TI Community Respect

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http://www.ticalc.org/archives/news/articles/1/17/17236.html?p=1
posted 12 October 1999 — ticalc.org news article comments


Re: Tired of 83+ users?
Ed Fry Account Info
(Web Page)

This is really nothing new. When the Ti-86 came out, I dont think one game that was posted on Ticalc.org didn't have at least one guy in the comment board that said "Port this game to the Ti-86" Unless it was a Ti-86 game. After Making FF7 I got so many port questions I had to add the below section to my FAQ and change My E-mail policy. (Go to my site and Click any E-mail link for an Example.)

"Can you release Final Fantasy VII for the <insert calc name other than Ti-89/92 here. Usually Ti-86>"

I think annoyaning E-mail comes with the territory personally. For anyone Interested, Here's my top 10 annoyaning E-mail list ordered by Frequency:

1)I dont have a graphlink. Can I get a text file of <Insert Game name here>? (Usually for FF7. Sure, Ill make text files of all the pictures for you :P)

2)I have a Ti-89, How do you run <Insert game name here>? I type the name (without the parathesis) and it gives me some error.

3) When I Run this game, the program crashes. (this IS all they send you! No game name. No calc. No clue.)?

4)Can You port <insert game here> for the <insert calc name here>?

5)I can't get <insert OTHER PEOPLE'S program name here> to work. can you help me?

6)PROGRAM ASM!! BASIC SUCKS!! <Insert 2 pages of mindless rant here>

7)How do I Use My Graphlink?

8)Here's My URL <Insert URL Here> Put it on your page. (keep in mind, I have no link archive on my site)

9)I tried opening a <Insert a group file name here> and the graphlink caused an error. Whats wrong?

10) Here's My game <insert game file here> Put it on your site. (keep in mind. My site is not File archive either)


Justin Karneges Account Info
(Web Page)

Exactly!

The majority of the emails I get are port requests as well. It takes so long to know the in's and out's of one calculator, but the majority of the people expect us to know everything about *all* of the calculators.

Also, I've seen really really dumb comments like: "Why are people still making games for the TI-83 when the 83+ is better?" Give me a break. Like the programmers buy every calc that comes out. If all a programmer has is a TI-85, then chances are, all of his/her games will be for the TI-85. And we have to live with that. If you own a TI-82, then pray for a port. Who's going to port? Not the TI-85 guy. Leave him alone. Find a good TI-82 programmer and give him the source. And a port to the TI-89? You can forget about it, unless it's a really small game.

Although I don't have an 83 anymore, I can still applaud Tom for a great looking game. The readme even says it has fireballs! Great job! =).

You know, if it didn't have fireballs though, I bet we would have seen comments like "What kind of mario game doesn't have fireballs?" People, enjoy what you have. If it didn't, so what? The programmers are all working for free.

My brother has a TI-83, and not an 83+. He probably will never buy an 83+ either. He's a math student, not a programmer. He already has one calc, why would he need another so similar? It just so happens he owns the same calc Tom does, and so now he has another game to play. Thank you Tom.

-Justin


Sam Heald Account Info
(Web Page)

I really hope that I'm not the only one who wishes that 83+ owners would start showing a little more restraint and age. Admittedly, the 83+ is the newest calculator, so most of its owners are sophomores in highschool or lower, who have little to no experience with graphing calculators. However, porting requests,
flames, and moronic statements are getting out of hand.

When the 89 first came out, 89 owners comlained that there were not enough games and given z80 game should be ported it (admittedly, that's a more rediculous than ION ports). Now, there are equal if not more programmers and games for the 89. The time will come for the 83+ as well.

In the meantime, be patient and respectful towards programmers for other calculators. If they come out with a good game, mail bombing porting requests and flames discourages 83+ development. Also, 83+ owners really need to take the time to read documentation on games and programs. Right now I'm receiving 20-40 emails a week from 83+ owners, and I don't even own the damn calculator! These are the typical questions:
1)"How do I get yor games onto an 83+?" 96% of these people don't have a graphlink.
2)"You're a f*cking liar. Your game doesn't work on my 83+". 60% of these emails are people who sent the 83p version rather than the 8Xp version. 85% never tell me which game. 80% don't know that they need to use ION.
3)"What is and where can I find "ion"?" 99.9% of the time ION is availible at the same place where the game can be downloaded.
4)"When are you going to port XXXX to the 83+?" Not this millenium.

Just because you own an 83+, that does not mean everyone else does. 82/85 owners don't complain about anything ;)

utterly fed up,
Sam Heald

lead programmer of the Zelda 8X project (no, it will not be availible for the 83+)

co-Founder of Void Productions (void.calc.org)


ticalc.org community article
http://www.ticalc.org/community/articles/22.html

Respect in the TI Community
Posted on 11 December 1998

The following text was written by Michael Bryan Cook:
What do I want? Respect. Just a little bit. O.K. enough of the song. Let me get to the point. I think that there is a lack of respect in the TI community. I am not talking about the TI-Files being hacked, or people selling link cables that never give them to you (I'm not saying that this happened). What I am talking about is on programming. The TI-89 is the newest and hottest calc right now (IMHO). So to get my start I decided to make a Mario game for it. As soon as it was announced, about 4 more were. Now the port of Mario 92 is O.K. with me. That's not a lack of respect, that's a port. But all of these other Marios that are being made put me in direct competition. I think that this is just rude. We don't kneed 5 different Mario games. What we need is 1 or 2, a great Tetris, maybe pack-man, and insane game (just as an example). I'm not saying that competition is bad, it's what drives us all.

This problem is not limited to the TI-89. I've even seen this on the 92, 82, and 86 and I don't even own them! As soon an someone makes a game or announces it, 5 other people rush to beat them. This is not only rude but when there are 5 games called Nibbles and only 1 is good it makes it an annoyance to find out which one it is. This is why we have many duplicates. One person makes one that is good. A few others make some that are better just to show up the first guy. Now the first guy keeps improving it. Makes new versions every few months. Ports it. And even though he wasn't the top at the start, he followed through and did what any good developer would do. He fixed bugs, added features, shrunk the size. But the other copies may still have bugs, are not optimized, and haven't been updated in 2 years. So what is my solution? All we need is a little respect. If you want to make a program, check the PUDs section on TI-Calc.org, the TI-Files, Dimension TI, and ask the mailing lists if someone else is making it. If you have two games called Mario (one like the Nintendo and the other like the original arcade) that's fine by me. They are different games. But when there are 7 just like the Nintendo one that's a problem. So show a little respect. I'm sorry if I offended anyone (especially with all this stuff about Mario) but I think that this point needs to be made. I promise to read the comments so get your say in too.


ticalc.org community article
http://www.ticalc.org/community/articles/27.html

The State of the TI Community
Posted on 14 April 1999

The following text was written by Justin Karneges:

Please excuse any bad writing and/or excessive commas. I'm a programmer, not an English major. =)

Ahh, the TI community. Just as everything gets corrupted given enough time, now it's the TI community's turn. I remember back in the days of the regular NES. I got it in 1988 and back then games were good. There were only a handful out there and they were well-crafted. The emphasis was gameplay and design. The NES set the stage for just about every type of genre out there. Then we reach the Super NES which was half-full of innovative games and then many clones. By the time we reach the days of the N64, Playstation, and high-end PC's, we don't have a whole lot. It's kind of sad really, that with all off the new technology, most of the new games suck bad. Doom comes out and then 30 Doom clones are released in the following month. Give me a break! What happened to the creativity? It's turned into money-madness, clones, and who can push the most polygons. Funny I play my SNES more than my N64 and Playstation. Now don't get me wrong, not every game is crap that comes out. It's just that only a few are truly good and show the inspiration of 1988. Metal Gear Solid (the third installment in the Metal Gear series) is about the only original and truly well-done game in the last year that I can think of. I guess you could call me a video game purist. I'm harsher than Roger Ebert panning movies when it comes to me rating video games. It used to be that just about every video game in a game magazine looked good. Now you pick up a GamePro and it's full of look-alike games. Every other month you *might* see a cool game. What ever happened to the good old days?

You're probably wondering how I'm going to compare this to the TI community. Well, I can tell you right now that I'm absolutely not going to bash the games. The games and programs from the TI community are its best part! What I am going to say though, is that just like the video game industry, the TI community is suffering.

When I wrote Joltima back in 1997 (released in '98), I was told that it was one of the better games in a long time. I didn't really get ANY negativity since it was one of the few RPG's even out there. Back when I worked on that, the TI community was a very positive place. Sure there were probably site wars and such, but the community was very tame and open to any contribution a programmer would make. But these days it's no longer like that. When Don Barnes released Super Mario Quest for the TI-89, I scratched my head when I saw that only a couple of the comments (thanks to ticalc.org's comment system) were praises about the game. The rest of the comments were negatives, port requests, or other game requests! Whatever happened to just being happy that you even have a game to play? Super Mario Quest is a programmer's work of art. It took skills to make that and I wouldn't have asked for anything beyond his first release. To the non-programmers out there: Assembly programming takes work. Days, weeks, months.. That's right, months! What were you doing while Bill Nagel was writing Penguins? Probably out having fun while Bill slaved away. Be thankful when these games come out! No offense to Dimension TI, but the description of Penguins should really be changed. It says something like "unfortunately you can't kill the enemies." Huh? When *could* we kill the enemies? When Nagel followed up with Super Mario 86 then we could, but not beforehand.

So not only do many users completely unappreciate what these programmers are doing, but there's also been some other problems with the community. If you look through the ticalc.org comment sections for the news posts (the ticalc.org comment system is just about the only place in the TI community where how all of us think and feel is seen), you'll see that most of them are completely off-topic. Others are hostile. Then there's advertising. And flames. Where did all of this come from? Everything is shown to get corrupted over time (as the books Brave New World, Lord of the Flies, and even Revelation tell us), but I didn't think this could be true for the TI community! I mean.. there's not that many of us. And come on people, these are graphing calculators! I can see that the TI community is taking a toll for the worst, and I don't know how/if it will turn around. I'm not knocking everybody of course. Thank ticalc.org for giving me a place to put this. Thank Dimension TI for an innovative archive index. Thank the TI-Files' friendly environment. Thank all the numerous programmers out there from before and now that have contributed.

I don't know if I really want comments to this article. The TI community doesn't need another 100k+ comment page to sift through. All I ask is that we clean up our act. I'd like to clean up the video game industry if I could, but I think I'd have more of a chance with this one.

-Justin Karneges [Infiniti]