Contact Me
I am a busy guy. When I put together my first batch of tutorials I was a sophomore in college which is way different from being in The Real World today.
My life consists of waking up -> getting stuck in a traffic -> working for 4 hours -> lunch for an hour -> working for 4 more hours -> getting stuck in traffic on the way to the gym -> working out for an hour
-> getting stuck in traffic on the way home -> shower and sleep -> repeat 5 days a week. On weekends I have to run errands and research to stay competitive in an incredibly cut throat industry. I have very
little time to spare and this means I have very little time to handle e-mails.
STOP! Don't just skip ahead looking for an e-mail address without reading this because this affects the chances that you'll get a reply.
It can take days for me to reply because I could be at crunch time at work. 95% of the e-mails I get can be answered by 1) reading the this page, 2) reading the FAQs, 3) actually reading the tutorial
instead of copy/pasting pieces of it into a frankenstein program, or 4) typing in the question into Google. This is sad because there are people waiting for answers they could have gotten in minutes had they
just bothered looking.
E-mails I Like Getting
When it comes down to it, there are certain e-mail I like getting, and certain ones I don't. Let's start on a positive note and talk about the e-mails I like.
Bug Reports
Example:
Dear Mr. Foo'
I compiled the SDL 2 true type fonts tutorial just fine, but when I run it I get an error saying it cannot initialize freetype. I am running slackware version 14.1 and here are the errors from the console....
I want to make sure my tutorials are as bug free as possible so I welcome bug reports. Just always remember to be a specific as possible and give all necessary information
because I am not a mind reader. The more relevant information you give, the more likely I am to reply and upload a fix to the page.
Typo Reports
Example:
Dear Mr. Foo'
In the true type fonts SDL 2 tutorial you have "When youre rendering TTF fonts". I think you meant "When you're rendering TTF fonts".
With the more recent tutorial sets (OpenGL and SDL 2), I was working with very limited time, so they are error prone. I want to stomp out as many errors as possible.
Clarification Requests
Example:
Dear Mr. Foo'
In the frame independent motion tutorial you multiply the velocity times the time, but you never explained why.
The tutorials not only need to compile and run, but they need to get the point accross. I want to make sure they're as clear as possible so don't be shy.
E-mails I Don't Like Getting
E-mails that show you didn't read the FAQs
Example:
Dear Mr. Foo'
Can I make a translation of your site and host it on mine?
I made a Frequently Asked Questions page for a reason. There's no sense in typing up an e-mail and waiting for a reply when your question has already been answered.
Vague questions
Example:
Help my code isn't working!!!!!!
You'd be surprised how many e-mails I get like this. Always be as specific as possible, because without the necessary information, I can't help you.
E-mails that show you didn't try to use Google
Example:
Dear Mr. Foo'
Is there a way to do controller rumble in SDL 2?
There is no sense in typing up an e-mail and waiting for a reply when a quick search will do the job. I put that nice search box at the top of the navigation so you don't even need to open another tab.
E-mails that show you didn't read the tutorial
Example:
Dear Mr. Foo'
I was trying to get sound working in the music and sound effects tutorial, but it's not playing. Do we need to initialize anything?
Please do not just skip tutorials and copy/paste random bits of code together into a Frankenstein program. There is no reason to waste time on an e-mail when the answer is
sitting right there in the tutorial.
Questions that are not directly related to the site
Example:
Dear Mr. Foo'
So I want to make an MMORPGMOBA. How do you design something like that?
I don't really hate these questions and I may answer them if they're simple enough, but if your question doesn't have to do with a page on the website you're better off
asking on a general site like GameDev.Net or StackOverflow. It's just better to have a group of people available to answer your
question on a message board than e-mailing a single person and waiting for reply.
E-mailing me your code and expecting me to fix it
Example:
Dear Mr. Foo'
I have attached 20,000 lines of code and it's not compiling. Can you get it working for me?
I only have time to manage my code. I can't make everybody else's code work.
If you want my e-mail, you can find how to get it in the Frequently Asked Questions.
Make sure to include a link to the page you have a question about.
The vast majority of the e-mails I get could be answered by reading the FAQ, so I had to bury my e-mail deeper and deeper so at least people have to open the FAQs page before contacting me. Also don't ask
to translate the tutorials. The answer why is in the FAQs.
So yeah, read the FAQs.
E-mails I Like Getting
When it comes down to it, there are certain e-mail I like getting, and certain ones I don't. Let's start on a positive note and talk about the e-mails I like.Bug Reports
Example:Dear Mr. Foo'
I compiled the SDL 2 true type fonts tutorial just fine, but when I run it I get an error saying it cannot initialize freetype. I am running slackware version 14.1 and here are the errors from the console....
I want to make sure my tutorials are as bug free as possible so I welcome bug reports. Just always remember to be a specific as possible and give all necessary information because I am not a mind reader. The more relevant information you give, the more likely I am to reply and upload a fix to the page.
Typo Reports
Example:Dear Mr. Foo'
In the true type fonts SDL 2 tutorial you have "When youre rendering TTF fonts". I think you meant "When you're rendering TTF fonts".
With the more recent tutorial sets (OpenGL and SDL 2), I was working with very limited time, so they are error prone. I want to stomp out as many errors as possible.
Clarification Requests
Example:Dear Mr. Foo'
In the frame independent motion tutorial you multiply the velocity times the time, but you never explained why.
The tutorials not only need to compile and run, but they need to get the point accross. I want to make sure they're as clear as possible so don't be shy.
E-mails I Don't Like Getting
E-mails that show you didn't read the FAQs
Example:Dear Mr. Foo'
Can I make a translation of your site and host it on mine?
I made a Frequently Asked Questions page for a reason. There's no sense in typing up an e-mail and waiting for a reply when your question has already been answered.
Vague questions
Example:Help my code isn't working!!!!!!
You'd be surprised how many e-mails I get like this. Always be as specific as possible, because without the necessary information, I can't help you.
E-mails that show you didn't try to use Google
Example:Dear Mr. Foo'
Is there a way to do controller rumble in SDL 2?
There is no sense in typing up an e-mail and waiting for a reply when a quick search will do the job. I put that nice search box at the top of the navigation so you don't even need to open another tab.
E-mails that show you didn't read the tutorial
Example:Dear Mr. Foo'
I was trying to get sound working in the music and sound effects tutorial, but it's not playing. Do we need to initialize anything?
Please do not just skip tutorials and copy/paste random bits of code together into a Frankenstein program. There is no reason to waste time on an e-mail when the answer is sitting right there in the tutorial.
Questions that are not directly related to the site
Example:Dear Mr. Foo'
So I want to make an MMORPGMOBA. How do you design something like that?
I don't really hate these questions and I may answer them if they're simple enough, but if your question doesn't have to do with a page on the website you're better off asking on a general site like GameDev.Net or StackOverflow. It's just better to have a group of people available to answer your question on a message board than e-mailing a single person and waiting for reply.
E-mailing me your code and expecting me to fix it
Example:Dear Mr. Foo'
I have attached 20,000 lines of code and it's not compiling. Can you get it working for me?
I only have time to manage my code. I can't make everybody else's code work.