So I've spent the last week or so creating a Nethack screensaver.
Nethack is a very geeky computer game, that in spite of it's lack of graphics (the "graphics" are made up of text characters on the screen), is pretty incredibly detailed and intricate. It's also very hard. Long time readers may remember a proud post the first time I actually beat the game a few years ago, a good 15'ish years after playing it for the very first time. I remember asking my dad to upgrade our computer to 640K of RAM in order to play the game. To put that in some perspective, a single digital picture is typically twice that size.
Anyways, you can play the game online on a server in such a way that your games are recorded. And your recorded games can be played back like a little movie. I thought that this movie display would make a pretty cool screensaver. It basically would look like a Nethack game playing itself. So I created a screensaver, and I created a movie-player that could read those files, and I merged the two. If I may say myself, it works pretty well, and looks pretty cool ("cool", in relative terms, a'course).
I uploaded the screensaver and it's source code (http://drop.io/NethackScreenSaver) to a public place, and posted a message to the Nethack newsgroup (where all the Nethack dorks like me hang out) announcing this release. I did this last night.
In the screensaver, I included a little text file that says that the screensaver and its source code is being released totally for free. What this means is anyone can download it, use the screensaver, modify the source, steal my ideas, try to package and market it, whatever. I did this kind of as a "pay it forward" for everyone else who has posted free source code that has taught me so much over my life. I figure if I help someone learn a thing or two, the world will be a tiny bit of a better place in the long run.
However, I also included a PayPal "Donate" link. Clicking on the link provides an easy way to pay me money (user-defined… no set amount). I said in the text file that I was releasing this totally for free, but if people thought it was worth a buck or two, that could throw it my way. In all honesty, including this kind of link was less a money-making venture and more an experiment to see if anyone would actually pay me.
I just got a single donation for $20.
I'm shocked. SHOCKED. This is me, shocked.
In the first 24 (not even) hours, I've already exceeded my wildest, dare-to-dream expectations about making any money with this. I still don't think I'll make any serious money, but I'm already through the looking glass at this point…
Nethack is a very geeky computer game, that in spite of it's lack of graphics (the "graphics" are made up of text characters on the screen), is pretty incredibly detailed and intricate. It's also very hard. Long time readers may remember a proud post the first time I actually beat the game a few years ago, a good 15'ish years after playing it for the very first time. I remember asking my dad to upgrade our computer to 640K of RAM in order to play the game. To put that in some perspective, a single digital picture is typically twice that size.
Anyways, you can play the game online on a server in such a way that your games are recorded. And your recorded games can be played back like a little movie. I thought that this movie display would make a pretty cool screensaver. It basically would look like a Nethack game playing itself. So I created a screensaver, and I created a movie-player that could read those files, and I merged the two. If I may say myself, it works pretty well, and looks pretty cool ("cool", in relative terms, a'course).
I uploaded the screensaver and it's source code (http://drop.io/NethackScreenSaver) to a public place, and posted a message to the Nethack newsgroup (where all the Nethack dorks like me hang out) announcing this release. I did this last night.
In the screensaver, I included a little text file that says that the screensaver and its source code is being released totally for free. What this means is anyone can download it, use the screensaver, modify the source, steal my ideas, try to package and market it, whatever. I did this kind of as a "pay it forward" for everyone else who has posted free source code that has taught me so much over my life. I figure if I help someone learn a thing or two, the world will be a tiny bit of a better place in the long run.
However, I also included a PayPal "Donate" link. Clicking on the link provides an easy way to pay me money (user-defined… no set amount). I said in the text file that I was releasing this totally for free, but if people thought it was worth a buck or two, that could throw it my way. In all honesty, including this kind of link was less a money-making venture and more an experiment to see if anyone would actually pay me.
I just got a single donation for $20.
I'm shocked. SHOCKED. This is me, shocked.
In the first 24 (not even) hours, I've already exceeded my wildest, dare-to-dream expectations about making any money with this. I still don't think I'll make any serious money, but I'm already through the looking glass at this point…
7 comments:
Woot!
I love the screensaver. Can you see how many downloads it has gotten? I also love dianafury.
I don't see a way to see how many downloads it's gotten... unfortunately.
No more donations today. :(
DianaFury rocks.
This is totally awesome (and you were the one that introduced me to Nethack, although I never won it.)
However, you used "it's" wrong TWICE in this post. Please, no apostrophe for the possessive, only the contraction.
That's MY nerd moment.
You may begin the hate now.
Gwen
Good nerd moment! Its doesn't bug me as much as 'your' - 'you're'.
norm
Gwen, I know! I always mess up its and it's.
"The car's owner was concerned that it's alarm was going off."
In my mind, "it" is a substitution for "the car", so the same rules SHOULD apply. But they obviously don't. I KNOW "it's" means "it is", but can't it also indicate possessive?
I say "yes". Apparently everyone else says "no".
Dumb.
The link to your screensaver is down. Any chance you could email me a copy and/or update the link?
Try this:
http://ge.tt/4ZIIvwh
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