[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [kidsgames] a game for kids!



On Sat, 29 Apr 2000, Steve Baker wrote:

-->Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 22:29:39 -0500
-->From: Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.net>
-->Reply-To: kidsgames@smluc.org
-->To: kidsgames@smluc.org
-->Subject: Re: [kidsgames] a game for kids!
-->
-->> Anne-Marie Mahfouf wrote:
-->> 
-->> Hello everyone!
-->> 
-->> It seems that there is not a lot happening on this list for the moment.
-->> I develop a memory-like game for children aged 2 to 8. Any feedback (and help) would be great!
-->> HomePage:
-->> http://website.lineone.net/~a-m.mahfouf/kard.html
-->> 

Thank you Anne-Marie.  So far (I've tried about 5 times over the past
month) I can not get to your site.  I do not know why.  Is it any where
else that I could grab it from, such as freshmeat or sourceforge?

-->> It is my first program and my first contact with programming.
-->
-->Wow!  Pretty good for a first effort!
-->

If Steve likes it it's obviously very good.  I look forward to seeing it
sometime soon.

-->I can probably offer advice (and some code) for the audio version you
-->mention on your 'To Do' list.  It's pretty easy to play single
-->sounds in C or C++ under Linux.  If you aren't pushed for time
-->and if you don't mind a few tens of milliseconds of delay, then
-->something as simple as:
-->
-->  system ( "cat sound_effect.wav > /dev/dsp0" ) ;
-->                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-->            ...(or whatever filename you choose)...
-->
-->...works quite well (providing your sound effect is recorded at
-->the right frequency).  A range of suitable effects (gathered from
-->all sorts of places on the web) can be found along with the
-->source code for my Tux-the-Penguin game at:
-->
-->   http://tuxaqfh.sourceforge.net
-->
-->...or let me know privately and I can email them to you.  I have
-->much more sophisticated sound replay routines you could use - but
-->I think the 'system' command will be adequate for you and eliminates
-->the need to depend on any specific sound library.
-->
-->One thought that occurs to me:
-->
-->If you made it so that the sounds could be brought up by pushing
-->number keys or something - instead of by clicking on boxes on the
-->screen - that version might be of interest to blind or partially
-->sighted kids - for whom computers must be hard to take advantage
-->of.
-->

Just from what Steve is saying it sounds similiar to the Linux Letters
program is that the case?

-->I think the field of audio-only games is not yet well enough explored.
-->
-->The new OpenAL sound library (you can find it at www.openal.org) supports
-->3D spatialized audio for Linux.  I was thinking about a game where you
-->could be walking around in total darkness with creatures moving around
-->you and such.  You'd have to shoot them with only audio cues to go on.
-->The screen would be totally black (or you could play with your eyes
-->closed)...you'd better have a stereo sound card and headphones though.
-->

Has anybody played much with OpenAL yet?  I think it WILL be cool, but not
sure what it's status is now.  And I'm exploring other things at the
moment.

-->It would be cool to do a maze type of game where you had to work
-->your way through by echo-location like a bat or a dolphin.  We'd
-->have to slow down the speed of sound so that human ears could
-->resolve the echo's - but that would be fairly easy to do.
-->

That would be cool.

<snip>

Again Anne-Marie thank you for you efforts and I apologize for not
commenting sooner.

-- 
Jeff Waddell
jeff@smluc.org

Kids Games Project Coordinator
main website at http://smluc.org/SIA/kidsgames/


-
kidsgames@smluc.org  -- To get off this list send "unsubscribe kidsgames"
in the body of a message to majordomo@smluc.org