Creating interactive web adventure game for web interaction?
oak
game for interaction via the web?
Thanks
-Tony
------------------------------------------------------------
unix generation after generation linux
Brian Smith
: Anyone know how one might go about creating an interactive adventure
: game for interaction via the web?
My first inclination would be, in response to each action, send a page
back to the browser with the result text of that action, followed probably
by the description text of where the player was, what objects were there,
what objects they were holding, and a set of links or buttons (depending
on how graphical you wanted to get) showing possible choices for what they
could do with each of those things.
This of course would depend on what you were trying to do... if you wanted
anything in there at all that would require real-time interaction, you
couldn't do that very well over the web, but you could do it with a Java
applet.
Keeping tack of the state of things is another matter in a thing like
this. One thing you could do is to use a database for this. If you
wanted to keep the state of the game world isolated for each player (as
in, each player sees their own version of the game world), then you could
place an identifying mark for each player in the database records nd when
that player does an action, screen for data pertaining only to that
player.
You could also keep track of the last time a player did something, and if
you wanted to (in the case where each player's environments were isolated
from each other) you could clean up the data if you wanted to by that
player ID. This would keep the database from becoming bloated due to
abandoned game sessions.
Hope this helps.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Smith Software Developer/Programmer at Large
aval...@earthling.net http://home.dreamhaven.org/~morph/
this->Realize(); // Self-realization through C++
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wildman, the Cuberstalker
>Anyone know how one might go about creating an interactive adventure
>game for interaction via the web?
There are two ways to do it, both using Java.
1. Unless I misunderstood something, there is a java-based interpreter for
zcode games.
2. Write the games in Java.
--
Wildman, the Cuberstalker
"Frank Virga is a spammer, a con man, a liar, an idiot, and a thief." --
The Cuberstalkers
Fight spam - http://www.cauce.org/
DO NOT SPAM THIS ADDRESS
Erik Max Francis
> There are two ways to do it, both using Java.
> 1. Unless I misunderstood something, there is a java-based interpreter
> for
> zcode games.
> 2. Write the games in Java.
Or one could write a bug ugly HTML interface, through CGI. It would
work, but it would probably be clumsy.
--
Erik Max Francis / email m...@alcyone.com / whois mf303 / icq 16063900
Alcyone Systems / irc maxxon (efnet) / finger m...@sade.alcyone.com
San Jose, CA / languages En, Eo / web http://www.alcyone.com/max/
USA / icbm 37 20 07 N 121 53 38 W / &tSftDotIotE
\
/ But who shall dwell in these worlds if they be inhabited?
/ Johannes Kepler
oak
to do will be text based where people perform certain actions by
typing sentences then they'll get real time responses based on their
textual input. I'm not a programmer and I've never touched java,
anyone know if I should approach java or java script for this type of
thing?
I thought perhaps perl/cgi might be a way to go.
Thanks for the tips folks!
-Tony
------------------------------------------------------------
unix generation after generation linux
--
--------------------------------------------------------
Abbreviate - af 2 millenia, a btr wy t rd n wri.
http://www.eskimo.com/~oak/abr/
Erik Max Francis
> It appears a java applet might be the way to go. Most of what I want
> to do will be text based where people perform certain actions by
> typing sentences then they'll get real time responses based on their
> textual input. I'm not a programmer and I've never touched java,
> anyone know if I should approach java or java script for this type of
> thing?
>
> I thought perhaps perl/cgi might be a way to go.
Java and JavaScript are two completely different, unrelated things.
JavaScript is a scripting language that is intended to be used on the
client-side and is embedded in the HTML. Java is byte-compiled and is
separate from any HTML that displays it (and in fact can exist
completely outside of any browser).
Not everybody uses JavaScript, and, as with Java, it is slightly
different in different browsers. For portability, you're probably
better off with a CGI program which outputs simple HTML (CGI programs
can be anything, not just Perl).
Mike Mormando
Servlets, that enough ideas to get you started?
Mike
oak wrote in message <9uf%1.3917$Qf3....@news9.ispnews.com>...
>Anyone know how one might go about creating an interactive adventure
>game for interaction via the web?
>
>Thanks
Wildman, the Cuberstalker
>I thought perhaps perl/cgi might be a way to go.
I did too, until I tried it once. I thought it was too clumsy for the end
user to use.
oak
java. Remember I'm mostly dealing with text and I'd like this to be
universally available to most people with most browsers (java I
suppose is universal enough these days).
Seems Wildman thought perl/cgi was a bit clumsy.
I'm not familiar with mud text, ISAPI or Java Servlets.
Assuming I were to go with Java, which seems might be the best way to
go, I was debating wheather to go with javascript or java.
-Tony
pke...@mailexcite.com
>universally available to most people with most browsers (java I
>suppose is universal enough these days).
Not really, and 90% of users who do use Java-compatable browsers turn of
Java and Javascript support on their browsers (for good bloody reason
IMO).
>Seems Wildman thought perl/cgi was a bit clumsy.
It's only clumsy if you make it that way. CGI is fine for a text
adventure, the tricky part is writting a good parser.
>I'm not familiar with mud text, ISAPI or Java Servlets.
Setting up a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon(or whatever)) would be the best and
by far easest way to go. A mud is a text adventure program that lets
multiple visitors explore a world and interact with each other. There are
many types of MUDs out there, my favorite is CircleMUD, mainly because it
was the first one I learned :-) Do a search in Yahoo for "MUD" and it
should bring up at least one catagory devoted to the subject.
>Assuming I were to go with Java, which seems might be the best way to
>go, I was debating wheather to go with javascript or java.
Can't help you there, I avoid both those languages like the plague. Java
is a pain to write and JavaScript is only useful for little toys on web
pages, nothing serious.
Patrick
Brian Smith
: Setting up a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon(or whatever)) would be the best and
: by far easest way to go. A mud is a text adventure program that lets
: multiple visitors explore a world and interact with each other. There are
: many types of MUDs out there, my favorite is CircleMUD, mainly because it
: was the first one I learned :-) Do a search in Yahoo for "MUD" and it
: should bring up at least one catagory devoted to the subject.
:>Assuming I were to go with Java, which seems might be the best way to
:>go, I was debating wheather to go with javascript or java.
: Can't help you there, I avoid both those languages like the plague. Java
: is a pain to write and JavaScript is only useful for little toys on web
: pages, nothing serious.
If you want to set up a MUD and have it web-accessible through a Java
client, there's likely no Java coding to be involved. There are Java
telnet and MUD clients out there for just such purposes. I'm using one
for my telnet chat site in fact, and even though it's not perfect, I don't
get that many complaints (there's a disclaimer on the page anyway... it
doesn't work so well with Internet Explorer and Netscape for Macs). If I
could remember the URL where I got it I'd post that.
Andrew Plotkin
> >universally available to most people with most browsers (java I
> >suppose is universal enough these days).
> Not really, and 90% of users who do use Java-compatable browsers turn of
> Java and Javascript support on their browsers (for good bloody reason
> IMO).
> >Seems Wildman thought perl/cgi was a bit clumsy.
> It's only clumsy if you make it that way. CGI is fine for a text
> adventure, the tricky part is writting a good parser.
This discussion is mixing up two different forms of interactive web site
-- server-side programming and client-side programming.
Javascript, and Java applets, run on the viewer's web browser, and the
viewer has turned off Java/Javascript they won't work. Matt Russotto's
Java Z-machine works this way.
CGI scripts run on the Web server, and generate plain HTML (or whatever
you want) for the viewer's browser to display. This is completely
portable, assuming you don't use goofy HTML. My old Praser 5 toy worked
this way, if you remember that. (It's not running anywhere these days.)
But CGI scripts don't have to be Perl; you can write them in any language
that runs on the web server machine. There are also other CGI-*like*
things which may be available on a web server -- particularly Apache,
which is freeware and tends to pick up new standards and languages about
two weeks after they appear. I've written server-side programs in Java
connected to an Apache server through FastCGI (like the CGI interface, but
different.) There's PHP, a C-style language which you embed in a web page
(but again is interpreted on the server, so the client doesn't see it.)
Lots of options.
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
Erik Max Francis
> Not really, and 90% of users who do use Java-compatable browsers turn
> of
> Java and Javascript support on their browsers (for good bloody reason
> IMO).
Well, it's not this high, but certainly a significant portion do. And
besides, both Java and JavaScript are implemented subtly differently in
different browsers, making extensive reliance on it dangerous.
--
Erik Max Francis / email m...@alcyone.com / whois mf303 / icq 16063900
Alcyone Systems / irc maxxon (efnet) / finger m...@sade.alcyone.com
San Jose, CA / languages En, Eo / web http://www.alcyone.com/max/
USA / icbm 37 20 07 N 121 53 38 W / &tSftDotIotE
\
/ Whoever named it necking was a poor judge of anatomy.
/ Groucho Marx
pke...@mailexcite.com
>Javascript, and Java applets, run on the viewer's web browser, and the
>viewer has turned off Java/Javascript they won't work. Matt Russotto's
>Java Z-machine works this way.
That and the arcade emulators are the only two reasons I ever turn Java
support on :-)
>portable, assuming you don't use goofy HTML. My old Praser 5 toy worked
>this way, if you remember that. (It's not running anywhere these days.)
Hmmm, don't think I've ever heard of it, what was it?
>But CGI scripts don't have to be Perl; you can write them in any language
>that runs on the web server machine. There are also other CGI-*like*
You don't have to tell me, I use Miva :-) Perl just feels like a slapped
together language, no real structor to it (and typos in the built in
function names are always a good sign of a sloppy language IMO).
Patrick
David Glasser
> pke...@mailexcite.com wrote:
> : Setting up a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon(or whatever)) would be the best and
> : by far easest way to go. A mud is a text adventure program that lets
> : multiple visitors explore a world and interact with each other. There are
> : many types of MUDs out there, my favorite is CircleMUD, mainly because it
> : was the first one I learned :-) Do a search in Yahoo for "MUD" and it
> : should bring up at least one catagory devoted to the subject.
>
> :>Assuming I were to go with Java, which seems might be the best way to
> :>go, I was debating wheather to go with javascript or java.
>
> : Can't help you there, I avoid both those languages like the plague. Java
> : is a pain to write and JavaScript is only useful for little toys on web
> : pages, nothing serious.
>
> If you want to set up a MUD and have it web-accessible through a Java
> client, there's likely no Java coding to be involved. There are Java
> telnet and MUD clients out there for just such purposes. I'm using one
> for my telnet chat site in fact, and even though it's not perfect, I don't
> get that many complaints (there's a disclaimer on the page anyway... it
> doesn't work so well with Internet Explorer and Netscape for Macs). If I
> could remember the URL where I got it I'd post that.
http://www.first.gmd.de/persons/leo/java/Telnet/
I installed a copy of it on my website so I can get at my shell account
at places where one can't run telnet.
--David Glasser
David Glasser gla...@NOSPAMuscom.com http://onramp.uscom.com/~glasser
DGlasser @ ifMUD : fovea.retina.net 4000 (webpage fovea.retina.net:4001)
Sadie Hawkins, official band of David Glasser: http://sadie.retina.net
"We take our icons very seriously in this class."
David Glasser
> You don't have to tell me, I use Miva :-) Perl just feels like a slapped
> together language, no real structor to it (and typos in the built in
> function names are always a good sign of a sloppy language IMO).
I can see why somebody would think Perl has no structure (I think it has
a structure, but the programmer gets to choose it), but what do you mean
about the typos?
Curiously,
--
Kory Heath
> I could put it back up, I guess, but I should get off my butt and
> reimplement it in Inform. It'd take about an hour.
>
> I've been resisting this because I never wanted to make the code public --
> it'd be easy to read out most of the solutions. (The answers to riddles
> are usually single words.)
Maybe you can do something tricky in Inform to get around this, like not
putting the words in the dictionary, but instead parsing them manually
character-by-character in a way that won't obviously show up in a TXD or
InfoDump or whatever. If there are telltale spoilers in text strings,
you might be able to do some similar shuffling around in the code. (Am
I on the right track here, or am I mis-understanding the problem?)
Anyway, you should figure something out. We want to play it! :)
--
Kory Heath
khe...@best.com
Adam J. Thornton
<pke...@mailexcite.com> wrote:
>You don't have to tell me, I use Miva :-) Perl just feels like a slapped
>together language, no real structor to it (and typos in the built in
>function names are always a good sign of a sloppy language IMO).
I've heard many accusations against Perl. But typos in the function names?
What do you mean?
Adam
--
ad...@princeton.edu
"There's a border to somewhere waiting, and a tank full of time." - J. Steinman
Geoff Bailey
>> portable, assuming you don't use goofy HTML. My old Praser 5 toy worked
>> this way, if you remember that. (It's not running anywhere these days.)
>
> Hmmm, don't think I've ever heard of it, what was it?
It was a mazy kind of thing (well, not that much of a maze, at least in
the sections I got to) with riddles/puzzles to solve. I got a little bit
of the way in but got stopped at the 'Three faces have I...' riddle, which
I needed to answer to get the information to give to someone else before I
could progress. :(
I enjoyed it though. Any chance on it making a return, Zarf?
Cheers,
Geoff.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Geoff Bailey (Fred the Wonder Worm) | Programmer by trade --
ft...@cs.usyd.edu.au | Gameplayer by vocation.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew Plotkin
> In article <agU%1.1184$XJ.36...@newsread.com!newshog.newsread.com>,
> <pke...@mailexcite.com> wrote:
> >> From: erky...@netcom.com (Andrew Plotkin)
> >> portable, assuming you don't use goofy HTML. My old Praser 5 toy worked
> >> this way, if you remember that. (It's not running anywhere these days.)
> >
> > Hmmm, don't think I've ever heard of it, what was it?
> It was a mazy kind of thing (well, not that much of a maze, at least in
> the sections I got to) with riddles/puzzles to solve. I got a little bit
> of the way in but got stopped at the 'Three faces have I...' riddle, which
> I needed to answer to get the information to give to someone else before I
> could progress. :(
> I enjoyed it though. Any chance on it making a return, Zarf?
I could put it back up, I guess, but I should get off my butt and
reimplement it in Inform. It'd take about an hour.
I've been resisting this because I never wanted to make the code public --
it'd be easy to read out most of the solutions. (The answers to riddles
are usually single words.)
It's been almost ten years now, I shouldn't really care. But I'm still
kinda proud of parts of it. Particularly that three faces riddle.
Geoff Bailey
In article <erkyrathF...@netcom.com>,
Andrew Plotkin <erky...@netcom.com> wrote:
[ Talking about the Praser Maze ]
> I could put it back up, I guess, but I should get off my butt and
> reimplement it in Inform. It'd take about an hour.
>
> I've been resisting this because I never wanted to make the code public --
> it'd be easy to read out most of the solutions. (The answers to riddles
> are usually single words.)
Understandable. Probably even a good thing.
> It's been almost ten years now, I shouldn't really care. But I'm still
> kinda proud of parts of it. Particularly that three faces riddle.
Yes, well I tried all sorts of things on that riddle. Then it disappeared
on me. :( I would like to see the Praser Maze again, in either form, just
so I can hit my head against it again. :)
BTW, why "Praser"?
Andrew Plotkin
> In article <erkyrathF...@netcom.com>,
> Andrew Plotkin <erky...@netcom.com> wrote:
> > It's been almost ten years now, I shouldn't really care. But I'm still
> > kinda proud of parts of it. Particularly that three faces riddle.
> Yes, well I tried all sorts of things on that riddle. Then it disappeared
> on me. :( I would like to see the Praser Maze again, in either form, just
> so I can hit my head against it again. :)
Well, I might as well post it. Nobody be posting spoilers, please. And
don't write me and ask if you got it right. If you got it right, you'll
know, ok?
-----------
I am forever on the Way, but I will never reach its end. I see the Way in
three aspects. With my first eye, I see it as endless motion; with my
other eye, I see it as eternal stasis. Yet I have a third eye, which sees
both without contradiction; perceiving entropy, the energy of the Way
decaying inevitably down to silence. What am I?
-----------
(Riddle copyright 1988-1998 Andrew Plotkin.)
> BTW, why "Praser"?
Came to me in a dream.
Jonadab the Unsightly One
> I could put it back up, I guess, but I should get off my butt and
> reimplement it in Inform. It'd take about an hour.
>
> I've been resisting this because I never wanted to make the code public --
Then don't.
> it'd be easy to read out most of the solutions. (The answers to riddles
> are usually single words.)
A good reason, IMO, not to make the code public.
- jonadab
pke...@mailexcite.com
>I can see why somebody would think Perl has no structure (I think it has
>a structure, but the programmer gets to choose it), but what do you mean
>about the typos?
'elsif', nuff said :-)
Patrick
Wildman, the Cuberstalker
'elsif' is NOT a typo. 'elseif' is two words, and should have a space
between them. 'elsif' is one word, and therefore "correct". (Granted, it's a
made up word, but still...)
--
Wildman, the Cuberstalker
You know the Klingon proverb that tells whose revenge is a dish that is best
served cold? It is very cold....in Cuberspace.
Andrew Plotkin
> > I could put it back up, I guess, but I should get off my butt and
> > reimplement it in Inform. It'd take about an hour.
> >
> > I've been resisting this because I never wanted to make the code public --
> Then don't.
If I reimplement it in Inform, I *will* be making the code public. (The
assembly, at least, which counts for these purposes.)
Damien Neil
>> > It's been almost ten years now, I shouldn't really care. But I'm still
>> > kinda proud of parts of it. Particularly that three faces riddle.
I vote for putting it back up on the web, not in Inform. I've made two or
three attempts at solving it since first running across it, and there's
something about the idea of having a puzzle out there that I can't cheat
on that I like...
If you port it to Inform, I'll probably end up disassembling it in
frustration.
>I am forever on the Way, but I will never reach its end. I see the Way in
>three aspects. With my first eye, I see it as endless motion; with my
>other eye, I see it as eternal stasis. Yet I have a third eye, which sees
>both without contradiction; perceiving entropy, the energy of the Way
>decaying inevitably down to silence. What am I?
I liked this one.
The geometry puzzle was fun, too.
- Damien
Phase
>I installed a copy of it on my website so I can get at my shell account
>at places where one can't run telnet.
I just did that and it struck me as hilarious. :)
No chance of that applet sending our name and password
to those who made it, is there? Don't feel like going
through the source code and compiling it myself. :-/
--
PHASEFX @ VM.SC.EDU - http://www.cs.sc.edu/~jason-e
Intelligence is supposed to be our greatest survival trait, yet
it is emotion that motivates us. Never rationalize away love.
Adam J. Thornton
>assembly, at least, which counts for these purposes.)
Unless you implement an ULTRA-SEKRIT encryptor in Inform to obfuscate
it...c'mon, Zarf, what's one *more* egregious abuse of the Z-machine?
Erik Max Francis
> >It's only clumsy if you make it that way. CGI is fine for a text
> >adventure, the tricky part is writting a good parser.
>
> As long as you can program without all those extra frills, like error
> messages.
Beg pardon?
--
Erik Max Francis / email m...@alcyone.com / whois mf303 / icq 16063900
Alcyone Systems / irc maxxon (efnet) / finger m...@sade.alcyone.com
San Jose, CA / languages En, Eo / web http://www.alcyone.com/max/
USA / icbm 37 20 07 N 121 53 38 W / &tSftDotIotE
\
/ I like young girls. Their stories are shorter.
/ Thomas McGuane
Phil Goetz
>
>adventure, the tricky part is writting a good parser.
As long as you can program without all those extra frills, like error messages.
Phil
Wildman, the Cuberstalker
I may think perl/cgi is clumsy for the player, but what are YOU talking
about?
Jonadab the Unsightly One
: It appears a java applet might be the way to go. Most of what I
want
: to do will be text based where people perform certain actions by
: typing sentences then they'll get real time responses based on
their
: textual input. I'm not a programmer and I've never touched java,
: anyone know if I should approach java or java script for this type
of
: thing?
:
: I thought perhaps perl/cgi might be a way to go.
:
: Thanks for the tips folks!
Say, what about Zplet? That gives the advantages of having
the Inform libraries to build on, and a great compiler...
--
[Insert hilarious quote here.]
-- jonadab