Comment On A Completely Different Game

// 10/03 Remove comment because it doesn't wor$*#&%!

You actually got to remove features as you went?!? I see no problems at all. Well done!!!

Wouldn't it have been so much easier to just remove the user?

Lots of rather mundane WTFs here.

Why does anybody document the file history inside the source code? Use source control history.

I'd love to hear why they add a "BB" then immediately remove it. Oh, I know: "management made us".

OK, now I see the real WTF: hungarian. Will someone please kill that already?

// Management sees this as the quickest fix

And here we see what will save the world... programmers do it for love, while managers do it for money. The whole open-source argument in one comment!

So what exactly was left IN the game?

nocturnal:

So what exactly was left IN the game?

One guys just walking around town, you know: endless hours of fun cruising the streets.

Penguin:

// Management sees this as the quickest fix

And here we see what will save the world... programmers do it for love, while managers do it for money. The whole open-source argument in one comment!

Save *THE WORLD*? Are you nuts?

The rest of the world couldn't care less about some source code purity issues.

amischiefr:

nocturnal:

So what exactly was left IN the game?

One guys just walking around town, you know: endless hours of fun cruising the streets.

It was Morrowind, then.

katastrofa:

amischiefr:

nocturnal:

So what exactly was left IN the game?

One guys just walking around town, you know: endless hours of fun cruising the streets.

It was Morrowind, then.

Apparently, you missed a memo...

I have a feeling this was the source for Heroin Hero.

So that's why there are no vehicles in EVE Online...

katastrofa:

Penguin:

// Management sees this as the quickest fix

And here we see what will save the world... programmers do it for love, while managers do it for money. The whole open-source argument in one comment!

Save *THE WORLD*? Are you nuts?

The rest of the world couldn't care less about some source code purity issues.

I assume you refer to that part of the world where they still don't use software.

Anyone who uses software has a stake in software quality, whether they understand the issues or not.

Penguin:

Anyone who uses software has a stake in software quality, whether they understand the issues or not.

True enough, but they need to know the issue exists before they can care about it; most don't.

Keith:

I have a feeling this was the source for Heroin Hero.

Or, perhaps more appropriately, Heroin Hero II

amischiefr:

nocturnal:

So what exactly was left IN the game?

One guys just walking around town, you know: endless hours of fun cruising the streets.

It started as GTA, but in the end they had the whole engine ready for Will Smith's "I am legend"

SimCopter is the most underrated game of all time.

// Revision 03/24: Taking out Pedestrians
if ( pNewObject->getEnvType() == ENVTYPE_PEDESTRIAN )
{
getEnvironmentObjMgr()->RemoveObj( pNewObj );
}

This could be part of the WTF, or perhaps Alex made a mistake obfuscating the code but the pointer passed to RemoveObj isn't the same one being checked by the conditional. If this is as the code was written then we have a double wtf.

Anybody got any sensible suggestions as to what game this may be? I'm really curious to find out what game could have two major features taken out of it (vehicles and pedestrians) yet still manages to be saleable. We know it's not some futuristic or fantasy game because they specifically mention VW Bugs, so it must be something that is basically set in the modern day. Any ideas?

Keith:

Link: Alright guys, Ganondorf is at it again. Lets jump in my Miata.

Navi: Dude, there's only room for one passenger in this P.O.S. How are we going to seat everyone when we rescue Princess Zelda?

Link: You're a fairy - you can go in the glove compartment.

Navi: HEY!
Navi: LISTEN!
Navi: HEY!
Navi: HEY!
Navi: LOOK!
Navi: HEY!
Navi: LISTEN!
Navi: LET ME OUT!
Navi: HEY!

Those have got to be the worst reasons I've ever heard for removing features from a game. From the sounds of it, who ever was in charge of the game physics should have been replaced. You don't know WHY certain vehicles are behaving oddly in certain situations? it's your dammed job to know why!

As a coder who works on vehicle physics for games, that sort of thing just fills me with disgust.


And regarding the whole hungarian notation thing.

When you have to worry about cache constraints, member alignment and a whole load of other things, then just a smattering of hungarian can be a god send. Just because you regard it as some sort of obscenity, doesn't mean it's actually wrong to use it in a given situation.

The real wtf is Alex banned top coder because he was too funny and stealing the spotlight. The next wtf is this comment will be deleted shortly.

Keith:

Link: Alright guys, Ganondorf is at it again. Lets jump in my Miata.

Navi: Dude, there's only room for one passenger in this P.O.S. How are we going to seat everyone when we rescue Princess Zelda?

You guys just stay put. She can ride with me.

Code Dependent:

Keith:

Link: Alright guys, Ganondorf is at it again. Lets jump in my Miata.

Navi: Dude, there's only room for one passenger in this P.O.S. How are we going to seat everyone when we rescue Princess Zelda?

You guys just stay put. She can ride with me.

Wow, what an embarassing picture. Big burly man in front of what is undeniably a GIRL'S car. Men don't drive Mazda MX-5s. My girlfriend drives an MX-5, my mum's had one but I don't know any men that would even dare try to get away with that!

Midtown Madness 2 or 3 ? I remember the yellow VW Bugs in the first game of this series...

Tim:

Keith:

I have a feeling this was the source for Heroin Hero.

Or, perhaps more appropriately, Heroin Hero II

Everyone knows Heroin Hero II was a waste of money. If they'd have just stuck with original story of the dragon instead of that stupid monkey that throws bananas, I wouldn't have thrown my copy into the microwave.

rusty:

Those have got to be the worst reasons I've ever heard for removing features from a game. From the sounds of it, who ever was in charge of the game physics should have been replaced.

Perhaps he was already replaced (with a manager's nephew).

Not wtf:

The real wtf is Alex banned top coder because he was too funny and stealing the spotlight. The next wtf is this comment will be deleted shortly.

I used to really enjoy TopCod3r's post's but I must admit that now they are really starting to piss me off. Whilst he is often funny and inventive, his baiting almost always derails the entire comments section. Often there are some really good and interesting points made in the comments but as soon as TopCod3r posts the whole thing just degenerates. Some people try to reply seriously, others start breaking out the "you've been trolled" posts and then there are a handful of people who are like "oh my god I LOVE you TopCod3r, have my babies!" which is also just pathetic.

If Alex really has 'moderated' TopCod3r then I don't see it as a WTF - far from it. Maybe it will convince TopCod3r that he doesn't need to troll every single article on TDWTF.

gabba:

Lots of rather mundane WTFs here.

Why does anybody document the file history inside the source code? Use source control history.

you'd be surprised how useful that can be, particularly when someone is looking at a large code base and says "why the hell did they do that?" Perhaps when you work on a project more than a couple thousand lines of code, and more than a year old, you'll understand.

Carmageddon, had some strange problems. Sometimes the car would go flying wild, if it was hit right :-P

LOL:

Wow, what an embarassing picture. Big burly man in front of what is undeniably a GIRL'S car. Men don't drive Mazda MX-5s. My girlfriend drives an MX-5, my mum's had one but I don't know any men that would even dare try to get away with that!

I take it you live in a town full of Hans and Franz?

Not wtf:

The real wtf is Alex banned top coder because he was too funny and stealing the spotlight. The next wtf is this comment will be deleted shortly.

^ this

Synthgab:

Midtown Madness 2 or 3 ? I remember the yellow VW Bugs in the first game of this series...

And they were totally overpowered! I hated those damn things.

El Dorado for the win though.

LOL:

Wow, what an embarassing picture. Big burly man in front of what is undeniably a GIRL'S car. Men don't drive Mazda MX-5s. My girlfriend drives an MX-5, my mum's had one but I don't know any men that would even dare try to get away with that!

Try to keep that envy suppressed, willya? It's so unbecoming.

Rob:

Anybody got any sensible suggestions as to what game this may be? I'm really curious to find out what game could have two major features taken out of it (vehicles and pedestrians) yet still manages to be saleable. We know it's not some futuristic or fantasy game because they specifically mention VW Bugs, so it must be something that is basically set in the modern day. Any ideas?

It's EVE Online

I'd suspect a Midtown Madness or Monster Truct Madness game... I don't recall humans in Midtown 2... (I think I was on the public beta for that game way back when and there were certainly some weird issues...)

rusty:

Those have got to be the worst reasons I've ever heard for removing features from a game. From the sounds of it, who ever was in charge of the game physics should have been replaced. You don't know WHY certain vehicles are behaving oddly in certain situations? it's your dammed job to know why!

As a coder who works on vehicle physics for games, that sort of thing just fills me with disgust.

I'm assuming when they say they "replaced the physics engine", it was probably some out-of-the-box thing like Havok. My guess would be they had a hacky physics implementation before, and the architecture they had to use for the old engine didn't mesh with the new one as well as they had hoped.

James:

rusty:

Those have got to be the worst reasons I've ever heard for removing features from a game. From the sounds of it, who ever was in charge of the game physics should have been replaced. You don't know WHY certain vehicles are behaving oddly in certain situations? it's your dammed job to know why!

As a coder who works on vehicle physics for games, that sort of thing just fills me with disgust.

I'm assuming when they say they "replaced the physics engine", it was probably some out-of-the-box thing like Havok. My guess would be they had a hacky physics implementation before, and the architecture they had to use for the old engine didn't mesh with the new one as well as they had hoped.

And that's what developer support is for. Havok have absolutely top-notch support guys, and the license fee even covers a certain number of on-site visits if you're having any difficulties that can't be solved remotely.

Heck, even free physics engines (Bullet, ODE, Tokomak et al) have a pretty big userbase, that are always VERY helpful. I recently had a problem using Bullet in a pet project at home, and I got a very helful reply to my query in less than a day.

No...to me, this smells too much like the typical icompetance I encounter in the games industry. Probably 50/50 on the guys working on the project and management.

I was thinking of Daikatana. It's set on different times, some in the future, so it could have cars but didn't need them. In addition, its development spanned several years, engines, and development teams.
If it's not this WTF, it's a very good WTF on its own.

// Revision 01/12: Taking out sports cars
// Revision 01/19: No more vw bugs
// Revision 01/22: No more vehicles

Mechanic: "The trouble is in your carburetor."
Owner: "So, did you fix it?"
Mechanic: "Yes. We took the carburetor out."

Steve:

I used to really enjoy TopCod3r's post's but I must admit that now they are really starting to piss me off. Whilst he is often funny and inventive, his baiting almost always derails the entire comments section. Often there are some really good and interesting points made in the comments but as soon as TopCod3r posts the whole thing just degenerates. Some people try to reply seriously, others start breaking out the "you've been trolled" posts and then there are a handful of people who are like "oh my god I LOVE you TopCod3r, have my babies!" which is also just pathetic.

If Alex really has 'moderated' TopCod3r then I don't see it as a WTF - far from it. Maybe it will convince TopCod3r that he doesn't need to troll every single article on TDWTF.

I agree.
Doing it once is original and funny.
Doing it often is trolling.

- No checking to see if 'new LevelObject()' returned a value? *UNSAFE*
- Pointer dereferencing instead of passing object references? *SLOW*
- I see some refactoring opportunities in there, but somehow that never gets done.

Glad I don't work there. I'd be tanning hides all over the place.

Code Dependent:

LOL:

Wow, what an embarassing picture. Big burly man in front of what is undeniably a GIRL'S car. Men don't drive Mazda MX-5s. My girlfriend drives an MX-5, my mum's had one but I don't know any men that would even dare try to get away with that!

Try to keep that envy suppressed, willya? It's so unbecoming.

Clearly, you're not an automotive enthusiast. You probably drive your boring generi-sedan everyday and cringe when you take an off-ramp too fast and accidentally pull .05 g.
As is so happens, the Mx-5 (miata) is an extraordinarily well balanced car. I always have to chuckle at people's ignorance when it comes to the miata. I'm not sure how a rear wheel drive car that will out-handle anything else in the sub 40K price range (and most cars above it) is a "girl" car -- I suppose you're just judging a book by it's cover.

Yeah, so what?

I found the trolling extremely funny. I never paid attention to the usernames in this forum until I started checking for topcoder. I also never posted until I heard that he was booted.

I'd trade 700 billion MDF's for 1 topcoder post.

MechanicJay:

Code Dependent:

LOL:

Wow, what an embarassing picture. Big burly man in front of what is undeniably a GIRL'S car. Men don't drive Mazda MX-5s. My girlfriend drives an MX-5, my mum's had one but I don't know any men that would even dare try to get away with that!

Try to keep that envy suppressed, willya? It's so unbecoming.

Clearly, you're not an automotive enthusiast. You probably drive your boring generi-sedan everyday and cringe when you take an off-ramp too fast and accidentally pull .05 g.
As is so happens, the Mx-5 (miata) is an extraordinarily well balanced car. I always have to chuckle at people's ignorance when it comes to the miata. I'm not sure how a rear wheel drive car that will out-handle anything else in the sub 40K price range (and most cars above it) is a "girl" car -- I suppose you're just judging a book by it's cover.

Do Mazda still do the "Free curling tongs" offer on all new MX-5s? A pink Ferrari may well be a Ferrari, go like stink, handle like it's on rails...but over and above everything else, it's still PINK and if you won one the first thing you'd do is re-spray it to a proper colour.

The MX-5 may be the best thing since sliced beaver, but it looks like Barbie's "my first drop-top", and thus it shall remain hereafter.

As for the WTF, maybe some of the previous (removed from source comments) were along the lines of:

// Management want cars, so I'm fudging in some car logic, it's not very good.
// Management want MORE cars, so I'm refudging the fudge,

You can't judge a book by its cover, nor should you judge the evolution of component design (no matter how poorly executed) by its comments.

:)

I was actually guessing Duke Nukem: Forever up until the article said that wasn't. - Blew my mind.

LOL:

Code Dependent:

Keith:

Link: Alright guys, Ganondorf is at it again. Lets jump in my Miata.

Navi: Dude, there's only room for one passenger in this P.O.S. How are we going to seat everyone when we rescue Princess Zelda?

You guys just stay put. She can ride with me.

Wow, what an embarassing picture. Big burly man in front of what is undeniably a GIRL'S car. Men don't drive Mazda MX-5s. My girlfriend drives an MX-5, my mum's had one but I don't know any men that would even dare try to get away with that!

Plenty of men drive MX5s. It's probably the closest you can come to driving a track car for under 30k. It's a great car to go trolling for mouth breathing Mustang drivers.

This is what happens when you have a bunch of talented C programmers and ask the to write C++ code. They actually start to program in an ugly, invented by clueless managers and never standardized language called "C/C++". It's a shame, really, that few C programmers actually learn C++ (with its idioms and design techniques).

Why would anyone check whether new returned a value? If it failed, it would have thrown an exception, by definition (contained in IEC/ISO norm 14882). Unless you write in "C/C++", of course.