On Sat, 15 Mar 2003, Mythran wrote:
> >
> > The basic idea is to have an Ascii based map for spaceflight and travel
> > however the actual individual coordinates will only be called upon if
> > someone is occupying that particular coordinate and/or a planet or fixed
> > item assigned in olc resides there. Originally I was told this type of
> > system not only wouldn't work but wasn't even a remotely cool idea, but
> > imho I think the system is great and it should be utilized.
> >
> > If anyone out there in Circle land finds this idea to be one which holds
> > interest and they are a true to the word programmer which would like to
> > help, I'm in need of such a person and such a team. :P
> >
>
> Wow, this closely resembles an old bbs game. I can't remember the name of
> it and I don't remember it being on any other bbs's that ran on other
> operating systems besides the AMIGA. I wish I could remember though :(
>
Hm.
There were ALOT of bbs games that worked like this. Arena Fighter
(or something like that) was one that visually looked simliar to the
interface you posted.
They worked in one of two ways: either they drew a new screen
each time, and scrolled, or 'remembered' the previous screen layout and
updated it.
The problems with the first: unsightly, and annoying constant
scroll when you're doing something common (like moving through a
field/etc). Also, depending on the client, their typing may pop up while
you're displaying, causing some other ugly display issues.
The problems with the second are worse. Much worse. First, you
need to have your server be a 'real' telnet server. That is, supports the
protocol, not just raw socket connects to a given port. That's because
you're going to have to query and accept for things like screen width,
height, size changes, current cursor position, and other screen
capabilities.
It's even harder, because there's almost no clients out there that
correctly follow the telnet protocol, and inform the server when screen
sizes change, or correctly reposition the cursor, etc.
In fact, the 'best' situation i've seen was a server which used
the old multiple window technique to split your usable screen area up and
seperately maintain your text-insertion window from the map area. All the
same, it needed to be reset every once in a while, especially during
particularly exciting battles which required alot of commands to be
entered, or spamming directions to speedwalk to a location.
And it really only worked on people who actually used the 'telnet'
command from a unix-based machine. (The windows version of telnet is
broken, and I can't speak for the mac version, I think I only ever used
NCSA's telnet for macs).
In the end, if you're going to do something as simple as a
chessboard 2-d display, just make your own specalized client for it. A
2-d chessboard GUI isn't exactly rough/impossible.
It'd make a good first graphical program, if you've never written
one before.
PjD
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