Escape from Zearz

What happens when Iyou has played too many SCUMM games and gets really bored? A new creation!

I think I have officially abandoned The Kingdom of Crim, though I may one day pick it back up. Instead I've decided to make a SCUMM-ish type game called "Escape from Zearz."

For those who have never heard of SCUMM (what, have you lived under a rock?), it's a scripting language used by LucasArts to create such games as Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken, the Monkey Island series and countless other games. All of them are considered classics and some of the best adventure games ever created.

Will my game even come close to that? Probably not. I'm not really trying to make a game on par with LucasArts and this is merely a learning tool for me. Still, I would like it to be somewhat fun and playable. That's my overall goal.

As of right now the title and the basic GUI screens are completed. I am borrowing the look of the GUI from the Indiana Jones SCUMM game for the moment. I suppose this really makes it more complicated than it needs to be, since I could use the later Monkey Island series style and limit myself to fewer verbs and commands, but what's life without challenges?

Here's a sample image:




With luck I won't completely drop this project and a playable demo will be out in the next few months. So stay tuned and hope for the best!

Kon version 1.0.7 release

The last time I touched Kon was back on Feb 28th. When I had closed down the IDE that final time I thought that it was probably the closest that I'd ever come to being able to make Kon "learn." To be honest, that feeling hasn't wavered all that much, but I have found ways to improve and enhance Kon since then.

First up are bug fixes. After having run Kon for a few weeks observing I've noticed a few major bugs that have popped up. Two of which caused the bot to go BOOM. I also discovered that it wasn't replacing "UNNAMED_USER" correctly with someone from the channel. That has since been fixed. Also fixed: when a user used to talk to Kon in query he would respond in channel. Now he responds in query to queries.

Another thing I really wanted to get done with the last version but got tired before finishing was separating commands into three types: admin, users, and everyone. This version has achieved this. There's one admin that must be set, then the admin can add multiple users. All of the commands have been split into one of those three categories.

One last thing I've done was go back and redo the LB brain so that it splits questions and all other lines ("statements") into separate files. If the user asks Kon a question he will ALWAYS respond with a statement. Otherwise, it will be a 50/50 shot on which one he'll do. It's not a huge change, but it might make things a little easier in the future should I choose to pursue other ideas I have.

Download Binaries: Click here
Downlod Source: Click here (and download all the files)


Complete changelog:

• Fixed an error when you toggle the LB brain off that caused the bot to crash.
• Fixed an error with !LBinfo when the LB brain wasn't loaded.
• Tried to fix the reconnect command, again.
• Seperated the IncomingCommand method into its own file.
• Seperated the ConsoleCommand method into its own file.
• Seperated the logging method into its own file.
• Added !konInfo to the list of commands. This will send the version information to the channel.
• Changed the way the LB brain works by seperating questions and statements. Now when someone asks a question to the bot, it will reply with a statement (a non-question). Otherwise, it'll be random whether or not it asks a question or replies with a statement.
• Fixed a channel user list bug that wasn't showing the list of channel users after someone talked to the bot for the first time.
  
• Added a !channelusers command that will display all the users in the channel (for testing purposes) ** warning: don't use this command in an extremely busy channel with a ton of users (more than 30) or else it might crash the bot.
• Added an !utter command that will Kon to randomly say something to the channel.
• Added an admin section to the config file. Admins have access to all commands and have the ability to add 'users' to the list.
• Commands have been broken down by type: admin only, users, anyone.
  
• Fixed a bug in previous versions where Kon would spout two responses for one input line.
• Fixed a bug that caused Kon to reply to the main channel when someone messaged him in private. Now he will respond to private messages by messaging the person who is talking to him.
• ADMIN ONLY commands: !addUser (nick), !remUser (nick), !quit
• ADMIN AND USERS ONLY commands: !reload, !reloadAIML, !toggleAIML, !toggleGoogle, !toggleLB, !channelUsers, !utter
• ANYONE commands: !splash, !konInfo, !brainInfo, !LBinfo

Until next time...

Clam Digger - Version 1.0

"Oh, you gonna love this boy. Tyrone calls you up, you know - in the game - and he says 'I can dig more clams than you, stupid!' And you gotta say 'Nuh-uh, boy,' And y'all gotta race down to the beach with your buckets and your shovels, and the object of the game...is to find parking."

- Meatwad, ATHF

During my time spent on FFXI I've yet to find such a peaceful and relaxing hobby as clamming is. The area is just beautiful and it's a very nice break from farming and leveling. Of course clamming involves keeping track of your bucket weight and making sure you don't go too far over. This program is designed to help with that.

There are several online tools that do the exact same thing. One of which, "The Clamming Kit" (http://ffxi.lokyst.net/clammer/clamming.html) has been my inspiration in making this program. So now you're asking why you should be using this program instead of the online ones. Well, my program not only keeps track of the weight but also the value in gil that your current bucket is worth.

This means that you can assess your risk in trying to dig up another item as you get closer and closer to your bucket weight cap. If you're at 43/50 for example and your bucket is only worth 42 gil you might want to take the risk. However, if your bucket is at 43/50 and is worth 1700 gil you will obviously not want to take the risk.

I hope that you will find this program useful during your relaxing clamming time.

Version 1.0
Download
Screenshot

** Note: this program does require Microsoft's .NET Framework version 2.0 or higher.

Don't let this happen to you! Use this program!