Alethiometer beta

Community Forums/Showcase/Alethiometer beta

WendellM(Posted 2006) [#1]
I enjoyed reading the "His Dark Materials" trilogy a while back, so I started on an alethiometer simulator in BlitzMax last night and finished it this afternoon. For those unfamiliar with the books, it's a clock-like/compass-like device that's used to answer questions put to it.

The art comes from the poster, which I modified to have animated knobs, moving hands with shadows, and light effect. It's been too long since my last, fun hack attack like this - it was great to take a break from serious/structured game creation and just hammer in code as fast as it came to me (even if it's messy)! :)

The ~630K PC beta is here.
UPDATE: version 1.2 is now available for Win 98 and later (both DirectX and OpenGL versions), PC Linux, and Mac PowerPC OS X at NeoNavis.com.




SebHoll(Posted 2006) [#2]
Brilliant - I love it. "His Dark Materials" are my favourite books!!! Maybe once it is out of BETA stages you could submit to the official site (if there is one)- I'm sure a lot of fans would like it.

Does it respond as it does in the book to the questions Lyra puts to it? LOL (That would be a nice touch!)


Grey Alien(Posted 2006) [#3]
I keep meaning to read that, it's on my "to read" list . So you guys recommend it yeah?


WendellM(Posted 2006) [#4]
Thanks, Seb. Once finalized, I plan to submit it to http://www.bridgetothestars.net and http://www.hisdarkmaterials.org which are the HDM sites that I've found the most useful.

That's a cute idea to have it give the same responses to any questions that were in the book. :) But no, it uses a semi-random method to reply with a seed based on the three question hand values and the minute via millisecs (so that asking the same question within a minute will provide the same answer).

Grey - I especially like the books' philosophical/metaphysical/"(anti-)religious" aspects. I found the first one a bit simple (though enjoyable), but things really take off in the next two. Plus it's a good set of stories with interesting characters. If you like atypical, thought-provoking fantasy/SF, then you should like this series.


Picklesworth(Posted 2006) [#5]
That is a really cool and original idea, WendellM!

I, too, loved those books.
I am still to this day annoyed that I the first 2 but not the 3rd one, which I took out of a library... That's my 3rd not quite complete series of really good books.



Looking at it from this kind of hands-on perspective... I'm thinking it can work about the same way as Tarot -- absolutely illogical, but makes sense in the end since the answer I'm seeking is already within me, waiting to be set loose by the thought invoked by such random acts. (Or something like that).


VERY smooth, too... The way the needles move is quite believable.


Neuro(Posted 2006) [#6]
Heh that was a pretty damm good trilogy.....a bit controversial for a children's book. I know its gonna cause some more of that DaVinci Code-like stir the Catholic church when they actually begin filming it....


John Blackledge(Posted 2006) [#7]
Very, very nice piece of work, especially for fans.

Children's books? What - you believed that?

"gonna cause some more of that DaVinci Code-like stir"
Heh-heh. Yep - Pullman was definitely on a mission.
Unless you were dragged up as a Catholic that might not make a lot of sense. But if you were....


Grey Alien(Posted 2006) [#8]
If you like atypical, thought-provoking fantasy/SF, then you should like this series.
lol, yeah you should see my *many* bookcases...


WendellM(Posted 2006) [#9]
Thanks, Mr. Picklesworth and John - I'm glad that you like it. I agree with you about the value of "oracles", Mr. P (I sometimes find the runes helpful, myself). As I see it, there's no actual "fortune telling" involved, but by having to make the vague hints provided somehow connect to the issue at hand, you can gain a better insight into it as your subconscious gets a workout.

It sounds like your literary tastes and appetite are similar to mine, Grey. :)

Version 1.0 (which fixes a minor wrap-around problem) is now released. Builds are available at NeoNavis.com for your platform(s) of choice: Windows (DirectX and OpenGL versions), PC Linux, and Mac PowerPC OS X.


John Blackledge(Posted 2006) [#10]
I love this to bits!

"but by having to make the vague hints provided somehow connect to the issue at hand, you can gain a better insight into it as your subconscious gets a workout."
- You are so right.

I don't suppose there's any chance of a physically slightly bigger version, so that the images are a little more obvious, and the fonts a little bigger?


Grey Alien(Posted 2006) [#11]
WendellM: Not wishing to go too off topic, but here's some of my books:

www.greyaliengames.com/misc/books1.jpg
www.greyaliengames.com/misc/books2.jpg
Two whole bookcases are not shown here. One is entirely full of Stephen King, and the other has Robert Jordan (Conan), Philip K. D*ck, Michael Moorc*ck, and from my childhood Doctor Who, Fighting Fantasy, Dragon Lance, Tarzan and Willian ;-) Oh and the entire Sandman graphic novels.

Plus of course I've read more than these (like all the Tery Pratchett's you don't see and all the early Terry Brooks for example). They are just the ones I've collected. There's a great second-hand book stall on the market and I love picking up 60s/70s sci-fi and short stories from it.


WendellM(Posted 2006) [#12]
John: Your scaleable suggestion is a good one, so I've added that capability as 1.01.

Please have a look at this DirectX one and this OpenGL one [replaced with newer versions]. You should be able to scale among 100%, 125%, and 150% with main +/-, keypad +/-, and PageUp/PageDn. If you scale larger than your desktop size, the window will be cropped, but it shouldn't crash. If these do the trick then I'll see about updating the Linux and Mac ones in the future.

Grey: I see some familiar names and titles in there. :) Good deal.


John Blackledge(Posted 2006) [#13]
Wendell, this is a seriously sweet piece of work.
Both versions work fine for scaling.

Are you going to do anything commercial with this? -Coz I want at the moment to send it to all my friends (so think before you answer that - it could be that Pullman's estate might be interested.)

A couple of suggestions to make it easier to use:
1) Tooltips of each picture when the mouse rests over.
2) The ability (despite the turning knobs) to drag the pointers around by clicking on them - probably a difficult one, that.

Yeah, I know, I hate it too, just when you think you've finished some prat comes along with impractical suggestions!


WendellM(Posted 2006) [#14]
Good to hear that they work.

No, I never had any commercial plans - I just wanted to reach into that poster and play with the so-attractive-and-shiny alethiometer, so I had to put this together for myself. Once I saw that it was a pretty decent hack, I thought that other fans might enjoy it.

As it happens, I just finished submitting it to the two websites mentioned earlier, so feel free to send it to your friends. As for official interest - my only thought there is that I hope I don't get one of those "cease and desist"s that fan creations sometimes do... :) Hopefully Mr. Pullman will like it if he ever happens to see it, and the lawyers can stay out of it.

Heh, I know what you mean about getting suggestions after a release :). But I'm used to it, and yours are decent ones.

I like the tooltips one - that'd be a handy way to view the meanings.

I'm not sure about turning the hands by direct dragging (not for the technical difficulty, but because IIRC that's not how they work in the book :) ). It might be a useful alternative, though.

Another thing that I'm half-considering is making the symbol file user-editable and extendable. That way, you could add your own, personal meanings to the symbols (though the needle might need to speed up if it could potentially go around a dozen times for the 12th meaning, etc.). While I'm at it, I guess I could open up all the files, so that you could use your own, customized background and hands. But that's really going out there and would require installers to set up the various folder(s)/files (right now everything is neatly moleboxed or incbin-ed).

We'll see. This was originally just intended as a brief diversion from more "serious" game creation (where I do try to anticipate player needs and build in expansion capability for future features). But maybe there'll be more to do with this alethiometer than I initially intended (which would be appropriate :) ).


John Blackledge(Posted 2006) [#15]
As regards your own ideas for mods, I would simply say - don't bother. I built so many features into my own engine, believing that the users would appreciate the flexibility, and they couldn't even find the 'export' option.

Tooltips would be good, especially if you can somwhow get away from the Windows standard.

Otherwise, leave it as it is.
Did you say that the meanings/definitions are originally from Pullman? If so, leave as they are - they're fine.
And they force one, as you said, to find a personal interpretation based on one's own state of mind.
(Coo, that's deep for me.)


WendellM(Posted 2006) [#16]
Yes, the symbols' meanings are from the poster, which I've read has Pullman's meanings.

I think that you're right, John, so I won't add in a bunch of stuff trying to second-guess what users might like. Instead, I'll see if they request anything.

Speaking of which, the update with the dial symbol tooltips is now ready for DirectX and OpenGL. I'll wait a while longer to see of any other changes are needed, then release these and the updated Mac/Linux versions as 1.1. [1.1 is now out at http://neonavis.com ]


John Blackledge(Posted 2006) [#17]
Both versions work fine.

Nice tooltips, and they resize with the window - yeah.

Thanks Wendell.