How is Frotz on the iPad?
Robb Sherwin
version of Frotz on an iPad. If you did, how is the experience?
Erik Temple
wrote:
> I've yet to get a tablet, but I'm curious if anyone has tried the new
> version of Frotz on an iPad. If you did, how is the experience?
It's great. Text display is crisp, you can use any of the fonts available
on the device (a fairly large selection), and the UI is generally very
nice. You can double-tap on any word on the screen and it will drop down
to appear as if you'd typed it into the command line, and there is also a
nice autocomplete function that is customized with IF vocabulary. The
major enhancement I'd like to see is the ability to restrict the width of
the display area--currently the text fills the screen, which even in
portrait mode results in a pretty wide text column. (I prefer
book-standard lines of 60-80 characters.)
iPad Frotz is also quite fast. A current thread on RAIF indicates that
Fate is a game with very slow response time (893805 memory accesses after
each turn), and there is no noticeable delay at all.
--Erik
namekuseijin
> major enhancement I'd like to see is the ability to restrict the width of
> the display area--currently the text fills the screen, which even in
> portrait mode results in a pretty wide text column. (I prefer
> book-standard lines of 60-80 characters.)
How about pumping up the font size? :)
Erik Temple
wrote:
No way. I have 20/20 vision...
Irfon-Kim Ahmad
How do you find typing on it? I've heard numerous reports that it's
next to impossible to type large amounts of text into comfortably,
because in landscape mode you can't reach all the letters with your
thumbs and in portrait mode it's cumbersome to hold for long periods. I
wasn't really sure that IF would constitute "large amounts of text", and
the "punctuation hidden behind punctuation key" issue wouldn't apply
there, but I still wasn't sure it would be comfortable enough for length
holding and typing. Do you mostly use it "on the go"? I have to admit
that being able to play a lot of IF during my daily commute would be
very compelling.
Erik Temple
<ir...@ambienautica.com> wrote:
> How do you find typing on it? I've heard numerous reports that it's
> next to impossible to type large amounts of text into comfortably,
> because in landscape mode you can't reach all the letters with your
> thumbs and in portrait mode it's cumbersome to hold for long periods. I
> wasn't really sure that IF would constitute "large amounts of text", and
> the "punctuation hidden behind punctuation key" issue wouldn't apply
> there, but I still wasn't sure it would be comfortable enough for length
> holding and typing. Do you mostly use it "on the go"? I have to admit
> that being able to play a lot of IF during my daily commute would be
> very compelling.
Given the features I described for Frotz, I don't find that I have to type
much at all. Typically, a keystroke or two (x plus the spacebar, for
example), and then a double-tap on the name of the object and you have a
complete command.
More generally, I'd say typing is OK. The keyboard sensitivity and
response is excellent, but this isn't a device made for writing books on.
I have held it in portrait mode and double-thumbed, but I'm actually
faster than I'd have thought just holding it with one hand while pecking
with one or two fingers. For entering URLs, passwords, and other short
text (including Frotz), that's how I usually end up doing it.
For longer text (e.g. emails) in landscape mode: YMMV but I find that
two-handed typing on the keyboard is pretty natural, at least until you
need a character (e.g. punctuation) that isn't on the main keyboard
layout. I doubt you'd want to use the iPad for anything longer than an
email or usenet post, but I'm sure somebody will be flacking their attempt
to write a novel on it soon; you'll probably be able to follow that guy's
blog to see how it goes... NaNoWriMoiPad...
--Erik
ChicagoDave
> Given the features I described for Frotz, I don't find that I have to type
> much at all. Typically, a keystroke or two (x plus the spacebar, for
I stopped at an Apple store, installed Frotz on an iPad and played for
about 15 minutes. It's weird that I like Frotz on my iPhone, but on
the iPad it seems oddly different. Most of the UI features are great
on the iPad...like game selection, perusing IFDB. But the actual game
play, for me, left me with the feeling that a lot of things could be
done to make it better. Being able to click on words have them float
down to the input area is cute, but that's not enough.
It's really still an app for IFers. I don't see a non IF person being
enticed by Frotz. The iPad is a very seductive machine (although I
think it's too heavy to hold for too long) and that's where Frotz
probably doesn't quite fit. It's not WOW enough to get anyone's
attention.
Just my two cents.
David C.
www.textfyre.com
Erik Temple
<david.c...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Apr 8, 12:45 pm, "Erik Temple" <ek.tem...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Given the features I described for Frotz, I don't find that I have to
>> type much at all. Typically, a keystroke or two (x plus the spacebar,
>> for
>
> I stopped at an Apple store, installed Frotz on an iPad and played for
> about 15 minutes. It's weird that I like Frotz on my iPhone, but on
> the iPad it seems oddly different.
Well, there's a lot more screen real estate that the developer clearly
doesn't know what to do with. There was a terrible aesthetic choice made,
of having the text fill the whole width of the screen; that's fine on a
tiny iPhone screen, but not when you have a screen this size. It would be
nice if there were tabs that could provide ancillary information, e.g. a
"What do I do with this?" text for newcomers (Zarf's IF Card would be a
good model). Another nice thing would be a pop-up that would let you
scroll through your command history. Or maybe you could load a walkthrough
and have it alongside the game while you play...
> Most of the UI features are great
> on the iPad...like game selection, perusing IFDB. But the actual game
> play, for me, left me with the feeling that a lot of things could be
> done to make it better. Being able to click on words have them float
> down to the input area is cute, but that's not enough.
I don't think you're really talking about *gameplay* here--the gameplay UI
is exactly the same as the iPhone (including clicking on words).
> It's really still an app for IFers. I don't see a non IF person being
> enticed by Frotz. The iPad is a very seductive machine
> and that's where Frotz
> probably doesn't quite fit. It's not WOW enough to get anyone's
> attention.
Definitely true. I don't think Frotz is even attempting to appeal to new
folks. Or if it is, the marketing is terrible--basically the "hook" on the
app store page is "Tired of all the fancy graphics in those other games?",
along with "Just want to blow stuff up? This app is not for you." Maybe
those kinds of sentiments appeal to some IFers, but they make me cringe.
On the other hand, I don't think a general interpreter is the right app to
attract folks to IF in any case. Individually released game files are far
more able to do that; they can be customized in ways that a general
interpreter can't. (This isn't to say that a general interpreter couldn't
be a bit more "designed"--just that I wouldn't expect for a general
interpreter to be much of a draw.)
--Erik
Andrew Plotkin
>
> On the other hand, I don't think a general interpreter is the right app to
> attract folks to IF in any case. Individually released game files are far
> more able to do that; they can be customized in ways that a general
> interpreter can't. (This isn't to say that a general interpreter couldn't
> be a bit more "designed"--just that I wouldn't expect for a general
> interpreter to be much of a draw.)
Yeah, I've been thinking about this. A project on my list (you know,
after all the other projects on my list) is an open-source iPhone/iPad
app framework, which any iPhone developer could take, drop a game file
into, compile as an app, and submit to the app store. Allow easy
styling of the interface (color/width/font stuff), and then the
developer can do whatever he wants on top of that to customize the
app.
If someone else did this, I'd take advantage of it...
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
Erik Temple
> Here, Erik Temple <ek.tem...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On the other hand, I don't think a general interpreter is the right app to
> > attract folks to IF in any case. Individually released game files are far
> > more able to do that; they can be customized in ways that a general
> > interpreter can't. (This isn't to say that a general interpreter couldn't
> > be a bit more "designed"--just that I wouldn't expect for a general
> > interpreter to be much of a draw.)
>
> Yeah, I've been thinking about this. A project on my list (you know,
> after all the other projects on my list) is an open-source iPhone/iPad
> app framework, which any iPhone developer could take, drop a game file
> into, compile as an app, and submit to the app store. Allow easy
> styling of the interface (color/width/font stuff), and then the
> developer can do whatever he wants on top of that to customize the
> app.
>
> If someone else did this, I'd take advantage of it...
>
> --Z
That sounds great. I suppose another--similar--approach, less
desirable in terms of end product but possibly easier to implement
(I'm not technically savvy enough to know), would be to do the same
with Parchment. The shell app would really just need to be something
to control the display of an HTML document.
--Erik