Re: [Audyssey] Consoles (was Re: my frustration with the blindgaming comunity.)
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 09:13:00PM -0800, Tom Randall wrote: many though certainly not all linux users tend to come off with a kind of superior or arrogant attitude that tends to drive people, particularly newbies away. [My Reply:] for graphics in `25000_web_pages` ; do switch-to xmas_decorations ; done cron the job for Dec 1st thru Dec31st Tada! -as opposed to - Open word processor and file. Search for text and replace. Save and open the next of 25000 web pages repeat until complete. Do it all over again next year. In the first example, the Linux user learns all the commands in linux and teaches the computer to do their work for them, and in the second example, the Windows user learns all the commands in Windows and continues doing the job manually. This is why Pixar, the makers of the movie, Toy Story, uses Linux to render their graphics, because their Windows NT machines cannot do it themselves without some human sitting before the screen, clicking the mouse to answer every question Windows NT cannot be taught to answer on it's own. .shrugs. Even the US Navy has ditched Windows for Linux. It's not a matter of thinking we're superior, but of having had our eyes opened to infinite possibilities, while Mickeysoft keeps adding more blindfolds. You have to understand, I've watched computing go from a fully stocked, fully equipped gourmet kitchen to a McDonalds drive-thru. Windows is like having to take public transportation, with it's routes and pre-arranged stops, and the advertizing on the ceilings. Richer folks who can afford the software, get to take the taxi. The rich get a limo and a driver to carry their shopping in for them. Linux users own their own cars and think it's the best of all worlds, because in the end, we can teach the car to drive itself. Just the other day in IRC (can your screen reader do IRC?), for instance, a friend asked what kind of music I listened to, and since I didn't have some kind of playlist generator software installed on my system, I simply typed: ls -R /pub/Audio/* music.txt ...and emailed it to them as an attachment, because Linux can generate a recursive directory listing and save it to a file, and Windows cannot. ls -R /pub/Library/* | grep txt | wc -l ...will give me the number of books in my extensive ebook library )3573) And because I've saved the command to a script called ebooks,, I can just type the name and get the current number. What kind of hopefully accessible program do you have to pay for for Windows to get that kind of service? I have a similar command to tell me how many mp3s I have, and another for vids. Press tab twice and it asks me if I want to see all 3632 software program names, so I don't need a script for software on the system. How much would you have to spend to put 3632 programs on Windows, and can you bring them all up to date and current with a single command, bug fixes, security patches and all? Don't get me wrong, Windows is great for helping you navigate around the web, showing you all the spam the business world has to offer, in ever flashier displays, and you pay out the nose for it in ever-increasing increments, and while Windows continues offering you fancier graphics and less control over your computer, Linux offers even more control and is catching up on the flashy graphics. Not that I will ever be needing them. I may occasionally have to type out a somewhat elaborate command to rename a file, either singly or en'masse, but how often is that when I usually only type m for mail, b to browse the web, g to google something, i for IRC or e to edit a file. I LOVE the command line, and all the non-hidden background processes that do what I've asked while I do more important things! Linux makes my computer, *MY* computer! AND! I installed and operate it without ANY sighted assistance! .flexes. .poses. .preens. Michael -- Linux User: 177869 # Powered By: Intel # http://rivensight.dyndns.org Postings Copyrighted 2010-2011 by: Michael Ferranti --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Consoles (was Re: my frustration with the blindgaming comunity.)
Hi Tom, Tom wrote: While yes in theory everything should work and you have a completely accessible system from the getgo, the getting there is not easy in the slightest for a blind user, the learning curve is quite frankly pretty horrendous and unless this changes then the situation of people not wanting to use it and considering it just another thing that the nerds and geeks like to play with is going to remain the same. My reply: I don't know what information you are basing your opinion on but it isn't correct. The modern Linux operating system like Ubuntu, Vinux, whatever is very user friendly from the Gnome desktop environment. In fact, a modern Linux operating system is as easy to use as Windows if you are using it via the graphical user interface. I think the main source of confusion here, the reason people think Linux is so hard to use, is the Linux shell environment. There are plenty of Linux users like Michael who love the Linux shell and constantly brag about what they can do in the shell, about how they can type this or that command, and bingo they have a superior experience to that of Windows. While that might be true a lot of Windows users are going to listen to that and think to themselves they aren't going to want to learn a bunch of shell commands, type everything into a console, just to run the entire operating system. What people like Michael seam to miss is through bragging about how cool the Linux shell is they often forget maybe somebody new to Linux might not just want to jump into that kind of environment and will want to use a graphical user interface. There are a couple of really good ones for Linux called Gnome and KDE that are extremely popular with sighted users for that reason. Since Gnome is the most accessible desktop for Linux right now lets talk about it a bit. The interface is very much like the Windows desktop. You have a main panel, kind of like the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, a desktop like Windows, and you have an application menu that resembles the Windows start menu. There are dozens of graphical Windows-like applications for Linux such as gedit that is like Windows Notepad, there is Open Office that is a lot like Microsoft Office before they switched to the menu ribbons, there is Mozilla Firefox for web browsing, there is Evolution which is like Microsoft Outlook, there is the Calculator which is like the Windows Calculator program, and there is a media player called Totem which is like Windows Media Player. So when you come down to it if you install Linux and you have setup to start directly into x-windows with the Gnome desktop a person coming from Windows to Linux will not have a very big learning curve at all. It is not this horrendous learning curve you are talking about. Unfortunately, as I said before, Linux users often tend to put the cart before the horse so to speak. Instead of bragging about how easy Gnome is, that they can run apps just like Windows, they tend to run off on a tangent and talk about the shell or some other advanced aspect of Linux a newby isn't ready for. I've been on Linux mailing lists were a few die-hard users go on and on about how if they don't get the source code for a program they don't want it etc. They go on and on how they can modify everything, recompile everything, and they tend to talk right over the heads of Mr. and Mrs. Smith who only wants to use the operating system for basic day to day tasks. They aren't out to build the OS from scratch, script this or that, or anything like that. Some of these Linux geeks really need to come back down to earth for a minute and talk about the operating system in terms that the average Joe or Jane can understand and will be actually interested in. It is as though some of these Linux geeks have lost touch with the fact maybe not everybody wants to use this or that advance feature they are bragging about. For instances, in the prior e-mail Micahel was talking about how many tasks he can perform fromt he shell like getting a list of mp3s in his music directory and have it save to a text file. That's fine and dandy, but even though I'm a Linux user myself I generally do not see a need to do that. In fact, 99% of my time is in Gnome using Firefox, as I am right now, using Gedit which is better than the text editors like Nano, listening to audio books in Totem Movie Player, and things like that. About the only time I use the shell is to play text adventure games because Speakup is better than Orca when it comes to that sort of thing, and when I'm compiling programs since the GNU development tools are commandline programs. What turns me off with some of the Linux geeks out there is because I use Gnome I've had a few die-hard Linux users come out and call me names because I choose not to use the shell. Those are the kind of Linux geeks who give Linux a bad name because they only want to talk about what they like about Linux rather than what someone else might like. Why does it
[Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
Hi everyone, For quite a while I have been thinking of trying my hand at some simple text adventure games and maybe eventually work my way up to some sort of game like Nethack, Ancient Domains of Mystery, or maybe even as complex as Entombed. As most of you know i use Linux most of the time, and the majority of accessible games are text adventures. So this would be a logical place to start since such games are relatively inexpensive and easy to make, and usually are cross-platform too. Of course, there is various text adventure systems like Inform, Adrift, Tads, etc but I've been thinking of writing them in a traditional programming language like C, Java, or Python. Anyway,before I even think of the technical details there are some things about the user interface I'd like to get your input on. First thing, is input. Most of the text adventures out there use various commands like grab sword, grab torch, light torch., etc. I could continue this tridition, but it seams to me there is an easier way to do this. For example, what if you pressed g for grab item, and then a menu popped up with a list of items in the room. You could then select the item you want to grab from a list. This would save a bunch of typing by effectively doing the same thing. For moving around the level asining directions to n for north, s for south, e for east, and w for west would certainly be preferable to ttyping out north, south, east, or west. What do you think about this approach? Second, is output. Again there is a couple of ways of doing this. We could certainly have everything be printed directly out to the console, text directly to the screen, which you can use your screen reader for. The other way is to use a Speech API like Sapi, Speech-dispatcher, etc that would automatically read out the information on the screen. This would make the games slightly less portable, but would have the advantage of automatic speech output by default. Any thoughts weather you would like to use a screen reader or use Sapi directly? Finally, we get down to the technical details. As I said I am well aware of Inform and Adrift, but in many ways those text adventure systems are not quite as flexable enough for what I want to do. If I wanted to create a multilevel dungeon like Entombed they would fall short pretty fast. That leaves me with the option of using a language like C/C++ or something else. At the moment I'm thinking of C/C++ because if written correctly the games should be fairly easy to recompile for other platforms and devices. While Java and Python have their advantages too if I wanted to port these games to cell phones, note takers, it wouldn't necessarily be as easy to do. However, the advantage of Python or Java would be I could hit the big three platforms Windows, Mac, or Linux with one easy swoop without having to recompile anything. Any thoughts? Cheers! --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] marvel vs. capcom 3 demo is here!
can you release it? -- From: Clement Chou chou.clem...@gmail.com Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 5:47 AM To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Subject: Re: [Audyssey] marvel vs. capcom 3 demo is here! For the most part, you're right. However, sidestepping doesn't involve stepping towards or away from the opponent. Sidestepping involves stepping to the left or to the right of your opponent as you're facing them... if you want to move towards your opponent, you move forward. lol. At 12:54 PM 17/02/2011, you wrote: On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 10:38:56PM -0500, Phil Vlasak wrote: Let me know if I am wrong, but I think all your characters are always on the left of the screen with the enemies always on the right, and when fighting they head for the middle. [My Reply:] Fighter games typically have two characters on the screen, the player 1 controller usually on the left, and the player 2 controller on the right. When the game is called 3-D, it usually means the same thing, but the characters are able to side-step. If the left-hand character side-steps right, he's sidestepping towards you, or away from you when side-stepping left. Characters can switch sides of the screen when one character jumps over or side-steps around the other character, usually causing you to have to reverse the movement controls. When fighting a character to your right, moving away from them means you have to move to the left, but when your positions have switched and you're now on the right, you have to move right to move away from them. If you have to perform some elaborate movements to, say, wind up to pitch something at the other character, that movement would have to be reversed when you're on the other side of the screen. Imagine winding up your arm for an underhand throw. If your character was on the left side of the screen, facing to the right, the motion would be in the counter-clockwise direction, but it would be clockwise if you were on the other side of the screen facing to the left. If you can picture that, you'll get the idea. Michael -- Linux User: 177869 # Powered By: Intel # http://rivensight.dyndns.org Postings Copyrighted 2010-2011 by: Michael Ferranti --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Consoles (was Re: my frustration with the blindgaming comunity.)
Hi Michael, Michael wrote: It's not a matter of thinking we're superior, but of having had our eyes opened to infinite possibilities, while Mickeysoft keeps adding more blindfolds. You have to understand, I've watched computing go from a fully stocked, fully equipped gourmet kitchen to a McDonalds drive-thru. My reply: Well, as a Linux user myself I certainly understand where you are coming from. I've been there done that, and there is no argument from me that Linux gives the power user infinite possabilities so to speak. Although, I will admit I'm not as much a fan of the Linux shell environment as I am with using the Gnome graphical desktop. I am much more comfortable in a graphical user interface and tend to use that more than the shell. Although, I had Unix admin courses in college, and know my way around the Bash shell pretty well. However, that's not really my point. The thing I wanted to stress, the point I wanted to get across, is the majority of computer users are not power users in any way, shape or form. I work in the private sector as an independant tech support person/computer programmer, and many of the cliants who call me for help are fairly inexperienced computer users. It might be a middle aged couple who just perchaced their first computer from Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc for the soul purpose of reading/writing e-mails, getting on Facebook, and more or less staying in touch with their kids who have grown up and moved away from home. Such people aren't interested in hearing about how they can type a long string of commands and find out how many mp3 files they have on their computer or to print out a list of music tracks etc. Most of the time the computer is a glorified web browser/e-mail client. Nothing more and nothing less. What I'm talking about basically is Mr. and MRs. Smith who are comfortable with what Microsoft is doing because that is all they know. For example, the most common issue I have with cliants is security related issues. Most people don't know spit about system security. Especially, if they are new to computers. They aren't aware of viruses, spyware, trojans, addware, and all the other garbage that infects millions of Windows PCs daily. I usually get called to go out on site to clean up the mess. I've seen enough of messes like that to not hold any respect for Microsoft Windows, and think the operating system is a piece of trash. However, I don't believe it is my place to start in on my cliants about their choice in operating system. What I do is make suggestions and let them pick up the ball or not. For example, I come in, install a screen reader like NVDA on the computer, use a free antivirus program like AVG, clean up the mess, and then sit down with the family and discuss security options. I of course give them a list of good antivirus programs, spyware cleaners, and things like that. However, I also mention there is another operating system like Linux that is more secure, and if they want me to install and train them for the OS I would be available to do it. Those who seam interested ask me to show them what Linux looks like and I boot my laptop, log into Gnome, and show them what a fully operational Linux PC can do from Gnome. I'll show them some of the flagship applications like Firefox, Thunderbird, Evolution, Open Office, Totem Movie Player, etc. The one thing I don't do is come in acting like this is superior than Windows, but treat it as a possability or option. People are more receptive of that approach rather than the Linux guy who starts bragging how great and awesome his favorite operating system is. A big reason for that is Mr. and Mrs. Smith isn't necessarily interested in the same things you and I are. Here is a case in point. Let's create an average couple called Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Mr. Smith uses the computer to read the news paper online, checks the latest sports scores, maybe reads the weather report, and copies his cds/records to mp3s. Mrs. Smith likes to get on Facebook, share pictures with her family, sends and recieves cookbook recipes with her grown daughters and girlfriends, and plays games like Solitaire, Freecell, Hearts, and Mahjong. Admitedly these are general activities that Windows and Linux can do equally well. If they like to use open source applications like Firefox, Thunderbird, Open Office, etc it doesn't really make that much a difference weather it is running on Windows or Linux from a general operational standpoint. So how are you going to convince the Smiths, just your average American middle aged couple, that Linux is better for them? Well, to begin with I don't start off by telling them all of the things I personally like about Linux. I'm admitedly an advanced power user so there are certain aspects about the OS I like that would not be of any interest to Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I like the fact the operating system is fully open source, I can modify any application, recompile it, and fully create a
[Audyssey] PAC Mate Games
How do I get NetHack up and running on my PAC Mate Omni? --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] marvel vs. capcom 3 demo is here!
Uh... release what? The game's already out... it's for ps3 and xbox360. At 12:16 AM 18/02/2011, you wrote: can you release it? -- From: Clement Chou chou.clem...@gmail.com Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 5:47 AM To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Subject: Re: [Audyssey] marvel vs. capcom 3 demo is here! For the most part, you're right. However, sidestepping doesn't involve stepping towards or away from the opponent. Sidestepping involves stepping to the left or to the right of your opponent as you're facing them... if you want to move towards your opponent, you move forward. lol. At 12:54 PM 17/02/2011, you wrote: On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 10:38:56PM -0500, Phil Vlasak wrote: Let me know if I am wrong, but I think all your characters are always on the left of the screen with the enemies always on the right, and when fighting they head for the middle. [My Reply:] Fighter games typically have two characters on the screen, the player 1 controller usually on the left, and the player 2 controller on the right. When the game is called 3-D, it usually means the same thing, but the characters are able to side-step. If the left-hand character side-steps right, he's sidestepping towards you, or away from you when side-stepping left. Characters can switch sides of the screen when one character jumps over or side-steps around the other character, usually causing you to have to reverse the movement controls. When fighting a character to your right, moving away from them means you have to move to the left, but when your positions have switched and you're now on the right, you have to move right to move away from them. If you have to perform some elaborate movements to, say, wind up to pitch something at the other character, that movement would have to be reversed when you're on the other side of the screen. Imagine winding up your arm for an underhand throw. If your character was on the left side of the screen, facing to the right, the motion would be in the counter-clockwise direction, but it would be clockwise if you were on the other side of the screen facing to the left. If you can picture that, you'll get the idea. Michael -- Linux User: 177869 # Powered By: Intel # http://rivensight.dyndns.org Postings Copyrighted 2010-2011 by: Michael Ferranti --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
I really like the single letter navigation/items idea. I also like the ability to either pick a screen reader to provide the output, or the Sapi/dispatcher for the output. I also think that availability of a game on a cell phone, specifically the iPhone would be very cool! On 2/18/2011 4:04 PM, Thomas Ward wrote: Hi everyone, For quite a while I have been thinking of trying my hand at some simple text adventure games and maybe eventually work my way up to some sort of game like Nethack, Ancient Domains of Mystery, or maybe even as complex as Entombed. As most of you know i use Linux most of the time, and the majority of accessible games are text adventures. So this would be a logical place to start since such games are relatively inexpensive and easy to make, and usually are cross-platform too. Of course, there is various text adventure systems like Inform, Adrift, Tads, etc but I've been thinking of writing them in a traditional programming language like C, Java, or Python. Anyway,before I even think of the technical details there are some things about the user interface I'd like to get your input on. First thing, is input. Most of the text adventures out there use various commands like grab sword, grab torch, light torch., etc. I could continue this tridition, but it seams to me there is an easier way to do this. For example, what if you pressed g for grab item, and then a menu popped up with a list of items in the room. You could then select the item you want to grab from a list. This would save a bunch of typing by effectively doing the same thing. For moving around the level asining directions to n for north, s for south, e for east, and w for west would certainly be preferable to ttyping out north, south, east, or west. What do you think about this approach? Second, is output. Again there is a couple of ways of doing this. We could certainly have everything be printed directly out to the console, text directly to the screen, which you can use your screen reader for. The other way is to use a Speech API like Sapi, Speech-dispatcher, etc that would automatically read out the information on the screen. This would make the games slightly less portable, but would have the advantage of automatic speech output by default. Any thoughts weather you would like to use a screen reader or use Sapi directly? Finally, we get down to the technical details. As I said I am well aware of Inform and Adrift, but in many ways those text adventure systems are not quite as flexable enough for what I want to do. If I wanted to create a multilevel dungeon like Entombed they would fall short pretty fast. That leaves me with the option of using a language like C/C++ or something else. At the moment I'm thinking of C/C++ because if written correctly the games should be fairly easy to recompile for other platforms and devices. While Java and Python have their advantages too if I wanted to port these games to cell phones, note takers, it wouldn't necessarily be as easy to do. However, the advantage of Python or Java would be I could hit the big three platforms Windows, Mac, or Linux with one easy swoop without having to recompile anything. Any thoughts? Cheers! --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. -- Casey Mathews www.webfriendlyhelp.com --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
Hi Tom. My thoughts are as follows. 1 I like the idea of hitting g to say grab sword or any other items in a room. 2 I like the idea about hitting n for north e for east etc. that reminded me of playing eamin on the old apple 2 e pc when I was young since I think that is the way it was dun. and 3 I like the idea of having a sappy voice in stead of jaws. the way I see it is that I have to use jaws for everything elts on a daily basis I really don't like the thought of hearing it droan on wile playing a game to lol. finely as for the languwige I am not a programmer but I think that using c plus would be good. well these are my thoughts. from Mich --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
Hi tom would these have sounds? Great idea I really like it. - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 9:04 PM Subject: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games Hi everyone, For quite a while I have been thinking of trying my hand at some simple text adventure games and maybe eventually work my way up to some sort of game like Nethack, Ancient Domains of Mystery, or maybe even as complex as Entombed. As most of you know i use Linux most of the time, and the majority of accessible games are text adventures. So this would be a logical place to start since such games are relatively inexpensive and easy to make, and usually are cross-platform too. Of course, there is various text adventure systems like Inform, Adrift, Tads, etc but I've been thinking of writing them in a traditional programming language like C, Java, or Python. Anyway,before I even think of the technical details there are some things about the user interface I'd like to get your input on. First thing, is input. Most of the text adventures out there use various commands like grab sword, grab torch, light torch., etc. I could continue this tridition, but it seams to me there is an easier way to do this. For example, what if you pressed g for grab item, and then a menu popped up with a list of items in the room. You could then select the item you want to grab from a list. This would save a bunch of typing by effectively doing the same thing. For moving around the level asining directions to n for north, s for south, e for east, and w for west would certainly be preferable to ttyping out north, south, east, or west. What do you think about this approach? Second, is output. Again there is a couple of ways of doing this. We could certainly have everything be printed directly out to the console, text directly to the screen, which you can use your screen reader for. The other way is to use a Speech API like Sapi, Speech-dispatcher, etc that would automatically read out the information on the screen. This would make the games slightly less portable, but would have the advantage of automatic speech output by default. Any thoughts weather you would like to use a screen reader or use Sapi directly? Finally, we get down to the technical details. As I said I am well aware of Inform and Adrift, but in many ways those text adventure systems are not quite as flexable enough for what I want to do. If I wanted to create a multilevel dungeon like Entombed they would fall short pretty fast. That leaves me with the option of using a language like C/C++ or something else. At the moment I'm thinking of C/C++ because if written correctly the games should be fairly easy to recompile for other platforms and devices. While Java and Python have their advantages too if I wanted to port these games to cell phones, note takers, it wouldn't necessarily be as easy to do. However, the advantage of Python or Java would be I could hit the big three platforms Windows, Mac, or Linux with one easy swoop without having to recompile anything. Any thoughts? Cheers! --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
Hi Lori, It is certainly possible. Of course I wouldn't spend a lot of money on sounds and music like I would on a production like MOTA because these are suppose to be free casual games. However, to get back to the point, yeah, they could have some sounds/music. All I'd have to do is use a cross-platform library like FMOD, load some back ground ambience, footstep sounds, weapons, etc and you kind of get a modern text adventure game. However, we will see.I don't really know what I'll be using to make these games yet. Cheers! On 2/18/11, Lori Duncan lori_dunca...@hotmail.com wrote: Hi tom would these have sounds? Great idea I really like it. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
Hi tom, As for the idea it is very good. In my opinion, the input should be exactly the way you described. So, g for grab or t for take, and a menu with the available items. Then, output should be red by the screen reader, and if possible, the ability to navigate through the output text with the cursor keys and reading commands. As someone whos native language is not English, I would prefer this because sometimes I find a new word and want to spell it to look it up in a dictionary, or if, for example, an interesting creature appears that is known from the farytails I should have the word spelled for me to look in up in an encyclopedia or a similar resource of information. Happy programming, and best regards! Milos Przic msn: milos.pr...@gmail.com skype: Milosh-hs - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 10:04 PM Subject: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games Hi everyone, For quite a while I have been thinking of trying my hand at some simple text adventure games and maybe eventually work my way up to some sort of game like Nethack, Ancient Domains of Mystery, or maybe even as complex as Entombed. As most of you know i use Linux most of the time, and the majority of accessible games are text adventures. So this would be a logical place to start since such games are relatively inexpensive and easy to make, and usually are cross-platform too. Of course, there is various text adventure systems like Inform, Adrift, Tads, etc but I've been thinking of writing them in a traditional programming language like C, Java, or Python. Anyway,before I even think of the technical details there are some things about the user interface I'd like to get your input on. First thing, is input. Most of the text adventures out there use various commands like grab sword, grab torch, light torch., etc. I could continue this tridition, but it seams to me there is an easier way to do this. For example, what if you pressed g for grab item, and then a menu popped up with a list of items in the room. You could then select the item you want to grab from a list. This would save a bunch of typing by effectively doing the same thing. For moving around the level asining directions to n for north, s for south, e for east, and w for west would certainly be preferable to ttyping out north, south, east, or west. What do you think about this approach? Second, is output. Again there is a couple of ways of doing this. We could certainly have everything be printed directly out to the console, text directly to the screen, which you can use your screen reader for. The other way is to use a Speech API like Sapi, Speech-dispatcher, etc that would automatically read out the information on the screen. This would make the games slightly less portable, but would have the advantage of automatic speech output by default. Any thoughts weather you would like to use a screen reader or use Sapi directly? Finally, we get down to the technical details. As I said I am well aware of Inform and Adrift, but in many ways those text adventure systems are not quite as flexable enough for what I want to do. If I wanted to create a multilevel dungeon like Entombed they would fall short pretty fast. That leaves me with the option of using a language like C/C++ or something else. At the moment I'm thinking of C/C++ because if written correctly the games should be fairly easy to recompile for other platforms and devices. While Java and Python have their advantages too if I wanted to port these games to cell phones, note takers, it wouldn't necessarily be as easy to do. However, the advantage of Python or Java would be I could hit the big three platforms Windows, Mac, or Linux with one easy swoop without having to recompile anything. Any thoughts? Cheers! --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. __ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5887 (20110218) __ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com __ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5887 (20110218) __ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
Hi, Well, since I am not planning on using any platform specific API for handling keyboards I probably won't have access to the arrow keys, page up/down, home and end keys, etc because those require specific scan codes. If I want to get access to those keys I'd have to use SDL, DirectInput, or some other high-level input API which really isn't necessary for this kind of game. The easiest and most cross-platform way of doing this is simply to map the letters a through z, numbers 0 through 9, tab key, enter key, spacebar, etc using the ascii standard. This should pretty much work on everything since keyboards almost always return an ascii code for standard letters, numbers, and other common keys. What I have in mind though will probably work just as well. If you wanted to take something you would press t. Then, you would be prompted to select something. What would you like to take? Ax (a) Sword (s) Torch (t) If you press the s key you will pick up the sword. Then once you have it you might press x followed by the s key to examine it. You are holding a beautiful Elvin made broadsword. As you hold it the sword begins to glow with an unatural silver light. As you examine the hilt you discover a bright blue glowing gemstone. When you turn it over you see the words Dragon Doom etched in gold lettering. You suddenly realise this must be the legendary magical sword carried by the Elvin warrior, Arwin, over a thousand years ago. Enter command: This is, in my personal opinion, easier than typing take sword and then typing examine sword. Plus it lists exactly what is in your inventory and you can select something with a single command instead of a string of text. Cheers! --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
well if you had free sounds they wouldn't need to be anything flash. Generic sfx if at all. They wouldn't need to be much. At 11:30 a.m. 19/02/2011, you wrote: Hi Lori, It is certainly possible. Of course I wouldn't spend a lot of money on sounds and music like I would on a production like MOTA because these are suppose to be free casual games. However, to get back to the point, yeah, they could have some sounds/music. All I'd have to do is use a cross-platform library like FMOD, load some back ground ambience, footstep sounds, weapons, etc and you kind of get a modern text adventure game. However, we will see.I don't really know what I'll be using to make these games yet. Cheers! On 2/18/11, Lori Duncan lori_dunca...@hotmail.com wrote: Hi tom would these have sounds? Great idea I really like it. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
well if you had menus you should have them numbered like in old dos programs like arena. or fdisk thats how some of the old stuff was done if you wanted to be authentic. At 12:32 p.m. 19/02/2011, you wrote: Hi, Well, since I am not planning on using any platform specific API for handling keyboards I probably won't have access to the arrow keys, page up/down, home and end keys, etc because those require specific scan codes. If I want to get access to those keys I'd have to use SDL, DirectInput, or some other high-level input API which really isn't necessary for this kind of game. The easiest and most cross-platform way of doing this is simply to map the letters a through z, numbers 0 through 9, tab key, enter key, spacebar, etc using the ascii standard. This should pretty much work on everything since keyboards almost always return an ascii code for standard letters, numbers, and other common keys. What I have in mind though will probably work just as well. If you wanted to take something you would press t. Then, you would be prompted to select something. What would you like to take? Ax (a) Sword (s) Torch (t) If you press the s key you will pick up the sword. Then once you have it you might press x followed by the s key to examine it. You are holding a beautiful Elvin made broadsword. As you hold it the sword begins to glow with an unatural silver light. As you examine the hilt you discover a bright blue glowing gemstone. When you turn it over you see the words Dragon Doom etched in gold lettering. You suddenly realise this must be the legendary magical sword carried by the Elvin warrior, Arwin, over a thousand years ago. Enter command: This is, in my personal opinion, easier than typing take sword and then typing examine sword. Plus it lists exactly what is in your inventory and you can select something with a single command instead of a string of text. Cheers! --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
Makes sense, but, aw nuts. There goes one of my ideas. (grin) --- Laughter is the best medicine, so look around, find a dose and take it to heart. - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 5:32 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games Hi, Well, since I am not planning on using any platform specific API for handling keyboards I probably won't have access to the arrow keys, page up/down, home and end keys, etc because those require specific scan codes. If I want to get access to those keys I'd have to use SDL, DirectInput, or some other high-level input API which really isn't necessary for this kind of game. The easiest and most cross-platform way of doing this is simply to map the letters a through z, numbers 0 through 9, tab key, enter key, spacebar, etc using the ascii standard. This should pretty much work on everything since keyboards almost always return an ascii code for standard letters, numbers, and other common keys. What I have in mind though will probably work just as well. If you wanted to take something you would press t. Then, you would be prompted to select something. What would you like to take? Ax (a) Sword (s) Torch (t) If you press the s key you will pick up the sword. Then once you have it you might press x followed by the s key to examine it. You are holding a beautiful Elvin made broadsword. As you hold it the sword begins to glow with an unatural silver light. As you examine the hilt you discover a bright blue glowing gemstone. When you turn it over you see the words Dragon Doom etched in gold lettering. You suddenly realise this must be the legendary magical sword carried by the Elvin warrior, Arwin, over a thousand years ago. Enter command: This is, in my personal opinion, easier than typing take sword and then typing examine sword. Plus it lists exactly what is in your inventory and you can select something with a single command instead of a string of text. Cheers! --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] PAC Mate Games
Just download it from my games pack on braillesoft.net and install it to a storage card. Then, click on nethackm.exe and you'll be off--sounds, mapping adjusted for Braille and everything. Ken Downey President DreamTechInteractive! And, Blind Comfort! The pleasant way to experience massage! It's the Caring without the Staring! - Original Message - From: Rayette kayray1...@gmail.com To: gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 3:54 PM Subject: [Audyssey] PAC Mate Games How do I get NetHack up and running on my PAC Mate Omni? --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
Thomas I like this idea a lot, the grab menu thing is good and the single letters for directions is good to and easy. I like the screen reader option, but am willing to try other voices. One thing I will say is don't forget our deaf blind gamers, I nearly said dead blind, oh dear. Maybe an option to output to a brailed display could be their somewhere. Lisa Hayes www.nutrimetics.com.au/lisahayes - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2011 8:04 AM Subject: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games Hi everyone, For quite a while I have been thinking of trying my hand at some simple text adventure games and maybe eventually work my way up to some sort of game like Nethack, Ancient Domains of Mystery, or maybe even as complex as Entombed. As most of you know i use Linux most of the time, and the majority of accessible games are text adventures. So this would be a logical place to start since such games are relatively inexpensive and easy to make, and usually are cross-platform too. Of course, there is various text adventure systems like Inform, Adrift, Tads, etc but I've been thinking of writing them in a traditional programming language like C, Java, or Python. Anyway,before I even think of the technical details there are some things about the user interface I'd like to get your input on. First thing, is input. Most of the text adventures out there use various commands like grab sword, grab torch, light torch., etc. I could continue this tridition, but it seams to me there is an easier way to do this. For example, what if you pressed g for grab item, and then a menu popped up with a list of items in the room. You could then select the item you want to grab from a list. This would save a bunch of typing by effectively doing the same thing. For moving around the level asining directions to n for north, s for south, e for east, and w for west would certainly be preferable to ttyping out north, south, east, or west. What do you think about this approach? Second, is output. Again there is a couple of ways of doing this. We could certainly have everything be printed directly out to the console, text directly to the screen, which you can use your screen reader for. The other way is to use a Speech API like Sapi, Speech-dispatcher, etc that would automatically read out the information on the screen. This would make the games slightly less portable, but would have the advantage of automatic speech output by default. Any thoughts weather you would like to use a screen reader or use Sapi directly? Finally, we get down to the technical details. As I said I am well aware of Inform and Adrift, but in many ways those text adventure systems are not quite as flexable enough for what I want to do. If I wanted to create a multilevel dungeon like Entombed they would fall short pretty fast. That leaves me with the option of using a language like C/C++ or something else. At the moment I'm thinking of C/C++ because if written correctly the games should be fairly easy to recompile for other platforms and devices. While Java and Python have their advantages too if I wanted to port these games to cell phones, note takers, it wouldn't necessarily be as easy to do. However, the advantage of Python or Java would be I could hit the big three platforms Windows, Mac, or Linux with one easy swoop without having to recompile anything. Any thoughts? Cheers! --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
and what about a help system, like the one in the zork games. Lisa Hayes www.nutrimetics.com.au/lisahayes - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Lori Duncan lori_dunca...@hotmail.com; Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2011 9:30 AM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games Hi Lori, It is certainly possible. Of course I wouldn't spend a lot of money on sounds and music like I would on a production like MOTA because these are suppose to be free casual games. However, to get back to the point, yeah, they could have some sounds/music. All I'd have to do is use a cross-platform library like FMOD, load some back ground ambience, footstep sounds, weapons, etc and you kind of get a modern text adventure game. However, we will see.I don't really know what I'll be using to make these games yet. Cheers! On 2/18/11, Lori Duncan lori_dunca...@hotmail.com wrote: Hi tom would these have sounds? Great idea I really like it. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
Hi Lisa, I don't think that would be a problem. Just asign it to the question mark and have it bring up some kind of help system. Cheers! On 2/19/11, Lisa Hayes lhay...@internode.on.net wrote: and what about a help system, like the one in the zork games. Lisa Hayes --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
And some kind of score system. Lisa Hayes www.nutrimetics.com.au/lisahayes - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2011 4:45 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games Hi Lisa, I don't think that would be a problem. Just asign it to the question mark and have it bring up some kind of help system. Cheers! On 2/19/11, Lisa Hayes lhay...@internode.on.net wrote: and what about a help system, like the one in the zork games. Lisa Hayes --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
I like the idea, and would go for/like the idea of invoking item listings, etc., as well as, generating your own voice output, but that would really depend on platform etc., and the main problem I have with things like general console/command line output is all screen readers seem to handle/render it a little different. I've actually also been looking into a simplish interface of sorts like this using webpages, since that would also keep it relatively platform independent, but then actual environment/situation source/information would have to be either generated randomly, client side to make it possible to use these things offline using client side javascript or something, or it would need to be run off a web server, which is alright, but would honestly prefer to make it usable offline, but, yes, that would then drop some of the possibilities with regard to complexity, etc. Anyway, just my thoughts... Stay well Jacob Kruger Blind Biker Skype: BlindZA '...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...' - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 11:04 PM Subject: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games Hi everyone, For quite a while I have been thinking of trying my hand at some simple text adventure games and maybe eventually work my way up to some sort of game like Nethack, Ancient Domains of Mystery, or maybe even as complex as Entombed. As most of you know i use Linux most of the time, and the majority of accessible games are text adventures. So this would be a logical place to start since such games are relatively inexpensive and easy to make, and usually are cross-platform too. Of course, there is various text adventure systems like Inform, Adrift, Tads, etc but I've been thinking of writing them in a traditional programming language like C, Java, or Python. Anyway,before I even think of the technical details there are some things about the user interface I'd like to get your input on. First thing, is input. Most of the text adventures out there use various commands like grab sword, grab torch, light torch., etc. I could continue this tridition, but it seams to me there is an easier way to do this. For example, what if you pressed g for grab item, and then a menu popped up with a list of items in the room. You could then select the item you want to grab from a list. This would save a bunch of typing by effectively doing the same thing. For moving around the level asining directions to n for north, s for south, e for east, and w for west would certainly be preferable to ttyping out north, south, east, or west. What do you think about this approach? Second, is output. Again there is a couple of ways of doing this. We could certainly have everything be printed directly out to the console, text directly to the screen, which you can use your screen reader for. The other way is to use a Speech API like Sapi, Speech-dispatcher, etc that would automatically read out the information on the screen. This would make the games slightly less portable, but would have the advantage of automatic speech output by default. Any thoughts weather you would like to use a screen reader or use Sapi directly? Finally, we get down to the technical details. As I said I am well aware of Inform and Adrift, but in many ways those text adventure systems are not quite as flexable enough for what I want to do. If I wanted to create a multilevel dungeon like Entombed they would fall short pretty fast. That leaves me with the option of using a language like C/C++ or something else. At the moment I'm thinking of C/C++ because if written correctly the games should be fairly easy to recompile for other platforms and devices. While Java and Python have their advantages too if I wanted to port these games to cell phones, note takers, it wouldn't necessarily be as easy to do. However, the advantage of Python or Java would be I could hit the big three platforms Windows, Mac, or Linux with one easy swoop without having to recompile anything. Any thoughts? Cheers! --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
Hi Lisa, Well, I certainly haven't forgotten about the deaf blind gamers. Weather I included Sapi or not there would be text on the screen anyway. It could be read with the Jaws cursor, Window-Eyes mouse cursor, etc. The thing I really like about text based games is that they really are universally accessible. It doesn't matter if you are blind, deaf, sighted, etc they are equally playable. The only people triditional text adventures really leave out are those who can't type or those who have trouble spelling words. For example, I do know someone who has a problem with putting sounds together to form words. He tries to sound words out and spell them like they sound and he ends up making some really unusual mistakes. His spelling is so bad Microsoft Word's spell checker can't even figure out the words. The only way he can really compose e-mails and things like that is to use something like Dragon Naturally Speaking which drastically reduces the number of words he has to type/spell. So obviously with a problem like that playing triditional text adventure games is beyond his abilities, or at the very least are difficult. Anyway, with that in mind I was thinking about trying my hand at something totally accessible to just about everyone. If someone is deaf-blind they could use their screen reader and braille display to read the screen. If they are just blind they can have the screen read aloud. If Someone has some sort of cognative disability where they can't read/write well that too can be resolved. Cheers! On 2/19/11, Lisa Hayes lhay...@internode.on.net wrote: Thomas I like this idea a lot, the grab menu thing is good and the single letters for directions is good to and easy. I like the screen reader option, but am willing to try other voices. One thing I will say is don't forget our deaf blind gamers, I nearly said dead blind, oh dear. Maybe an option to output to a brailed display could be their somewhere. Lisa Hayes --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games
Thomas I was in no way saying you'd forgotten anyone, your friend for example could I hope with your games play them in some shape or form, maybe for him icons or pictures or something, not test I know, but that option could be their to be turned on and off by the user. Lisa Hayes www.nutrimetics.com.au/lisahayes - Original Message - From: Thomas Ward thomasward1...@gmail.com To: Gamers Discussion list gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2011 4:59 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Creating Adventure Games Hi Lisa, Well, I certainly haven't forgotten about the deaf blind gamers. Weather I included Sapi or not there would be text on the screen anyway. It could be read with the Jaws cursor, Window-Eyes mouse cursor, etc. The thing I really like about text based games is that they really are universally accessible. It doesn't matter if you are blind, deaf, sighted, etc they are equally playable. The only people triditional text adventures really leave out are those who can't type or those who have trouble spelling words. For example, I do know someone who has a problem with putting sounds together to form words. He tries to sound words out and spell them like they sound and he ends up making some really unusual mistakes. His spelling is so bad Microsoft Word's spell checker can't even figure out the words. The only way he can really compose e-mails and things like that is to use something like Dragon Naturally Speaking which drastically reduces the number of words he has to type/spell. So obviously with a problem like that playing triditional text adventure games is beyond his abilities, or at the very least are difficult. Anyway, with that in mind I was thinking about trying my hand at something totally accessible to just about everyone. If someone is deaf-blind they could use their screen reader and braille display to read the screen. If they are just blind they can have the screen read aloud. If Someone has some sort of cognative disability where they can't read/write well that too can be resolved. Cheers! On 2/19/11, Lisa Hayes lhay...@internode.on.net wrote: Thomas I like this idea a lot, the grab menu thing is good and the single letters for directions is good to and easy. I like the screen reader option, but am willing to try other voices. One thing I will say is don't forget our deaf blind gamers, I nearly said dead blind, oh dear. Maybe an option to output to a brailed display could be their somewhere. Lisa Hayes --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
