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[Cerej]

Right, I booted up the newest version of Liberal Crime Squad, and after playing a bit I started thinking.  The game has some very good features in it.  But it also has a lot of things that get in the way of enjoying the game.  In my opinion, there's too much that's wrong with the game to enjoy it; it just doesn't match my peculiar tastes.  So I see a choice between chopping apart the source of LCS or creating my own, similar game.  I think creating something new is a better option.

Here's where you come in.  I have very little experience with program input/output.  In c++ I have used cin's, cout's, and fstream's.  So if you know of any tutorials to teach the following techniques I would be grateful.

I would like to produce a user interface at least as interesting as in LCS.  So I'd like to be able to display maps and text using colored characters.  I want the user to enter commands as simple keystrokes.  I want strings to be accepted as input in some situations.

A resource that's easier to use than peeking inside the LCS source files would be very useful.

Thank you.

[Deadmeat1471]

'I think creating something new is a better option.'

Die. That is all.

[EuchreJack]

I'm sorry, but you might want to elaborate further in a non-offensive way about what's wrong with the current game.  Especially if you actually want help from someone in rebuilding it.

[Sergius]

Wow, look at the Conservative responses...

[Twerty]

:/

[Rezan]

Considering this is the only text game I have ever really thought to be worth my time, I'm curious how exactly this game is "so bad" that you can't play it.


Oh, and if you're too lazy to look through the god damned source, then I don't think there's much hope for you in "making a new game with a little help" - think a lot of help.

[Servant Corps]

I don't think it's a good idea to start the flaming.

All he wants to know is just how the UI works, so that he may use it for another gaming project. That's it. He may already have the game mechanics down pat, he just want the UI. It may be better to check the Source Code to find stuff about the UI though.

He may not like the game because of the theme and the setting. LCS is not for everybody. Some people don't like the concept or the implementation. I don't think we should start screaming at him.

[Cerej]

Thank you Servant Corps for an on topic, helpful, and non-toxic post.  I was kind of hoping I wouldn't have to dig through the source of a game to find what I'm looking for.

Next, I will clarify my request.  Does anyone know if a good tutorial for pdcurses.dll exists?  Or is there a different library you would recommend for a text based game?  Even a list of functions in pdcurses would be helpful.  A link to any of the above is all I'm asking for.

To everyone offended, I'm sorry.  On reflection I should have just removed the entire first paragraph of my post.  Letting people know why I've been inspired to broaden my knowledge and invest my time into a project was more incendiary than I expected.

I'm sorry that people took my faults with LCS out of proportion, and I'm sorry people thought I was asking for any contributions of code from the community here.

[Sergius]

I disagree. I didn't see anything offensive in the OP.

[JeebusSez]

There's a big list of PDcurses API-style user's guide at http://pdcurses.sourceforge.net/doc/PDCurses.txt. PDcurses is used as the i/o for LCS, so if you want a similar system, it's your best bet. Technically you don't even have to glance at the LCS source, although it'd be a good idea as an example of implementation (although what happens in there shouldn't necessarily be taken as best practices).

[Cerej]

Thank you.  That is incredibly helpful.

[jaked122]

I'd love to help... but I have no experience in p/ncurses so I'm probably useless, and I agree the game would  reach pure perfection if it was changed slightly

[a1s]

the game would  reach pure perfection if it was changed slightly

changed how? your ideas are welcome, you know...

[Anticheese]

Anyone else find it funny how the game about making the nation L+ is written in C++?

[a1s]

That sort of explains why it used to be filled with archaic functions and  types. (Hopefully it's at least L by now...)