LadyStar Update (New Episode)
Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.
"Little Pictures Everywhere," the latest episode of our magical and
mysterious iStory adventure game, LadyStar, is now available to download!
Windows, Linux and Macintosh versions are available:
http://www.ladystar.net/episodes.html
Updated game screens are available here:
http://www.heavycat.com/ladystar/gamescreens.html
We're also offering a special early shareware registration price for the
full electronic version of LadyStar for those adventurous (pun intended)
enough. Early registrations will receive a special exclusive *bonus
episode* which will not be available after the early registration period.
LadyStar can be registered here:
http://www.ladystar.net/completegame.html
Have fun!
Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.
http://www.ladystar.net
http://www.heavycat.com
Arian Hokin
Arian Hokin
Jenny100
news:3BC4CFE2...@holly.northnet.com.au...
> That's seven copies of that message now. *We can see it*, okay?
>
> Arian Hokin
>
This is the first time I saw it today.
Did you get 7 Heavy Cat messages all in the same day?
Jenny100
news:9q2td8$ahf$1...@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net...
Hmmm...
Looks like Mindspring only got his one message while
Newsguy got 4 messages - this one + 3 earlier ones with
Announce in the title.
Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.
We got 1, apparently the first six just didn't appear. It's *really* time
for a new newsreader.
--
Would the last real software engineer to leave the
corporate IT job market please power down the
server?
Scott
Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.
http://www.heavycat.com/
http://www.ladystar.net/
Robert Norton
<GH7x7.39385$8a.22...@news1.rsm1.occa.home.com>:
>We got 1, apparently the first six just didn't appear. It's *really*
>time for a new newsreader.
I download the first episode, it seems to play okay under Opera 5 until I
got to the first screen that had "options" rather than "more" or "continue".
It wouldn't go any farther than that. Also, the nice large pictures didn't
remain behind the cartoon heads, the heads appear on a plain background.
What's going on?
Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.
iStories haven't been tested with Opera at all. It is possible (likely)
that Opera doesn't support DHTML and Javascript the same way as Mozilla, IE
and NS 6.
LadyStar has been tested on IE 5 and 5.5, and Mozilla 0.9.4 on Windows and
Linux. Mozilla on Macintosh and Netscape 6 on Windows, Linux and Macintosh
are presumed to work because they use the same rendering engine as Mozilla
on Windows and Linux.
Opera isn't supported yet, so this may be the cause of the problems.
--
System shutdown at 5PM today to install
database bug.
Scott
Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.
http://www.heavycat.com
Robert Norton
>iStories haven't been tested with Opera at all. It is possible (likely)
>that Opera doesn't support DHTML and Javascript the same way as Mozilla,
>IE and NS 6.
Please read this page, and tell me what you think...
http://www.jwweb.com/20010824.html
Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.
Opera supports IE4 DHTML/Javascript, which is fine, but it isn't standard
Javascript. The engine we have now supports three major browsers with few
bugs. We could go back and retrofit 500+ lines of Javascript with functions
to support Opera and various other browsers (including NS4, etc),
but we're at capacity supporting and developing what we have now
(and it still has bugs).
For example, we just spent the better part of four days updating portions of
our web site to support Netscape 4 better (but it is still buggy).
The mess of unsupported features
and non-inheriting CSS styles and if-block Javascript functions that
resulted was truly shameful, but 15% of people insist on using a four-year
old obsolete browser, so we have to accomodate them, to a point.
The iStory engine relies on CSS positioning and Javascript accessing those
styles through the DOM. IE4 only supported a small portion of those
standards, and it would seem Opera supports a similar portion. This is an
area where it is very easy for any given user to download a compatible
browser, or use the one that is already on the system, so it would seem like
a great deal of effort for no apparent reason to completely re-engineer the
game engine by surrounding everything with if-then-else blocks to support
one or two more browsers. Theoretically, we could make iStories run on
Netscape 2 also, but we have limited time, and a LOT of
episodes to publish. ^^
Thanks for the article!
--
make: *** No rule to make '.signature'. Stop.
Robert Norton
>Thanks for the article!
You are welcome. A lot of people use Opera as their reference browser, as
it is the best "standards based" browser in many regards. It seems like
your engine has only a very limited number of things to do, show a picture,
collect a choice, let the user hit "more". (Maybe there are a lot more
functions supported that I didn't see.)
Best regards, Bob Norton.
Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.
Most of the on-screen items in 80% of the screen types require a
Javascript-DOM-CSS function of one kind or another. More of these screens
are available in the second episode than the first. By the end of the first
volume, all but a few screen types will have been used. "The New Girl" only
has two, I think. There are 11 different screens supported by the current
version of the engine, with one more being added tomorrow. ^^
Robert Norton
>Most of the on-screen items in 80% of the screen types require a
>Javascript-DOM-CSS function of one kind or another. More of these
>screens are available in the second episode than the first. By the end
>of the first volume, all but a few screen types will have been used.
>"The New Girl" only has two, I think. There are 11 different screens
>supported by the current version of the engine, with one more being
>added tomorrow. ^^
Even so, 12 screeen types doesn't sound that scarey. Did you have to use
Javascript-DOM-CSS or could you have used plain Java? That should be much
more portable across browsers, I would think.
Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.
We've had numerous suggestions: Java, Shockwave, Flash, etc. etc.
Each brings its own set of problems, just like the iStory engine now. 12
screens doesn't sound bad, but we are generating these screens, not
authoring them directly. When completed, LadyStar will consist of thousands
of pages, and we can't possibly edit them all individually.
The current engine runs on Mozilla, Internet Explorer and Netscape, which
covers well over 90% of PC installations, including Linux and Mac, and
doesn't prevent people who would rather use Opera to browse the web, for
example, from playing the game. They simply have to use a supported browser
for LadyStar, and their regular browser for web sites. We did our best, but
there are going to be browsers that just don't work with iStories, and we
knew that when we started building the engine.
Thanks for your interest!
--
Robert Norton
>We've had numerous suggestions: Java, Shockwave, Flash, etc. etc.
>Each brings its own set of problems, just like the iStory engine now.
Ok, shoot, what's the problem with Java? I'm interested.
>12 screens doesn't sound bad, but we are generating these screens, not
>authoring them directly. When completed, LadyStar will consist of
>thousands of pages, and we can't possibly edit them all individually.
Of course, I would never suggest you edit the content. It is just that the
current system you have works at least 90% with Opera, and if you have 500
lines of code, you'd have to add about another 50 lines. As far as I know,
that little patch I sent you might do the trick.
>browser for LadyStar, and their regular browser for web sites. We did
>our best, but there are going to be browsers that just don't work with
>iStories, and we knew that when we started building the engine.
I agree completely. It won't hurt you much to focus on just IE and
Netscape. But, as long as you are making an engine, if a small effort will
get you another 3%, it might be worth it.
Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.
>in...@NOSPAM.heavycat.com (Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.) wrote in
><R00z7.46347$8a.28...@news1.rsm1.occa.home.com>:
>
>>We've had numerous suggestions: Java, Shockwave, Flash, etc. etc.
>>Each brings its own set of problems, just like the iStory engine now.
>
>Ok, shoot, what's the problem with Java? I'm interested.
Memory problems were the major glitch with our Java prototype. When added
to the non-trivial memory requirements of Mozilla, for example, some of our
older systems had trouble running both. We also had a glorious bug with the
VM on our Linux development box which caused an older version of Netscape to
segfault (which was probably just Netscape), or made the GUI elements stop
accepting input.
We found ways to simulate or replace all of the functions a Java engine
would have provided, without the extra overhead of a VM and the included
technical support problems. Perhaps if we were better Java programmers, we
could have done a better job ^^; but we were 10 months into engine
development, and we had to stop asking "what if" and ship the engine.
>>12 screens doesn't sound bad, but we are generating these screens, not
>>authoring them directly. When completed, LadyStar will consist of
>>thousands of pages, and we can't possibly edit them all individually.
>
>Of course, I would never suggest you edit the content. It is just that the
>current system you have works at least 90% with Opera, and if you have 500
>lines of code, you'd have to add about another 50 lines. As far as I know,
>that little patch I sent you might do the trick.
It might, and we would certainly like to support Opera. The next time we
work on the engine, we'll see if we can get it to work with Opera, and if
we do, we'll release an Opera Beta and see if it works, and add it to our
supported browsers list if it does.
>
>>browser for LadyStar, and their regular browser for web sites. We did
>>our best, but there are going to be browsers that just don't work with
>>iStories, and we knew that when we started building the engine.
>
>I agree completely. It won't hurt you much to focus on just IE and
>Netscape. But, as long as you are making an engine, if a small effort will
>get you another 3%, it might be worth it.
We're actually trying our best to support the standards themselves as
opposed to one particular browser. If we were going to limit iStories to
one platform, there is a lot to be said for making it a
Director/Shockwave/Flash game, or doing the engine in Visual Basic (we
already have two prototypes), or even limiting it only to Mozilla to get the
extra features (alpha-channeled PNG, custom XUL interface, etc.)
But if we do that, we immediately lose Linux and Mac, and any chance to
support Opera, and so forth. Our Linux and Macintosh users are our most
helpful and most supportive in terms of suggestions and bug reports, etc. so
far, so we certainly don't want to limit the game to Windows.
There is also the fact that the engine isn't even a 1.0 yet, and we are
continuing to add small features and to improve the speed and efficiency, so
there is a good possibility we'll support new browsers soon.
Thanks very much for your suggestions. We're always interested in ways to
improve the engine and LadyStar. ^^ Have fun!
--
"Well that's no ordinary rabbit."
Robert Norton
>Director/Shockwave/Flash game, or doing the engine in Visual Basic (we
>already have two prototypes), or even limiting it only to Mozilla to get
If you are serious about considering VB, let me know. I feel that it would
be the worst choice of any you've mentioned, and that you should consider
many other languages before VB. (or VB#)
Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.
We went to GML because of the certain problems of working with VB, and VB is
no longer considered a good platform for iStories. It would make the games
unexpandable, and limit them 100% to Windows.
Besides, the prototypes never really worked right anyway. ^^
Robert Norton
>We went to GML because of the certain problems of working with VB, and
>VB is no longer considered a good platform for iStories. It would make
>the games unexpandable, and limit them 100% to Windows.
Is this the same GML you are using?
http://www.wirelessdevnet.com/channels/lbs/features/top10gml/
Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.
No. Ours is Game Markup Language. This article is about Geography Markup
Language. Game Markup Language is our own company's XML document type for
game data.
Robert Norton
$8a.31...@news1.rsm1.occa.home.com>:
>No. Ours is Game Markup Language. This article is about Geography Markup
>Language. Game Markup Language is our own company's XML document type for
>game data.
I thought it was very clever to use the Geography Markup Language for a
game. If you look at the spec, I think it would work! They have links and
images, and can make hot objects to click to take you to new places.
If your Game Markup Language is an XML type, does that mean the
specification is public? Can others author documents of that type?
Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.
>in...@NOSPAM.heavycat.com (Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd.) wrote in <Y6Wz7.49560
>$8a.31...@news1.rsm1.occa.home.com>:
>
>>No. Ours is Game Markup Language. This article is about Geography Markup
>>Language. Game Markup Language is our own company's XML document type for
>>game data.
>
>I thought it was very clever to use the Geography Markup Language for a
>game. If you look at the spec, I think it would work! They have links and
>images, and can make hot objects to click to take you to new places.
Hey, why not? ^^
>If your Game Markup Language is an XML type, does that mean the
>specification is public? Can others author documents of that type?
The.. ahem.. specification.. yes, well.. uhhh... ^^;;
Yes. Eventually Heavy Cat Multimedia will be releasing an SDK of sorts
which will have examples of some of the GML documents from LadyStar and
Vector 74, the compilers, the stylesheets, DTD, etc., along with
instructions on how to use them to generate browser-based games. It will
be released under some kind of open license so that other developers can use
the SDK to produce their own games.
Only the content of LadyStar and Vector 74 will remain proprietary
(but still covered by the "Fair Use License"
http://www.heavycat.com/license.html). The iStory(tm) engine will be open
for other developers to use.