Re: Handheld Gnome Games

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On Fri, 8 Apr 2005, Callum McKenzie wrote:

> Date: Fri, 08 Apr 2005 10:29:26 +1200
> From: Callum McKenzie <callum physics otago ac nz>
> To: Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>
> Cc: games-list gnome org
> Subject: Re: Handheld Gnome Games


I have since tried again using a resolution of 240x320 which is more
realistic and fairer and things are better than I had initially believed.


> > In most cases is it essential to turn off the toolbars (hiding the handles
> > and setting to icons only might also have worked but I didn't try it) and
> > an option to hide status bars would have helped.

(Is what Same Gnome is using actually a status bar? [1])

> > If a game included a Full screen option that also significantly helped to
> > optimise the use of space.  (Having options to hide toolbars and
> > status bars and to go to fullscreen consistently in every game might be
> > worth considering.  I'll leave that for another days discussion though.)

Some games have them in the Settings menu, some have them in a View menu,
others dont have it at all.  To be honest that is probably all I have to
say on it.

> These issues are being actively pursued right now. Also look for
> fullscreen modes where things like the menu are automatically hidden so
> that the maximum space is given over to playing games.
>
> > I was suprised quite how usable the Card games Aisleriot and BlackJack
> > were even at a very small size.  Games like Mahjong and the Card Games
> > would benefit considerably if they had High Contrast themes (proving once
> > more and yet again againt that accessibility makes things better for all
> > kinds of users).

> Accessible themes: another thing on the long list of "we must do that
> sometime because it's a really good idea".

Maybe an a call for help to the Inkscape/OpenClipart.org projects would be
a good idea?  Unless of course you have in mind to add a whole lot more
infrastructure first.

> > The preview in Glines gets very small, and it doesn't look like it is
> > making the best use of the space available to it.

> The preview code in CVS has been altered and it may alleviate this
> problem, but I suspect it is really a problem with GTK limiting the
> space it gives the preview in the horizontal direction. I suspect that
> this can be fixed by using something other than the naive packing
> arrangement we currently use.

I really should dive in and read the code shouldn't I ...

> > Gnibbles was reluctant to even run, I couldn't get past the start screen
> > not that I expect it would be very easy to play in a box that was
> > effectively less than 200x150.  (It crashed reproducably if I tried to
> > open preferences.  Oops the seg-fault seems entirely unrelated to the
> > small display, trying to access preferences at all in Gnibbles 2.10 causes
> > a sefault for me.)
> That is a new bug to me. Could you get a stack trace into CVS along with
> a dump of the appropriate gconf settings.
>
> > My use of a resolution taller than it was wide meant less favourable
> > results for Same Gnome, and Tetravex (text was just way too small).
> We have long thought about a colour matching version of tetravex. That
> might make things easier.
>
> > SameGnome ... I'm not a fan of the current version of Same Gnome (the grid
> > for one thing but I'll get into that another time).

> Doing something reasonable with the grid was a task that I ran out of
> time for in 2.10. If another one of your gripes is that the animation is
> too slow for you, try CVS which has a fast-moves option now.

I read the warnings (in the Release Notes IIRC) I wouldn't dare complain
about that ;)

It feels different, I should just shut up and use Wine to play Clickomania
(like Klickety only more fun but closed source and for windows).

[1] What I would complain about (as mentioned above) is the use of non
standard widget will make maintaince harder in the longer run, gnomines
seems to be using something similar too.  I really noticed it because it
force resizes the smaller windows when the text label is long enough.)

> > Hope you found my little experiment to be of interest.  I wish more
> > applications were as well designed and flexible as Gnome Games.

> Anyone who thinks the games are well designed has not read the code.

I was worried that might come across as a backhanded compliment even
thought it wasn't intended as such, but Gnome Games does get a great many
things right in my not so humble opinion.  Even if the code is the most
pleasant to maintain.

> But we will gratefully accept the compliment anyway :).

You do so much work yet other peoples names are all over the credits.  I
think if people realised how much work the gnome games continues to
generate they would be a lot more complementary and quite possibly amazed
at how even the simplest application snowballs into something massively
complicated to fully meet the requirements of being a polished Gnome app.

Sincerely

Alan Horkan

Inkscape http://inkscape.org
Abiword http://www.abisource.com
Dia http://gnome.org/projects/dia/
Open Clip Art http://OpenClipArt.org

Alan's Diary http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/