Re: [Adonthell-general] Problems starting the game

[Andrew Phillips]

Comments follow...

> When you refer to DOS version I suppose you're actually talking about
> Windows (while it makes no real difference to me, but... ;))
>
> Well, actually these Windows binaries are rather a first alpha-test than
> anything. Too many things are hard-coded (like the game directory) and I
> can't guarantee it will 100% work for now (OTOH, we got several
> successes reports, and Windows is known to be far more uniform than
> Unixes, so I guess if you follow Kai's instructions you should be able
> to make it).

Alpha or otherwise, I'm mostly trying to find an entre to the Adonthell
world. I've been working on getting the rpms all lined up, but apparently,
getting ones ducks in a row is a touchy process, especially with the Ogg
Vorbis libraries. Ironically, I haven't configured sound on my Linux box (I
dual boot win98se/RH71), so I'm going to a lot of trouble to satisfy
dependencies, but I still won't reap the benefits of my labors without
configuring sound.
That being said, I figured the Windows route would at least enable me to
play the Demo. Don't worry, I'm not going to give up in disgust just because
said Demo isn't friendly yet.

> But if you prefer comfort, you might want to wait a little bit for the
> next release. It's a matter of (a few) weeks, and it will have full
> Windows support, a nice installer, and an option to double the size of
> the screen ;) Ah, not to mention nicer fonts, and translations
> (hopefully) in several languages other than English.

Cool. I'm still going to try to get in figured out before then. The Windows
version might be good for writer/artist types like myself who still use
Windows and aren't so involved in the coding and engineering of the game,
but art and plot with no engine is pointless...or a comic book.
That art/writing side is my main area of interest. I can program, I do run
Linux on the side, but my creative juices flow better with world-building
than engine-building.

> Still, it's nice to see that my crappy binaries already have success (I
> only fear that Windows downloads will overcome Unix ones in less than
> one week when we release... Oh we really gotta spread some Free Software
> propaganda with the Windows binaries, definitely ^_^)

As I see it, that may not be a Bad Thing after all. A friendly Windows
version will likely attract more interest to the project as a whole- net
traffic, downloads, etc. Some of that interest might not stick around, but
some of it might. Those that do stick around help expand the talent pool. I
discovered Adonthell quite by accident, looking for rpgs on freshmeat,
sourceforge, or linuxgames.
Also, it would enable non-hackers like me to play the game, get a feel for
the gameworld, add source material for the gameworld, pass the binaries
around to friends, etc. And a shameless plug of open source wouldn't hurt
either.

Andrew the Newcomer