Announcement: New Web Based Z-Machine

On 8 Jun, 07:33, Michael Martin <mcmar... RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jun 7, 8:57 am, AndrewW <and... RemoveThis @trailgauge.com> wrote:
>
> > Hopefully readers may be interested to learn that I've launched a new
> > web based Z-Machine interpreter at :-
>
> Is the interpreter itself running server-side? If so, its response
> speed seems quite a bit nicer than I've come to expect from such
> things.
>
> I only poked a little, but I did notice that Jugsaw's opening screen
> got horribly mangled. I recall that problem showing up elsewhere too.
> Also, Jigsaw's HELP command wedges the interpreter - the system does
> not respond, and after a cancellation the page and the interpreter get
> out of sync.
>
> --Michael

Hi Michael,

Yes it is server side but it is designed for a fast response with a
minimal amount of HTML to download back to the client.

Yes, I am aware of both of those issues. The help problem is basically
that Jigsaw is expecting the user to press the space key to
acknowledge the help screen which cannot be done over the web so the
interpreter always sends a return which causes Jigsaw to go into a
spin. I think I have a resolution to this which is to get the
interpreter to read through the text to determine which key is
expected typically RETURN, SPACE or Y and send that to the game rather
than always return.

As for the gibberish at the beginning of Jigsaw, I think that may be
Graham Nelson's latin quote if I remember rightly so may be a problem
with a character mappings but if you can remember another discussion
about this I'd love to be referred to it.

Thanks again

Andrew

On 8 Jun, 07:33, Michael Martin <mcmar... DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jun 7, 8:57 am, AndrewW <and... DeleteThis @trailgauge.com> wrote:
>
> > Hopefully readers may be interested to learn that I've launched a new
> > web based Z-Machine interpreter at :-
>
> Is the interpreter itself running server-side? If so, its response
> speed seems quite a bit nicer than I've come to expect from such
> things.
>
> I only poked a little, but I did notice that Jugsaw's opening screen
> got horribly mangled. I recall that problem showing up elsewhere too.
> Also, Jigsaw's HELP command wedges the interpreter - the system does
> not respond, and after a cancellation the page and the interpreter get
> out of sync.
>
> --Michael

I fixed both of those issues now and improved the text presentation,
please feel free to try it and let me know if you find any further
issues :-

http://www.web-adventures.org

I'd be particularly interested in any feedback from people using
mobile phone browsers as I've only tried it on a Sony Ericsson P910
and Blackberry so far.

Thanks

-Andrew

On Jun 10, 6:32 pm, AndrewW <and... DeleteThis @trailgauge.com> wrote:
> I fixed both of those issues now and improved the text presentation,
> please feel free to try it and let me know if you find any further
> issues :-

Hmm, you fixed the issue by simply removing both the opening citation
box and initial paragraphs in Jigsaw?!

I don't think that counts as a fix.

Seemingly, it's in all games: no introduction, directly to the middle
of the action, with about 11 moves already in Zork. Is this a problem
with sessions or something?

On Jun 10, 4:32 pm, AndrewW <and... DeleteThis @trailgauge.com> wrote:
> I fixed both of those issues now and improved the text presentation,
> please feel free to try it and let me know if you find any further
> issues :-
>
> http://www.web-adventures.org

I'm getting an Internal Server Error when I try to play any of the
games (IE7 on WinXP Pro).

--
Daphne

Here, AndrewW <andrew DeleteThis @trailgauge.com> wrote:
>
> I fixed both of those issues now and improved the text presentation,
> please feel free to try it and let me know if you find any further
> issues :-
>
> http://www.web-adventures.org
>
> I'd be particularly interested in any feedback from people using
> mobile phone browsers as I've only tried it on a Sony Ericsson P910
> and Blackberry so far.

Seems to work on the iPhone, although you'd want to change the CSS to
provide a narrower viewport.

However, I get the same session problem mentioned earlier -- I seem to
start in the middle of somebody else's game.

In other news, "xyzzy" appears to be in the iPhone's autocompletion
dictionary.

--Z

--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
It used to be that "conservatives" were in favor of smaller government,
fiscal responsibility, and tighter constraints on the Man's ability to
monitor you, arrest you, and control your life.

On 10 Jun, 22:46, namekuseijin <namekusei... DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jun 10, 6:32 pm, AndrewW <and... DeleteThis @trailgauge.com> wrote:
>
> > I fixed both of those issues now and improved the text presentation,
> > please feel free to try it and let me know if you find any further
> > issues :-
>
> Hmm, you fixed the issue by simply removing both the opening citation
> box and initial paragraphs in Jigsaw?!
>
> I don't think that counts as a fix.

Hi, it'll remember where you left the game so if you visited a few
days ago it should pick up where you left off in each game. If you
click the 'restart' link in the top right it'll start a new session
and then you'll get the usual opening paragraphs. The TS Elliot quote
from the begining of Jigsaw has disappeared because this is displayed,
then space is pressed and the screen cleared before you are into the
opening paragraphs. Because you can't do key presses over the web this
is effectively lost as the screen is cleared immediately and you are
straight into the first command from the player. I'll try disabling
the clear screen so the quote isn't lost but displayed in front of the
opening paragraphs.

I'll put a message in to notify users that they are resuming a session
rather than starting afresh as this is obviously confusing if you are
not expecting this to happen.

Cheers

-Andrew

Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was
unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, webmaster DeleteThis @web-adventures.org
and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might
have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error
log.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to
use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Apache/1.3.37 Server at www.web-adventures.org Port 80

> GO NORTH
You can't, as the web server is down.

Here, AndrewW <andrew DeleteThis @trailgauge.com> wrote:
>
> Hi, it'll remember where you left the game so if you visited a few
> days ago it should pick up where you left off in each game.

Hm, but it did that to me the *first* time I started it up on the
iphone. I went into Adventure, and I found myself standing by the
grate, carrying all the stuff from the well-house.

I tried typing "restart" at the command prompt, but this failed. (It
asked me if I wanted to restart, but then it seemed to assume the
answer was "no".)

The "restart" link worked as expected.

--Z

--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
If the Bush administration hasn't shipped you to Syria for interrogation,
it's for one reason: they don't feel like it. Not because you're patriotic.

Thanks again for all the valuable feedback and I've hopefully fixed
any session tracking problems now.

As ever, please let me know if you find anything else, either on this
thread or directly at andrew.TakeThisOut@web-adventures.org

Best regards

-Andrew