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ifrotz / iosfrotz

Frotz for iOS source (formerly at code.google.com/p/iphonefrotz)
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On TADS games: Placeholder for the image #263

Open PeterPiers opened 9 years ago

PeterPiers commented 9 years ago

(this is only relevant for v1.7.2 onwards, still in pre-beta phase)

It would be very helpful if in TADS games there were some sort of placeholder to display in lieu of images. That way, until Frotz grew to support the images properly, a placeholder of sorts - maybe text like [Graphics are not supported by this version of the iOS Glk TADS interpreter] - would display instead.

The reason I'm asking is, if I'm playing a game that has images, I want to know about it. I don't want to play the entire game missing out on what the author would call the "full experience". If iFrtoz displays these placeholders, I then know I might be missing out on something, and have the choice to save my game and keep playing in my multimedia-compliant desktop terp at home.

PeterPiers commented 9 years ago

(not directly related but not worth opening another issue, as it's more of an idea being thrown) Of course, there is a problem with TADS games that doesn't exist with ZCode games - the multimedia files are often separate. And iFrotz only deals with the immediate game file. But about this, I'm thinking that if we could use the same interface as the "saved games" to add the multimedia files in what amounts to be the game folder...

...or if we could "open" a multimedia file in another application (say, FileApp) to have it imported into the Frotz games directory, which is the same directory where the actual game file will be...

...well, I'm just thinking aloud. The same strategy could possibly be used for some .z6 games, like the Mysterious Adventures series, which have their graphics in a separate blorbed file.

But before this could be considered, of course, iFrotz would have to start recognising the file extensions. Right now, if I were to try importing BATON.Z6 and BATON.BLB, it would think they were the same game. Or, going into TADS territory, it wouldn't distinguish between KAGED.GAM and KAGED.RS1 (or whatever those files are called).

On the ZMachine this is tricker, because some BLB files are games and some are just separate graphic files. But I'm imagining iFrotz could safely assume it's a multimedia blorb if it doesn't find a story file inside.

I'm just thinking aloud. There's no point in me making suggestions if even I don't think it's doable in my layman's head, so this is me getting to the "it seems doable enough to suggest" point. ;)

PeterPiers commented 9 years ago

Another thing: hyperlinks. In the one test I did with the version I have, hyperlinks weren't showing or being clickable. I have no idea whether you want to address that before you release 1.7.2 proper (though it seems TADS support would warrant 1.8!), but just in case you don't, maybe some placeholders there would be a good idea as well. Say, italicising hyperlinked text.

Yes, this will probably make things a little bit confusing if a game already uses italics a lot, but since it's a temporary, stop-gap measure, and since hyperlinked text is already emphasised by nature, and clicking/tapping the temporarilly-italicised hyperlink-ought-to-have-been won't do anything... I think it might work out.

ifrotz commented 9 years ago

The version number in the source was actually still 1.7.1 before I built your version; I will probably make it 1.8 or even 2.0 by the time I really release it, depending on what else gets included. I only bumped it to 1.7.2 to ensure that it would show up as an upgrade for you to install.

It probably won’t be hard to make hyperlinks actually work in TADS rather than just display differently.

Craig

On Jul 5, 2015, at 10:40 AM, PeterPiers notifications@github.com wrote:

Another thing: hyperlinks. In the one test I did with the version I have, hyperlinks weren't showing or being clickable. I have no idea whether you want to address that before you release 1.7.2 proper (though it seems TADS support would warrant 1.8!), but just in case you don't, maybe some placeholders there would be a good idea as well. Say, italicising hyperlinked text.

Yes, this will probably make things a little bit confusing if a game already uses italics a lot, but since it's a temporary, stop-gap measure, and since hyperlinked text is already emphasised by nature, and clicking/tapping the temporarilly-italicised hyperlink-ought-to-have-been won't do anything... I think it might work out.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/ifrotz/iosfrotz/issues/263#issuecomment-118634336.

ifrotz commented 9 years ago

Hey Peter, can you provide a good test case game for testing hyperlink support? I'm really not familiar with any TADS games, having always stuck to Z-machine/Inform, and there's no way to search for games by what language features they use.

PeterPiers commented 9 years ago

Sure thing. The one I had tested first was Arrival (http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=b7zs6ocxlntb1u7c), but the famously hyperlink-heavy games are Ecdysis (http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=aqtol7ejlzadgnsz) and Walker & Silhouette (http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=u0fzm0lxlt9vb4fi), the latter of which even has a small extra window; a status bar of sorts, underneath the command prompt, with four clickable commands, which should be an extra challenge (if you plan to support it. If you plan not to, yet, the challenge becomes how to not display it without breaking anything).

BTW, one thing that prompted me about this whole image thing was Arrival. WHen it came time to show an image (type "wash dishes" twelve times) the screen just displayed tons of question marks and didn't go anywhere else. FYI.

PeterPiers commented 9 years ago

(tangential, and posted here just because this is where I brought up the "what about separate multimedia files" thing)

I've just e-mailed Michael Roberts with a question and got a very positive answer. I asked, "Could TADS games be re-packaged so that the separate multimedia files are merged with the game file to create a single iOS-app-friendly file?". And the answer was "Sure!". I e-mailed him back and am hoping to learn how to do it so I can elliminate this issue entirely. It only affects seven games, anyway.

PeterPiers commented 9 years ago

Re the "post" above, it's as good as done. I've repacked the games and know how to do it again in the future. For TADS you need not worry about external "resource" files.