[DGD] DGD & Simulations

[Stephen Schmidt]

On Tue, 28 Jan 2003, Noah Gibbs wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Jan 2003, Christopher Darque wrote:
> > 2) Since I use a lot of ASCII graphics...
>
> Chances are good that you'll want to use a binary port
> instead of a telnet port for this stuff.  But the combination of
> precompiled code and large string operations is probably your friend here.
>   Alternately, you could extend the DGD server you use with custom
> functions to do what you want, which is the fastest way.

On this subject, is there any reason not to use GIF or JPG
graphics images (small ones) and send those over the binary
port, instead of jiggering up ASCII screens with ANSI color?

The obvious reason is that a text-only telnet client can't
cope with them, but surely it would not be hard to create
a simple Java applet that would run a telnet interface plus
have a graphics window for the occasional image that would
be sent down? (I say "surely" but in fact I don't program
in Java, so maybe I fail to appreciate the complexities
of this.)

The other problem is that images have to be pre-drawn, the
mud code can't create them on the fly. But then, room
descriptions have the same problem and we all use those.
I would think that a combination of one drawing for each
room (possibly reusable if "you are in a maze of twisty
passages, all alike") and a library of basic images for
sword, torch, orc, etc would be sufficient?

I've never looked into this because I don't have the time or
inclination to learn Java, but there are plenty of people
with those skills - has anyone gone down this road? Would
bandwidth be a prohibitive factor?

Steve



The approval and support of major allies in the case of hostilites are
also of great value. The political and psychological benefits of such
allied presence can be even greater than its military worth.
	- _The Twenty-Five Year War_, General Bruce Palmer, USA



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