I asked this in the last Q&A and got a couple of breadcrumbs and spent a few mins exploring this today. @Charlie Malmqvist suggested adding a '-mwindows' flag to the compiler. This works when you launch the program through VSCode but unfortunately doesn't when you run the exe from a file explorer or the desktop for example. I asked the AI and used the GoogleFu and I think I came to the conclusion that because oogabooga is by default a console app and not a windows gui app the -mwindows flag doesn't work. I tried adding a manifest file to the compiler as well as a bunch of other flags to no avail (I could be doing this wrong lol). I think basically you just need to make the exe a windows gui app by running WinMain() instead of main(). I didn't spend the time to work out how to change this in the oogabooga files but did come across a hack. Add something like this to your code - It's Windows specific so be aware of that. HANDLE hConsole = GetConsoleWindow(); if (hConsole != NULL) { ShowWindow(hConsole, SW_HIDE); } The console window will spawn but will quickly be minimized and then disappear. I believe if the program was using WinMain() you could use the -mwindows flag on your release build and -mconsole on your debug build and things would be sweet but I am not really sure. There might be other reasons to not use WinMain() that I have no idea about. If anyone has any better solutions. Please let me know! Cheers Bell

Shamelessly stealing Charlie's note title here, to add another talk I think is exceptionally valuable. It's "CppCon 2014: Mike Acton "Data-Oriented Design and C++". Watch from 12:30 to 26:00 to get main idea, but feel free to watch full video if you like. It's one of these rare things you need to watch a few times to fully get it (especially if you are not prepared). You can almost literally grab every minute of the talk and take a valuable thought from it. I like it especially because Mike starts with a three simple "axioms" (3 Big Lies) he defines at the beginning and all further discussion is based on them. After that it's very easy to "navigate" in your thoughts if you stuck and thinking if you are doing the right thing right now. The idea I like the most from the talk is: "Solve for transforming the data you have, given the constraints of the platform (and nothing else)."

Comment below what you've come up with for the design of your game. Ideally share 1 game that it's most similar to. p.s - If you're actually taking action on this, and have an interesting idea that's in the crafting/building/farming genres, I might just have a special treat in the DMs for ya 👀

So I'm in my mid 40s, went through the classic midlife crisis about this time last year. Sold my business and started to learn to program. Did CS50x, played with Unity and Godot and made your classic pong, brickles etc. Tried an online C++/SMFL course that was fun and made some other classics like a Zelda clone and a basic platformer. I decided I wanted more. I watched a bunch of Handmade Hero. I set up an C/C++/SDL project but before I even wrote a line of new code I saw this project and knew it would be my best course of action. I am still just a beginner in programming but I have learnt so much in the last month or so. I have my ups and downs but joining this game jam 3 days ago has given me a huge boost in productivity. I highly recommend it! I am making a point and click adventure (probably because I am an old fart). I don't expect to make anything I can sell on Steam anytime soon or expect to ever make any money out of this, but still, this is the dream. Anyway this is my first pass, wireframe art, mystery on a train game after 1 year of learning to program, one and a bit months of procrastination and 3 days of actual OogaBooga jam programming. Lots of issues to sort but I have 11 days left for this first try.

who wants episode two?