Re: Searching for a Sudoku client to put into GNOME-games

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

> One final note, for those who read GNOME-games, please keep the three
> developers cc'ed, as I don't think they are subscribed to this list.

Removed CC's because although I will try to be polite the developer do not
necessarily want to read criticism of their software.


On Thu, 24 Aug 2006, Corey Burger wrote:

> Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 22:57:35 -0700
> From: Corey Burger <corey burger gmail com>
> To: thomas_hinkle users sourceforge net, xoseotero users sourceforge net,
>      rankincj users sourceforge net, games-list gnome org
> Subject: Searching for a Sudoku client to put into GNOME-games
>
> Hey Thomas, Xose and Chris,
>
> As part of a general plan to revitalize the GNOME-games package, I am
> seeking out good implementations of the Sudoku game for potential
> inclusion in GNOME 2.18, due to be released in March 2007. I think the
> three of you all have versions of Sudoku that are interesting to us.
>
> The three different projects are:
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnome-sudoku/
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/pythonsudoku/
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/sudoku-savant/

Were there other games you considered but then did not include on this
shortlist?

> So what is involved in being part of GNOME-games? It is actually quite
> easy. There are two major steps:


> Unless I missed something blindingly obvious, I see no code reasons
> why any of your three packages could not become the one.
>
> If only one is going to make it, why I am emailing all three of you?
> Part of my goal is also to encourage you to come work on GNOME-games
> and even GNOME itself. While only one code base will eventually arrive
> in CVS, I really hope that all three of you can arrive with it.
>
> Which do I prefer? I really like the UI concepts behind Sudoku Savant,

The user interface of Sudoku Savant is the furthest away from the style
of Gnome Games and the Gnome Human Interface guidelines.  The use of
colour raises accessibility issues.

> but am also partial to Python, so that puts it in a bind. At the end
> of the day, I am looking for a good sudoku game, regardless of
> language. You should also not consider C++ to be a barrier to entry
> (AFAIK)

I see the first two both use Python and the third uses C++.  There are no
games using Python in Gnome-games at the moment so it seems like a bold
move.  Keep in mind Aisleriot will not be going away and will require
maintainance for a long time to come.  Sudoku is a much simpler game so
perhaps it is an unfair comparison.  (To be honest I am secretly hoping
someone will implement a version of Sudoku entirely inside Gnumeric,
just because it is possible in theory.)

The second seems to be the only version to allow other grid sizes besides
9x9 (from screenshots I can see it offers 16x16.  I would hope it also
offers the much easier 4x4 games for absolute beginners.)

One thing to test would be keyboard navigation.  I would be impressed if
any of these games could be used entirely from the keyboard without the
use of a mouse.  Depending what widgets were used to create the grid that
may not be so difficult.

> So there we are. Fear not, we are closing in the 2.16 release, so you
> have about a month to think about it and do the prep work.

I wonder if there is a way to get the Sudoku games to interoperate better
with each other but saving the games to files seems like a backwards move.
Perhaps the games could agree to use the same numbering system and make
it easier to copy a list of solved games from one game to the other.


If you are looking for more games to include in gnome-games for 2.18 then
you might want to take a look at Atomix.  It is a good game and more could
be done to emphasise the education potential of the game.  It used to
include a level editor but unfortunately I believe that disappeared after
the port to Gtk2.  The developer tried to bypass Gnome Games entirely and
get included in Gnome 2.14 but it does need documentation though.  It is
currently possible to control Atomix using only the keyboard but you
wouldn't want to since the keyboard navigation isn't very good (you cannot
move the pieces directly, you need to activate the associated direction
arrows).  I had other criticisms of the game but I cannot remember than
all at the momement however I do think it is a strong candidate for
inclusion in gnome-games.  (I would provide a link but I keep hitting the
old webpages made by the original developer.)


Sincerely

Alan Horkan

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