iOS Programming

Hack for iPad is released, based on the original 1.0.3

2011-12-16T07:24:00.000-08:00

As requested by readers, this Hack prototype you might have glanced over a year ago on this blog is now cleaned up and got approved by Apple. It's now available on the app store. It's based on a BSD version of Hack 1.0.3 published by Andries Brouwer, which in turn is based on Jay Fenlason's Hack.

Please be aware that this is a very old game (originally published in 1985), lacking many of the refinements of the latest and greatest NetHack 3.4.3.

If that doesn't deter you from buying it, please make sure to let me know by mail or in the comments of any problems you encounter that are platform-related.

RogueTerm 1.02 released

2011-10-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

I just approved 1.02 for app store release, it should go live soon. Among many bug fixes and UI improvements the main aim for this release has been full compatibility with Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (DCSS).

RogueTerm 1.02 (iTunes)

From the changelog:

DPad support for DCSS
Full support for DCSS 0.9.1
Support for iPad portrait orientation
Fixed bugs that prevented return-key to work properly
Can properly use backspace in engrave in NetHack
Support for several DCSS UTF-8 chars, like trees and water
Support for port in server name, like crawl.develz.org:345
More robust error handling

Happy dungeon crawling!

Vanilla NetHack 3.4.3 Binaries (Terminal Port) for OSX Lion

2011-10-07T05:54:00.000-07:00

Since I had to test something on a pure TTY vanilla NetHack anyway, and as always it took me a while to figure all the minimal patches out, I decided to upload the result to github. Then I realized that OSX Lion users are no longer able to download the official NetHack Mac binaries due to lack of Rosetta, so made the whole thing into a binary distribution as well.

It's a single-player dist that you have to extract directly into your home folder, so you'll get ~/NetHack as a result. If you want to relocate the installation you have to do so manually (think setting HACKDIR or editing the main script).

Download NetHack 3.4.3 Terminal Port for OSX Lion

Please let me know if you run into any trouble.

Happy hacking!

RogueTerm 1.01 queued for release

2011-09-17T07:34:00.000-07:00

RogueTerm 1.01 contains some quick bug fixes, including:

Deleting servers is permanent
Adding Meta-Chars to the action bar should now work without crashes
Clarified that IBMGraphics is currently not supported, use DECGraphics instead. Please contact me if your game/server doesn't support this (see the built-in Help for details).

Happy NetHacking and Crawling!

RogueTerm is released

2011-09-02T22:02:00.000-07:00

RogueTerm is available right now in the app store . Get it now while supply lasts and connect to your favorite roguelike server. And don't forget to let me know about your experience with it.

Features:

Works out-of-the-box for NetHack
Movable on-screen D-Pad with vi-keys
Run-support in NetHack with tap-and-hold on any D-Pad key
Freely configurable action bar that contains your most often used commands
Switch easily between different action bar configurations

RogueTerm, a dedicated Roguelike Telnet Client

2011-08-16T09:06:00.000-07:00

I've used it mostly for connecting to NetHack servers, but DCSS looks playable too. The 0.9.0 seems to have some glitches due to UTF-8, but nothing preventing you from playing (and should be fixed soon). You can add and delete servers and create and edit shortcuts.

It's an iOS 4.x universal app with retina support and should appear in the app store soon (next Wednesday if all goes as planned).

App store link to follow as soon as it's final.

Here are some screenshots:

Dedicated NetHack Telnet Client for iOS with Custom Controls

2011-06-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

Let's see how playable this is :) Planning for custom NetHack controls, like swiping for moving etc.

My .gitignore

2011-03-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

The .gitignore that works for me:

# os x finder
.DS_Store

# xcode 3
*.mode1v3
*.pbxuser

# xcode 4
xcuserdata

# svn
.svn

# emacs backup files
*~

# build directory
build

# some artifacts
*.o
*.lev

# some results of applying diff
*.rej
*.orig

How to export SMS conversations from your iPhone into text

2011-03-29T05:08:00.000-07:00

You probably know this. There are some very precious SMS conversations on your iPhone, maybe with that special someone, and you want to archive them. You know that they are backed up regularly by iTunes, but what if you want to view them on your desktop machine? Or send them to that special someone? If you don't have your iPhone backups encrypted and know your way about sqlite it's actually very easy.

sqlite3 "/Users/dirk/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/<UDID>/3d0d7e5fb2ce288813306e4d4636395e047a3d28"
.mode list
.separator ' '
.output <absolutefilename.txt>
select strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M',date,'unixepoch'),case when flags=3 then '<yourname>:' else '<othername>' end,text from message where address='<phonenumber>' order by date;

Obviously you've got to find out the phone number (which is called address in the SMS database) of your conversation partner first and replace it for <phonenumber>. You also have to make sure the flags are associated correctly and replace <yourname> and <othername> with the names you want t. In my database (iOS 4.3.1) it seems that all incoming texts have flags=2, and my responses have flags=3 but this might not be universally true. Your conversation will be saved to <absolutefilename.txt>, which should be absolute as the naming implies.

You might have to start from the top and drill down first a little to find out the address / phone number of your conversation partner, and whether the above assumption about flags is correct:

select date,address,flags,text from message order by date;

If you don't know the UDID of your iPhone, plug it into iTunes and Cmd-LeftClick in the serial number field on the device summary.

HypnoDiary Support

2010-12-21T01:10:00.000-08:00

If you need support, please leave a comment or use this email adress:

support AT the-domain-of-this-blog

Welcome to Hack!

2010-11-14T10:59:00.001-08:00

This is not a mockup btw., it's an original Hack 1.0.3 (with some BSD patches to clean up the code) capable of running on a vanilla iPad (iOS 3.2 or higher).

Pride and Prejudice Podcast

2010-11-14T10:43:00.000-08:00

When I was looking for an audiobook version of Pride and Prejudice, I came across a podcast in iTunes with excellent quality, for free. The problem is that the metadata is horribly mixed up (the whole thing actually starts at volume 2, and some episodes are swapped), and listening to it like an audiobook is difficult because at least on my iPod it starts with the last episode and ends with the first.

So I decided to take a look at it, with help from emacs and python. The result is a corrected version of the podcast RSS file, which features all episodes in (hopefully) correct order. Hit the download link below if classic literature is your thing.

Pride and Prejudice Podcast

iNetHack and related projects are in limbo

2010-08-23T03:17:00.000-07:00

Back in July it really felt like a good idea, I was in the mood for it and thought I have the time, but many things have changed. I played prototypes on the iPad but I can't get it to the point where it's ergonomic. Hovering over the screen aggravates pretty much the same muscles that for a guy like me are already strained to the max. If you put it on the table and control everything from one or two small touch areas (so your arms can rest) you have to look down all the time. The smaller devices have their own problems if you want to push ergonomics to the max. Due to some health related issues I have to reduce my time spent before the computer (that's probably why I started to focus on ergonomics in the first place).

To make a long story short: I currently can't justify spending time on iHack related things. This may or may not change at any time. All the source produced so far is on github if anyone's interested.

Another Age of iNetHack

2010-07-06T23:37:00.000-07:00

Another Age of iNetHack has come
And a great unified UI shall be forged
To emerge from the fiery depths
And control them all.

New UI (with all its bugs) or iNetHack-like shortcuts?

2010-07-02T06:45:00.000-07:00

So you've played the Slash'EM iPhone port. Some have noticed that it contains bugs :) Many of them are very hard to get rid of. It's certainly not impossible but maybe a little impractical for a port. The reason is that the UI builds and sends keyboard macros to the core, like 'Tc' to take off 'c'. Can lead to weird behavior if you're not wearing anything else and 'c' is uncursed. Or if you die just after the core has processed 'T' you just skipped the DYWYPI prompt (I can't thoroughly explain it but I've experienced similar situations).

The alternative is to get back to a shortcut system. Maybe refine the way to build your own on-the-fly (which would then be subject to the bugs just mentioned though). Maybe even leave that out to avoid those bugs. Some Slash'EM features can remain (e.g. the context menu seems quite stable if you omit direct item interaction).

What would you prefer? Please leave your vote in the poll to-left!

Performance issues in iOS 4, especially for iNetHack

2010-06-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say that I'm aware of iNetHack's performance issues on iOS 4. This forces me to change plans and port it to iHack as soon as possible. Before that I will release some Slash'EM bugfixes, which will hopefully add iOS 4 fast app switching (at this stage there are still major problems with it, but I don't want to give it up yet), since Slash'EM and iNetHack will (hopefully) soon share the same exact iHack UI code.

(Universal) iPad support will have to wait a little bit longer :(. My original plan was to address this first with Slash'EM (since this is what I currently play, vampiric necromancers ftw!)

First known NetHack HD Ascension, Wizards ftw!

2010-06-03T22:59:00.000-07:00

At least it's the first one I've heard of, courtesy Sean. All the more amazing since a shortcoming in the UI code created a challenge itself :)

Here's his comment from another post:

"I just spent 45 minutes typing up an ascension post and then the site crashed and lost it when I tried to post."

"Long story short: Chaotic elven wizard ascended with just over 4,000,000 points. I made one huge mistake and left my spellbooks behind before entering end game thinking I wouldn't need them, but when the Crystal ball couldn't be used to detect traps I had to search for them the hard way taking way too long and forgetting Magic Missile by the time I was done the plane of air. This did lead me to discover that charm monster is my new favorite spell however, so there was some benefit."

It's certainly not the first ascension on an iDevice, the beta forums have had a couple of ascension posted for iNetHack 1.3. I'm waiting for a Slash'EM ascension now :) If you did it, please post details (the more the merrier) here (don't forget screenshots!) or give me a ping if you posted on rgrn (did I mention screenshots?).

Slash'EM 1.0 released for iPhone

2010-06-02T22:22:00.000-07:00

Now ready to download:

Slash'EM iTunes download

Please post any issues you may encounter and feature requests right here. Or preferably fork the project and implement them yourself. I will happily accept patches (provided some quality guidelines are met).

Enjoy the new UI, it might feel awkward at first, especially if you come from an iNetHack background, but I'm sure it will grow on you (as it has on the beta testers). Since it's contextual it has its issues, but overall the game should be quite playable and enjoyable.

Some important tips:

Tap on yourself to see contextual commands
Visit the (*separate*!) settings app
Double tap to g-move

Credits:
Maarek integrated the ... enforcer patch (the one where you use the force)
John Shaw added brand new ... enforcer tiles in Absurd
Gfx: Mitsuhiro Itakura, Joep Gerrits, James Hogwood
Soundtrack: hehe

If you ascend (haha ...) *please* post right here too!

NetHack Mac OS X (cocoa) 0.3.2.1 released

2010-05-11T05:48:00.000-07:00

Get the latest dist here:
NetHack Mac OS X 0.3.2.1

The source code has been moved to github:
NetHack Mac OS X

I fixed the "forced wizard mode" and XP and turn indicator should now be visible at all times. I also changed the whole source layout to a more NetHack-like one (including the fact that you have have to bootstrap it). There were tags mishaps (0.3 and 0.2 are merely approximate) but anything else went ok.

Please input any issues you find at the known location.

Have fun!

Current state of iNetHack, Slash'EM, NetHack HD, NetHack Cocoa

2010-05-09T01:43:00.000-07:00

Update: To clarify things:
Eventually there will be both a Slash'EM and iNetHack in the app store, both universal, with a very similar UI. iNetHack will remain vanilla NetHack, Slash'EM is based on the latest stable release (Vampire) with the force-patch. Once that is done NetHack HD will be removed.

I just realized that the current situation of the NetHack and Slash'EM ports might be a little confusing :) So here's some detailed information:

Slash'EM (iPhone/iPad | Source)
Has been in development on and off for about five months (eternal beta?) and is nearing a release. The UI is different from iNetHack, there are no shortcuts, and the consensus from the beta forum seems to be that it's a more efficient UI. A public release for iPhone is in sight. After that I have plans to modify it into a universal app (with basic UI changes) so it will make use of the iPad's screen estate and special controllers.

iNetHack (iPhone/iPad | Source)
I consider its current codebase obsolete and it will get replaced by the Slash'EM UI. I don't fix iNetHack bugs because most of them are already fixed in Slash'EM or a non-issue there due to the different UI. I accept them though for the time being and will address them one by one as soon as it gets its new codebase.

NetHack HD (iPad)
Developed completely in the dark without device or beta testers, it has quite some issues, including UI and performance (I only ran it shortly last week on an actual iPad and I wasn't thrilled). It will be pulled from the store as soon as Slash'EM and iNetHack go universal. It currently has no public source distribution and there won't ever be one since it's already obsolete.

NetHack Cocoa (Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6)
Has (minor) issues of its own which will get addressed but has low priority for me since I'm focusing on iDevices.

I hope this clarifies some things. The google code repositories will very likely be moved to github. Well-done patches are always welcome.

Gimp / X11 Heaven

2010-05-06T01:37:00.001-07:00

I've been using Gimp for many years on many OSs. On Mac OS X it feels clunky though. Spreading its UI across several autonomous windows means you have to "nearly, but not quite" double-click everytime you want to change tools or tweak something else with your mouse. That is, unless you change the above X11 preferences :)

The "Click-through Inactive Windows" is pretty much mandatory for my typical Gimp usage. The "Focus Follows Mouse" is just added sugar for people missing auto-focus on Mac OS X, at least with X11.

Add to that a neat and thoroughly put together Gimp Distribution for Mac OS X, and I'm in heaven :)

Absurd Tileset for Slash'EM 0.0.7EF3

2010-04-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

With one of these Perl scripts and John's master files for his Absurd Tileset I was able to build an up-to-date version for Slash'EM 0.0.7EF3. Again, the link behind the 32x32 version should lead to the full-blown 128x128 true color version, which is about 21 megs in size. If you have a tiled version of Slash'EM somewhere, I'd be curious whether this version got accepted smoothly or not.

Absurd Tileset for Slash'EM 0.0.7E0 by John Shaw

2010-03-23T07:43:00.001-07:00

... archived for posterity :)

Please note that 0.0.7E0 is from 2003 and at least the order of some monster tiles have changed.

WARNING: The link leads to the 128x128 tileset, which is about 23 megs.

And yes, I'm currently working with John to bring it to 0.0.7E7F3, the current Slash'EM release.

Slash'EM 1.0-b2 for iPhone, based on NetHack iPad Port

2010-03-18T05:13:00.000-07:00

I recently started to backport the NetHack iPad codebase to the iPhone with the Slash'EM 0.0.7E7F3 core. The result is Slash'EM 1.0-b2 which is available as beta right now (signup required since some not so public information like device IDs have to be passed around). It's not a continuation of the Slash'EM beta but a fresh codebase.

The new UI is, like the iPad version, based on my iHack framework. It is inventory centric, letting you access most actions directly from the inventory view, offers context specific actions on a tap on your char (like untrap if traps are adjacent) and offers some shortcuts (e.g. the E-word is always just 2 taps away, no typing whatsoever required).

So all in all I still hope to meet my original timeline for iPhone Slash'EM :)

NetHack 3.4.3 ported to Mac OS X (Cocoa-Port)

2010-03-13T22:47:00.001-08:00

There's nothing more satisfying (ok, at least not that much) to leisurely do on a Sunday than release some nice piece of software, and here it is:

NetHack 3.4.3 native Mac OS X (10.6) Port (Latest .dmg)

More information:

Some weeks ago Bryce Cogswell contacted me about that neglected project of mine, nethack-cocoa, offering his help. It was in a very sorry state (I think had given up in the middle of getting it to draw) So I refreshed it to the current iHack base framework (which I had been creating for the Slash'EM iphone beta and refining for the NetHack ipad port) and handed it over, bare naked as it was. The result now has version 0.2 and you can download and play it.

It's currently 32-bit only, iHack currrently relies on pointers that size.

Screenshots: