Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Latin I-F

7 views
Skip to first unread message

Jason Brown

unread,
Feb 23, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/23/99
to
I'm wondering what people think of creating a Latin game for educational
purposes. Has anyone created such an adventure? I'm still learning to write
Inform, but would there be any interest in such a game if I were to start
work on one? Any suggestion along these lines are also appreciated.

GLEEMOTH

unread,
Feb 23, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/23/99
to

Odd coincidence. I've recently begun work on a Latin text adventure myself.
It's still in the planning stages, but if you like, I'll let you know when (if)
I complete it.
Shay Caron (Shay_...@letterbox.com
-or-
glee...@aol.com)

J. Robinson Wheeler

unread,
Feb 23, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/23/99
to
Jason Brown wrote:
>
> I'm wondering what people think of creating a Latin game for educational
> purposes. Has anyone created such an adventure? I'm still learning to write
> Inform, but would there be any interest in such a game if I were to start
> work on one? Any suggestion along these lines are also appreciated.


How interesting. The very first IF I ever completed was a text adventure
game that I did as a special project for a Latin class in 7th grade. I
wrote it in Applesoft Basic on an Apple II, and it had basically interactive
versions of the lessons we had been reading. It was a bunch of little books
set in Pompeii before the disaster. Anyone else remember Caecilius, Matella,
Grumio, and Quintus?

I remember that one problem I had was that I originally tried to feature
graphics -- a mural painted on the wall -- but the program grew so large
that it invaded the area of memory reserved for hi-res graphics, so when
I ran the program and it cleared the graphics screen, it wiped out the
last third of the program. It took a lot of crying and rewriting (I had
a weird habit of wanting to run the program before I saved it back then)
before I realized I what the problem was.

Ah well. Latinventure. I always wanted to mention it, and finally there
was an excuse. Let's see, this was 1983, if memory serves. It took 15
years before I _completed_ another game.

--
J. Robinson Wheeler
whe...@jump.net http://www.jump.net/~wheeler/jrw/home.html

Adam J. Thornton

unread,
Feb 24, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/24/99
to
In article <36D3778D...@jump.net>,

J. Robinson Wheeler <whe...@jump.net> wrote:
>How interesting. The very first IF I ever completed was a text adventure
>game that I did as a special project for a Latin class in 7th grade. I
>wrote it in Applesoft Basic on an Apple II, and it had basically interactive
>versions of the lessons we had been reading. It was a bunch of little books
>set in Pompeii before the disaster. Anyone else remember Caecilius, Matella,
>Grumio, and Quintus?

Marcus Iuliam pulsat! Iulia Marcum pulsat! Marcus Iuliam pulsat! Iulia
plorat: "U-hu-u! U-hu-u!"

>Ah well. Latinventure. I always wanted to mention it, and finally there
>was an excuse. Let's see, this was 1983, if memory serves. It took 15
>years before I _completed_ another game.

*I* got second or third place at NJCL for my Latin Certamen Trainer
program. With modular databases.

Adam
--
ad...@princeton.edu
"There's a border to somewhere waiting, and a tank full of time." - J. Steinman

Eric O'Dell

unread,
Feb 24, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/24/99
to
On Tue, 23 Feb 1999 21:52:44 -0600, "J. Robinson Wheeler"
<whe...@jump.net> wrote:

>I remember that one problem I had was that I originally tried to feature
>graphics -- a mural painted on the wall -- but the program grew so large
>that it invaded the area of memory reserved for hi-res graphics, so when
>I ran the program and it cleared the graphics screen, it wiped out the
>last third of the program. It took a lot of crying and rewriting (I had
>a weird habit of wanting to run the program before I saved it back then)
>before I realized I what the problem was.

I had the same problem with a Scott Adams-ish graphics-and-text
adventure I wrote on the Apple II. It really baffled me for quite some
time until I noticed a warning in a graphics programming book about
the behavior along with a workaround. I'm glad I wasn't the only one
with that problem -- I thought I was going nuts at the time.

>Ah well. Latinventure. I always wanted to mention it, and finally there
>was an excuse. Let's see, this was 1983, if memory serves. It took 15
>years before I _completed_ another game.

My knowledge of Latin is pretty weak, but wouldn't Latin syntax pose
something of a problem for a parser designed for a Germanic language
like English? I suspect it might actually be easier to write a Latin
parser from scratch, at least for high classical Latin, since word
order is much less important than in English, though.

-E.

--Eric


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "I have come a very long way from myself only to realize that |
| identity is a skill and self-betrayal is a habit. Once lost, the |
| former is very hard to regain; once gained, the latter is very |
| hard to lose." ---I. Corvus, _The Europe of Our Dreams_ |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

Jacob Munkhammar

unread,
Feb 24, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/24/99
to
In article <CdEA2.1104$Vu6....@newsfeed.slurp.net>, "Jason Brown"
<fake.a...@as.I.use.a.family.address.and.can't.risk.spam> wrote:

> I'm wondering what people think of creating a Latin game for educational
> purposes. Has anyone created such an adventure? I'm still learning to write
> Inform, but would there be any interest in such a game if I were to start
> work on one? Any suggestion along these lines are also appreciated.

I seem to have heard there's a Latin version of the Inform grammar "out
there" someplace... (?)

/Jacob

--
Hemma hos: http://www.stud.ntnu.no/~jacob/
Textäventyr: http://www.stud.ntnu.no/~jacob/SAK/
Bugatti: http://www.stud.ntnu.no/~jacob/BILsidor/Bugatti/
Maskiner: PowerMac 4400, Mac LC, Mac Plus, Sinclair Spectrum

okbl...@usa.net

unread,
Feb 24, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/24/99
to
In article <CdEA2.1104$Vu6....@newsfeed.slurp.net>,
"Jason Brown" <fake.a...@as.I.use.a.family.address.and.can't.risk.spam>
wrote:
> I'm wondering what people think of creating a Latin game for educational
> purposes. Has anyone created such an adventure? I'm still learning to write
> Inform, but would there be any interest in such a game if I were to start
> work on one? Any suggestion along these lines are also appreciated.

I'd (try to) play it.

Would you set it in Rome? Or in the Church?

Centurion: "Romani Eunt Doma?" Romans go like a house?
Brian: It says, "Romans Go Home!"
Centurion: "No it doesn't!"

[ok]

-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own

Joe Merical

unread,
Feb 24, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/24/99
to
>My knowledge of Latin is pretty weak, but wouldn't Latin syntax pose
>something of a problem for a parser designed for a Germanic language
>like English? I suspect it might actually be easier to write a Latin
>parser from scratch, at least for high classical Latin, since word
>order is much less important than in English, though.
>
>-E.


Not so, if memory serves me correctly. It would depend on whether the
person is typing in English or Latin. If they were to type in Latin, you
would only have to make some edits to the library files (in Inform, at
least, I don't know about TADS). I'm pretty sure there's a line in there
that gives word order. Also, I think someone is working on a parser in
Latin. I don't know when it'll be out, I just saw something about it on
Graham Nelson's website.

Erik Max Francis

unread,
Feb 24, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/24/99
to
"Neil K." wrote:

> I have. I found it stupendously tedious. Perhaps if I relished the
> sight
> of golden naked lads frolicking on a beach I'd have liked it. But
> since
> that doesn't particularly interest me, the film really didn't hold my
> attention. The fact it's entirely in Latin is an interesting novelty,
> but
> not enough to redeem it, far as I'm concerned.

Can't be as bad as _Incubus_, from what I've heard (which is in
all-Esperanto and stars -- gulp -- William Shatner in his pre-Star Trek
days).

--
Erik Max Francis / email m...@alcyone.com / whois mf303 / icq 16063900
Alcyone Systems / irc maxxon (efnet) / finger m...@members.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
\
/ You cannot step into the same river once.
/ Cratylus

Fraser Wilson

unread,
Feb 25, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/25/99
to
paene lacrimavi postquam whe...@jump.net scribavit

> It was a bunch of little books
>set in Pompeii before the disaster. Anyone else remember Caecilius, Matella,
>Grumio, and Quintus?

Cambridge Latin course! Wow. Grumio ebrius est quod in tabernum bibabat.

Love those guys. You know "Escape from Pompeii" would be fun as IF. Um,
I mean (grabs dictionary ...) "fuga ex Pompeis" What was the ablative
form for Pompeii again?

in atrium es.
Metella advenit.

> METELLA, SALVE

Metella te praeteret. mons Vesuvius displodit.

*** mortuus es ***

I love this game already. Unfortunately, my Latin is way to primitive
to write it. In fact, playing it would be tricky.

Did anybody see a movie called "Sebastiane"? Neither did I, but I really
want to. http://us.imdb.com/Title?Sebastiane+(1976)

Fraser.

Bob Reeves

unread,
Feb 25, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/25/99
to

> I'm wondering what people think of creating a Latin game for educational
> purposes. Has anyone created such an adventure? I'm still learning to
write
> Inform, but would there be any interest in such a game if I were to start
> work on one? Any suggestion along these lines are also appreciated.

Album domum prope in aperto campo stas.

>ASPICE ALBAM DOMUM

Non quale hic aspicies!

>SALVE, NAUTA

Nihil hic fit.


Bryant Durrell

unread,
Feb 25, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/25/99
to
In article <7b01ce$6em$1...@cnn.Princeton.EDU>,
Adam J. Thornton <ad...@princeton.edu> wrote:
>In article <36D3778D...@jump.net>,

>J. Robinson Wheeler <whe...@jump.net> wrote:
>>How interesting. The very first IF I ever completed was a text adventure
>>game that I did as a special project for a Latin class in 7th grade. I
>>wrote it in Applesoft Basic on an Apple II, and it had basically interactive
>>versions of the lessons we had been reading. It was a bunch of little books

>>set in Pompeii before the disaster. Anyone else remember Caecilius, Matella,
>>Grumio, and Quintus?
>
>Marcus Iuliam pulsat! Iulia Marcum pulsat! Marcus Iuliam pulsat! Iulia
>plorat: "U-hu-u! U-hu-u!"

Yes! You know, I'd love to find a set of those books again. I have
a distinct memory of jaws dropping the first time Grumio went off and
took pleasure with that maid...

--
Bryant Durrell [] dur...@innocence.com [] http://www.innocence.com/~durrell
[----------------------------------------------------------------------------]
Guns don't kill people; people kill people.

Matthew T. Russotto

unread,
Feb 25, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/25/99
to
In article <7b24c5$t62$1...@remarQ.com>,
Fraser Wilson <fra...@synopsys.com> wrote:

}Love those guys. You know "Escape from Pompeii" would be fun as IF. Um,
}I mean (grabs dictionary ...) "fuga ex Pompeis" What was the ablative
}form for Pompeii again?

From the volcano's perspective, all of it.
--
Matthew T. Russotto russ...@pond.com
"Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in pursuit
of justice is no virtue."

Adam J. Thornton

unread,
Feb 25, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/25/99
to
In article <7b27kk$1c...@news3.newsguy.com>,

Bryant Durrell <dur...@innocence.com> wrote:
>Adam J. Thornton <ad...@princeton.edu> wrote:
>>Marcus Iuliam pulsat! Iulia Marcum pulsat! Marcus Iuliam pulsat! Iulia
>>plorat: "U-hu-u! U-hu-u!"
>Yes! You know, I'd love to find a set of those books again. I have
>a distinct memory of jaws dropping the first time Grumio went off and
>took pleasure with that maid...

Damn.

We switched to a traditional teaching approach too early, I guess.

Tua mater cum agricola in fossa est.

Den

unread,
Feb 25, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/25/99
to
On Tue, 23 Feb 1999, J. Robinson Wheeler wrote:

> It was a bunch of little books set in Pompeii before the disaster.
> Anyone else remember Caecilius, Matella, Grumio, and Quintus?

The Cambridge Latin Course, first volume (in later volumes Quintus went to
Britain and met an evil mercator called Salvius; of course you didn't know
Salvius was a bad guy at first...). How could you forget Clemens?

--
Lustrum Sceleris


Den

unread,
Feb 25, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/25/99
to
Hmm, somehow I'm missing the original message...

On 23 Feb 1999, GLEEMOTH wrote:

> Jason Brown (reall...@fake.address) writes:
>> I'm wondering what people think of creating a Latin game for
>> educational purposes. Has anyone created such an adventure?

> Odd coincidence. I've recently begun work on a Latin text adventure
> myself.

I can remember at least two other posts from the past about people
constructing Latin libraries for Inform. And Ryebread showed some interest
at one point, too.

What is it with you guys and Latin, huh?

--
Den


fra...@synopsys.darn.i.missed.it.last.time.com

unread,
Feb 25, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/25/99
to
paene lacrimavi postquam fake...@anti-spam.address scribavit

>> Did anybody see a movie called "Sebastiane"? Neither did I, but I really
>> want to. http://us.imdb.com/Title?Sebastiane+(1976)

> I have. I found it stupendously tedious. Perhaps if I relished the sight


>of golden naked lads frolicking on a beach I'd have liked it.

Sounds good so far. :)

>But since
>that doesn't particularly interest me, the film really didn't hold my
>attention. The fact it's entirely in Latin is an interesting novelty, but
>not enough to redeem it, far as I'm concerned.

Hmmm. There must have been something other than Latin and naked lads to
give it that sort of score on IMDB (8 or something I think). I had a
really interesting conversation with Paul Humfress once about it, which
was sorta tricky having not seen the movie, but there you go.

If only I had a VCR! Darn it, this is America, and I have the right to
own a TV, a VCR and twelve assorted shotguns.

Fraser.

Simon 'tufty' Stapleton

unread,
Mar 1, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/1/99
to
fra...@synopsys.darn.i.missed.it.last.time.com writes:

> paene lacrimavi postquam fake...@anti-spam.address scribavit
>
> >> Did anybody see a movie called "Sebastiane"? Neither did I, but I really
> >> want to. http://us.imdb.com/Title?Sebastiane+(1976)
>
> > I have. I found it stupendously tedious. Perhaps if I relished the sight
> >of golden naked lads frolicking on a beach I'd have liked it.
>
> Sounds good so far. :)
>
> >But since
> >that doesn't particularly interest me, the film really didn't hold my
> >attention. The fact it's entirely in Latin is an interesting novelty, but
> >not enough to redeem it, far as I'm concerned.
>
> Hmmm. There must have been something other than Latin and naked lads to
> give it that sort of score on IMDB (8 or something I think). I had a
> really interesting conversation with Paul Humfress once about it, which
> was sorta tricky having not seen the movie, but there you go.

The cinematography was beautiful. And Jarman really knew how to put
a film together. Admittedly, it's not a mass-interest film, and I can
see how people could absolutely hate it, but it is a feast for the
eyes. The latin is more of a gimmick, really.

Anyway, I loved it.

Simon "and naked lads frolicking isn't normally my thing" Stapleton
--
_______ _______
| ----- | Biased output from the demented brain of | ----- |
||MacOS|| Simon Stapleton. ||Linux||
|| 8.5 || || PPC ||
| ----- | sstaple AT liffe DoT com | ----- |
| -+-.| (if you can't figure it out...) | -+-.|
|洵洵洵洱 |洵洵洵洱
------- -------

fra...@synopsys.com.com

unread,
Mar 3, 1999, 3:00:00 AM3/3/99
to
I nearly cried when nob...@no.bloody.where said:

>The cinematography was beautiful.

Well, that's why I loved _City of Angels_ (it sure wasn't the plot).
I wonder how well it works on video -- man, I need a television, because
otherwise talking movies is almost as frustrating as talking about
my Upcoming Project.

> The latin is more of a gimmick, really.

Sure works for me. But I'm a sucker for a gimmick. Maybe that's
why I like IF. No graphics? Cool gimmick! <--- look at that
sudden back-on-topic
shift! Subtle, eh?

>Simon "and naked lads frolicking isn't normally my thing" Stapleton

I just think the concept of butch Roman soldiers having a bit of
a frolick on the beach is kinda cool. It's like when an Australian
gives you flowers.

Fraser.
(actually, it's not a lot like that at all)

0 new messages