Gargoyle, an interactive fiction player, is ported to Open Inkpot

hrashk · 04-24-2011, 09:52 AM

Greetings everyone,

I've been working on porting Gargoyle – a popular open source interactive fiction player – to Open Inkpot during the past couple of months. I'd appreciate if you could help me with beta testing. The port works on Hanvon n516 and its clones (with MIPS CPU architecture), e.g. Azbooka. The screenshots attached give an idea of how it looks like. Let me know if you're running Open Inkpot on other types of devices (with ARM CPU architecture), I'll try to build a corresponding package.

Here is how to install it. Grab the package from here. Make sure your device is running a recent version of Open Inkpot firmware (see here for details). Connect the device to your desktop computer, following the instructions here. You need to press the Zoom key on n516/Azbooka devices after connecting the USB cable. Copy the package to the device using, for instance, the following command on Ubuntu desktop:

[ubuntu-shell]# scp gargoyle-mipsel-2011-1.deb root@192.168.111.1:/tmp

Login in to your device as described here and run the following commands:

[open-inkpot-shell]# fc-cache -f
[open-inkpot-shell]# dpkg –i /tmp/gargoyle-mipsel-2011-1.deb

fc-cache will take a couple of minutes to finish. Then restart the device for its file manager to pick up new file associations. After that you can copy IF files to your device and launch them from the Library as an ordinary book. Make sure you read the Help after launching a game for the first time to get familiarized with controls. Press the 0 button after starting a game to get to the help screen.

hrashk · 04-24-2011, 01:11 PM

If you've never heard of interactive fiction before, then I suggest quickly skimming through the beginner's guide and then playing a couple of classic games of the text adventure genre. And don't forget the cheat sheet

If you get around to playing a game, then I'd appreciate if you could provide your feedback on the following topics. It would help me to fine- tune the software.

1. Is the font size alright?
2. Currently only lower-case English letters can be entered which is enough for most games. However, there are many games in other languages. Is i18n needed?
3. I really only thoroughly tested games written for Glulx and Z-machine interpreters, whereas Gargoyle supports a handful of them. If you happen to play any of them, then let me know how it went.

You can raise bugs either in this thread or in the Gargoyle bug tracker.

lunohod · 04-28-2011, 05:19 PM

Cool! I like it.

silasgreenback · 05-21-2011, 04:05 PM

I wish this was for Kindle (along with Open Inkpot)!

Gargoyle is great...I use all sorts of interpreters from Adrift to Winfrotz, but Gargoyle is always useful!

Good luck with your project, I wish I could participate.

hrashk · 05-23-2011, 06:42 AM

Frankly speaking, the thought to port Gargoyle to Kindle crossed my mind several times while working on the OI port. However, there was no (stable) SDK at the time (and I think there still isn't). Besides, it's Java whereas Gargoyle is plain old C. I could get away with proper OI port and keep the Gargoyle code base virtually intact due to its clear design. But if you migrate the code to Java, you can forget about getting improvements and bug fixes from the main Gargoyle supporters.
If you have ideas how to graft a C library into a Kindle application, e.g. with some JNI magic, then porting to Kindle may be possible. I would even be willing to help you out and get my hands dirty with that :-)

crich70 · 05-23-2011, 10:46 PM

Ah yes IF. It was all the rage back before computer graphics tech. took off. There are a lot of great old IF games out there on the web.

silasgreenback · 05-24-2011, 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crich70

Ah yes IF. It was all the rage back before computer graphics tech. took off. There are a lot of great old IF games out there on the web.

And tons of new ones! IF is thriving.

Namekuseijin · 06-22-2011, 10:31 PM

Yes, I love IF. The online community has created a large body of much more approachable gems than the old "more bang for your buck" games. I'm not one of those who just want puzzleless IF, but I'd say puzzles are much better integrated and paced into the plot than those from old days, aside from a few classics.

Haven't played much these days, though. Mostly just reading centuries old static fiction...

04-24-2011, 09:52 AM	#1
hrashk Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 86 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: Azbooka, PocketBook 301 Plus	Gargoyle, an interactive fiction player, is ported to Open Inkpot Greetings everyone, I've been working on porting Gargoyle – a popular open source interactive fiction player – to Open Inkpot during the past couple of months. I'd appreciate if you could help me with beta testing. The port works on Hanvon n516 and its clones (with MIPS CPU architecture), e.g. Azbooka. The screenshots attached give an idea of how it looks like. Let me know if you're running Open Inkpot on other types of devices (with ARM CPU architecture), I'll try to build a corresponding package. Here is how to install it. Grab the package from here. Make sure your device is running a recent version of Open Inkpot firmware (see here for details). Connect the device to your desktop computer, following the instructions here. You need to press the Zoom key on n516/Azbooka devices after connecting the USB cable. Copy the package to the device using, for instance, the following command on Ubuntu desktop: [ubuntu-shell]# scp gargoyle-mipsel-2011-1.deb root@192.168.111.1:/tmp Login in to your device as described here and run the following commands: [open-inkpot-shell]# fc-cache -f [open-inkpot-shell]# dpkg –i /tmp/gargoyle-mipsel-2011-1.deb fc-cache will take a couple of minutes to finish. Then restart the device for its file manager to pick up new file associations. After that you can copy IF files to your device and launch them from the Library as an ordinary book. Make sure you read the Help after launching a game for the first time to get familiarized with controls. Press the 0 button after starting a game to get to the help screen. Attached Thumbnails

04-24-2011, 01:11 PM	#2
hrashk Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 86 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: Azbooka, PocketBook 301 Plus	further info If you've never heard of interactive fiction before, then I suggest quickly skimming through the beginner's guide and then playing a couple of classic games of the text adventure genre. And don't forget the cheat sheet If you get around to playing a game, then I'd appreciate if you could provide your feedback on the following topics. It would help me to fine- tune the software. 1. Is the font size alright? 2. Currently only lower-case English letters can be entered which is enough for most games. However, there are many games in other languages. Is i18n needed? 3. I really only thoroughly tested games written for Glulx and Z-machine interpreters, whereas Gargoyle supports a handful of them. If you happen to play any of them, then let me know how it went. You can raise bugs either in this thread or in the Gargoyle bug tracker.

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04-28-2011, 05:19 PM	#3
lunohod OpenInkpot developer Posts: 211 Karma: 5627 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Device: N516,V3,PRS505,iLiad,eSlick,E60,K3,K4NT,M90,PB912,KoboMini	Cool! I like it.

05-21-2011, 04:05 PM	#4
silasgreenback New Leaf Turner Posts: 260 Karma: 1026664 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Hadestown Device: Kobo Glo	I wish this was for Kindle (along with Open Inkpot)! Gargoyle is great...I use all sorts of interpreters from Adrift to Winfrotz, but Gargoyle is always useful! Good luck with your project, I wish I could participate.

05-23-2011, 06:42 AM	#5
hrashk Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 86 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: Azbooka, PocketBook 301 Plus	Frankly speaking, the thought to port Gargoyle to Kindle crossed my mind several times while working on the OI port. However, there was no (stable) SDK at the time (and I think there still isn't). Besides, it's Java whereas Gargoyle is plain old C. I could get away with proper OI port and keep the Gargoyle code base virtually intact due to its clear design. But if you migrate the code to Java, you can forget about getting improvements and bug fixes from the main Gargoyle supporters. If you have ideas how to graft a C library into a Kindle application, e.g. with some JNI magic, then porting to Kindle may be possible. I would even be willing to help you out and get my hands dirty with that :-)

05-23-2011, 10:46 PM	#6
crich70 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,305 Karma: 43993832 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Monroe Wisconsin Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)	Ah yes IF. It was all the rage back before computer graphics tech. took off. There are a lot of great old IF games out there on the web.

06-22-2011, 10:31 PM	#8
Namekuseijin affordable chipmunk Posts: 1,290 Karma: 9863855 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Brazil Device: Sony XPeria ZL, Kindle Paperwhite	Yes, I love IF. The online community has created a large body of much more approachable gems than the old "more bang for your buck" games. I'm not one of those who just want puzzleless IF, but I'd say puzzles are much better integrated and paced into the plot than those from old days, aside from a few classics. Haven't played much these days, though. Mostly just reading centuries old static fiction...

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