[Scummvm-devel] GSOC, Z-Engine and stuff.

[Tobia Tesan]

Il 22/04/2013 10.07, Filippos Karapetis ha scritto:
> Hi there and sorry for the late reply - I've been away these days

Hi Filippos and thanks for answering!

> ZEngine itself is a separate project:
> https://github.com/Marisa-Chan/Zengine
>
> Its codebase is written in C, and as the task says, you need to create 
> an engine out of it, convert as much of the code as possible into C++ 
> and remove the direct access to SDL. We could chat a bit on IRC and 
> I'll let you know of the details, if you're still undecided between 
> ZEngine and Avalance. IMHO, the Avalance task is a bit harder, since 
> you need to know both Pascal and C/C++. In the end, it's up to you. 
> I'd suggest to have a look at the codebase of each game, and decide 
> which one you like most. I'm not on IRC regularly these days, but if 
> you have any questions regarding Z-Engine, I'd be happy to answer with 
> an e-mail.

This is clear to me.

Frankly, I expected Zork to be an order of magnitude more complex, but a 
closer examination of the sources has showed me the work involved may 
not be much greater, as I find the existing Zork code somewhat more 
readable/portable.
I assume porting could be rather trivial when it comes, for example, to 
Puzzle.cpp (IIRC there is no graphics or event system involved, just 
some string functions from the standard library), although parts of the 
code may or may not benefit from a refactor.

I am less optimistic about, e.g., Graph.h or the whole avi_duck thing, 
but if you say that my utter lack of experience with video playback and 
anything but simple 2d graphics and geometry is not a show stopper as 
things can be picked up on the way and/or the mentor would be willing to 
help if - no, when I get stuck, then I'd seriously consider it.

I will be on IRC tonight and tomorrow night after 8PM GMT+1, with the 
nickname t0by, if you happen to be there I'd love to hear more from you 
so that I can make up my mind once and for all.

Thank you so much!

-- 
Tobia Tesan
<tobia.tesan at gmail.com>
When you are young, you enjoy a sustained illusion that sooner or later
something marvelous is going to happen, that you are going to transcend
your parents' limitations...  At the same time, you feel sure that in all
the wilderness of possibility; in all the forests of opinion, there is a
vital something that can be known -- known and grasped.  That we will
eventually know it, and convert the whole mystery into a coherent
narrative.  So that then one's true life -- the point of everything --
will emerge from the mist into a pure light, into total comprehension.
But it isn't like that at all.  But if it isn't, where did the idea come
from, to torture and unsettle us?
		-- Brian Aldiss, "Helliconia Summer"