Jtgibson's DM Page

Still another peek into the inner workings of my mind

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:22:38 GMT

    Omnicant //Spiders
        //Wordplay on "Omniscient" -- omni- for all (Spiders have lots of limbs),
        // cant for language.  Spiders are the know-it-alls of Newtopia.

The description is worse:

"The ability to speak and understand Omnicant, the language of the Spiders. Under cogitation Omnicant is perceived by nearly every sapient biological entity on Newtopia to epitomise as a unilateral archetype the eminently most-utterly complex and obfuscated linguistic communications instrument at one's dispensation."

Simple server-side Wiki

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 08:31:47 GMT

I'm presently engaged in the task of trying to find a self-contained Wiki which:

1) uses MediaWiki syntax, which is infinitely better than C2Wiki, Wikidot, or most other Wiki syntaxes,
2) requires almost no installation; resides in a single self-editing file or resides in a pair of files (a script and a database), and
3) resides server-side, meaning that users wouldn't ordinarily be able to edit the Wiki.

I'm so used to documenting in MediaWiki format now that just about everything I write is in MediaWiki syntax. It bothers me because to display it to an end user, I have to: 1) parse the file manually and convert it to HTML, or 2) create a whole Wiki, which is silly when I'm writing just one page for a project.

If all else fails, I wonder if there's a simple parser which takes a file with MediaWiki markup and spits out a static .htm corresponding to it (e.g., <h2> for every ==, <hr/> for every -----, <b> for every ''', etc.).

I'm almost tempted to get back into finishing my DM-format MediaWiki parser. I previously abandoned the parser as "possible but unfeasible", which doesn't bode well for my motivation.

Why hello Mr. Scope, how shall I exceed you today?

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:35:16 GMT

Last night, I was browsing around ThinkGeek for all of the gadgets, and I started transcribing one or two down something like this:

Photographic Eyewear:
	A "pair of glasses" which can take a picture of what is currently being
	seen by the user when triggered, using a small camera embedded in the
	bridge.  No internal memory, must be connected to an external permanent
	memory by wire lead or a wireless network.

	Parts:
	
	(Frame)
	+ Micro Photo Camera
	/ Trigger Mechanism
		| Audio/Verbal Trigger
		| Button Trigger
		| Expression Trigger
		| Neural Trigger
		| Wire Input
		| Wireless Receiver
	/ Output Link
		| Wire Output
		| Wireless Transmitter
	/ Power Source
		| Electrical Input
		| Micro Power Cell
	* Eyeglass Lenses
	
	The lenses are optional; they can be any make of eyeglass lens, such as
	those curing myopia or hyperopia or those obscuring harmful ultraviolet
	radiation, or may simply be left out to allow the device to act as a
	portable and convenient camera only.
	
	As with optional parts in any other item, lenses are not included by
	default.  A purchaser of photographic eyewear should contact an
	ophthamologist for manufacturing a proper set of lenses.
	
	The device has no processor and thus cannot be used as smartglasses.
	
	Specific behaviour is as follows:
	
	==Audio/Verbal trigger==
	
		Device takes and transmits a photo whenever it hears a certain
		noise.  Most users program it to the sound of a code word or a
		simple physical noise like a cluck or a snap of the fingers.

	==Button Trigger==
	
		Device takes and transmits a photo whenever a small button on
		the frame is pressed.  This allows silent photo-taking, but
		requires a free hand.

	==Neural Trigger==
	
		Device takes and transmits a photo whenever the user
		concentrates on the activity.  This is silent and does not
		require hands free, but requires practice and can result in
		missed photographs or accidental photographs.

	==Expression Trigger==
	
		Device takes and transmits a photo whenever the user makes a
		certain expression for a certain amount of time.  The device
		uses small lasers to detect the contortions of the face.
		Typical gesture is a three-second wink, as if scrutinising an
		object.

	==Wireless Trigger==
	
		Device takes and transmits a photo whenever the device receives
		a certain signal.  Continuous receipt of the signal will cause
		the device to repeatedly take photographs after a short delay
		each time.
	
	==Wire Trigger==
	
		Device takes and transmits a photo whenever the device receives
		a pulse along an electronic circuit.  Continuous flow of the
		circuit will cause the device to repeatedly take photographs
		after a short delay each time.
		
		Usually the wire trigger is fed by a handheld button or switch.

I looked at it and looked at it and looked at it and thought, "Wow, that's actually a really good documentation format."

Then I got stupid:

/*
Name of the item or part:
	If a line includes no leading formatting, it is descriptive only.
		   Leading whitespace is ignored, but it is recommended to
		   	make the format human-readable.
	
	If a description line ends in a period, the next line is considered
	part of the same paragraph and is led with a double-space.
	I always thought it was lazy how W3C recommends trimming everything
	to a single-space when it is improper grammar and improper typography
	to do so.
	
	A list of parts is handled with a certain syntax by using a special
	markup.  Whitespace leading up to the symbol and after the symbol is
	ignored.

	(Integral part, for display/repair purposes only)
	#Not interchangeable with other parts
	+ Part that must be included for item to work (included by default)
	* Part that may optionally be included (not included by default)
	/ Sub-inventory and is not an actual part itself
		| One of the possible parts that must be selected from
		| Second possible part that must be selected from
		| ...
		| Last possible part that must be selected from
		//Sub-Subinventory
			|| One of the possible parts in the sub-subinventory
			|| ...
			|| Last possible part in the sub-subinventory
		//Second sub-subinventory
			++ Mandatory part in the sub-subinventory
			** Optional part in the sub-subinventory
	* Another optional part at normal depth
	
	#It is not mandatory to list parts in a single block -- they should be
	# compiled from the whole item -- but it is strongly recommended to
	# ensure ease of readability.

	Each part in the item is created when the item is parsed, unless a
	part by that name already exists.  Parts of the same name are thus
	interchangeable between all items that use them.

	Parts cannot be installed or uninstalled while the item is being used
	or worn.  The item must be removed from the body and handled at a work
	bench (usually in a Machine Shop).

	All descriptions are compiled
	into a single string.  Two or
	more line breaks are considered
	syntax, but line breaks are not
	and are considered part of the
	same paragraph.
	
	#Lines prefixed with a pound are comments and are ignored.
	
	Items are normally handheld.  If they can be worn, they use a certain
	syntax to indicate all of the locations they may be worn in.  Each
	line of the syntax indicates one possible wear position, and each
	location in the syntax indicates the body parts that are covered by
	the object.
	
	#This example would say "Wear on Face" as a possible action for the
	# object, handled by the game engine.

	#Syntax:
	#Opening brace
	#Name displayed to player, followed by a colon
	#One or more of:
	# One of 'covers', 'layers', 'touches', followed by a hyphen, followed
	#  by a comma-separated list of location names.
	# A semi-colon is necessary unless the next symbol is a closing brace
	#Closing brace
	
	#Internal whitespace and linebreaks are ignored, but the first line
	# ignoring leading whitespace must start with a brace.
	
	#Example:	
	{Face: covers - human eyes; touches - human nose, human left ear,
	human right ear}
	
	#covers - list of locations that the object is worn on top of
	# (cannot have anything else over top)
	
	#layers - list of locations that the object is worn on top of
	# (but can still have something else over top)
	
	#touches - list of locations that the object rests against
	# (but cannot be equipped there if something is covering them or if
	#  too many layers are used)
	
	Special features are built-in symbols that determine what the object
	can do.  Special features are part of the game engine, and the parsing
	of each special feature line should also be handled by the game engine
	to determine what special properties the object should have.
	
	%Powersource
	%ElectricalAttachment(powersource, poweroutput)
	
	Scripts are the meat and potatoes of the item and are used to handle
	how the object behaves.

	
	~Script label
	#Script labels can be called from the script as functions, or called by
	# the engine if they use certain hard-coded names.
	:line of script
	:line of script
	:line of script

	#A line beginning with a $ is a "verb" of this item that the player can
	# activate.
	$action
	:line of script
	:line of script
	#Lines prefixed with pound in the script are comments.
	#Lines of script must always be prefixed with colons.

	#Whitespace in a script is ignored.
	:#Lines prefixed with both a colon and a pound are also comments.

	#This is still considered part of the user-action, regardless of
	# intervening whitespace or comments!
	:lval = rval
	:condition {
	:	line of script
	:	line of script
	:	condition { #Inline comment
	:		nested line of script
	:		nested line of script
	:		#Infinite nesting should be fine.
	:	}

	Disabling an item in this file is done by surrounding the item with
	multiline Slash-Star and Star-Slash C-style comments.  Do not be
	tempted to use the C++-style Slash-Slash comments, as this indicates
	a sub-subdirectory.
*/

A self-documenting object definition language.

Estimated time to release: 14 years (assuming no setbacks)

Less yellow, more mellow

Mon, 26 May 2008 19:16:11 GMT

On a whim, I went ahead and adjusted the CSS of the site a little, mainly because the brown-ink that looks so good on my parchment background looks so terrible on the default blue forum background. I still need to tweak the contrast of the boxes that make up the Blogwatch and the Favourites, since those are way too dark for my tastes.

Another DM feature that I didn't know about

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:38:41 GMT

It is possible to make simple initializations when you want variables to have values other than the default for the particular type you are creating.

Example:
mob/contents = newlist( /obj/scroll/readme { name = "Introduction" desc = "The fate of Bracolia depends on you ..." } )

This is the most common use of "modified types", but it is not specific to the newlist instruction. Anywhere a type value may be used in DM, it may be followed by a list of initializations. The general syntax for a modified types is:

path {var1 = val1; var2 = val2}

The semicolon is necessary if you put several variable assignments on the same line. The braces are necessary, even though they are generally optional in DM (since the compiler looks at your indentation). The reason is that the path + initializations must be parsed as a single expression, which is a different context from the usual use of braces in DM when you are defining a true type. Also, indentation inside of an argument list is always ignored anyway.

http://www.byond.com/docs/ref/info.html#/proc/newlist

I knew about the newlist proc, but had no idea it could be used to make modified instances, nor did I have any idea that the same syntax can be used elsewhere in DM!

Go forth and multiply!

An important reminder

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:43:50 GMT

Just 288 shopping days until Christmas!

[edit]Since this is long gone from the front page, I'll include the blurb right here too:

"The dangers of being bait-and-switched on the internet are very real; Jtgibson bars no holds in this tell-all expos�."

jt_options

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:50:25 GMT

From this:

option/Test_Checkbox
    desc = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Vivamus \
		vulputate libero nec ante. Cras tristique suscipit ipsum. Class aptent \
		taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos \
		hymenaeos. Morbi dignissim purus sed turpis. Suspendisse rhoncus eros id \
		erat venenatis dignissim."

option/Test_Radio
    desc = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nulla \
		lacus mauris, lobortis et, pellentesque a, lacinia vel, justo. Proin \
		feugiat. Maecenas odio lorem, condimentum nec, euismod vitae, cursus \
		in, nisl. Sed consectetuer vehicula nunc. Etiam eget dolor. Morbi a dui."

    input_type = OPTION_RADIO

    choices = list("Option 1", "Option 2", "Option 3")
    choice_descs = list(
        "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit",
        "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit",
        "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit")

option/Test_Slider
    desc = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Sed sit \
		amet enim quis velit dictum rhoncus. Donec dictum risus nec turpis. \
		Donec tempus, urna a feugiat congue, risus dolor semper leo, iaculis \
		facilisis purus lorem in felis. Maecenas pellentesque."

    input_type = OPTION_SLIDER

    min_bound = "Low"
    middle_bound = "Mid"
    max_bound = "High"

To this:

More forthcoming!

Language is a scalpel, not a bludgeon

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:46:00 GMT

The use of "coder" and "codes" and "iconer" and various other brain-dead language has to stop. Use real words, dagnabbit. =P

Liberal Crime Squad

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:51:33 GMT

Liberal Crime Squad, if you've never heard of it, is a Bay 12 Game brought to you by the same intelligent developers who made Dwarf Fortress. It's old news, mind you; Liberal Crime Squad preceded Dwarf Fortress by two years. But when I see how little it has actually been downloaded, I cry inside.

Liberal Crime Squad is a turn-based management strategy game which features you as a slightly-but-not-significantly-more-sane Tyler Durden (of Fight Club fame). Your goal: to undermine the fabric of Conservative society by committing wanton acts of Liberal disobedience, including stealing from corporations, releasing oppressed sweatshop workers, establishing a disestablishmentarian newspaper which puts its own spin on the crimes you commit, and indoctrinating evil Conservatives through kidnap and torture. (Hey, it's justifiable in the Liberal Plan.)

The game is exceedingly humourous and is a satirical take on the extreme left and the extreme right. If you commit an offence bad enough to land you 20 years of prison time, when you get outside you can just see the sorts of malfeasant Conservatism that have gripped the nation.

Bear in mind that the game is not intended for children. It includes swearing, violence, sexual situations, etc.

Content advisories aside, you can download the open-source version from SourceForge.

Sangre y Libertad!

Re: Copyright Status of BYOND Fan Games

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:19:08 GMT

A blog response to Masterdan's off-base post.

You're wrong, Masterdan, because your work is what is called a "derivative work", specifically a work that uses a horrible and almost unquantifiable beast known as "intellectual property".

Many people share some ignorant belief that if you use the name of an anime in your title that you have no right to any of your game's content. That is incorrect.

You're right, here. You can create a game with someone else's trademark in your title and that doesn't automatically make your game their copyright (although it is definitely trademark infringement and actionable if they care enough to do it).

The moment you start implementing elements from their collected works, however, you step into copyright infringement.

Also people think you need to register a copyright in order to have exclusive ownership of it and the right to legal charges, this is an incorrect assumption.

No one needs to register a trademark -- and there's no such thing as registering a copyright. However, if you don't have some concrete evidence that you were the first person to produce the work or use the trademark, it's legally flaccid and it's subject to the whimsy of the judge and whomever has the better lawyer; and if you're using someone else's trademark, especially if it's registered, you're boned and the trademark office would reject any registration attempt.

Therefor the graphics and code are copywritten, i am the employer so I'm the only owner of them, and your not permitted as is stated on the site. While we do not take claim for the scant naruto content (the name which is trademarked) we give credit to kishimoto and shonen jump on our hub and use it only in fair use as an educational demo of game design and is a not for profit endeavor.

First off, there's no such thing as "copywritten". The word you're looking for is "copyrighted". Copyright doesn't mean "write a copy", it means "the right to produce copies". (This is understandably confusing, however, as there are people called "copywriters" whose jobs are to print off copies of ads/papers/pamphlets with the permission of the original copyright owner.)

Etymology aside, this is where your argument falls apart. Your work is a derivative work, in that the Naruto literary basis is the main gist of your game. To make your game a non-derivative work now, you'd have to start from scratch; once something becomes a derivative work, you can't remove the elements that you derived it from and call it an original production any more.

I haven't played Naruto GOA and have no designs to do so in the immediate future, but I'd wager that most of what you can see in the show you can do in the game, and that if you were to take away everything from the show (names of combat arts, artwork made to resemble that given in the show, and the like) you wouldn't have a game left.

Educational demo? That's completely impotent; your work is obviously not intended for educational purposes and a judge would laugh at you. I haven't seen anything that suggests you're showcasing your game project and its source code to game designers as an example to live up to (most professional designers would probably laugh at you too).

As such even though trademark infringement is a separate argument anyway, we are safe and if a cease and desist order occurs i will rename the game "Grand Online Adventure".

Renaming the work probably wouldn't suffice, especially if any of the intellectual properties from the show appeared in it; if they had sufficient cause to believe that your game was a derivative work, a cease and desist order would demand complete destruction of the entire work. Saying "oh, I'll just rename it" will have them say "oh, we'll just be taking your house".

Regardless our rights are guaranteed to us and your entirely wrong in your accusation that we don't have ownership of our graphics and code.

Derivative works don't count for that. Derivative works are works which are derived from someone's existing copyright, and fall under the jurisdiction of the existing copyright.

Human beings as a species have been around for a long time, and property rights and ideals have been around for almost as long. Sadly, this doesn't bode well for anyone's chances of discovering a convenient loophole that allows them to make a derivative work and claim full ownership of it.