I reckon you all thought I was being quite quiet for the past few weeks but I didn't want to get your hopes up unnecessarily. However, I have now got to the stage where I can say things are looking good on the LDL front and I want to give you some notice of two things.
Before I do that, however, here's a brief recap of what LDL is. Essentially it is a system that will enable blind gamers to make their own maps for Quake, by describing the layout and style of map to be created -- the computer will fill the rest in, including the addition of textures that sighted people would find appealing, as well as lighting. The soon-to-be-released version does not support all the features of Quake, but if you look at the example maps, you'll see that there is a lot you can do with it! It is a proof-of-concept release that I hope to develop further, if I get positive or at least constructive feedback on its direction. Back to the two important messages... The first thing is that I hope to be making a preliminary release of the Level Description Language tools very soon (hopefully on or by the 16th of April). The second thing is that, to help out my research I really need your feedback on the system ASAP (over the 7--14 days following the release; preferably closer to 7). It is of vital importance to me, because this is a chance for me to go about publishing things again after the road accident, so I would really appreciate it if you could help me test LDL and give feedback on it (watch this space for more info) -- and please be patient if there are bugs; as I've been working very hard to get it done by this time there are bound to be a few, but I will fix bugs as soon as you report them :-). Now that's over with, I will explain what LDL is in more detail; what I'd like you to test and what improvements I plan to make in future, if you guys like what is there already. Please bear in mind that I am fully aware this is not a finished product yet but I need some feedback at this early stage so I can progress the research side of things. LDL is a simple language you can use to describe Quake maps, so that the computer can take your description and create a map for you -- i.e. you now have the ability to make your own fully 3D worlds for the game. Currently you will be describing levels by writing simple XML files that list the rooms in the map, items in the rooms and how the rooms are linked (don't worry about the term ``XML'' -- it comes with examples!) Later I hope to enable you to use more natural language and/or an actual level editor program (which may help you fill in the details) to make the maps. To use LDL, you'll need to download Python 2.5, from http://www.python.org/download/ (get the MSI if you're on Windows). Once you've downloaded it you can run the LDL scripts. When you download LDL you will find a number of things have been included, as follows. LDL Scripts: A series of programs that translate levels down from the highest (simplest) format through a series of intermediate formats (all also XML) and finally into Quake MAP files (which are very low-level -- definitions of 3D planes and so on) which are then processed by the standard Quake level compilation tools to make a map you can play in the game. Example Levels: You'll also find a number of example levels that you can edit. These will include descriptions of what the levels are like in an effort to try to help you relate that to the XML you will read. I hope that you have fun using the system; after a survey we conducted earlier, it seemed to be one of the main things blind gamers wanted to do with mainstream games (much like sighted people). Once again, I hope that you will be able to help give feedback on this upcoming very early release; I'll post the questions I need answers to when I upload the first release, which should be in the next few days as discussed above. If you find bugs, please report them and I'll do my best to fix them. Until then, I'll get back to the grindstone; thanks for listening and please check back regularly for news! best regards, -- Matthew Tylee Atkinson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________ AGRIP-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.agrip.org.uk/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/agrip-discuss
