New zzt site launched! need admins, php programmers, etc

[superbowl shuffle]

I want to know how to make things that look like objects but are not. Text, dummiez, you know the deal. We're talking half-blocks here. With eyes that make love to the world. Talk to me. Make me want it.

[MadTom]

Removing stats in KevEdit can help.

[TTTPPP]

Doesn't removing the stats make it really buggy (maybe to the extent of not running?)
If there's a way to get half tiles without stats then I can vastly improve my Bmp2ZZT program.

[FSFunky]

You're the guy who made BMP2ZZT? You are one cool dude, you get a thumbs up from Mr. Keen courtesy of me.

[superbowl shuffle]

Madtom your ideas make me as curious as a 7-year-old nps at a gay pride parade. You see, the object limit per board of zzt is hindering my progress like razor wire to a mexican. I want to sneak past this limit like an Aruban bank sneaks past tax laws.

[MadTom]

Madtom your ideas make me as curious as a 7-year-old nps at a gay pride parade. You see, the object limit per board of zzt is hindering my progress like razor wire to a mexican. I want to sneak past this limit like an Aruban bank sneaks past tax laws.

I liked the first one most but the other two are great as well.

Anyway, I don't have too much else to contribute, apart from the stuff in here: http://zzt.org/?p=gtsm

3. Be parsimonious with your stats.
Tiles with stats include objects, passages, player clones, pre-programmed enemies, and devices like pushers, conveyers (sic) and duplicators. Walls, line walls, fakes, water, boulders, sliders, and empties do not have stats. Stats take up memory, and you should conserve them whenever possible. Use KevEdit [Ctrl+T] to remove stats from anything that doesn't need them. A good example is the common inclusion of randomised codeless 'smiley' objects to simulate a crowd. Don't do it. Try using statless player clones instead - sometimes called "dummies". It conserves memory, and also allows you to put more 'real' objects on the board.

8. Use on-screen text whn possible.
Text does not have stats, and should therefore be used in place of objects whenever possible. This is especially useful in high-quality art, for half-blocks and unusual ASCII characters. Unfortunately, we are limited to only seven colours of text.

Typing Ctrl+A while in F4 text mode in KevEdit allows you to choose special characters like white-on-something half-blocks without needing a toolkit.

The stats removal thing works well when there's a character you want that is of a prefabricated type in ZZT, like an asterisk for a ricochet or a cross for a blinkwall site. Remove the stats from it and it retains the character and otherwise acts just like a solid block of a special character.

Example: for a static character (186) with no stats used and without having to set up a proper linewall, set up a vertical blinkwall ray and remove its stats in KevEdit. It acts just like a normal wall. For asterisks, use ricochets as long as you're in no position to shoot them. Squares, boulders. Little circles, statless bullets. Carets (as long as you don't need to touch them) sharks.

[Dr. Dos]

Wow the user articles page.

Also I thought dummies were statless objects. I was under the impression statless players reverted to normal colored clones.

[MadTom]

No, that's coloured players with stats. Statless objects are #char 1, statless players #char 2.

[http://yahoo.com/]

I don't understand anything you're talking about so I guess I'll go code libzzt instead

[nps]

Madtom your ideas make me as curious as a 7-year-old nps at a gay pride parade.

hjiahaj

kerjaka

ahbnaga

i can't breathe

[superbowl shuffle]

Madtom your ideas make me as curious as a 7-year-old nps at a gay pride parade. You see, the object limit per board of zzt is hindering my progress like razor wire to a mexican. I want to sneak past this limit like an Aruban bank sneaks past tax laws.

I liked the first one most but the other two are great as well.

I'm glad you like them because they aren't easy to come up with.

So I actually did read that article before starting this topic and even looked back to it because I didn't know what to call half-blocks. I was hoping that there was a way to get a half-block that wasn't white using text or something else, but I guess that isn't the case and now I'm more dissapointed than a Madtom after he wasn't manraped by nps (come on nps, he isn't going to ask for it, you have to give it to him).

Seriously, I shouldn't be up at the same time as Australians.

And seriously, offshore companies are hurting America

[MadTom]

Yeah, I thought so. I'm not convinced that there's no way whatsoever to do it, but if there is, I think only someone like Viovis would know. He's come back onto AIM recently (ProViovis).

In practice I find that the white-on-color half-blocks are still very useful for drawing.

What are you working on, anyway? Still the dolphin game?

[superbowl shuffle]

deleted

[Dr. Dos]

why is it that everybody is better at graphics than me

[FSFunky]

nuh-uh, I suck more.