List of games that don't work 100% (using an iPod Touch)

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I am currently using Frotz 1.6 (the latest at the time of writing) using an 
iPod Touch iOS 5 (or whatever Apple's calling it. Also, don't ask me about the 
gen. It was bought in January 2013 and let's leave it at that).

This is to be a list of every game that doesn't, at present, really work 
smashingly on Frotz, as well as the reason why, as far as I could tell. I will 
add to it as I play the games. This list will include known problems, such as 
the .z6 games, because it's as well to have all these things in a big list and 
watch it dwindle to nothingness. :)

Let's begin.

007 - Alto Secreto: Crashes, simply put.
222 Contra el Cangrejo: after some seconds of working nicely, some weirdness 
ensues. The line that indicates where my text will go jumps up and down, I stop 
seeing what I'm writing, and before long, crash.

Incidently, there may be some issues with some Spanish games, probably the same 
issues that there are in Git (nevertheless they work fine on Glulx).

Balances (Glulx version): the problem is mostly due to the size of the screen, 
and the size of the hyperlinks. If we could pinch/zoom them, as per another 
suggestion, it would be perfect.

Glkchess: the display is quite off. Images are chopped in the middle. Without 
pinching, it's also not really playable. With pinching, however...

zRogue: I know, I know, it's an abuse, you don't *have* to run it. But it 
starts to display surprisingly well. Then something goes FUBAR and it 
completely stops responding. At which point there's nothing to do but to 
totally remove the game with DiskAid; because Frotz will save it as is, in its 
unresponsive state. ;)

Z-Chess: completely unplayable without arrow keys. I understand this is very 
specific, so a suggestion would be to define, in Frotz's settings whether not 
the arrow keys were currently emulated, and let the user define which keys 
would do, for the duration of the session. It's a bit of a hoop, yes, but very 
few games require this (which I know is an argument against it being 
implemented at all, naturally).

I will keep you posted as I play (might be a while since I'm currently playing 
a puzzle fest!). Feel free to add to this.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by ilprimoc...@gmail.com on 27 Jan 2013 at 11:16

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Uninvited.zblorb: it's possible that there's a v6 file inside the blorb, which 
would explain the problem, but Frotz just play says it doesn't recognise the 
file. Incidently, this zblorb contains the game and some sounds; there is a 
soundless version of the game available, so we can still actually play the 
thing.

Original comment by ilprimoc...@gmail.com on 27 Jan 2013 at 11:22

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Beyond Zork: though it generally works beautifully, eventually you will get a 
room description that, in its default mode, will simply not fit the top-left 
box. In that case instructions will appear, saying "press DOWN arrow to 
scroll"... well, naturally, there IS no "down arrow". See suggestions regarding 
"Z-Chess".

Original comment by ilprimoc...@gmail.com on 8 Feb 2013 at 12:14

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Adventure GUI: The only difference between this version of "Adventure" and 
others is a sort of GUI; a bar at the top with standard actions. This bar is, 
currently, a couple of milimetres high (in my iPod Touch), making it unusuable 
and barely visible.

Yes, there's no big loss here - most of the shortcuts in the GUI are already 
available as shortcuts in iFrotz itself, and the game itself is exactly the 
same as the normal "Adventure". Still, it fits the list as a game that doesn't 
really work 100%. Just about 99.999%.

Original comment by ilprimoc...@gmail.com on 9 Feb 2013 at 11:02

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Alien - La Aventura: This one very unreasonably quits the game if the 
interpreter doesn't support sound, which currently includes iFrotz.

Original comment by ilprimoc...@gmail.com on 12 Feb 2013 at 10:32

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Narrow Your Eyes: This game claims to require sound. Also, late in the game, 
there is a huge image, game-critical and dynamic, that fills the entirety of 
the display in Portrait mode and the near-entirety of the display in Landscape 
mode, making it nigh unplayable.

Original comment by ilprimoc...@gmail.com on 15 Feb 2013 at 11:56

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Please attach saved game files when the bugs only show up mid-game.  Thanks.

Original comment by spath...@gmail.com on 16 Feb 2013 at 12:10

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Sorry about that, I thought the description would be enough. Also, note that 
the image occupied the whole display *in an iPod Touch*, I imagine there would 
be little problem in an iPad. Pinching/zooming would take care of that.

Here's the save game. Just go "north" after restoring.

Original comment by ilprimoc...@gmail.com on 16 Feb 2013 at 12:10

Attachments:

• [Go north.sav](https://storage.googleapis.com/google-code-attachments/iphonefrotz/issue-203/comment-16/Go north.sav)

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

You can work around the bug typing \ by typing \\ instead, and it will act as 
if you type the single \. 

Original comment by spath...@gmail.com on 17 Feb 2013 at 1:39

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I would just like to make a brief intermission here, in this growing list, to 
say that for every game with a minor issue there are five or ten games that run 
flawlessly, and iFrotz is the best thing I could have asked for. Bravo on your 
work and your continuing support.

I thought it was time to stop listing flaws and start giving credit where it's 
due. Now returning to our scheduled programming.

Original comment by ilprimoc...@gmail.com on 17 Feb 2013 at 1:49

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Yeah, not saying it's a reason not to fix the bug. Just noting it. 

And thanks for the nice intermission!

Original comment by spath...@gmail.com on 17 Feb 2013 at 2:01

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hmm. It appears that something I did, possible accessing the HINT menu, in 
Arthur, resized the status bar to be far too big, and the keyboard covers the 
text all the time. Will remove the autosaved and restart.

Original comment by ilprimoc...@gmail.com on 18 Feb 2013 at 10:42

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Silly typo (and I can't edit previous comments) - in the "Arthur" bit, where I 
said...

"there is an option to turn off text"

...it should naturally read...

"there is an option to turn off graphics, and play in text-only mode"

Original comment by ilprimoc...@gmail.com on 19 Feb 2013 at 12:40

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Well, I was able to replicate that "Arthur" "status bar super-resizing" thing 
consistently by restarting the game.

But now I saved the game and tried restarting (forcing the bug to happen, to 
see if I could restore to a time WITHOUT the bug) and... restarting doesn't 
replicate it anymore. I'm grateful, really, but I am at a loss.

Oh, and although I haven't tried more of ZZero, it ocurred that that one will 
definitely need graphics to be played, because of all the graphical puzzles... 
Arthur is playable this way; I'm sure Shogun is, too; Journey seems playable, 
though very crippled without arrow keys and without the options highlighted (I 
can test it with pressing "space", it was supposed to cycle through the various 
command lists), I can't see what I'm selecting half the time, but it seems 
*playable*. ZZ might be the only one to rely on graphics.

Original comment by ilprimoc...@gmail.com on 19 Feb 2013 at 10:48

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Re: Spanish ganes:
If you have any info about precisely what he did in the engine to allow them, 
and if SuperGlus games are detectable such that they can be distinguished from 
other games so it's not necessary to create a uniform incompatibility, then I'd 
be happy to make Frotz work as well.

Original comment by spath...@gmail.com on 20 Feb 2013 at 3:48

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Compliance - it runs fine, but it reminds you almost every turn that the 
interpreter doesn't support sound, and you're missing out on the experience, 
and this game was designed specifically as an experiment in using the sound 
capabilities of Inform and combining them with a sound-intensive gameplay 
experience, and so on.

Original comment by ilprimoc...@gmail.com on 27 Feb 2013 at 1:26

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Custard - this game is pretty hacky, and even as a disclaimer about it. iFrotz 
can't quite manage it; the game takes place in the status line, so 
double-tapping a word is right out. When the game starts, typing "n. pull 
switch" (or "turn switch on"...) will start the hacky bits. The difficulty 
isn't that the display gets hard to read, I think that's intended. The 
difficulty is that when that starts happening, question marks will start 
getting entered into the prompt line - writing a command involves erasin 
question marks, typing a letter, and racing against the oncoming question marks.

Original comment by ilprimoc...@gmail.com on 1 Mar 2013 at 12:30

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]