Black Powder Red Earth - Indievelopement

Zantalos · Post by **Zantalos** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:02 am

There's an indie development company where a group of 3 three guys got together, quit their jobs, and went into the gaming industry as a new indie developer called Echelon.

Well, they're being featured on Gamespot (for about three weeks now), and every wednesday they make a new ~20 minute video of what they've been doing.

It's like that reality TV series called Rocco's about that guy setting up his own restaraunt, except this is about games, so naturally it's 10 times more exciting.

Check it out! It's cool!

Nayr · Post by **Nayr** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:47 pm

Echelon? how geeky is that?

(hint: Row-Echelon Form. It's Math, somewhere around Algebra 2/trig, or I guess precalc nowadays.)

Post by **David** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 7:07 pm

I am pretty sure 'echelon' is just a shape like this: ^. All of the other uses of the word refer to the shape I believe (sometimes in an obscure way).

Silb · Post by **Silb** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:22 pm

It's a French word, a diminutive for échelle (ladder or scale--same root), and means one of the horizontal wooden pieces in a ladder, and from there a rank--especially military ranks, for which that shape ^ is used.

There will be an exam next week.

Post by **David** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:41 pm

Fair enough; I guess the ^ shape comes from the 'steps' root, because it looks like a staircase when made up of discrete objects like birds, planes or soldiers. I wonder if the formation usage came before the rank insignia, or the other way around.

Silb · Post by **Silb** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 11:15 pm

After a little reading:

Échelon has been used, in French, in the context of an arrangement of troops that is divided in its depth, to designate one element of that arrangement.

In English, it seems the word has later been extended from one element of the formation to the whole of it. Since the simplest (most common) form of a hierarchical formation is ^, that is where the ^ shape comes from.

I have recalled that the ^ shape in military insigna is called 'chevron' (in French, but apparently also in English), which alludes to masonry, and hence has nothing to do whatsoever with échelon. Sorry about the confusion (that some common "échelons" are marked with a ^, and "échelon" also means ^, is pretty confusing).

Kalexon · Post by **Kalexon** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 11:54 am

Chevron also alludes to gasoline.

Renegade_Turner · Post by **Renegade_Turner** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 8:01 pm

Nayr wrote:Echelon? how geeky is that?

(hint: Row-Echelon Form. It's Math, somewhere around Algebra 2/trig, or I guess precalc nowadays.)

Better yet, how geeky are you?

In fact it's embarassing to have read this whole conversation.

No offense to all who participated.

Lol I'm such a dickhead.