Re: A jigsaw puzzle

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005, shirish agarwal wrote:

> Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 00:16:58 +0530
> From: shirish agarwal <shirishag75 gmail com>
> To: games-list gnome org
> Subject: A jigsaw puzzle
>
> Hi guys,

>             Been following this list for some time. Not a developer
> but like to know what things are in store for us.

... developers make things happen ...

or more to the point things happen largely because developers decide they
are interested in doing it and as users all we can do is encourage them to
look at certain areas.

>              I've a request. I've been playing jigsaw puzzles as long
> as I've been alive. I like them & enjoy them. Maybe we can 've a game
> like that.

The Mac always had a jigsaw puzzle game but is has been so long since i
played it I can hardly remember if it was one of those slide puzzles or if
you could take out the pieces and place them.

> There is so many pictures in creativecommons.org or n no. of
> royalty-free images to make jigsaw & play.

I dont imagine images would be a problem the trick would be to create a
game engine that accepted any pictures and for starters existing wallpaper
images could be reused.

> There is a possibility that something already is in works which I don't
> know about.

As far as I know Gnome Games is not expanding.  Work is being done to make
the current games as good as they can be, quality over quantity.  There is
a lot of work in making games that are fun to play, stable (dont crash),
clean portable code, are accessible (including controlled only by
keyboard), translated into many languages, fully documented, network play,
more graphics, more sounds etc.  I'm sure the current games will keep the
developers very busy for years to come if they choose to keep making them
better and better.

I believe work is being done to make Iagno and Ataxx use a shared engine
and have a scalable user interface.  I'm sure there are other major
ongoing projects I am unaware.  Then there are the games which were
included in older editions of Gnome Games but are no longer included,
bringing them all up to date would be a big undertaking.

Someone might be interested in writing a Jigsaw application but I imagine
the current developers have no shortage of things they'd love to work on
but I'm sure if any of them are interested in writing a jigsaw application
they will speak up.

> If not, atleast for inspiration on techniques used www.lenagames.com
> would be a good bet. I like the approach that's she has taken, I mean
> the asthetics & little things which make the game appealing. This could
> be also a good winner. What do u say guys?

A jigsaw game to your liking may already exist.  Checking on Sourceforge
and Freshmeat may turn up something worthwhile.  You may not get exactly
what you want but I'd be amazed if there weren't a few Gtk Jigsaw
applications already out there.  If you do find any please do post a
follow up message and include links to anything interesting you may
discover.

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/