When you see an insert/mode or menu choice with no gameplay functionality like Are You A God in GB, then it's apparently incomplete.
(Topic ID: 233457)
You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider KozMckPinball.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.
Quoted from Bublehead:A code base can only handle so many “what if” situations during game play modes
Hmm. Error handling should not be limited, why would you think so? Because the development time is limited? The code base certainly is not adversely limited by processing power or memory in this day and age. Probably why we all like Lyman coded machines, he is thorough and follows through with code updates.
Quoted from Bublehead:Error handling can get complex realy quickly, and actually, in real time programming, you do not have the luxury of having all the time in the world to try and figure out what physically is happening on the table while looking at a simple switch matrix and with no real time info on ball location, direction, speed, etc... Lyman is a great coder, he does a lot of error checking and a lot of state sensing, but there is another factor at work here, how much error checking is required in an amusement device? We are not talking life or death cercumstances when it comes to pin coding, so I would expect some shortcuts to be taken. But then again, kozmckpinball , this may just be your definition of “code complete”, in that ALL errors are handled, no matter how often they may occur or wether they can be detected by the player or not, so a viable and defendable position on being “code complete” but not sure it is economically obtainable by a single coder within a reasonable delivery timeframe. And it is also why some code updates take forever IMO.
I think it's more to your point to consider that the rules are so complex these days, not life or death as you say but why make the rules so intricate? Is there time for that and the contingencies that have to be considered to make the rules complete and balanced? Air balls hitting a switch out of turn might be less intense to consider than the rulesets. I think at this point, Stern and other pin manufacturers have code "engines" reused for common hardware interfacing from machine to machine. Drivers, lighting, sound, roll over switches etc. For example, if a ruleset is exploitable, it gets old quickly. Why follow the long winded story line to get points when you can just bang a multiplier and circumvent the other mode requirements for example? Rulesets can make or break machine sales, and machine sales ARE life and death to the pin manufacturers.
Quoted from Bublehead:Not so much that but why people throw the term around like there is a magical way of “knowing” when code is “complete” which as a programmer, for us, code is never “complete” because there is always some facet of it that you know you could code better if given enough time and resources. We like terms like rev level 0 or 1.0 or 0.95 or 2.01, all very open ended. You only ever get to “Final Revision” when the money runs out and the project is closed. It would be interesting to see a time priority breakdown sheet from Stern’s coders... latest released game 25%, latest unreleased game 74%, all previously released games 1%... or what ever their mix is right now. (These numbers given here are for comedic purpose, not a dig...)
Lots of us on Pinside are also software programmers, there's a lot of informed opinions here.
You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider KozMckPinball.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.
Reply
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!
Donate to PinsideGreat to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
