Question for developers

Lesser known clone projects or isolated news items about rare or unusual clones.
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TheGleep
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Question for developers

Post by TheGleep »

Is there a place developers can go to get more detail than just the file formats? Things like overviews of how the game(s) work? How the graphics are rendered?

How about a place to co-ordinate efforts for cross-compatibility?

Is there interest in something like this?

Earl
[e-mail address removed in a vain, slightly paranoid, attempt to reduce spam]
Last edited by TheGleep on Tue Jul 26, 2005 3:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Paul Stevens
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Post by Paul Stevens »

The source code for CSBwin is available at dmweb.free.fr.
Lot of other stuff there, too.

Also
http://dianneandpaul.net/CSBwin/documentation
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cowsmanaut
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Post by cowsmanaut »

the gleep.. is that a Robert Asprin reference? sorry for the OT.. but a Big M.Y.T.H inc fan

moo
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andyboy_uk
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Post by andyboy_uk »

@Cows: Man I read those books ages ago, they were great :). Must read them again as I only read them once back then but I really enjoyed them.

:D
Andy
Regards,

Andy
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andyboy_uk
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Post by andyboy_uk »

Wow, I didnt know there were so many, I think I read the first 3 but none of the later ones! May get onto Amazon on payday and get back into reading again.
Regards,

Andy
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TheGleep
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Post by TheGleep »

cowsmanaut wrote:the gleep.. is that a Robert Asprin reference? sorry for the OT.. but a Big M.Y.T.H inc fan

moo
Yes, indeed it is! Congratulations - you are the first person to guess that!
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TheGleep
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Post by TheGleep »

Paul Stevens wrote:The source code for CSBwin is available at dmweb.free.fr.
Lot of other stuff there, too.

Also
http://dianneandpaul.net/CSBwin/documentation
I've downloaded and looked at the source. What I've seen hasn't made much sense yet. I'll look at the documentation link you gave.

I'm thinking (something I've been told - more than once - I do too much of) that it would be nice to focus all of the clone development energies into a more coherent effort so that more could be done than re-inventing the wheel n times.

I know there are a few features I'd like to see added to the games (admittedly, they may already be there), along with a PalmOS clone to play on my Tungsten T5.

Do you think there might be interest in co-ordinated cloning efforts to streamline clone development and improve clone compatabilities?

Earl
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Paul Stevens
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Post by Paul Stevens »

What I've seen hasn't made much sense yet
Welcome to a large club.

Do you think there might be interest in co-ordinated cloning efforts
No. The people caple of doing this sort of thing
would not sacrifice their own notions of 'correct'
without a large reward. Personal experience.
Can you say 'MONEY'?

With volunteers you get what you get.
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beowuuf
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Post by beowuuf »

I also assumed the MYTH reference before even reading this page - funny cows, didn't rememeber you being a big fan of the books! Love the originals, didn't like the last few ( I am seriously tempted to write a MYTH INC PARTS to compiment his last in the first series, there was such an obvious gap in the Guido story to fill!), Haven't checked out the new series he has co-authored but I gather it isn't up to the same standard as his old stuff, which is a shame, as everything until Sweet Myth-tery I really enjoyed

On topic post? Bah!
While cross-clone compatibilty might be nice, it will never happen for many reasons - a) personal projects, people are doign stuff that interests them with their own personal programme. Adding more unfun work to get things to work in other platforms, and other platform stuff to work on theirs, doens't sound like fun. b) co-ordination. How do you co-ordinate the development of thigns that are running in tandem with real life, that are all goign in seperate directions. Eahc DSA function paul creates needs testing just to work in CSBwin...then it would need to be echoed, once it was firmed up there, in every other engine...etc etc c) small community - losa work for not much people. All the effort currently going ino making dungeons and playign the existing cl0nes would need to go into the work of just bug testing across platforms, i would guess.

I see why people always ask about this, but I just don't imagine it ever happening. All that someone could do, if they wanted a project, would be to design ANOTHER clone that can take, as an input, any of the other clone or original dungeon files, and generates something playable under it. For this it would need all the other clones' functionality, such as DSA language if compiling a CSBwin dungeon.
The engine would need to be very flexible, as anythign could be added to the other clones, such as skinning CSBwin developed, the new item/monster creation of RTC, etc.
Tom Hatfield
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Post by Tom Hatfield »

That's a good point. I haven't check around, but is the dungeon.dat format well-documented?
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beowuuf
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Post by beowuuf »

Should be very well documented on the encyclopaedia
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