Re: Implementing ZZ within an opensource game engine

["B. Fallenstein" <b.fallenstein@xxxxxx>]

Michael,

let me shortly recount your post to make sure I understood correctly.
;-) You're working on an online game, and you need a scripting engine
for representing the objects and agents in the game etc. You're thinking
about building your own ZigZag implementation for it. (Or do you want to
embed GZigZag?) You're asking for estimates on usefulness and pitfalls
in this.

Now, the most important pitfall is that creating a useful ZigZag system
is a much bigger project than implementing the basic ZigZag fabric;
features we're implementing in GZigZag include a number of views,
customizable key bindings, Xanadu-like fluid media with transclusions,
and versioning of ZigZag spaces. You may be able to avoid much of the
problem if you restrict yourself to a bare-bones ZZ system-- simple
row/column views only, no customization of key bindings, cells contain
strings, not Xanadu fluid media, and no versioning. (The question is
whether this will be satisfying in the end, but if it's okay with you,
you may be fine.)

If you're going to embed GZigZag, your problem will be that It's Not
Ready. When I joined the project in Summer 2000, I wanted to implement
another project of mine on top of it. The course I wanted to use it in
took place March through December 2001. The implementation is still not
finished. -- Of course we will be happy about all help we get with
GZigZag, but my estimate is that in the end it will not work out for
you. In my opinion you should currently only start a project on top of
GZigZag if you do not depend on it being functional on a specific date
sometime soon.

That said, if you implement your own ZigZag, it would be nice if you
could cooperate with us and make it conform to the core interfaces
GZigZag uses, too. src/core/ in CVS contains the current drafts, but
you're probably aware of that. They're still fluid and currently being
re-thought, so it would be best if you'd be discussing them with us, but
it would be desirable to use the same interfaces whatever they turn out
to be.

Now, to say more I think I'd need to know more about your vision and
your needs. Can you explain a bit more of what you're having in mind?

If you want to, you can also join us on IRC (channel #gzigzag on
IRCNet). We'd certainly be interested in discussions.

I hope to hear from you!
- Benja