Just saying hi
Bridget
I don't know if anyone here was on rec.games.roguelike.development
around the turn of the century (ha, I just like saying that), but
anyway, I used to port roguelikes to PalmOS. Then for a few years I
didn't have any free time (and shucks now I don't even have a Palm) so
they're abandonware, which, I believe, is part of the traditional
roguelike life cycle. :)
I have 5 minutes of free time late at night once in a while now, and
I'm thinking of either learning Javascript or Android programming
(iRogue rides again!)... or catching up on sleep, that might not hurt
either. Haven't decided.
How are things in roguelikes these days?
Bridget
Krice
> I have 5 minutes of free time late at night once in a while now
I'd like to know what you are doing before and after that 5 minutes.
Brian Ramsay
> I have 5 minutes of free time late at night once in a while now, and
> I'm thinking of either learning Javascript or Android programming
> (iRogue rides again!)... or catching up on sleep, that might not hurt
> either. Haven't decided.
I can't speak for Android, but Javascript is pretty fun. It has gotten
a bad rap over the years, and there are parts of the language that were
bad ideas, but there's a great programming language in there somewhere.
Check out
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Good-Parts-Douglas-Crockford/dp/0596517742
for an excellent (and short) primer on javascript programming tips and
methods. I'm developing a Moria port in Javascript, but I haven't
heard of any js roguelikes other than little tech demos. If anyone is
out there also developing in Javascript, speak up!
Or you could use free time to catch up on sleep. That's always a nice option.
PS A framework like MooTools or jQuery (or many others, depending on
your need) saves a ton of hassle for many common tasks like element
selection & manipulation and animation.
PPS The Firefox extension Firebug is an awesome dev tool and js
debugger, and Chrome & Safari's Web Inspector is pretty good, too.
Bridget
> > I have 5 minutes of free time late at night once in a while now, and
> > I'm thinking of either learning Javascript or Android programming
> > (iRogue rides again!)... or catching up on sleep, that might not hurt
> > either. Haven't decided.
>
> I can't speak for Android, but Javascript is pretty fun. It has gotten
> a bad rap over the years, and there are parts of the language that were
> bad ideas, but there's a great programming language in there somewhere.
> for an excellent (and short) primer on javascript programming tips and
> methods. I'm developing a Moria port in Javasc
Sweet! Moria is my favorite of the classics. Thanks for the links.
Bridget
I would tell you but then you'd recoil in horror and vow never to have
small children. Or elderly cats.
Björn Ritzl
Lol! Good one! I know what you mean.... at least when it comes to small
children. I dunno about elderly cats though, I'm more of a dog person...
furballs from hell or what?
/Björn
Bridget
You got it.
Konstantin Stupnik
> I dunno about elderly cats though, I'm more of a dog person...
> furballs from hell or what?
Dogs have owners.
Cats have staff.
Mingos
Amen to that.
Speaking of which, I need to check on the dog...
frd
> I'm thinking of either learning Javascript or Android programming
> (iRogue rides again!)... or catching up on sleep, that might not hurt
> either. Haven't decided.
These days it is probably quite possible to write a Java roguelike
that compiles both to Android application and to Javascript (with
GWT). A desktop/applet java version would come as an added bonus.
Filip Dreger
Björn Ritzl
Wow, I've heard of GWT before, but never really spent any time trying to
understand what it is. I've read a bit more about it now and it sounds
intriguing. I wonder if I could get Dweller to run in a browser using
GWT (it already compiles as an Android app, a J2ME app and as a normal
J2SE desktop app)? Do you have any first-hand experience with GWT yourself?
/Björn
frd
> understand what it is. I've read a bit more about it now and it sounds
> intriguing. I wonder if I could get Dweller to run in a browser using
> GWT (it already compiles as an Android app, a J2ME app and as a normal
> J2SE desktop app)? Do you have any first-hand experience with GWT yourself?
Yes, it generally works. The problems are:
- no advanced collections (like TreeMap), but since Dweller compiles
on J2ME, this should not be a problem (never tried plain Vector or
Hashtable on GWT, but they should be there, no problems with plain
lists and maps);
- performance, but since Dweller workes great on a 2005 phone, this
should not be a problem either;
- most of the APIs are asynchronous, so if you have a main loop of
some kind, you will have to turn it inside out and turn it into some
kind of a callback.
- you will have to choose an API for displaying graphics. This can be
either simple HTML (maybe plain text displayed in a <pre> tag?), some
custom HTML combination (an absolute-positioned <img> for each
square?) or maybe some kind of canvas (supported to some extent on
Internet Explorer, but you will need to be careful).
Other than that - the Javascript generated by GWT from Java is great,
fast and easy to integrate with your own Javascript code.
Filip Dreger