Non Graphical Mapping System?

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Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction,rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Hello, I am new to rec.arts.int-fiction, and rec.games.int-fiction and
I just wanted to introduce myself and ask a newbie question.

I used to be a fan of Interactive Fiction/Text Adventure Games about a
decade ago. But due to worsening vision I had more and more
difficulty playing the games. Fortunately I have recently discovered
WinFrotz and HTML TADS, which are godsends to visually impaired people
such as myself. I have gone bananas downloading Z-code and TADS
files, and I was deliriously happy to discover that Activision has
released Zork 1, 2, and 3. I never got around to playing these
classic games, and I am happily wandering around the Underground
making sure I don't get eaten by a grue...

My question involves mapping. I know that there are several graphical
mapping utilities in the if-archive/mapping-tools section. I have
tried all of the ones available for Windows/DOS and unfortunately they
are all too difficult for me to see. I briefly experimented with a
general purpose diagramming tool called Epigram which actually was
more helpful than the IF mapping tools, but I am at a loss on how to
map in 3d with a diagramming tool. I even toyed with the notion of
building maps using an Excel spreadsheet where I can click on buttons
to jump to a different "level" (up or down, for example) but that
seems to be a bit too much of a hassle.

My question is whether anyone has a good plain vanilla text system for
keeping track of rooms visited, the directions they go in, what is
contained in the rooms, the names of the rooms, etc. I was trying to
figure out if I could use TreePad Lite for this purpose, as it is a
cross between a Tree structured text editor and a freeform database
program, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to make it work
for that. I know this question probably sounds stupid and
inexperienced to most of you, but I would really appreciate some tips
on how to do "mapping" without actually having to resort to some kind
of graphical interface (such as the mappers in the IF-archive. If
there is some kind of special database program especially for
Interactive Fiction that would be a tremendous help.

Thanks in advance,
~Sly

--
Sam Campbell III
Professional Dilettante
http://www.livejournal.com/~slyfoot/

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

nospam@nospam.com (Slyfoot) wrote in message news:<41357c5d.33059343@news-server.cfl.rr.com>...
> Hello, I am new to rec.arts.int-fiction, and rec.games.int-fiction and
> I just wanted to introduce myself and ask a newbie question.
>
> I used to be a fan of Interactive Fiction/Text Adventure Games about a
> decade ago. But due to worsening vision I had more and more
> difficulty playing the games. Fortunately I have recently discovered
> WinFrotz and HTML TADS, which are godsends to visually impaired people
> such as myself. I have gone bananas downloading Z-code and TADS
> files, and I was deliriously happy to discover that Activision has
> released Zork 1, 2, and 3. I never got around to playing these
> classic games, and I am happily wandering around the Underground
> making sure I don't get eaten by a grue...
>
> My question involves mapping. I know that there are several graphical
> mapping utilities in the if-archive/mapping-tools section. I have
> tried all of the ones available for Windows/DOS and unfortunately they
> are all too difficult for me to see. I briefly experimented with a
> general purpose diagramming tool called Epigram which actually was
> more helpful than the IF mapping tools, but I am at a loss on how to
> map in 3d with a diagramming tool. I even toyed with the notion of
> building maps using an Excel spreadsheet where I can click on buttons
> to jump to a different "level" (up or down, for example) but that
> seems to be a bit too much of a hassle.
>
> My question is whether anyone has a good plain vanilla text system for
> keeping track of rooms visited, the directions they go in, what is
> contained in the rooms, the names of the rooms, etc. I was trying to
> figure out if I could use TreePad Lite for this purpose, as it is a
> cross between a Tree structured text editor and a freeform database
> program, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to make it work
> for that. I know this question probably sounds stupid and
> inexperienced to most of you, but I would really appreciate some tips
> on how to do "mapping" without actually having to resort to some kind
> of graphical interface (such as the mappers in the IF-archive. If
> there is some kind of special database program especially for
> Interactive Fiction that would be a tremendous help.

I use a spreadsheet. Well, not all the time. Most of the time I just
keep it in my head. You can get good at this if you practise.

But if there's a gnarly maze or just hundreds of locations then I'll
make spreadsheet. I keep it quite simple: each row is a room, one
column for the room "label" (in a typical maze where all the
descriptions are the same I'll use numbers or whatever object I've
dropped to help me), then one column for each of the 10 common
directions (NESW, NE, etc, UP, DOWN), extra notes go in another
column. The contents of the cell are the label of the room that you
get to by going in that direction. In a maze, blank means untried
(yet) and "-" means "You can't go that way".

I don't know of any more useful tools, sorry.

David Jones

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction,rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

On Wed, 01 Sep 2004 07:38:17 +0000, Slyfoot wrote:
> My question is whether anyone has a good plain vanilla text system for
> keeping track of rooms visited, the directions they go in, what is
> contained in the rooms, the names of the rooms, etc. I know this
> question probably sounds stupid and inexperienced to most of you, but I
> would really appreciate some tips on how to do "mapping" without
> actually having to resort to some kind of graphical interface (such as
> the mappers in the IF-archive. If there is some kind of special
> database program especially for Interactive Fiction that would be a
> tremendous help.

Did you try IFM, from the IF archive mapping tools? The way that works is
that as you play the game, you type in the rooms you visit and the
directions you go in (into a plain text editor) and IFM calculates and
writes a map in one of various formats (e.g. PostScript, for printing).

Glenn

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

On 1 Sep 2004 09:20:16 -0700, drj@pobox.com (David Jones) wrote:

>nospam@nospam.com (Slyfoot) wrote in message news:<41357c5d.33059343@news-server.cfl.rr.com>...
>> Hello, I am new to rec.arts.int-fiction, and rec.games.int-fiction and
>> I just wanted to introduce myself and ask a newbie question.
>>
>> I used to be a fan of Interactive Fiction/Text Adventure Games about a
>> decade ago. But due to worsening vision I had more and more
>> difficulty playing the games. Fortunately I have recently discovered
>> WinFrotz and HTML TADS, which are godsends to visually impaired people
>> such as myself. I have gone bananas downloading Z-code and TADS
>> files, and I was deliriously happy to discover that Activision has
>> released Zork 1, 2, and 3. I never got around to playing these
>> classic games, and I am happily wandering around the Underground
>> making sure I don't get eaten by a grue...
>>
>> My question involves mapping. I know that there are several graphical
>> mapping utilities in the if-archive/mapping-tools section. I have
>> tried all of the ones available for Windows/DOS and unfortunately they
>> are all too difficult for me to see. I briefly experimented with a
>> general purpose diagramming tool called Epigram which actually was
>> more helpful than the IF mapping tools, but I am at a loss on how to
>> map in 3d with a diagramming tool. I even toyed with the notion of
>> building maps using an Excel spreadsheet where I can click on buttons
>> to jump to a different "level" (up or down, for example) but that
>> seems to be a bit too much of a hassle.
>>
>> My question is whether anyone has a good plain vanilla text system for
>> keeping track of rooms visited, the directions they go in, what is
>> contained in the rooms, the names of the rooms, etc. I was trying to
>> figure out if I could use TreePad Lite for this purpose, as it is a
>> cross between a Tree structured text editor and a freeform database
>> program, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to make it work
>> for that. I know this question probably sounds stupid and
>> inexperienced to most of you, but I would really appreciate some tips
>> on how to do "mapping" without actually having to resort to some kind
>> of graphical interface (such as the mappers in the IF-archive. If
>> there is some kind of special database program especially for
>> Interactive Fiction that would be a tremendous help.
>
>I use a spreadsheet. Well, not all the time. Most of the time I just
>keep it in my head. You can get good at this if you practise.
>
>But if there's a gnarly maze or just hundreds of locations then I'll
>make spreadsheet. I keep it quite simple: each row is a room, one
>column for the room "label" (in a typical maze where all the
>descriptions are the same I'll use numbers or whatever object I've
>dropped to help me), then one column for each of the 10 common
>directions (NESW, NE, etc, UP, DOWN), extra notes go in another
>column. The contents of the cell are the label of the room that you
>get to by going in that direction. In a maze, blank means untried
>(yet) and "-" means "You can't go that way".
>
>I don't know of any more useful tools, sorry.
>
>David Jones

Yeah, I found a good basic freeware database utility called "Table"
that is perfect for doing something like you described. And you're
right after playing it for a while you do tend to remember. The only
thing is that if you have to stop playing for a while you can end up
forgetting where you've been already.

Thanks.
~Sly

--
Sam Campbell III
Professional Dilettante
http://www.livejournal.com/~slyfoot/

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction,rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

On Wed, 01 Sep 2004 21:50:33 +0000, "Glenn Hutchings"
<zondo@pillock.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

>On Wed, 01 Sep 2004 07:38:17 +0000, Slyfoot wrote:
>> My question is whether anyone has a good plain vanilla text system for
>> keeping track of rooms visited, the directions they go in, what is
>> contained in the rooms, the names of the rooms, etc. I know this
>> question probably sounds stupid and inexperienced to most of you, but I
>> would really appreciate some tips on how to do "mapping" without
>> actually having to resort to some kind of graphical interface (such as
>> the mappers in the IF-archive. If there is some kind of special
>> database program especially for Interactive Fiction that would be a
>> tremendous help.
>
>Did you try IFM, from the IF archive mapping tools? The way that works is
>that as you play the game, you type in the rooms you visit and the
>directions you go in (into a plain text editor) and IFM calculates and
>writes a map in one of various formats (e.g. PostScript, for printing).
>
>Glenn

I've tried IFM, yes. My question though was how to keep track of
where you've been without using any kind of graphical (or DOS based
mapping) at all. I think the best way is just to keep a table of
Rooms visited in some kind of basic database or spreadsheet program.

Thanks,
~Sly

--
Sam Campbell III
Professional Dilettante
http://www.livejournal.com/~slyfoot/