Research Project

[BASICBasher]

Hello PureBASIC users,
I am a Year 12 student studying in South Australia.
As part my study I must complete a compulsory subject known as the 'Research Project'. This subject involves researching and performing a task that is outside your knowledge area. I chose to write a computer game using the PureBASIC engine.

One of the tasks that is required of me is to write up an Outcome on my chosen task. The outcome must instruct someone how to perform a the chosen research task in less than 1500 words, excluding footnotes and appendixes (which I used a lot of ). Once completed I need to get feedback from several people to use for the next part of the process. I want to post this on the PureBASIC forum because it has been a very useful source and my topic of game design within the PureBASIC program is entirely within its focus.

If anyone has the time within the next few days, I would really appreciate if they could read through the Outcome of my Research Project and give me some interesting feedback. It doesn't need to be too much, a paragraph or two would be enough. I've converted the document from a DOCX to a PDF to ensure maximum compatibility with everyone's operating system.
You can download it here from my Dropbox.

Thanks for your help!

[Joakim Christiansen]

I haven't read it all yet. But from the start of it I would say that your writing and teaching skills are very high! To me this is the way a good book should be written! I can give you more feedback after I have read it all, if I find the time.

[Demivec]

I have read the entire the writing and it seems fairly accurate and to the point. Even though it isn't perfect yet, it is a good start.

I did note one obvious inaccuracy. You referenced the BASIC language as being created in the '80's, it was actually written twenty years earlier in 1963.

[citystate]

Hi fellow South Aussie!

Your essay reads well, though I did spot an apparent error on Page 4; you say "Use 'i' or 'l' for letters and 's' for text variables" - shouldn't that be "Use 'i' or 'l' for NUMBERS..." (or more correctly, integers)

apart from that minor thing, it looks good.

[IdeasVacuum]

It's well written, especially given that programming is outside your area of knowledge, so very well done there.

You do need to give the essay a grammer check, there are typos.

[jamirokwai]

Hi BASICBasher,

(we went to Australia last year. Enjoyed our stay very much!)

your PDF reads good, and is easy to follow. Although I didn't read all of it (I must admit)

Have a look at this:

A standard video mode that is 800 pixels wide, 600 long and has a colour depth of 16 is represented by 800x600x16. You can set this mode for your game using the command:
OpenScreen(800, 600, 32, "Title")

You wrote 800x600x16, the command will open a 32Bits-Screen.

And regarding the color-depth, you should have a quick look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_depth. It's an interesting read, too.

All the best for your work!

[BASICBasher]

Hello again,
Thanks for taking the time to read my essay and for all your helpful responses.
I've realized now that I probably should have checked it better for grammar/technical mistakes, particularly technical because there weren't any programmers around to help.

This project has taught me a lot about game programming and design. I was initially a confused about where to start but the community has been really helpful and the help index is quite detailed. Even the error messages are useful.

Throughout the process of the project I created a fairly simple game. It's similar to "doodle jump" in the sense there is are continuously falling platform the player must jump between to stay alive. I want to continue to work on the game in the future. Perhaps at the end of the semester when I have some time.