Why does Wikipedia keep begging for foreign fonts?

On Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:34:42 +0100, Lostgallifreyan
wrote:

"Harry Vaderchi" wrote in
newsp.wc19u6vt1r0rdn@dell3100:

'Pearls Before Swine'.

Isn't that just "nim"?


Nim? Nimoy? There IS a tad bit of resemblance there..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nim
it's logic Mr Spock...

--
[dash dash space newline 4line sig]

Albi CNU

"Harry Vaderchi" wrote in newsp.wc2bl0hq1r0rdn@dell3100:

Nim? Nimoy? There IS a tad bit of resemblance there..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nim
it's logic Mr Spock...


Precisely so. I looked it up. But I liked my idea better.

In message ,
Lostgallifreyan writes:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in
:

Colossal Cave (a. k. a. just "Adventure") was/is a text-based game - you
navigated various locations (mostly underground) with simple commands
like "go north", "get object", "look", and the computer told you - in
text - what it saw. I have an affection for it.


Interesting idea, and we could build a good image of it as we go, but I
usually like to avoid text in games, because most things I do involve text
already, when I'm working on a computer. I like the way 3D imagine is done on
a computer, with motion and parallax. Making stuff in SketchUp is like a
game.

This was written in the days when there was nothing _but_ text! 3D
imaging? Adventure ran in 32K of RAM! (Apparently Microsoft released a
version that booted from a floppy! Though they aren't the originators.)
ftp://ftp.ifarchive.org/if-archive/g...owther_win.zip is a
version that runs (in a text window) under Windows, though I can't
remember the commands for either save or quit, which makes it a bit
frustrating (anyone care to remind me?) (and the .zip contains two
executables, I'm not sure what the difference between them is). There
have been many ports of it to various platforms and OSs, and apparently
it is included - as adventure - on most Linux distributions.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

…enough cubic zirconia to pebble-dash the Great Wall of China… - Alison
Graham, Radio Times 12-18 February 2011

In message ,
Lostgallifreyan writes:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in
:

for the sake of the game, that I ever got into, was the Notpron riddle.
I got

(Any links?)


Google 'Notpron'. This one IS unmissable. Just avoid the cheats amd
walkthroughs because they are no fun unless you end up with a riddle you KNOW
you have the right answer for, but it still won't work. Rare, but it happens,
one uses a font with characters that work fine with FireFox, not with Opera.
One hint: Save all passwords and URL's as you go. They are sometimes used in
later riddles.

Hmm. I hadn't realised it was an online thing. I went in the first door,
and got stuck at the second one: hints told me (in effect) to try the
handle, so I did, and got a message that the door was locked and I
should "trick" it, or something like that. I had no idea what to do at
this stage - I tried typing on my keyboard, with no effect. I gave up -
well before any "riddles". I fear you may do similar if you try
adventure, though I hope not.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

…enough cubic zirconia to pebble-dash the Great Wall of China… - Alison
Graham, Radio Times 12-18 February 2011

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in
:

In message ,
Lostgallifreyan writes:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in
:

for the sake of the game, that I ever got into, was the Notpron
riddle. I got

(Any links?)


Google 'Notpron'. This one IS unmissable. Just avoid the cheats amd
walkthroughs because they are no fun unless you end up with a riddle you
KNOW you have the right answer for, but it still won't work. Rare, but
it happens, one uses a font with characters that work fine with FireFox,
not with Opera. One hint: Save all passwords and URL's as you go. They
are sometimes used in later riddles.

Hmm. I hadn't realised it was an online thing. I went in the first door,
and got stuck at the second one: hints told me (in effect) to try the
handle, so I did, and got a message that the door was locked and I
should "trick" it, or something like that. I had no idea what to do at
this stage - I tried typing on my keyboard, with no effect. I gave up -
well before any "riddles". I fear you may do similar if you try
adventure, though I hope not.

From what I've read here, you have skills that will get you through some
distance, it just isn't clear at first what sort of thinking is needed.
Second riddle points upwards to the direction to go. As there is clearly
nothing IN the picture, no ceiling trapdoor to try, we have to look at what's
outside the picture. In most browsers, there isn't much, but there IS nearly
always a standard control, a text field to enter a URL...

Keep in mind that programmers and hackers made the riddles, so as well as the
stuff that comes with that, there are plenty of weird things that come from
whatever happens when programmers aren't coding, and hacker's aren't hacking.
It gets surreal. More surreal than it already is at the start.

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in
:

This was written in the days when there was nothing _but_ text! 3D
imaging? Adventure ran in 32K of RAM! (Apparently Microsoft released a
version that booted from a floppy! Though they aren't the originators.)
ftp://ftp.ifarchive.org/if-archive/g...owther_win.zip is a
version that runs (in a text window) under Windows, though I can't
remember the commands for either save or quit, which makes it a bit
frustrating (anyone care to remind me?) (and the .zip contains two
executables, I'm not sure what the difference between them is). There
have been many ports of it to various platforms and OSs, and apparently
it is included - as adventure - on most Linux distributions.


I'll pass on it though, because I can't solve my current coding problems.
Which means one of two things: I'm either makign headway of some sort, even
if it turns out later to be illusion, or I'm not, but either way my eyes are
strained from readign text. Diverting to any other test based exercise isn't
just tough, it's probably continuing to cause injury.

About 3D, I remember a guy who had an early Apple 2 board. Lots of small
discrete logic IC's, likely 74 series. He had some kind of maze game. It was
very basic, just green lines outlining corridor panels and turnings, but it
worked. It's suprising how much graphical cues for brains can be put into
extremely limited processing power, so long as it has a way to display them.
People were using that long before computers, in simple animations. I
remember a Victorian zoetrope...

In message ,
Lostgallifreyan writes:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in
:

This was written in the days when there was nothing _but_ text! 3D
imaging? Adventure ran in 32K of RAM! (Apparently Microsoft released a
[]
it is included - as adventure - on most Linux distributions.


I'll pass on it though, because I can't solve my current coding problems.

And I'm afraid I'm going to pass on your one with the doors. Somehow it
lost my interest before I got far enough to get hooked.

Which means one of two things: I'm either makign headway of some sort, even
if it turns out later to be illusion, or I'm not, but either way my eyes are
strained from readign text. Diverting to any other test based exercise isn't
just tough, it's probably continuing to cause injury.

Fair enough.

About 3D, I remember a guy who had an early Apple 2 board. Lots of small
discrete logic IC's, likely 74 series. He had some kind of maze game. It was
very basic, just green lines outlining corridor panels and turnings, but it

I have a vague memory of seeing that, too. It also reminds me of the old
Maze screensaver (came with Windows 9x, possibly even 3.x): I sometimes
wondered if that was related to a real 3D (well, 2D with height) game;
the various objects - the odd rat, and mysterious and slightly worrying
spheres - seemed to be more than just a screensaver in intent. ISTR
there was also a popular truly 3D game - was it Zork? - that had you
moving in 3 dimensions a maze (I think it was inside a space station or
something, as you had to be weightless). [Never actually got into it
myself.]

worked. It's suprising how much graphical cues for brains can be put into
extremely limited processing power, so long as it has a way to display them.

I remember a spaceflight simulation - something like Elite, in that it
involved docking with rotating space stations - which I saw on something
with very blocky graphics (I think it was character mode, though with
the character blocks subdivided into 2 by 3 or 4). As you say, the brain
is good at recognising minimal cues; in that case it was the gameplay
that mattered.

People were using that long before computers, in simple animations. I
remember a Victorian zoetrope...

(I've never actually seen one of those, except on TV.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

He spoke in sentences that made up paragraphs, with immaculate grammar and
punctuation. - Barry Cryer on Clement Freud 1924-2009, in Radio Times, 25 April
- 1 May 2009.

In message op.wc12uvq01r0rdn@dell3100, Harry Vaderchi
writes:
[]
an early hit on "game chasm"
http://www.miniclip.com/games/chasm/en/
seems to be the one; there are/were other graphic games;
[]
Have just spent an hour or two trying that; frustrating, in that there
seemed to be various dead ends, but above all, it isn't possible to get
an overall view - you have to spend so much time going back up and down
to just see how the valving is going. I've given up.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder...

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in
:

Have just spent an hour or two trying that; frustrating, in that there
seemed to be various dead ends, but above all, it isn't possible to get
an overall view - you have to spend so much time going back up and down
to just see how the valving is going. I've given up.
--


That's true. I liked that though, it was a realistic sort of limitation, and
during the time I played it, I just let it take over. I ended up wanting
more, and there isn't any, so I keot a copy until some time when I think it
will be almost like seeing it for the first time. Never can be though, memory
is still vivid, for parts of it, and I haven't seen it for over 6 years.

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in
:

I remember a spaceflight simulation - something like Elite, in that it
involved docking with rotating space stations - which I saw on something
with very blocky graphics (I think it was character mode, though with
the character blocks subdivided into 2 by 3 or 4). As you say, the brain
is good at recognising minimal cues; in that case it was the gameplay
that mattered.


I think timing has a lot to do with the effect. A lot of games do it badly,
as if it didn't matter. That happened even when the hardware was up to the
task of speed and accuracy. So often there's an idea that games are for
children, that clunky inaccuracy is adequate. So wrong. A game should emulate
something real, it should at least be possible to suspend disbeleif. Movie
makers also fail a lot more than they should. All it takes to do well is
attention to detail, to observe, but I guess people often don't want to spend
the time it takes. But that's maybe why I don't usually like games, because I
like to use the time in other ways. Notpron riddles help though, they are
different enough from what I want to do, but keep the same bits of brain
working, so I get rest, and a bit of practise, at the same time. An unusual
combination, and a valuable one.