Console and size

[provolik]

Hi to all.

At the moment I am developing an RL under Linux and I decided some times ago to display my game in a certain way but this way make all larger that the default linux console size.

I am considering to change all my interface e re-design it to fit the default console size but I want to ask to you: is it better to re-design and fit in the default console size, or is it better to inform the player to enlarge his console?

Thanks to all the answerer and sorry for my horrible english.

[stu]

what if the console can't be sized bigger? Can you not do things by %%? how big a console window are we talking about?

[provolik]

Your answer suggest to me to re-design all... However: my linux ubuntu console is 80x24 and I cannot resize all in %% as I use ascii chars.

[Etinarg]

It depends what you want to do ...

In the past "consoles" or "terminals" were hardware pieces consisting of a screen and a keyboard, magically connected to a mainframe where the actual software ran. The screens had a certain layout, like 80x24 characters. (I think there were smaller ones with 80x22, but I'm not sure)

All (not quiet sure, but I strongly assume so) the old roguelikes were made to run on such terminals.

Now we face an age where character terminals are emulated on graphical screens, and there are no hard size limits anymore.

So if you want to stay traditional, do 80x24

Since almost no one even remembers such terminals, I'm not sure if it makes much sense to stay within those limits.

My personal idea is, that if one uses ASCII, 80x24 is part of the tradition.

Otherwise I'd suggest to use graphical tiles, more or less abstract but symbolic and not care about the old terminals and traditions, but try to find synergies of deep gameplay and symbolic presentation instead of non-symbolic-abstract glyphs.

Fenrir may have a word or two on the idea of tiles and the abstract beauty of non-symbolic presentations. (No kidding.)

[provolik]

At the moment I think I will re-design all for 80x24 console/terminal.

Another choice I may do it's starting the game in xterm with the "resolution" I need, however STU critics was really convincing

[Z]

Well, it's not only mainframes and terminals mentioned by Hajo: old PC computers (with DOS) used a 80x25 text mode with 16 colors, and if someone has used PCs roughly 20-15 years ago, he should remember it. (That means mostly everyone old enough, PC were the most popular kind of computer, right?) Most PCs today use this mode only to show text while booting, then a graphical UI is activated.

AFAIK Linux and Windows XP and older still allow running console programs in this mode, and it is still my preferred way of playing roguelikes and doing some other things. And I would be annoyed if it was not supported in a roguelike for no good reason.

[purestrain]

Be annoyed; i don't want to support it

[elwin]

It's probably better to make it fit in 80x24.  Programs that refuse to run until the user changes something are generally a bad idea.  And some people might not know how to resize their console.

[provolik]

Thanks to all, now I am working on re-design my game to fit exactly in 80x24 (I discover that I have to fit in 80x23). In the 0.2 release it will be all ok.

Thank you

[provolik]

I redraw everything to fit in 80x23.

Maybe some DATA will not be intuitive but I am glad about the result

[Etinarg]

Now more in line with the rogue tradition

I think Angband had a "sticky last line" or such config option for the evil terminals that causes troubles on line 24.