ASCII meets games

Hello, my name is Rudy Nacken and I'm from Holland, so sorry about the poor
English. I do a lot of programming in QuickBasic. Right now, I'm working on
a game, especially for the old XT-pc's. Therefore, I can't draw lines or set
points, and I must use the ASCII-characters for a substitute for gfx. Are
there any guys with nice ASCII-drawing skills who want to help me?
The graphics that I use are horizontal 8 spaces and vertical 3 spaces

so one tile should be like this:

XXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXX

please help me, thanks anyway

Nacken wrote:
> 
> Hello, my name is Rudy Nacken and I'm from Holland, so sorry about the poor
> English. I do a lot of programming in QuickBasic. Right now, I'm working on
> a game, especially for the old XT-pc's. Therefore, I can't draw lines or set
> points, and I must use the ASCII-characters for a substitute for gfx. Are
> there any guys with nice ASCII-drawing skills who want to help me?
> The graphics that I use are horizontal 8 spaces and vertical 3 spaces
> 
> so one tile should be like this:
> 
> XXXXXXXX
> XXXXXXXX
> XXXXXXXX
> 
> please help me, thanks anyway

What type of pics you want?....for what type of game?
Little aliens,explosions,space ships...what?

-- 


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On Sun, 2 Apr 2000 19:07:38 +0200, "Nacken" <jna...@casema.net>
wrote:

>Hello, my name is Rudy Nacken and I'm from Holland, so sorry about the poor
>English.

Does anybody every notice that the people who excuse themselves for
poor English write better than those who don't? Your English is fine,
don't worry about it.

>I do a lot of programming in QuickBasic. Right now, I'm working on
>a game, especially for the old XT-pc's. Therefore, I can't draw lines or set
>points, and I must use the ASCII-characters for a substitute for gfx. Are
>there any guys with nice ASCII-drawing skills who want to help me?
>The graphics that I use are horizontal 8 spaces and vertical 3 spaces
>
>so one tile should be like this:
>
>XXXXXXXX
>XXXXXXXX
>XXXXXXXX

What kind of pics do you need? I'm not great, but maybe could do
something.

--Wesley

The only stupid question is the unasked question.
And that's a good thing, because I hate stupid questions!

Hello Wesley,

I want to create a quest-rpg-game which plays in a fantasy world, which
looks a little like the middle ages so I need stuff like enemy's, goodies
like money and harts and more tiles like stones and water.
The game itself looks has the zelda-perspective (a little from from above).
I must say that I use the COMPLETE ascii-list. So if you want you can also
use the blocks (chr$(219)) and stuff like that. You can find all the
available characters in the help-file of q(uick)basic.
Thanks anyway, Rudy

On Tue, 4 Apr 2000 22:31:00 +0200, "Nacken" <jna...@casema.net>
wrote:

>
>Hello Wesley,
>
>I want to create a quest-rpg-game which plays in a fantasy world, which
>looks a little like the middle ages so I need stuff like enemy's, goodies
>like money and harts and more tiles like stones and water.
>The game itself looks has the zelda-perspective (a little from from above).
>I must say that I use the COMPLETE ascii-list. So if you want you can also
>use the blocks (chr$(219)) and stuff like that. You can find all the
>available characters in the help-file of q(uick)basic.
>Thanks anyway, Rudy

Wow, that's quite a task. Do you need different sizes for everything?
I've never played Zelda, but the perspective in Orcarna of Time
(However it's spelled) requires resizable sprites or, in the case of
that game, polygon based objects. That would be horrible to code (and
I imagine horrible to look at as well).

Here's a (Poorly done, I said I wasn't that good :) pile of treasure,
though, for the effort:

+--------+
|    />  | A
|  *//   | Pile
| ***  **| Of
|********| Treasure
+--------+

--Wesley

The only stupid question is the unasked question.
And that's a good thing, because I hate stupid questions!

Nacken wrote:
> 
> Hello Wesley,
> 
> I want to create a quest-rpg-game which plays in a fantasy world...

Qbasic is horrible for that! You can only use 64k of memory!
That's nothing! There are many better freeware compilers/
interpreters out on the web. I suggest you look for Yabasic, 
or Xbasic, or even BWBasic for that matter. 
Or why not learn C(++) and get DJGPP+ALLEGRO. I'll tell you more if
you are interested. 

(Sorry for the off-topic post)


Obascii: One-line flying bird:   \/

Rudy Nacken Wrote:
>Hello, my name is Rudy Nacken and I'm from Holland,
> so sorry about the poor English. I do a lot of programming in >QuickBasic.
Right now, I'm working on a game, especially for the old >XT-pc's. Therefore, I
can't draw lines or set points, and I must use the >ASCII-characters for a 
substitute for gfx. Are there any guys with nice >ASCII-drawing skills who want
to help me? The graphics that I use are >horizontal 8 spaces and vertical 3
spaces. . . <snip>

Hello,

You actually have several options available. I am assuming that since your
targeted hardware are XT's that you are using text mode because you are limited
to it, although hopefully you are able to use the sixteen basic colors (i.e.
the XT's need EGA or CGA video cards). 

If you can't change the color of the characters you are pretty much limited to
rudimentary assignment graphics (that is, this here blotch represents that
there tree etc.). However with the added dimension of color your options
broaden and the effectiveness of the grfx multiplies.

 For example a moving starfield (parallex scrolling) can easily be pulled off
in TEXT MODE by defining four star planes and assigning colors and velocities
to each plane. Use only Darkgray, Gray and White for the colors, make the two
farthest planes Darkgray and with the slowest velocity (movement of say 1 space
per cycle/loop) , the next plane is Gray with a medium velocity (3 spaces per
loop), the final plane and closest plane is white with the fastest velocity(5
spaces). Now to create the moving starfield just create an array of about 150
stars and randomly assign each star to one of the four possible planes (the
plane the star is assigned to determines its color and velocity). Now give each
star an initial X,Y value (asuming text-mode resolution of 80 columns(X) by 40
rows (Y)) run a loop and plot a character at that location in the color defined
by its plane. now increment (or decrement depending on desired direction) each
stars X,Y coordinates according to its velocity (e.g if star.plane = farthest
then X = X + 1), include some errorchecking to make sure you are not trying to
plot a star out of bounds (just reset and wrap around at the edge of the
screen), repeat loop. The result is an animated text star-field that is
virtually identical to a GRAPHIC MODE one with a lot less overhead.

I only go into all that because you said Zelda-like and this algorithm can be
easily modified to emulate rain, snow, etc. You can overlay this concept onto
your (text)tiled background for an added dimension of realism (every bit counts
in text-mode).

Back to the graphics. Using 8x3 tiles obviously limits the detail one can
include but several techniques can be employed. For example to create a grass
tile set the background color to bright green and the foreground color to dark
green. Now every empty space you print will show as bright green and every
character will print as dark green. 

so the following:  "    .    "
                         " .    .   "
                         "   .     ."
should tile out as a green field (tweak it as needed to suit) with dark bits
for depth/texture. Use a similar technique for water, trees, dirt, building
tiles etc.

The sprites (player, monster, items) themselves are gonna be kinda tricky. This
is due to the fact that TEXT-MODE does not easily allow for the utilization of
a transparent color. This means that when the character walks over a
predominately green (such as grass) background you must set the sprites
background color to match, always, otherwise it will end up even chunkier than
text sprites already are. The problem arises when the player is bridging two
areas (such as walking off of the grass and onto the dirt) you'll need some
tight functions/subs to toggle the colors accordingly, otherwise you'll have a
blocky sprite with a strange hue about it. 

On the other hand collision detection should be simplified in TEXT_MODE. Say a
brown arrow is shot at a red target, just check the existing color at the next
plotted location of the fired arrow. If it is red then the target has been hit.

Another option since you mentioned elsewhere that you would be willing to go
beyond pure ASCII and use extended characters, why not go one step further and
temporarily redefine the ROM character set. This will enable you to work on a
bit level for your graphics. since each text character is actually made of of
an 8X8 array of bits (toggled either on or off) this would enable a much
greater level of resolution. In a sense (very loose) you could then work on a
pixel level in TextMode. By making your own temporary (restore original upon
exit) character set you gain an added degree of flexibility. You could then
create text characters that looked much more like a pile of cash then  "$$$"
does.

Anyhow, hope any of this helped. Good luck, it sounds like quite a project. I'd
like to see the results, it seems very interesting.

BTW Don't worry about your English, nobody would know it wasn't your native
tongue if you didn't mention it. Looks fine to me.

][ncogni']['o

bjo...@secom.be (Bj�rn De Meyer) wrote in 
<38E...@secom.be>:

>
>
>Nacken wrote:
>> 
>> Hello Wesley,
>> 
>> I want to create a quest-rpg-game which plays in a fantasy world...
>
>Qbasic is horrible for that! You can only use 64k of memory!
>That's nothing! There are many better freeware compilers/
>interpreters out on the web. I suggest you look for Yabasic, 
>or Xbasic, or even BWBasic for that matter. 
>Or why not learn C(++) and get DJGPP+ALLEGRO. I'll tell you more if
>you are interested. 
>
>(Sorry for the off-topic post)
>
>
>Obascii: One-line flying bird:   \/
>

If you want to play with text (Which basically ASCII is) use perl
There's perl for windows, it's pretty good, it's far less complicated than 
C++ and eh...
Well, let's just say that I used it a few times to work with ascii-art.

Ojoshiro

ObAscii
     n, 
,nNn/
 Y Y
 | |   <Let's just think that looks like a camel...

--(Once apon a time, in alt.ascii-art,)--
		--(Wesley Clifford said it like only they can.)--
$
$Does anybody every notice that the people who excuse themselves for
$poor English write better than those who don't? Your English is fine,
$don't worry about it.
$
wat do u meen? :)
but seriously i have never been a good speller -- in english that is
i took japanis for about 2 months and spell better in haragana than i do in 
english 
part of it was the bad schooling i received in the califorina school system
and i had the benifit of going to one of the top ten school districs in cali
there are even some adds on tv right now talking about how califorina spends 
less on education per student than alabama (40 out of 50)

and you are right those who ask forgiveness for their poor english are usaly
one up on those how don't

-- 
  ._____.                                           ._____.
  |<> <>| If I remember to turn it on UIN=66618055  |<> <>|
  |     | while(sig_sucks != 0)                     |     |
   \ " /        printf("Clever sig coming soon.");   \ " /
    \_/                                               \_/

On Sun, 2 Apr 2000 19:07:38 +0200, "Nacken" <jna...@casema.net>
wrote:
[...]
>I do a lot of programming in QuickBasic. Right now, I'm working on
>a game, especially for the old XT-pc's. Therefore, I can't draw lines or set
>points, and I must use the ASCII-characters for a substitute for gfx. 

A) There is aa-lib library for C-language on Linux system. Maybe You
should watch its sources, and see how the graphics is made.

B) How old is your XT-pc? Haven't it either HGC graphic card? 8-O

C) The simplest agoritm is drawing horizontal/vertical line. You 
should use '|' and ('-' or '_') signs. 

Let's assume that parameters of procedure are (x1,y1, x2,y2) - x-y 
positions of beginning and end of line. Its also possible to use tilda

('~') sign, but it's height is different in different fonts.

For horizontal line use:
for i=x1 to x2
  print at (i,y1) "-"        {sorry, I don't remember QB syntax :-(} 
next i

For vertical line use:
for i=y1 to y2
  print at (x1,i) "|"
next i

It is also simple to draw 45/135 degree lines. Guess how? ;-)

The more difficult is drawing lines with other angles.
Algoritm could be like that:
0) check that y1<>y2. In other case you'll get "Division by zero"
error in next point!
1) alfa = arctan((y2-y1)/(x2-x1)) 
2) if alfa > 45[1] degrees you should use "for y" loop
if not, "for x" loop would be better.
2a) if alfa < 45 then line should look like this:

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 segments
          | | | | | | | | |  

1 y1-     --..__
2               ``--..__
3 y2-                   ``---
         |                  |
         x1                 x2
         12345678901234567890

so for each character line (|y2-y1| gives you number of lines) you
should use four characters. Count number of different segments...

  numparts=(|y2-y1| * 4)+1            {|3-1|*4 +1 = 9}

...and number of character for one segment:

  numchar=(|x2-x1| div numparts)      {(|20-1| div 9) = 2}

Now, two nested loops (inside should be loop for drawing one segment, 
and outside loop would be "for x" loop) should work fine.

2b) Algoritm is analogue to 2a), but I don't know which characters
you should use. :-( See a.a-a FAQ.

And that's all. Hope it will help you. :-)

[1] I know, this is not full condition, but...

PS.Sorry for my language, I'm not English native-speaker :-)
-- 
    Rafal Slubowski                \\
raf...@paputek.decsoft.com.pl      /O `----. 
    www.slubek.w.pl            * (_.-.     )\
                              *|* rs //--//  X

On Thu, 06 Apr 2000 07:14:39 GMT, Fau...@localhost.localdomain
(Faux_Pseudo) provoked the following text:

>$
>$Does anybody every notice that the people who excuse themselves for
>$poor English write better than those who don't? Your English is fine,
>$don't worry about it.
>$
>wat do u meen? :)
>but seriously i have never been a good speller -- in english that is
>i took japanis for about 2 months and spell better in haragana 

Haragana, isn't that Japanese in western writing?

>than i do in english  
>part of it was the bad schooling i received in the califorina school system
>and i had the benifit of going to one of the top ten school districs in cali
>there are even some adds on tv right now talking about how califorina spends 
>less on education per student than alabama (40 out of 50)

All the English i know, i got from watching TV and reading English literature
and magazines. I think i've come a long way since i first started learning
English a few years ago. And besides, practice makes perfect. Never be ashamed
of what you _think_ you're bad at, be ashamed of the things you never wanted to
try because you thought you'd fail.

>and you are right those who ask forgiveness for their poor english are usaly
>one up on those how don't

Just don't apologise anymore, okay? :-))
-- 
        Peter Punk
          \    /
        ---\\\\---
          /    \

Visit my MIDI-site at http://members.xoom.com/miditation

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
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M? V? PS PE++(+) Y+ PGP- t+@++ 5 X R- tv++ b- DI-- D-(+) G e-> 
h---()>++() r+++ y+++** 
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

WARNING ! SAFESEX.ZIP is a Trojan

--(Once apon a time, in alt.ascii-art,)--
		--(Peter Punk said it like only they can.)--
$On Thu, 06 Apr 2000 07:14:39 GMT, Fau...@localhost.localdomain
$(Faux_Pseudo) provoked the following text:
$
$>$
$>$Does anybody every notice that the people who excuse themselves for
$>$poor English write better than those who don't? Your English is fine,
$>$don't worry about it.
$>$
$>wat do u meen? :)
$>but seriously i have never been a good speller -- in english that is
$>i took japanis for about 2 months and spell better in haragana 
$
$Haragana, isn't that Japanese in western writing?

no thats japanese in phenetic writing 
you are thinking of katakana which is japanese wrigting used for
forgin words like golf and taxi

there is no japanese in western writing

$
$>than i do in english  
$>part of it was the bad schooling i received in the califorina school system
$>and i had the benifit of going to one of the top ten school districs in cali
$>there are even some adds on tv right now talking about how califorina spends 
$>less on education per student than alabama (40 out of 50)
$
$All the English i know, i got from watching TV and reading English literature
$and magazines. I think i've come a long way since i first started learning
$English a few years ago. And besides, practice makes perfect. Never be ashamed
$of what you _think_ you're bad at, be ashamed of the things you never wanted to
$try because you thought you'd fail.
$
$>and you are right those who ask forgiveness for their poor english are usaly
$>one up on those how don't
$
$Just don't apologise anymore, okay? :-))
$-- 
$        Peter Punk
$          \    /
$        ---\\\\---
$          /    \
$
$Visit my MIDI-site at http://members.xoom.com/miditation
$
$-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
$Version: 3.12
$GIT/O d---(--) s+:-->+: a C+++(++++)$ U--- P? L+ E? W++ N++ o++ K- w+ O- 
$M? V? PS PE++(+) Y+ PGP- t+@++ 5 X R- tv++ b- DI-- D-(+) G e-> 
$h---()>++() r+++ y+++** 
$------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
$
$WARNING ! SAFESEX.ZIP is a Trojan


-- 
  ._____.                                           ._____.
  |<> <>| If I remember to turn it on UIN=66618055  |<> <>|
  |     | while(sig_sucks != 0)                     |     |
   \ " /        printf("Clever sig coming soon.");   \ " /
    \_/                                               \_/

Woops, sorry for the double message. I thought that the firtst one didn't
make it. That's why there are two messages with the same attachment.
Sorry!
Rudy Nacken

ps: I still don't have an idea for that talking-thing in my game... Maybe
it's not that bad that when you see the level build up again... I will try
it and i will let you hear it how it's going...

Bye Bye!



<8cq9lq$v4q$1...@newsspool.casema.net>...
>Hello
>it;s me  Rudy Nacken. I've included a txt-file wich has the entire
>source-code of adventure (louzy name, but it's temporary).
>
>I will let you know when i've got some news
>
>Greetings
>Rudy Nacken
>
>
>
>
>

>All the English i know, i got from watching TV and reading English
>literature and magazines. I think i've come a long way since i first
>started learning English a few years ago. And besides, practice makes
>perfect. Never be ashamed of what you _think_ you're bad at, be ashamed
>of the things you never wanted to try because you thought you'd fail.
>
>>and you are right those who ask forgiveness for their poor english are
>>usaly one up on those how don't

Hey, that's where I learned it aswel. TV, lyrics and books.
(Not all of them are considered literature though)
Peter Punk's from the Netherlands, aye ?

>Just don't apologise anymore, okay? :-))

but don't get angry if I don't undertand all in the first read either =)


  _/_ )
 _/_     <--- That be ?
(/  `.
   _,'

On Mon, 10 Apr 2000 16:30:09 GMT, fou...@bedankt.nl (ojoshiro) provoked the
following text:

>>All the English i know, i got from watching TV and reading English
>>literature and magazines. I think i've come a long way since i first
>>started learning English a few years ago. And besides, practice makes
>>perfect. Never be ashamed of what you _think_ you're bad at, be ashamed
>>of the things you never wanted to try because you thought you'd fail.
>>>and you are right those who ask forgiveness for their poor english are
>>>usaly one up on those how don't
>Hey, that's where I learned it aswel. TV, lyrics and books.
>(Not all of them are considered literature though)
>Peter Punk's from the Netherlands, aye ?

Yep, and the only place i've ever learned japanese (well, only one or two
words...) was in the movie "Shogun".

>>Just don't apologise anymore, okay? :-))
>but don't get angry if I don't undertand all in the first read either =)

Okay, if you promise not to get upset if i don't know how some japanese words
are supposed to be spelled :-))
--
        Peter Punk
          \    /
        ---\\\\---
          /    \

Visit my MIDI-site at http://members.xoom.com/miditation

Individualists unite!

On Sat, 08 Apr 2000 07:43:55 GMT, Fau...@localhost.localdomain
(Faux_Pseudo) provoked the following text:

>$>wat do u meen? :)
>$>but seriously i have never been a good speller -- in english that is
>$>i took japanis for about 2 months and spell better in haragana 
>$
>$Haragana, isn't that Japanese in western writing?
>
>no thats japanese in phenetic writing 

Well, that's what i meant. I think...

>you are thinking of katakana which is japanese wrigting used for
>forgin words like golf and taxi

So if i understand you correctly, when i type "kon nichi wah" (or whichever way
that's supposed to be spelled) that's katakana?

>there is no japanese in western writing

The, i was wron above, can you give me an example of haragana?
--
        Peter Punk
          \    /
        ---\\\\---
          /    \

Visit my MIDI-site at http://members.xoom.com/miditation

Foolproof operation: All parameters are hard coded.

On Wed, 12 Apr 2000 01:38:32 +0200, ppu...@damnthatspam.hetnet.nl (Peter Punk)
provoked the following text:

>>there is no japanese in western writing
>The, i was wron above, can you give me an example of haragana?

Whoops! Me and my 2-bit spellchecker... That sentence was supposed to read:
"Then, if i was wrong above, can you give me an example of haragana?"
--
        Peter Punk
          \    /
        ---\\\\---
          /    \

Visit my MIDI-site at http://members.xoom.com/miditation

Q:  How many mathematicians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A:  One. He gives it to six Californians, thereby reducing the problem to the earlier joke.

I've been studying Japanese for about a year, and its called hIragana,
with an I.  Also, the 'western' Japanese is called Romaji, or romanized,
Japanese.  That is when you use arabic characters to write Japanese such
as typing Konnichi wa.  If you have the special program you need to read
Japanese, I could show you examples of the three forms of writing the
Japanese have; Katakana, Hiragana, and Kanji.  I could try to do an
ascii-art of them, but I'm not that good.  What the hell here goes
nothing....

Katakana:
	  oOo
	OOOOOooOOo
	  OOO``OOO
	  OOO  OOO
	  OOO  \OO
	  OOO

If I had done that better, it may look a little like the katakana
representing 'ka'

Hiragana

	  oOo     Oo
	OOOOOooOOo O
	  OOO``OOO
	  OOO  OOO
	  OOO  \OO
	  OOO
	   O
If I had done that a little better that could represent the syllable for
'ka' in hiragana (this character is a lot alike its katakana
counterpart, but it would be used in different situations) Hiragana tend
to be more flowing, almost more like cursive, while Katakana appears to
be more like print, stiff, and rigid.


Kanji:  First, a word about Kanji.  A single Kanji represents more than
just a syllable (maybe even several syllables) it represents a whole
word.

	   oOo
	  oO Oo
	.`````O`````.
	|____OO_____|
      ,______OO_______,
      |      OO       |
      |      OO       |
      .``````OO```````.
            OoO
	     O
fans of Dragon Ball Z may recognize that... that is read 'kame' and
means Turtle


I hope I haven't bored you too much with my lecture on the Japanese
writing system.  Someday if I have nothing to do, I may ASCIIize all 108
different Katakana plus all 108 Hiragana.  Don't expect any more Kanji;
there's 1945 in total (no one has THAT much time...)

Peter Punk wrote:
> 
> On Wed, 12 Apr 2000 01:38:32 +0200, ppu...@damnthatspam.hetnet.nl (Peter Punk)
> provoked the following text:
> 
> >>there is no japanese in western writing
> >The, i was wron above, can you give me an example of haragana?
> 
> Whoops! Me and my 2-bit spellchecker... That sentence was supposed to read:
> "Then, if i was wrong above, can you give me an example of haragana?"
> --
>         Peter Punk
>           \    /
>         ---\\\\---
>           /    \
> 
> Visit my MIDI-site at http://members.xoom.com/miditation
> 
> Q:  How many mathematicians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A:  One. He gives it to six Californians, thereby reducing the problem to the earlier joke.