Re: [pygame] Niss

[Luke Paireepinart <rabidpoobear@xxxxxxxxx>]

Kris Schnee wrote:
> Luke Paireepinart wrote:
> > I hope this is an addon to NISS and you haven't straight-up abandoned 
> > her ;)
>
> Heh! No way. Now that exams are done I can actually do some work... 
> Could use any input you have.
Good news!  My exams just finished too.  Sadly, though, my project for 
the summer's not in python.
> <rambling>
> My problem with Niss right now is that I don't know what sort of 
> application I'm building. I toyed with several 3D engines:
> -Panda3D: native to Python, but it's generally ugly. Creepy, 
> disturbing "Hello World" video.
> -CrystalSpace: extensive hazing process just to install for Python; 
> finally gave up
> -Ogre3D: PyOgre finally has the CEGUI interface working. Would look nice.
Tried to watch Panda3D video, saw it was a quicktime file, ran away.
I have appleophobia.
when I go to the computer lab on campus I have to use the PCs in the far 
corner so I can't see any of the Macs.
once I was even offered a free car but when I heard it had Ipod support 
I turned it down.

PyOgre seems good.  I remember I tried a PyWeek game written in it, I 
think it ran decently well.
I don't know about 3D though.  2D can look fantastic.
<encouragement>
I know you've played Secret of Mana
http://www.retrogaming.it/snes/secretofmana.htm
Cmon, those graphics kick my butt, and that's
with a 3 mhz system with a 512x448 display running 256 colors!
Or how about Chrono Trigger!

All that could be done in Pygame.
You don't need some fancy 3d engine.
Remember back in the day when your grandfather used to walk 15 miles in 
the snow to get to
his IBM 360 to feed it its punch cards, etc, etc.
</encouragement>
> I look at Ogre screenshots and think that anything I'd make with it 
> would automatically look nicer than anything I've done in Pygame. Plus 
> it's 3D. But unless I use billboarding, I'd need fancy custom 3D 
> characters, and they'd look bad unless they were also animated a bit. 
> So, should I even attempt 3D? In contrast, won't people likely dismiss 
> anything I do in Pygame because it's not nearly as pretty as an Ogre 
> program?
Mmmmmmoooooo.
you can make it pretty.
Just antialias everything a lot.
And throw in some motion blur.
friends.append("Photoshop")
> Where I left off, I had the "Aquablue" system: an ugly but functional 
> endless scrolling map with crude editor and mostly-there sprite code. 
> Should I just use that and focus on refining it? It's innately 2D 
> unless I build in warps to other maps that represents building 
> interiors etc, and that means no hills -- just flat islands. But 
> that's OK for an AI demo and maybe even for a game.
I think you should look into refining it.
Just make sure your AI doesn't depend on the interface, in case you want 
to change it in the future.
> Should I be focused on making a playable game out of it, or on a 
> simple demo of the AI doing smart things? Or on some kind of 
> potentially marketable AI chat thing?
I don't know.
Your IRC thing seems like a good idea.
I recently got some docs on the AIM specification.
I could try to make some sort of text-only interface that you could hook 
NISS up to so she could be hosted under some AIM screen name
and I'd be happy to host it once I get my server up and running 
(Probably next week.  Still moving everything into my room, and a little 
sick at the moment)
Even if just for fun, it would be hella interesting at least to me and you.
> I'm _not_ going to enter the Loebner Prize Contest again this year. I 
> don't have anything substantially better for that than I did last 
> year, and Loebner's doing odd things with the contest requirements. 
> I've got various partly-implemented new ideas for the 
> knowledge/decision system.
Yeah it seemed like it was a little weird the first time around.  What 
was up with that whole "Ruby eating your python code's soul" thing?
Something about Tkinter bindings IIRC.
> There's more on my brainstorming at 
> http://niss-the-ai.livejournal.com/2006/05/13/ .
Yeah, used to read your journal all the time.  Sorta lost track around 
the start of last semester.
That darn school work, you know...
I'll try to keep up with it over the summer.
> </rambling>
>
> Kris