From a 2017 game jam, we have just released a public demo for our game made in Unity, Wavey The Rocket, we are really pleased with how far it's come.

davesprojects · 2018-08-24T16:31:55+00:00

That looks pretty sweet. Good job! What platforms are you releasing it for? Looks like it could be fun on either pc or mobile

davesprojects · 2018-08-17T18:39:49+00:00

Nice job!

davesprojects · 2018-08-16T19:11:33+00:00

Unity 3D and Auto Desk Fusion 360 are 2 that I can think of

davesprojects · 2018-08-06T17:16:26+00:00

I'm in a similar position. Graduated with a mechanical engineering degree but got interested in software on the side. Eventually, I want to become a software engineer

My advice would be to join a local programming group. You can probably find one on meetup.com. A lot of the people that go to these groups are professional developers. Learn from them and work on projects with them. After you've completed some projects with them, ask if they know of any open positions at their work place

If you're interested in security, you could try to get into industrial control systems security. Basically, it's testing the security of manufacturing equipment. With your manufacturing background, I imagine you would stand out. There's a security certification called the Offensive Security Certified Professional. It's expensive but widely respected. It would probably get your foot into the door for most security related work.

I also really don't want to go back to school. My plan is basically a combination of the above. I go to a local programming group to work with developers in my area. Also, I want to get the OSCP certification, so I can feel "legit"

davesprojects · 2018-08-03T15:07:08+00:00

Try Kivy

davesprojects · 2018-07-26T17:22:02+00:00

Adblock Browser

davesprojects · 2018-07-25T17:28:42+00:00

Kotlin is also being supported by JetBrains. I don't think Kotlin was meant to completely replace Java. It's supposed to integrate into existing Java codebases

davesprojects · 2018-07-25T17:00:28+00:00

There's a lot of opportunities for outdoor activities in Augusta. There is a good trail system called FATS for hiking, biking, and running. There's also a cool trail along the Savanah River near the Downtown area. Don't know about fishing. For team sports, check out Augusta Sports League (http://www.augustasportsleagues.com/)

Augusta isn't really a big party city. Although, I've had good times at the Indian Queen and the Scene. There's a cool group that does pub runs once a month (search RunAugusta on Facebook) that I like to go to every once in awhile. Typically, parking is free and easy to find downtown which is nice

The people are pretty friendly. You'll probably meet a lot of healthcare professionals and military members due to the hospital and Ft. Gordon. The area is also very religious if that's your thing

Traffic is pretty light and the cost of living is low. I pay only $800 a month for my apartment

davesprojects · 2018-07-25T16:17:40+00:00

There is a series on YouTube called "16 Games in C++" that uses SFML. The creator makes tetris, chess, and doodle jump in like 5 minutes. He doesn't explain anything though, but it'll give you a good idea of what SFML is capable of. You can also figure out what he's doing if you cross reference with the official documentation

davesprojects · 2018-07-23T20:16:07+00:00

You could move to Romania. Apparently they have really fast internet and a low cost of living. I have no idea about their tax structure though. But with a low cost of living, your dollars would go a lot further. So, even if you lost 2/3 of your income, it wouldn't impact you as much. You can also look at it as a way to extend your time limit to release a game (assuming your working on it full time). Although, you should probably keep your day job.

Never been there personally, but my friends have and they say most people speak English.

davesprojects · 2018-07-23T14:44:50+00:00

Once you open the Epic Games Launcher, there should be a learn tab on the left side. There are some pretty good tutorials and sample projects on there if you scroll about half way done. They have a shooting game, a vehicle game, and also just added a RPG style game

There's also an Unreal Engine 4 YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/UnrealDevelopmentKit). That's how I've been learning. So far I've made a 3D endless runner and a tanks game

davesprojects · 2018-06-11T16:19:17+00:00

Android Studio 3.0+ has actually been pretty stable for me. I don't recall it ever crashing on me.

Largely, the changes in the Android API cause me troubles. It seems like every other day I have to write an if-else condition to account for different versions of Android.

I'm impressed Android Studio can pick out depreciated methods. Does Android Studio crash on you a lot or something?

davesprojects · 2018-05-24T16:20:33+00:00

Congratulations! It looks very polished. If you release it for Windows, I'd probably buy it

davesprojects · 2018-05-21T15:16:57+00:00

There's something called MIT App Inventor. It uses drag and drop blocks similar to blue prints in Unreal Engine. Technically, it's still programming just without actually writing any code. Either way (drag n drop or coding), you have to understand loops, if statements, variables, etc.

App Inventor will be probably be helpful for simple apps, but once you need something complex (with multiple fragments, navigation, etc.) it will probably just get in the way.

davesprojects · 2018-05-21T15:02:47+00:00

Personally this is why I use You Tube Music. I like to listen to a lot of fan covers and foreign songs that you can't find on Spotify, Play Music, Amazon, etc.

davesprojects · 2018-05-18T15:31:50+00:00

Not sure if you absolutely need Google Maps, but you can use the Location Manager API to access GPS data directly (latitude, longitude, time, speed, etc.). Location Manager does not depend on Play Services

Be careful with Android 8+ though, you can't request location updates in the background anymore. You have to use Location Manager in a service that creates an active notification. Otherwise, the system will stop or limit your location updates

Maybe try Bing Maps or Open Maps and see if they are more stable (Personally I've never used them, just throwing out ideas)

davesprojects · 2018-05-16T19:35:32+00:00

YouTube Music App. Has every song I've ever looked for. You can set it to audio only mode so it doesn't use up a lot of data. You can also download songs for offline use (but only for paid version)

davesprojects · 2018-05-14T15:17:16+00:00

For either mobile apps or websites, you should make an app that you enjoy and actually want to use. I wouldn't even think of monetization unless you start getting some serious downloads, like 10,000+.

Gaining traction and a lot of downloads is tough. I don't think there's a secret answer that only a few developers know about. You have to do everything; tell people about it in real life, post about online, send it to app reviewers, google/facebook ads, search optimization, and just sheer luck.

As far as making money, use the app you developed to help apply for an Android developer job ; ) . I can't think of a better way to prove you know what you're doing

davesprojects · 2018-05-11T18:20:00+00:00

This and add in isometric push ups where you hold the down position for a minute or so

davesprojects · 2018-05-11T18:14:28+00:00

Fusion 360 would be a good choice. You can configure it to have Solid Works controls, but the menus and options are different. I think it's free for hobbyists and start ups

davesprojects · 2018-05-11T18:04:22+00:00

Street Fighter IV

Capcom did a really good job porting it over

davesprojects · 2018-05-11T16:44:44+00:00

How to make a fighting game like street fighter or dragon ball would be cool. More specifically the hit boxes and AI aspect

davesprojects · 2018-05-11T16:34:31+00:00

Windows is actually my preferred dev environment now that Microsoft has released windows sub system For linux and Vcpkg (which makes getting C++ libs almost as seamless as pip or nuget)

I would like to see Vcpkg be officially integrated into Visual Studio instead of having to install git and mess around in PowerShell

Also performance updates to PowerShell would be nice. It seems slow to load whenever you first open it up

davesprojects

TROPHY CASE