[MUD-Dev] Dots in a name?

[Matt Chatterley]

On Sun, 10 Aug 1997, Martin Keegan wrote:

> On Sun, 10 Aug 1997, Matt Chatterley wrote:
> 
> > On Sun, 10 Aug 1997, Chris Gray wrote:
> > 
> > > Well, you can just pick one, and ignore everyone else! Mainly because that's
> > > what the Amiga uses, I picked ISO Latin-1, which works not bad for many
> > > international uses. The codes for it seem to work on many UNIX boxes as
> > > well, and I suspect can be made to work on PC's. A friend with a Mac
> > > complained that the E-acute I had used in the name "Faberge" was some
> > > wierd thing on his system. I thought about it a bit and decided I didn't
> > > really care.
> > > 
> > > Of course Microsoft would prefer you use Unicode.
> 
> I'd prefer to use Unicode as well. Then I could use the Verdurian script.
> I can't wait! :)

Heh. ;)
  
> > Heh. I suppose it depends on whether or not you intend to 'encourage' a
> > custom client for the game (IIRC you mentioned ages ago that Island
> > basically built in a client, Martin?).
> 
> I don't want to encourage any such thing, no, unless it's seamlessly
> integrated into the game. Yes, Island did have the burden of a built in
> client.

A built in client has always seemed a slightly strange thing to me -- and
actually encouraging a custom client is something I dislike (unless that
client is available to all platforms, not huge.. and all other sorts of
constrictions that make it a real hassle to produce).
 
> You connected to 'forker', which forked off a client which connected to a
> server which talked to the main game. This filth was written by James Lord
> for a game system called OxMUD, which never came to fruition, and was
> inserted screaming into version 5 of Island (before which everything used
> shared files). The following filk on "Dry Bones" sums it up well:
> 
> 	The forker's connected to the - terminal.
> 	The terminal's connected to the - server.
> 	The server's connected to the - main game.
> 	And flame the code of the ~lord.

Laf.
 
> The client did things like the ' > " : :: < <: ": ":: abbreviations and
> output formatting. Version 12 will hopey see this all folded into a single
> process (or see me just replace rclient with a hacked version of
> TinyFugue).

Maybe a hacked version of TF would be better - it now has the added
advantage that many people are familiar with it, and may find it easier to
use than anything custom built.
 
> > If so, and even without, you could distribute a font for non-unix systems
> > that can handle these special characters, surely? Those users who actually
> > object to unusual characters looking funny on their systems can snag the
> > relevant font file, and then proceed to install and use it to alleviate
> > their problems.
> 
> How do I do that? I'd primarily be aiming at the WinLosers.

I'm no expert, but I'd imagine you could get a program from somewhere that
allows you to create TrueType (.ttf) font files, which a user could
install (I've installed them before - its pretty dashed easy).
  
> > This isn't as easy for UNIX users - so I'd suggest you use something UNIX
> > is happy with as your base.
> 
> Ok. So what is this and where do I get it? ISO-xxxx-xxxx?

Chris Gray dropped the name of something he said might work, I lost that
part of the text. ;)

Regards,
	-Matt Chatterley
	http://user.itl.net/~neddy/index.html
"Speak softly and carry a big stick." -Theodore Roosevelt