Nethack

[hitbyambulance]

A more radical idea would be to pre-populate a list with all the answers that make sense -- for polymorph, list all monster names, for scroll or potion names, pre-populate all the names. Besides complaints from purists about it being cheating, the lists might be too long to be convenient. Nobody would want to polymorph into a kobold so having it in the list might be silly....

i vote NO on that. i think the text list should just accumulate all text input, regardless of its validity - if implemented.

 

[Vynx]

A more radical idea would be to pre-populate a list with all the answers that make sense -- for polymorph, list all monster names, for scroll or potion names, pre-populate all the names. Besides complaints from purists about it being cheating, the lists might be too long to be convenient. Nobody would want to polymorph into a kobold so having it in the list might be silly....

i vote NO on that. i think the text list should just accumulate all text input, regardless of its validity - if implemented.

How about a compromise?

All text that is unrecognised as a command becomes red, and working commands stay black - that way, it still keeps it organised, without having to flood it with pre-possibles or with commands you can't remember working or not. If you can just visually see the commands that don't make sense, then there shouldn't be a problem.

Just a little bit of extra text like (!) next to unrecognised commands would do.

Or, if you wanted to go a little further;

(?) = Command Not Recognised
(!) = Wrong Context

 

[jbrodack]

if i go to pick neutral it makes me chaotic. im not sure about other classes but i definitley noticed it with the rougue and just whenever i saw the option to be chaotic i always seemed to be chaotic no matter what i actually chose to be.

 

[Vynx]

if i go to pick neutral it makes me chaotic. im not sure about other classes but i definitley noticed it with the rougue and just whenever i saw the option to be chaotic i always seemed to be chaotic no matter what i actually chose to be.

Are there just those 2 options in normal Nethack? Isn't there good and bad as well as nuetral? Does it actually make a difference anyway?

 

[Dzz]

if i go to pick neutral it makes me chaotic. im not sure about other classes but i definitley noticed it with the rougue and just whenever i saw the option to be chaotic i always seemed to be chaotic no matter what i actually chose to be.

Thanks, I'll look into it. The UI is supposed to only present options that are legal for the particular character class (most classes can only be a subset of different alignments). It might be that I messed up some classes and I will double check.

Are there just those 2 options in normal Nethack? Isn't there good and bad as well as nuetral? Does it actually make a difference anyway?

There are three alignments - Lawful, Neutral, Chaotic. Some character types and races can only be restricted alighnments.

It does make a difference. As to how, that's for you to discover

 

[Ze_ro]

* Is it possible to throw/use things in the air and on the floor?

I don't think so...

Perhaps when aiming, use the Vol+/- buttons for up and down? Vanilla Nethack also allows you to target yourself (ie, zapping yourself with a wand), although I'm not sure what would be a good button choice for this... L+Click maybe?

I have mixed feelings about "more...". In almost all circumstances I think it's more irritating than helpful. If you can always scroll the text on top, is it really necessary?

Actually, considering how easy it is to scroll through the messages now, the only time I can see this really being an issue is when it causes death... being able to scroll the messages while a dialog is open seems sufficient to me.

if i go to pick neutral it makes me chaotic. im not sure about other classes but i definitley noticed it with the rougue and just whenever i saw the option to be chaotic i always seemed to be chaotic no matter what i actually chose to be.

Now that you mention it, I think I've stumbled onto this one too. I was playing a game, and noticed that I was chaotic. I was pretty sure I hadn't chosen that, but just assumed at the time that I slipped when choosing an alignment.

A more radical idea would be to pre-populate a list with all the answers that make sense -- for polymorph, list all monster names, for scroll or potion names, pre-populate all the names. Besides complaints from purists about it being cheating, the lists might be too long to be convenient.

One compromise that might solve the cheating possibilities would be to have the game automatically populate the list with things your character already knows... The game already keeps a list of items you know about and monsters you've killed, and it should keep the lists somewhat short (At least until you get pretty far into the game). It's relatively uncommon to have to type things in though, so I'm quite content with the current method.

Regarding the keyboard, I have no strong feelings either way. Since you don't physically type, the keyboard layout seems kind of inconsequential... although I noticed that the name-entry keyboard is different from the one used for typing things in-game... specifically, it prevented me from using a space in my name. Is it purposely disabling keys so I don't put illegal characters in the name or something? (I can't remember if Nethack lets you use spaces in names or not)

I was playing as a monk in v0.3, and I noticed there was some glitch with the tile used for my character with the default tile set. Whenever I stood on a staircase, or a doorway, there would be a few black pixels at the right edge of the tile. Perhaps these pixels are transparent and showing whatever is underneath me? I haven't tried playing a monk in the latest version, so I can't confirm if this still happens.

I noticed a similar problem while playing as a samurai today... specifically, my characters head looked different if I stood in an open door (had to be a door that had been opened, as a different tile is used for doorways without a door).

I also had a few other tile glitches happen recently. Someone mentioned this before, but I hadn't seen it happen. In one case, I was playing a knight and attempted to ride my pony. After I successfully mounted it, my character's tile was replaced with another pony. Another time I was playing as a different character, and while trying to open a door (I can't remember if I just tried to open it or if I kicked it), my character was replaced with a door tile. In both cases, the incorrect tile disappeared when I walked over it.

--Zero

 

[Dzz]

Perhaps when aiming, use the Vol+/- buttons for up and down? Vanilla Nethack also allows you to target yourself (ie, zapping yourself with a wand), although I'm not sure what would be a good button choice for this... L+Click maybe?

Thanks, I'll do something like this.

I was playing a game, and noticed that I was chaotic. I was pretty sure I hadn't chosen that, but just assumed at the time that I slipped when choosing an alignment.

I can reproduce this and will get it fixed.

I noticed a similar problem while playing as a samurai today... specifically, my characters head looked different if I stood in an open door (had to be a door that had been opened, as a different tile is used for doorways without a door).

this is by design. the characters and monsters are drawn transparently, meaning that the dungeon features of whatever square you're standing on show through the non-drawn parts of the character.

I also had a few other tile glitches happen recently. Someone mentioned this before, but I hadn't seen it happen. In one case, I was playing a knight and attempted to ride my pony. After I successfully mounted it, my character's tile was replaced with another pony. Another time I was playing as a different character, and while trying to open a door (I can't remember if I just tried to open it or if I kicked it), my character was replaced with a door tile. In both cases, the incorrect tile disappeared when I walked over it.

I have seen this a couple times myself but am not sure how to reproduce it. It seems harmless so it's not an emergency but I'll get it fixed eventually.

Thanks as always for the feedback!

 

[Kannibaal]

Ze_ro mentioned -

Perhaps when aiming, use the Vol+/- buttons for up and down? Vanilla Nethack also allows you to target yourself (ie, zapping yourself with a wand), although I'm not sure what would be a good button choice for this... L+Click maybe?

When you are throwing or firing you are already using the tiles around your character. pointing on the character himself could be up? With the L modifier it could be down or something.

I've been thinking about the qwerty type keyboard but after trying it in different emulators it does not seem to make much of an improvement. The qwerty keyboard is for 10 fingers typing. And the qwerty keyboard places the keys diagonally so the selecting method would also be diagonal I think. Maybe there is an easy joystick alternative?

Marco

Edit: Added a quote

 

[Dzz]

Ze_ro mentioned - Perhaps when aiming, use the Vol+/- buttons for up and down? Vanilla Nethack also allows you to target yourself (ie, zapping yourself with a wand), although I\'m not sure what would be a good button choice for this... L+Click maybe?

I changed it last night. The new scheme is that if you select the center square, that is "self". If you press VolDown that is Down. If you press VolUp that is Up.

I\'ve been thinking about the qwerty type keyboard but after trying it in different emulators it does not seem to make much of an improvement.

It may not be much of an improvement, but I changed that also. I don't know that I like it as much this way but maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it. If there is an outrcy I'll change it back again.

Thanks for the feedback as always!

 

[Ze_ro]

I've noticed that character names here are limited to 8 characters, which I don't think is the case in vanilla Nethack.

--Zero

 

[Dzz]

I've noticed that character names here are limited to 8 characters, which I don't think is the case in vanilla Nethack.

--Zero

The text space at the bottom is limited because of the screen resolution; I want to try to help make sure it doesn't run off the end very often.

 

[Dzz]

Ok, here it is: Nethack v0.5

http://gp2xgamer.com/nethack05.zip

If some testing doesn't turn up anything really nasty, I'll release it to the public friday or so on archive.gp2x.de. I'm not finished with it of course, there are lots of things that can be made better, but I think it's reached a milestone where it's good enough for general availability.

New in version 0.5

There are now ten tilesets to choose from
"List Skills" (#enhance) allows selection of skill when it can advance
Top text can be scrolled with a dialog up (e.g. after death)
Now possible to select partial quantities in selection menu (using Vol+/-)
"Monster" command available if polymorphed
Strange icon in some menus removed
Multi-column menus are now aligned
Now possible to drop/throw/etc gold
"Chat" command added so NPCs can be spoken to
'Y' now also confirms targeting
Targeting center square chooses self
Pressing Vol+ when selecting direction chooses "Up"
Pressing Vol- when selection direction choosed "Down"
Alignment messups for Rogue and Ranger fixed
"Name Monster" command added
Keyboard layout changed to QWERTY
Miscellaneous minor bug fixes and tweaks

Thanks as always for the comments and bug reports!

 

[Kannibaal]

If some testing doesn\'t turn up anything really nasty, I\'ll release it to the public friday or so on archive.gp2x.de. I\'m not finished with it of course, there are lots of things that can be made better, but I think it\'s reached a milestone where it\'s good enough for general availability.

Thanks Dzz!

Downloading now.

You know that you cannot release anything now without implementing squidges MMU hack do you

I will let you know how it works out.

Regards,

Marco

 

[DavidBeoulve]

*snarfs download*

What this needs is a PDF manual so people like me can navigate butt-kick easily. I love these menus, they're just hard to remember. Too bad the only screenshot utility, fgrab? is timer-based, not "press a series of keys" based.

Oh, that's David for "I'd make a PDF manual if there was a good way to take screenshots" hint hint, nudge nudge, somebody link me

 

[Dzz]

*snarfs download*

What this needs is a PDF manual so people like me can navigate butt-kick easily. I love these menus, they're just hard to remember. Too bad the only screenshot utility, fgrab? is timer-based, not "press a series of keys" based.

Oh, that's David for "I'd make a PDF manual if there was a good way to take screenshots" hint hint, nudge nudge, somebody link me

I was planning to take screenshots of all relevant situations and make some web-based documentation. If you'd like to use that as the basis for a PDF-based document, that would be great! I want to get a first version of that on the web this weekend, so you could grab that stuff then if you want.

 

[jbrodack]

while the rogue alignment seems to be fixed since it automatically makes you chaotic and doesn't give you a choice since after looking for info on nethack thats all a rogue can be.

however, the ranger seems to be even more broken. it will actually make make you a chaotic ROGUE even thought im trying to pick a neutral RANGER.

something to look into for the public release.

 

[Dzz]

while the rogue alignment seems to be fixed since it automatically makes you chaotic and doesn't give you a choice since after looking for info on nethack thats all a rogue can be.

however, the ranger seems to be even more broken. it will actually make make you a chaotic ROGUE even thought im trying to pick a neutral RANGER.

something to look into for the public release.

Whoops, thanks! I thought I had fixed it but I guess I didn't look carefully enough at my fix!

 

[Dzz]

To anybody who tries this version who has also tried the previous versions:

For a public release, should i use an ABCDEF keyboard layout or the QWERTY layout?

I expected to like the QWERTY layout but I think I actually liked ABCDEF better.

 

[semyaza]

It's finally by birthday tomorrow and I dont normally look forward to it but I am looking forward to getting my gp2x and loading nethack on it. All this reading of how much fun you are all having has been driving me mad....I have waited two months

 

[Dzz]

It's finally by birthday tomorrow and I dont normally look forward to it but I am looking forward to getting my gp2x and loading nethack on it. All this reading of how much fun you are all having has been driving me mad....I have waited two months

On the bright side your timing is perfect!

I did my best (and wrote a ton of code) to pursue a particular approach to making Nethack well-playable on a device with a tiny screen and only a few buttons. I hope you like the result!

If you have suggestions about further improvements please come back and post them!