MS Excel as a game rendering engine?

Painthappy · 03-06-2008, 02:18 PM

... and then there are people like this who have FAR too much time on their hands.

Check it out...

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/featur...d_.php?print=1

YouTube - Office-level Graphics Abstraction Layer

Azzy · 03-06-2008, 02:24 PM

Ive played pacman and space invaders in excel...

Kindred · 03-06-2008, 02:52 PM

Up until now I was impressed (perhaps more like "horrified") by the things our analysists make Excel do !! (why use our extensive SQL and Oracle infrastructures when you can do everything client side via 20 meg excel files???)

Give it some time.....Excel-Porn is just around the corner now!

HP_Lovecraft · 03-06-2008, 04:15 PM

Thats pretty cool. At work, I spend a lot of time using complex mapping software crammed into excel. Its very kludgy, but works.

All versions of excel also have games built in, hidden by the programmers, like flight-simulators, race car games, maze games, etc.

Frontier_Bill · 03-06-2008, 04:35 PM

That is freakin' sweet. I downloaded the files and played with the inputs. Kinda nifty..

They stopped putting 'easter eggs' into their software in 2002 when security became an issue. Supposedly.

Looper · 03-06-2008, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kindred

Up until now I was impressed (perhaps more like "horrified") by the things our analysists make Excel do !! (why use our extensive SQL and Oracle infrastructures when you can do everything client side via 20 meg excel files???)

Give it some time.....Excel-Porn is just around the corner now!

I hear ya there...
Or better yet Access97. My employer has just completed a major North American Conversion of all Access97 db's to Access 2003. What a waste of time and money they should have taken all those home grown department apps, ported any needed ones to SQL with a web front end and removed ALL Access from ALL Workstations.

incynr8 · 03-06-2008, 04:59 PM

access BLEH!!!!!

HP_Lovecraft · 03-06-2008, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by incynr8

access BLEH!!!!!

Could be worse. I work for a large, 150-year old company.

Do we use an organized, unified database?
No. Because of all the legacy software, we have systems storing data using Ingres, MK, Oracle, DB2, Sql-server, Access97/2K, Excel, Proprietary, etc.

There is a huge push to modernize, and improve interoperability. But most apps end up having to communicate with most, if not all the systems. So ineffecient its maddening, but when you have to explain that to someone who is 75 years old, and does not want to change a damn thing about his job... well...

nick

Mayvik · 03-06-2008, 06:12 PM

Access is fine, but it's a really tiny niche application (limited users, limited data) and doesn't get used very well whenever I have seen it implemented. I've written better user interfaces in Excel using VBA and forms than some of the .mdb setups I've seen. Coming from a "tech savvy end user" point of view, it's also nice if you want something that you can own and don't want to farm out your application IT people who may or may not program what you want, and may or may not be around to support you when you need maintenance or upgrades.

People do not give Excel enough credit though, especially with some good VBA in the background. It definitely has limitations (although the new version with the 2 million rows of data per sheet puts a nice ding in that), but it also does a lot more than just add up columns of numbers.

chlsnk · 03-06-2008, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HP_Lovecraft

Thats pretty cool. At work, I spend a lot of time using complex mapping software crammed into excel. Its very kludgy, but works.

All versions of excel also have games built in, hidden by the programmers, like flight-simulators, race car games, maze games, etc.

Were can I access these?

03-06-2008, 02:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
Painthappy I Am The Admin Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: New Boston, NH Posts: 5,291	MS Excel as a game rendering engine? ... and then there are people like this who have FAR too much time on their hands. Check it out... http://www.gamasutra.com/view/featur...d_.php?print=1 YouTube - Office-level Graphics Abstraction Layer __________________ I'm a man... But I can change... If I have to... I guess. MCB Rules - Please Read them MySpace.com/painthappy - MySpace Blog Twitter.com/mcarterbrown - Twitter Updates

03-06-2008, 02:24 PM	#2 (permalink)
Azzy Mod-O-Rator Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Finleyville, PA Posts: 6,948	Ive played pacman and space invaders in excel... __________________ Bryan "Azzy" Spiegel webmaster - Riverside Renegade Paintball / C.C. S.V.S. Plankowner - LPPC#6 Check out VintageRex.com, the premiere paintball museum "A Patriot and free-thinker with respect to social standards in 1760, is today's traitor and dangerous mind." - incynr8

03-06-2008, 02:52 PM	#3 (permalink)
Kindred Mod & Underwear Model Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Neshanic Station, NJ Posts: 1,957	Up until now I was impressed (perhaps more like "horrified") by the things our analysists make Excel do !! (why use our extensive SQL and Oracle infrastructures when you can do everything client side via 20 meg excel files???) Give it some time.....Excel-Porn is just around the corner now! __________________ Strive for that moment when you're only a slice of pizza and a hooker away from paradise. -------------------- Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of ticky tacky

03-06-2008, 04:15 PM	#4 (permalink)
HP_Lovecraft Post Whore Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Southern Maine Posts: 2,736	Thats pretty cool. At work, I spend a lot of time using complex mapping software crammed into excel. Its very kludgy, but works. All versions of excel also have games built in, hidden by the programmers, like flight-simulators, race car games, maze games, etc. __________________ www.montneel.com My Myspace nonsense "the evidence strongly suggests that neither Billy nor Adam (Smart Parts) could have invented the electronic paintgun" -Garr M. King, U.S. Judge

03-06-2008, 04:35 PM	#5 (permalink)
Frontier_Bill The Brown Guy! Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Eastern Montana Posts: 2,058	That is freakin' sweet. I downloaded the files and played with the inputs. Kinda nifty.. They stopped putting 'easter eggs' into their software in 2002 when security became an issue. Supposedly. __________________ Danger: Reading online forums may cause irreparable damage to your faith in Humanity. Team Rogue Cell #10 Feedback NO'MAAM #16

03-06-2008, 04:59 PM	#7 (permalink)
incynr8 .:\|Purification Admin\|:. Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: PA Posts: 5,046	access BLEH!!!!! __________________ Advertise on MCB That's two-ing thirteen while she's eleven-ing your five........ PPS4LIFE ..........\______ ........../__\|___!\___ ..........\'o)i___l_o)_;

03-06-2008, 06:12 PM	#9 (permalink)
Mayvik MCB Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Denver Posts: 2,108	Access is fine, but it's a really tiny niche application (limited users, limited data) and doesn't get used very well whenever I have seen it implemented. I've written better user interfaces in Excel using VBA and forms than some of the .mdb setups I've seen. Coming from a "tech savvy end user" point of view, it's also nice if you want something that you can own and don't want to farm out your application IT people who may or may not program what you want, and may or may not be around to support you when you need maintenance or upgrades. People do not give Excel enough credit though, especially with some good VBA in the background. It definitely has limitations (although the new version with the 2 million rows of data per sheet puts a nice ding in that), but it also does a lot more than just add up columns of numbers.