JGF now paying $25 per article

General Discussions
#1

Writing a good article usually takes a couple of hours, and the people whose articles we want to read are usually very busy, so it’s especially hard for them to find the time to do this.

As a small token of thanks, JGF is now paying $25 per article to the authors. If you have any ideas for interesting java-gaming focussed articles, please email me (adam at grexengine.com) or submit a proposal directly on the JGF site (you will need to be logged-in to do so).

Obviously, the articles will always be free to view - this is just to reward authors for their time and hard work.

Examples of topics include:

[]Tutorials on using particular libraries, e.g. JOGL, LWJGL, NIO, to write a simple example game
[]Tutorials showing how to implement a particular game (e.g. tetris) from scratch, with full source along the way
[]Analysis of a major feature of java, and its relevance to games development, e.g. RMI, J2EE, Advanced features of webstart, etc
[]…anything else that would be helpful to people trying to write games in java

Articles do have to be original, for obvious reasons, and if you take the payment then you can’t republish the article anywhere else unless you first get explicit permission.

#2

All of a sudden I feel like writing an article :slight_smile:

Other than the list above do you have any special requests?

#3

I could write an article about how to use VBOs/VAs, pBuffers/FBOs in LWJGL/JOGL, but hey, would that be enough? I really doubt it.

What would be the minimal word-count…
Would an article about 1-3 features/extensions be enough…

I’ve got lots of other questions, but these are a good start.

#4

Hmm, I’m going to have to dust off my tile map editor in swing article…

#5

No really - jjust think of things that you had a lot of trouble trying to get to grips with which you think you could now try to explain to others (for instance, that’s why I started one on NIO last year - because I’d had so much trouble with it myself).

That said, the world does seems rather short of good tutorials on writing simple games using major libraries - kev’s one on space-invaders in jogl and java2d is one of very few.

#6

Sounds like there’s material for a good article there, although you might need to think a bit more about how to flesh it out, and how to make it into a coherent whole - perhaps show examples of where each is better than the others, provide a short reference list of which cards support which features.

Just ask yourself “what information all in one place would I have found really useful when doing this myself?”

Look at the pages for the Space Invaders and NIO articles currently “in progress” on the site. Each page should be up to that length (approximately) and a single article should be 3-5 pages.

EDIT: that’s a bit too long, really. 5,000 words is the guideline length, split into 3-5 pages.

If you’re unsure, post an article-proposal on JGF, which lets anyone add their own comments and suggestions. This is a good way of finding out what people want and don’t want.

#7

There seems to be a distinct lack of any good articles on VBOs and FBOs anywhere on the internet, regardless of language. Most of the ones I can find were written either before or just after the specs were released so they’re likely to be out of date now. :frowning:

#8

Well, I made the article-proposal and I already have most (nicely html-formatted) source code and quite some content.

#9

Please could you fill in some section-headings and descriptions in your proposal? If the proposal is accepted, it will automatically create one page per section, and put your section-description in as the initial content for each page. You don’t have to stick to that, but it’s easier if you’ve split your article into discrete sections each of which is approximately a page in length.

Thanks

#10

Damn, that section-part is seriously screwed…

Only a few section-descriptions are saved whatever I do. When I fill out a couple of sections and press “save changes” on one, all others are reset to their previous contents…

I’m really glad my browser cached all text in the textareas ::slight_smile: ::slight_smile:

#11

Sorry, that’s standard HTML for you - multiple forms on a page, multiple save buttons. Each form + save button is wholly independent of the others.

#12

When saving, the page reloads, resetting the fields not yet saved.

You could store that text in cookies, or make it 1 form (best).

#13

Incidently JavaServer Faces solves this problem very, very nicely, it doesn’t matter what the user clicks - button or link the form data is saved for all. But I digress.

Adam I sent you an email on the 2nd of october to adam at grexengine.com, did you get it?

I have a problem with this line: " if you take the payment then you can’t republish the article anywhere else unless you first get explicit permission". My problem is that one day I might want to publish it in a book or whatever. $25 while a nice encouragement isn’t really enough for me to give away the rights to my own work. In my email I suggested some other options like perhaps a time limited exlcusive license. Apart from anything else if you want to make your comment stick I believe you will need a formal license agreement…

just MHO

Will.

#14

Yes, have mostly replied to it, but have worked > 50 hours this week on product launch that was supposed to go live on Monday, no time to finish respond yet.

#15

No hurry these next two weeks are crazy for me.

Will.

#16

err stupid question maybe but, where are located all thoses articles and tutorials ?

#17

I’d be happy to write an article on physics modelling in game development if you’d find that useful.
It would be very long though, 10+ pages before starting to scratch the surface.
This kind of thing isn’t easy, I myself have spent a very long time working on this stuff.

If I do decide to write up my article it wouldn’t be any time soon, personally I wouldn’t do it for the money either.
I would do it for 2 simple reasons:
Personal clarity.
Help others to possibly understand how to get started with numerical computing and modelling for games.

#18

VERY brief response (I’ve got a plane to catch for an interview abroad!):

  • JGF is currently stalled / on hold, and has been for over a year. However, there is a fair chance it will get fixed up / replaced / merged with some other site over Xmas; watch this space
  • The physics article sounds like a great idea
#19

Agreed. Even periodicals only take first publishing rights for 1 year. You could probably say first rights for 6 months or something.