the map crossover code works. I just didn't include any.

[PowerMacX]

Well, it took a few hours, but I ported the bulk of my simple old MetaL RPG engine to JS. Check out the widgit here: http://staronesw.com/temp/Leuardra.wdgt.zip. Note: although there is only one map, the "engine" supports multiple ones and the map crossover code works. I just didn't include any.
Very nice! (BTW, I don't have Tiger, I just opened the index.html in Safari 1.3/Panther - works just fine, as most widgets do)

[Blorx2]

@PowerMacX: Me too

I like the idea of this...I may do one...in fact, I will do one, just give me a day or two...it will be tile-based

[Carlos Camacho]

Dashboard Programming --> http://www.idevapps.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=16

This thread is a timely post, because I just posted "Anyone want to do a 21-Days Later Contest?", and now I see this thread. In my VERY humble opinions, widgets should be applications and not games. games should be games. ;) Err, make sense? If you want to code, compete, and win something, then respond in the May-June 21-Days Later thread.

Cheers,

[Dan Potter]

I believe the user still has to give permission even if Safari is set to run "safe" downloads. At least, for sensitive stuff, anyway.

You might be surprised.

http://macslash.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/09/1157221&mode=thread

I don't know if this "feature" has been fixed in 10.4.1 or not, but I didn't see Safari in the updates list.. so I assume not.

EDIT: Apparently it has been addressed in 10.4.1, so never mind. Safari now prompts the user as if you're downloading an application.

EDIT 2: Here's a better page talking about this (plus it has funny "evil" widgets...) http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~aaron/files/widgets/

[kelvin]

You might be surprised.

http://macslash.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/09/1157221&mode=thread

I don't know if this "feature" has been fixed in 10.4.1 or not, but I didn't see Safari in the updates list.. so I assume not.

EDIT: Apparently it has been addressed in 10.4.1, so never mind. Safari now prompts the user as if you're downloading an application.

EDIT 2: Here's a better page talking about this (plus it has funny "evil" widgets...) http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~aaron/files/widgets/

10.4.1 renders all these exploits 0% effective.

[socksy]

Good to hear muchly, renders all windows loving posters at slashdot a little stupid now... ;)

[kelvin]

Good to here muchly, renders all windows loving posters at slashdot a little stupid now... ;)
But of course, the fix won't be nearly as publicized, so those windozelovers are going to be spouting FUD about this for years.

[Dan Potter]

I'm neither a pitchfork-carrying mob member, nor an apologist for any platform :) But personally I hope such exploits are not quickly forgotten, on any platform they appear on, Windows, Mac, or Linux... or whatever else. It's an object lesson in what can go wrong.

My wife is doing CS now and told me with conviction that because she's not planning on writing security-related software (like encryption stuff) that she can pretty much ignore security issues. I'm still shaking my head mentally. Tell that to the guys who wrote MS Word, with its macro virus capabilities.

[PowerMacX]

My wife is doing CS now and told me with conviction that because she's not planning on writing security-related software (like encryption stuff) that she can pretty much ignore security issues. I'm still shaking my head mentally.

For some reason, this reminds me of this quote from The Simpsons (episode [2F11] "Bart's Comet"):

Lisa: But Dad, don't you think --
Homer: Uh, Lisa, the whole reason we have elected officials is so we don't _have_ to think all the time. Just like that rainforest scare a few years back: our officials saw there was a problem and they fixed it, didn't they?
Lisa: No, Dad, I don't think --
Homer: There's that word again.

:p

[DavidJJ]

Actually, this is a very timely post as Unity is about to be updated to 1.0.1 with the ability to save out your Unity game projects as widgets.

[BeyondCloister]

In my VERY humble opinions, widgets should be applications and not games. games should be games. ;) Err, make sense?

Remember that it is always games that ends up pushing technology. The first big main frames were for serious applications only yet some people 'misused' them for gaming and brought us the wonderful, and greatly missed, text adventure game.

Actually games are a very good way to learn stuff for applications.
It is much easier to learn a new technology if you use it in a fun environment rather than a boring stuffy one.

When I was at university one of the lectures thought that a course involving writing a game would be the best way to learn and implement several concepts that would then be used in serious applications. This was back in the very early 1990s before places actually did game development courses as an entire degree.