Camacha

I am not dead, so I am not decomposing. I am not dead, but quite the opposite. Does that make me a composer?

Still too many variables. Any answer would be correct and wrong at the same time. I am not trying to annoying, but an answer that might or might not be applicable to your situation is of no use to you.

There are too many variables there to give you any sort of reasonable estimation Size of station, parts used, resolution, you name it. Even with an exact situation it is hard to predict anything without someone actually trying it.

You say that like it is a bad thing

Please tell me the next company outing was a hike where people were marooned in nature and left to fend for themselves. Please?

I respectfully but strongly disagree. You are not completely stalled out. You have been working with creativity and quite a bit of fervour for the past week. How so, you ask? You have been countering all of our suggestions, ideas and encouragements with well worded replies. There was not an argument that you did not manage to bend into your hopeless advantage. Even though it was your depression that put you to it, it has been your creativity and your talents that did the hard work and that crafted the arguments in a skilful fashion. Even without knowing it, your talents boil to the surface, even if that happens for unfortunate reasons. You are not useless. You are not without talent. You happened to fall into a place that anyone can fall into.

That is how the world works. You come up with great stuff and still you have to carry it to people for anything to happen. People are naturally inert. They are comfortable the way they are, so if you want to get anything done, you have to roll up your sleeves and get to work. I will again point out the example of Google. They came up with a society changing idea, pitched it to all the relevant players in the field and guess what happend: nothing. Those players had a good thing going and saw no reason to shift gears due to a good idea. In the end, it meant their downfall, of course, but it also meant Page and Brin had to do it themselves. This applies anywhere. Any line of work, game development, friendship, inventing - you name it.

The people that are in a position to do this, generally have had to go through the motions to get there. That means having done the, or at least an alternative form of the work that someone has to do. Starting in such a position is a dream and an illusion. Even if you manage to somehow get there without doing all the other bits, chances are you will be gone very soon, because lacking the proper experience, nothing good will come of it. The first half is true. Of course it is. We have already established that to become good, you need to fail, and you have not failed enough to become good. It also shows why the second half is nonsense. It is not the end of the story. It is just the beginning. Learning a new skill is not about become great by magic. It is about sucking every time you try. And sometimes sucking more. That is part of the deal.

You have not failed enough to say this. Well, actually, you have not tried enough, but that is almost the same. Trying is failing is learning. You sound like a programming person to me.

Let's be clear: you had a choice. You had it and you made it. Programming is an abstract art and people get stumped by different bits for different reasons. Many times I have spent hours trying to figure out what turned out to be a simple thing. That does not make me a stupid person, a bad programmer, a terrible learner or anything like that. It just means I needed to spend some time to learn a lesson. And yes, programming is very much one of those things you need to brute force a lot. Try, try and try again. Fail, fail and fail again. I too have had many books, guides and lessons trying to teach me something in a way that was just not doing it for me. I got confused, frustrated even. Did I give up? No. I looked for someone else to explain it to me in another way and then I would get it. Anyone who says this never happened to them it a liar Read this page (READ IT!) and you will see that your feelings are common. Every programmer knows what you are feeling. Yeah, do not think we are going to let you get away that easy. Just like one helps someone that has fallen into a well, one helps someone that has fallen into depression. You are a perfectly capable human being that happened to stumble into a bad place. A car with a flat tire is not abandoned at the side of the road. It just needs a little attention and a new tire.

Computers are so cheap nowadays that even on an average computer, you can do really amazing things. besides, as soon as you start your actual job, you will quickly have more money than you could ever reasonably spend on hardware. However, again, stop focussing on possible problems in the future and start working on the issues that are right in front of your nose. The problem is that you failed and quit. Everyone fails. All the time. I do it, everyone of this forum does it, the world world fails. You have just to keep going to get anywhere. That is the trick. Not to mention the breakthroughs mankind has seen because of failure. Some of the biggest scientific breakthroughs happened because someone messed up. Considering the long hours you need to put in, piloting generally is something that is both a passion and a job. If you just want to make money because you need money, flying might not be the career for you. If you happen to really like it and need money, it might be the job for you. You understand the superficial part of computers. By learning their inner workings, you understand them better. This will help you in your job, especially when problems might arise. It will of course improve the understanding you already have, not wipe your existing experience away. Do not be silly

I really do hope you view piloting as more than just a job. Do you know the (para)phrase "If all you have got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"? The fun part is that once you know how to code a little bit, you start seeing applications you never thought of before. I have applied my meagre programming skills to real life, simply because I learnt how to do it and saw ways of making my life easier. It also will certainly help you be better at your future job, as computers are an important part of it. The more you understand them, the better you will be at coping with all sorts of situations. However, that is just the literal side of things. You will learn many things that are applicable to all sorts of situations that have nothing to do with coding. Programming taught me about cutting a project into abstract yet manageable pieces, each with its own function. As a consequence, I am better at seeing what parts go in any project and planning and executing said projects, including non-programming ones. It also taught me that what you think you say is not always what you actually say. Computers interpret code more literal than I could have ever imagined without the experience. That has helped me communicate better with both man and machine. Another skill is learning that there are multiple paths to a solution. Systematically seeking out and eliminating errors. Coming up with conventions that work for you. I could list many lessons I learned while programming, which are all applicable to my every day real life world. I benefit from my experiences all the time.

I understand you are going through some rough times and that is why you get cut some slack, but you really need to read what people are posting with some care. They mean well and give you good and solid advice. If you would have done that, you would have read that creating a mediocre game in the end is not a problem at all. You will still have learned skills that will serve you in life, in your piloting career and as a human being. That is very much worth it. Since you have missed important bits of it, I would advise you to reread this thread carefully. Maybe even summarize the advice given in every post. I would love to see a summary of what you think people said.

I thought you were the idea guy? You learn skills. Even if you produce nothing of value, you will have increased your skill level in a plethora of fields. Some of them will even be applicable to flying an aircraft and make you a better pilot. If anything, it will help you understand the world around you and make you a more complete human being. Personally, I feel creating things is one of the most rewarding activities in the world. You cannot imagine what it means to create something from nothing until you have tried yourself. Even if what you create is not very good at all. Then it never was the solution. What did we tell you before? You are going to fail many times before you succeed. Just like any other human being. Failure is what gets you where you want to go.

I will repeat it over and over: you do not need a hugely powerful computer to do that. Halo ran on computers with a fraction of the speed of yours. Quake 3 too. In fact, look at all the games made for the Xbox, the Xbox 360, the Playstation 3 and any console before that. You can match and even surpass any of the visuals in those games with your 'calculator'. That is plenty to make hugely interesting and visually appealing games. In fact, you could actually make a Mercury Simulator of the same quality on your hardware. You can do exactly what you are asking for. However, it is important to remember you do not need visuals to make a great game. Just look at Minecraft and the billions Notch made out of a game that looks and runs bad by any modern standard. He just went to work on a concept he liked, had no idea what he was doing, produced a technically terrible game and ended up being a multi-billionaire. Again, you need to start coming up with solutions, rather than problems. It is a basic skill that will get you far in life. Rather than asking what you cannot do, you should rejoice at what you can do. The world is your oyster and all you see is the grubby outside of a dirty shell. Besides, learning to make games on a computer that is not the very fastest will learn you another thing: optimization. Making a game that only runs on the fastest hardware is useless, because most people will not be able to play it. Make a game that runs on so-so hardware (like yours) and you have a huge audience.

Make a game that does run on a 1,5 GHz computer. There were - and are - a lot of fun games that do not require a lot of processing power. In fact, there are plenty of hugely computationally intensive games that are no fun to play at all. Stop coming up with problems and start coming up with solutions. Just go do it. You have everything you need to start right now. Did you read the linked post too? People are giving you good advice here, it would help you to read everything (not just my posts) carefully and with attention.

Money is not the difference between failing and succeeding. Determination is. Even with the most rickety computer, you have tools and information at your disposal that very few none of our ancestors had. Please reread one of my previous posts where I outlined this You have everything you need. Now you just have to do it. Remember, the Google guys built their first server out of Duplo in a garage. It is not their money that made them great, it was their idea and hard work that led to the huge empire they have now. They actually tried being the idea guys, but nobody thought their idea was useful. So they did what people always have to do: they rolled up their sleeves and went to work. At first, they built a crummy server out of toys in a tiny work space. After a lot of spit, polish and hard work, they are one of the dominant companies in the world. They literally changed the world as we know it. You will never become a pilot by just spending cash. Of course, to become one, you will need to spend cash, but it is the hard work you put in and the skills that you learn that will make you a pilot. In the case of programming and game making, you are lucky; you do not need an expensive aircraft to learn. You just need a computer. What are the odds! You already own a computer! You are good to go!

Maybe you can use some of that conviction and determination for some of your other projects too

Hang in there, buddy. Remember that life sometimes can be made hard for no reason, but that you will always end up stronger and wiser than you were before. Do not let bad people influence you too much, they are just an obstacle you need to overcome. And remember; sometimes, just sometimes, people intentionally make things hard, only because they see something in you and want you to push hard. Come to think of it, life it much like a video game You do the grind and level up. It starts out small, but some day you will be walking around in dragon armour. You overcome enemies because they are in your way. You get challenged by NPC's, because they steer you towards ever bigger and greater goals.

I am not saying or implying you are unsuitable. It is just that, being a former pilot, I want to make very sure you do not take your I am just not that kind of guy attitude into the cockpit. Becoming a pilot means learning a wide range of skills, all of which are as important to master as the next. There is no picking, there is no choosing. There is no I will pursue that subject only pass/fail because it is not my thing. You have to commit to becoming the best possible you can be in every single area. Even in the areas you have mastered, you have to continuously be critical of your own performance and strife to improve yourself. I just had a great flight; what elements could I do better? As soon as you become complacent, things start coming apart. This is also why having talent can be considered dangerous. Being talented helps, but it does not relieve you of doing the work and going through the grind. You still need to commit a 100% to everything you do and learn. Even when you actually are a pilot, reviewing and improving your skills and knowledge is part of the job. As soon as you stop doing that, it is time call it quits. You never stop learning and you never stop striving for perfection. If you are willing to go through the motions and commit learning every single skill involved the very best you can, you can and should become a great pilot Flying an aircraft is a pretty amazing experience and the things you learn will help you in other areas of life too.

Even though it is obvious you are not serious and poking fun at the whole thing: if you want to become rich, do not become an artist. Even though it is fun and popular to bash a seemingly simple piece of artwork that raised a huge amount of money, most artists have to work very hard and with a lot of skills to make ends meet. They do it because they have a burning desire to do so. They cannot be stopped and they cannot be helped and that is why they do what they do.

Do I understand correctly you want to learn to fly? If so, be sure to absolutely own the skills involved. Do not take any short cuts. People will depend on you in a physical or financial sense. If you want to mess about, you should not think of becoming a pilot. Be the very best pilot you can be, or do not be a pilot at all. Doing anything in between is a liability and toying with people's lives (including your own).

The year 2023: NASA has quickly supplanted the US government as the dominant political force on Earth. The organisation used their new-found wealth to build all-powerful orbital warships and quickly punish anyone and anything that does not bow to its will. Life on Mars has been planted there, only so that it could be eradicated in a show of force. All hail the probe, for it is your new master.

There is no class of programming that can be distinguished solely as gaming programming. Games require several skills and techniques, that all have applications in programs that are not games. If you can program well, you can program a game. If you can program a game well, you can code other programs too. There are no programming skills that apply to gaming and gaming only.

Guess what? We are all the same. None of us were born with the innate ability to do the things we are amazing at. It took us hard work and many hours of being terrible at it. Most of us had to work long hours to get the very tools we needed, too. It is time to stop feeling sorry for yourself. You are the only obstacle between you and your dream. With the internet and even the most rickety computer, you have a bigger wealth of information and better tools than almost anyone in history. I certainly do not want to turn this into an in-my-day-story, but when I started out programming I had nothing but a terribly unhelpful help file and some very outdated books about quite another version of the language and IDE. It often took days of trial and error to figure out why a command would not run properly. Now, you boot up your browser and get explained how to make things tick in minutes. You have access to huge amounts of high quality information and tools without ever leaving your house. We live in an amazing era with opportunities never seen before. You just have to do the work. Fortunately, you live in the perfect era. Instead of having to pick (or worse, having one picked for you) an occupation before your age reaches the double digits and having to work long, tiring and unhealthy apprenticeship years before being allowed to even come close to the fun stuff, you can dive right in. You have the tools and information available to just get started. Few, if any, generations in history have had this before. After you get in and realize you are in way over your head, you can chip away at these skills in a top-down-fashion, rather than having to build a huge collection of skills in a bottom-up-fashion. You can start seeing results having fun right away, as long as you let yourself. The only requirement is doing it and being willing to fail. The only way of not failing is not doing anything and even then you will be failing at life.