Comments on: LambdaRogue development goes strong!

By: Mario Donick

Mario Donick — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:57:41 +0000

Sorry, I made a typo in my post. For pressing Shift + C, Linux returned “C” as String, while Windows returned “Shift + C”.

By: Mario Donick

Mario Donick — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:54:50 +0000

Brendan,

I agree that the way I released these patches was rather unconveniant, but at that time it was the fastest possibility for me. Beginning with next release, 0.3.1, I will split the game into three packages: The game itself, the graphic files and the sound files. As most changes regard the game itself, it will be easier for me to provide updates in a better way (hopefully), and, as bonus, if a player prefers the console mode of the game, he/she can avoid to download the increasing amount of graphics data.

Concerning the console bug: I assume you are using Windows, as this only occurs there. The bug is already fixed in my development version. The reason was that I used a “suboptimal” method to read out the returned key. I used a function that returns a whole string and then used the first character from that string. For Shift + C, for example, Linux here returns “S” - but Windows returns “CTRL + C” and as I only used the first letter of that string, I always got “C”. I now had a look into the documentation of FreePascal’s Video unit and discovered that there is a much better way to get the pressed character ;) So the bug won’t occur in future versions.

Thanks you for your input!

By: Brendan

Brendan — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:51:54 +0000

Someone keeps hijacking your thread title (on rec.games.roguelike.development) to: Escape from Fobbahland

A bug: In console mode the shift and control keys do not work. Shift+key always returns S. Ctrl+key always returns C.
Nitpicks: Enter key with also act as get - undocumented. Having to constantly hit Enter to continue is annoying when in most cases
(e.g. picking something up) it is not needed. You want to minimize the number of keystrokes required.

I look forward to spending a little more time with this when I get home. Can’t concentrate at _work_ :)

By: Brendan

Brendan — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:02:56 +0000

Having to download and then patch four times to play, however, is a minor nuisance. Unless I have missed the obvious.

By: Brendan

Brendan — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:59:53 +0000

I disagree. It need only be in the help files or the readme.

By: Nate879

Nate879 — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:36:57 +0000

When you open the game the first time, the game should say that it’s possible to turn the mouse off.

By: Mario Donick

Mario Donick — Tue, 27 May 2008 08:36:14 +0000

No problem and thanks :) I think it is a matter of taste; in mouse-only RPGs like Diablo or Sacred (which are the main influences I have, combined with lots of Angband and Moria) you manage inventory and other menus with the mouse, too. For me its a comfortable way, but as many players of roguelikes are used to keyboard, I will always support this. (In fact, since 0.3.0.2, keyboard support is better than before).

(I also saw your posting in r.g.r.d, but as I answered already here, I did not reply there).

By: Corremn

Corremn — Tue, 27 May 2008 00:38:44 +0000

Ok this game is way better IMHO with mouse off. Thanks for the reply :)

By: Mario Donick

Mario Donick — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:39:28 +0000

Another thing regarding mouse: If mouse is activated in lambdarogue.cfg, the player should really rarely need to switch between mouse and keyboard. Instead, movement and most actions are done using the mouse, with keys as optional alternative. The right mouse key here does the same as Enter or the action key (”U” by default). If one wants to use only the keyboard, mouse support should be deactivated.

By: Mario Donick

Mario Donick — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:27:59 +0000

Corremn, yeah, this LOS issue is really a little strange. I surely will optimize that.

Corremn and Andrew, mouse is TOTALLY OPTIONAL. You can switch it off by editing the file lambdarogue.cfg. There is a key “UseMouse” which is set to “= True” by default. Edit this to “= False” and all menus will be shown as in earlier versions of the game - textbased and reacting on key input.