a_snail

Just noticed when the original articles where posted I was having similar thoughts over Christmas and Packman looked like the easiest of the old style games to implement with the twist that your in the maze rather than looking top down. I was also pondering something along the lines of the game at the end of a TV game show called the Adventure Game where you have to cross a grid with out getting vaporised by an invisible vortex. You took it in turns to move. The way to tell if the Vortex was on the destination point was to throw a bread roll at it - quality show around 25 years ago at a guess.

You lot have hit on what I'm currently working on - Packman / mazes. I have a working game where have to move round the maze avoiding 'Squirrels'. In my case all you see are the paths leading off from your current position and the relative location of the squirrels. This in theory means you can have huge mazes because all you need to do is show what the player can see i.e. the exits from an intersection which is probably no more than 5 or so paths. I've been writing it in an easy to modify way, so its at the point I can add in new points and how they link to each other in a list, and then the code goes off and creates zones and adds a couple of squirrels (that you need to avoid while you go round the maze). I've even got it so that players arn't going to need to modify author code to handle what happens when players reach an intersection, it can be done in the builder using its tools for creating new code. My current test game has 43 intersections in the packman map and 2 squirrels As for cheating, I've got code in there to make sure you stick to the paths and don't jump off them as the squirrel runs down the path your on (as if players would do that). Sounds good (I hope). The problem is that the Oregon is struggling a bit mainly because I've used zones so that I could see what was happening in the emulator. Also the intersections of paths in my local park are a bit too close together and something takes out the Oregon. I need to find somewhere better to setup the game. I think I will change zones so that they show up as objects and forget zones - makes it easier to see on the GPS anyway as well as reducing the processing burden. I also need to tidy up the user interaction side of things whilst the bit behind the scenes is working, the decorative and humorous interface is currently lacking. I'm also waiting with interest to see what problems people are having with my Snakes Wherigo given similar techniques are used in that. So, a bit of work still to do yet before releasing a Wherigo and making the code fully available for modification. Just remembered I have a .gwc file on me for you to have a look at if you want. Comments welcome. Packman.zip

You lot have hit on what I'm currently working on - Packman / mazes. I have a working game where have to move round the maze avoiding 'Squirrels'. In my case all you see are the paths leading off from your current position and the relative location of the squirrels. This in theory means you can have huge mazes because all you need to do is show what the player can see i.e. the exits from an intersection which is probably no more than 5 or so paths. I've been writing it in an easy to modify way, so its at the point I can add in new points and how they link to each other in a list, and then the code goes off and creates zones and adds a couple of squirrels (that you need to avoid while you go round the maze). I've even got it so that players arn't going to need to modify author code to handle what happens when players reach an intersection, it can be done in the builder using its tools for creating new code. My current test game has 43 intersections in the packman map and 2 squirrels As for cheating, I've got code in there to make sure you stick to the paths and don't jump off them as the squirrel runs down the path your on (as if players would do that). Sounds good (I hope). The problem is that the Oregon is struggling a bit mainly because I've used zones so that I could see what was happening in the emulator. Also the intersections of paths in my local park are a bit too close together and something takes out the Oregon. I need to find somewhere better to setup the game. I think I will change zones so that they show up as objects and forget zones - makes it easier to see on the GPS anyway as well as reducing the processing burden. I also need to tidy up the user interaction side of things whilst the bit behind the scenes is working, the decorative and humorous interface is currently lacking. I'm also waiting with interest to see what problems people are having with my Snakes Wherigo given similar techniques are used in that. So, a bit of work still to do yet before releasing a Wherigo and making the code fully available for modification.

My guess (and it is only a guess) is that the lua file has got corrupted. In the lua file there will be something like: ------Builder Generated callbacks, Do not Edit, this will be overwritten------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --#LASTCALLBACKKEY=13#-- The number 13 in my example represents the number of buttons I've got script for in my Wherigo. What happens is one is added to that number and that becomes the name of the new function i.e the next function to be created would be: cartSnakes.MsgBoxCBFuncs.MsgBoxCB14 = function(action) ... end Have a look and see if that number is correct, my guess is that its wrong in some way or possibly missing. Good luck

What text are you adding to the button called? I've had problems in the past if I've put none alphanumeric characters in the button e.g. Say "Hello" On a similar topic, one thing I've also been doing and any input from others would be welcome, is to limit the number of characters on a button to 17. Any more and you risk the text going off the sides of players like the Oregon.

if you trying to stop cheating, you could include numeric/integer values in your string, e.g. "What colour is the " .. tostring(3) .. " building from the left?". The number could then be used as the array position to give the answer.

That works well, its a shame you can't paste your zone into it, modify it a bit and copy the zone back out. Definitally added to my favorites list Thanks

I was wondering how you where getting on with your zone mover given the problems I've encountered. A big thanks by the way for making the wak a laky source code available. It proved a valuable source of information on how to move things and generally program in lua. Did you publish your cartridge with the zone mover in it? If so what's it called, I would be interested to see how you have gone about it and hopefully dig through the code and pick up some more techniques and methods. So far only one person has reported finishing my Snakes Wherigo has put a comment about emailing comments separately, so I'm still a bit in the dark on how well it worked and how well it works on the various devices. My next project involved moving zones around (mainly so that I could see what was happening in the builder) although not quite as much as I think you where planning. I've got it all the technical bits working but I've come to the conclusion that the Oregon struggles a bit too much. I've found zones and the Oregon don't behave at all well and crash for no obvious reason, or the names of the first two zones in the list of zones is the same name. Some crashing is probably to do with when people arrive at a zone they stand right on the very edge of the zone drifing in and out (everyone I have seen play my Wherigos does it). I will at some point strip them all out (the game realated ones anyway) and just use objects and do my own proximity checking by checking the distance from the object which seems to work quite well and so far has proved much faster and far more reliable. Generally speaking the Oregon seems to manage 2 objects moving around once a second with out too much trouble, 3 seems to be the limit, and stopping movement when messages are displayed seem wise. In some ways I'm pleased that I'm developing on the Oregon because from what you have said it is the worst device out there for speed, so if I can get it working I should be OK.

Sadly from reading other topics, the builder used rather questionable (undocumented) functions when using google maps. This has meant when Google updated their mapping stuff back in November, the undocumented functions no longer behaved the same way they used to and the builder stopped working. Even more of a shame is Groundspeak not fixing the builder. I suspect they are putting their efforts into making money by selling an aplet for the iPone at the moment (and from what I gather the builder is looking quite good in comparison). Perhaps they could make the builder code opensource and allow others to fix the bugs rather than the community writting new builders from scratch. Ranger Fox seems to have got the mapping side of things working quite nicely in his log analysis program. I digress, since the loss of functionality, I've been using mapping software to draw the zones, saving the points as a text file, then loading them into a text editor and after a bit of a tidy up they can be cut and pasted into the lua file. I would be curious to know what other methods people are using. Are you talking about adding in comments into the release notes? If so, I think that just displays versions and when they where uploaded, no more than that, although it would be nice to put some text there. Otherwise, editing the notes should be a case of loging into www.Wherigo.com, select your old cartrige and select Edit Details, or (if your like me and filled up all the space available) just add a note to the Wherigo page saying what you have done or edit the details in the geocache page which I think has more room.

I've not done anything like that, but it should be relatively easy. What sort of questions did you have in mind? Mathematical e.g. random number + other random number, or from a list of questions? Are you happy to use Author code or do you want it to be done using the builder.

Only the pet mode works anywhere (turn that on through the tablet), the main game sadly is fixed, however, it should be relatively easy to change the coordinates to some other location (some coordinates are hard coded in the author code)

I've just activated a new cartridge where I've been experimenting with moving objects around. This topic is for anyone else that may be interesting in what I've done or their experiences with moving either zones or objects. The cartridge is Snakes (http://www.Wherigo.com/cartridge/details.aspx?CGUID=ea623ab7-e352-4983-a3e6-d61b0eab877a) if you want to have a go before reading more about what it does. From my experimenting I've found that my Oregon struggles a bit when it comes to moving stuff around. Zones seem to be more of a problem than objects, however as long as the number of objects are kept low, things seem to keep going. At some points in the cartridge I've got 3 objects all moving around depending on what the player is doing. All objects fall into the character category, either guiding the player from one location to another or heading towards the player (either to attack them or as a pet circling the player). As for other devices, I have no idea if it works, there might be too much going on, but from what I have read, the Oregon and Colorado seem to be the slowest of the Wherigo players out there, so hopefully it should work fine. Another problem I found is mixing zones and objects may prove a little awkward for the player having to swap between screens (again I’m limited to experiences on the Oregon). Hopefully I’ve kept it simple enough in Snakes where for the most part players can leave the screen on the objects view for the first half the game and on the zone view for the second half. I’m not claming my solution is a good one and should be used as a template, in fact its kind of evolved, so I’m sure it could be rewritten in a much nicer way. I just thought people might like to comment and suggest improvements or alternative ways to achieve the same goals. They may also get ideas for their own Wherigos given I found it does add an extra something to the Wherigo if characters can wander around. All the source is downloadable and playable in the emulator. The interesting code can be viewed in a text editor or in the Author code view.

Its not quite what you asked for, but there is a variable called "Player.Name" that contains the name of the user that downloaded the cartrage. Using it is slightly harder since you probably want to join multiple bits of text together. This can be done using .. for example in the script you could have: Wherigo.MessageBox{Text=[[Hello ]] .. Player.Name .. [[. How are you today?]],}

Fair enough. Did you upload the Wherigo to www.Wherigo.com, because if you did, make the source public and just download it. You can remove the public status again afterwards if you want. If its your only copy, I belive a few people out there do know how to convert the gwc into the original components, e.g. the people who develop wherigos and the emulator. I suspect you may need to give them the gwc file and get them to decode it for you and send you the files. Failing that, you can get the pictures back by taking screen shots (either in the emulator or in the GPS (if your GPS supports screen shots, Oregons do and I suspect PPC would)) Good luck

In theory you don't. The whole point of the c part of gwc is that its the compiled finished version. There would be a lot of upset people if you could because they have spent ages thinking of ways to prevent people taking the .gwc file and running it in the builder or finding otherways to cheat. If you wan't to edit it, you need to select "Download source" (below License in the Wherigo home page for that cartridge) and if your downloaded .gwz (z for zip) file doesn't have .zip on the end, you add one and then extract the contents like any other compressed zip file. Alternatively, if you can't download source, ask the author nicely, and they may well email you a copy, or even better, tick the box so that everyone can download it (a useful option if its your own cartridge and you have lost the code). If this question is: "I want to hack into the cartridge, breaking licensing agreements and the wishes of the authors", then as a hacker, that is your puzzle/challange from the Wherigo (A task that is probably going to be more chalanging that playing the Wherigo properly).

I'm guessing easy to access variables containing the check code, players name and time (since they do exist already, just not through the builders interface).

Hi Tequila Thanks for sending me a copy. Your right, its nice and simple to edit using search and replace and then edit the zone locations. The only thing to remember is not to have spaces in the names of locations . Some suggestions: You could put a timer on it to see how long it took and post fastest times on the Geocache page, although that might encourage people to use their cars and speed. Depending on how reliable your trains are, you could also put some sort of timetable showing estimated time of arrival at ... station. Thanks for sharing the code - A Snail

Sadly I can't make that on that date, on a remote island in the North of Scotland with only two geocaches . Have you managed to confince anyone for Groundspeak to come along and answer questions and demonstrate stuff?

Thanks for the reply. I figured it would have to be custom. Problem is - I know what I want I just can't program worth a hoot! I can barely squak out a "hello world"! I understand code (mostly) that I see - I just can't come up with it! Reading your reply to Ranger Fox, your probably want math.random(30,60) to give you a random value between 30 and 60. I'm all in favour of looking at existing code and then modifying it, I find it a good way to learn new techniques (or at least work out how to get somthing to work when the documentaion fails or doesn't exist) Let me know if you get stuck implementing my suggestion (I would probably suggest going for the countdown timer method - I've not tried it, but it should work).

Two ways I can think of, both in the end would call if zoneName.Active==false then zoneName.Active=true else zoneName.Active=false end The first would be to have an interval timer, and in the timer have something like if math.random(100)==1 then -- do the code above end which has a one in 100 chance of flipping the active state The second would be a countdown timer. When it is triggered, set ztimerName.Duration=math.random(100) then restart the timer after flipping the active state. Either way, yes, a bit of custome code, but you don't seem to be concerned at that.

Not including them is about the only way, but if anyone enters the wrong answers, they will be given a false location which might be somewhere unsafe. Preventing people playing the game in the emulator or demo modes prevents people having a quick look, or play test. Personally I like to have a look at new wherigos for places I am unlikely to ever get the chance to visit, and in one case having had a look at the Wherigo (as far as i could get) looks like a great place to visit in Germany, so I may well find a reason to visit now. I admit some people will cheat, a bit like reading the last page of a book, but in both cases most people I think then go on to play the Wherigo or read the book.

Hi Tequila Are you loading a text file from the cartridge directory? or is it build into the cartridge? Either way, I would still be interested to see how it works, and how well it behaves on devices like the Oregon' Thanks A_Snail

Quick Note: For those people who havn't yet disabled UAC (needing to elevate your rights to do administrative types of things), you will need to make sure you run the batch file (or command prompt) using "Run as Administrator" othewise you will just get errors.

It Works!!!!!!!! A big thanks Certik. Thats been annoying a lot of people. To save everyone having to download 350Mb of stuff and install it, then get past Vista's security measures, I've included the patched exe Install the builder if you have uninstalled it, or not bother installing it yet, then overwrite your WherigoBuilder.exe which is probably located: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Groundspeak\Wherigo\Builder\WherigoBuilder.exe" Hopefully this uploaded version is not against copyright or some such thing, if so, perhaps Groundspeak could make the fixes to their install. Finally I can now get rid of my Virtual Machine work around - hurray WherigoBuilder.zip

Which splash screen are you talking about, I suspect I've not found that option. If your talking about the cartridge screen (the one that gets displayed at the bottom of the text in the emulater), it anoyingly doesn't get displayed at all on Oregon.