Learning VIM while playing a game • Hacker News Board

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#31

Post by johnsea » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 12:22 PM UTC

pervycreeper wrote: post #21

vog wrote: post #14

Congratulations to that very nice and useful game! I loved to play around with the first 2 levels. It's a pity that the project's state is totally unclear (at least to me, a casual visitor). Is it meant to become a community project? Is it a demo of something that will be sold in the future? The explaining text behind the "Unlock Levels" button adds even more confusion: > Additional levels are currently being develop…

Not to mention that this all goes against free software values, in a game that touts "the power of open source".

Bad argument imho. There are e.g. vim books or peepcode casts. Why shouldn't there be a game where you have to pay?

Only it should be mentioned clearly.

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#32

Post by philluminati » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 12:31 PM UTC

I've gotten to the end of the level. Then I remembered that in the top corner of the Maze is another treasure chest. I go back there to the !! marks and type b but cannot enter that area.

The message reads "Remember: these are not words"... so how do I get in there? Can that part of the game not be solved?

I've tried Shift-B, ^ etc. Is anyone else able to get into there?

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#33

Post by abbyroad9191 » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 12:32 PM UTC

doesnt work on my iphone 4. is this the future of cross browser compatibility?

it's an interesting project none the less.

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#34

Post by beastman82 » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 12:47 PM UTC

My only recommendation to learn vim is vim tutor. Slightly tedious, but fast and effective.

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#35

Post by Sumaso » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 12:52 PM UTC

beastman82 wrote: post #34

My only recommendation to learn vim is vim tutor. Slightly tedious, but fast and effective.

"...Slightly tedious..."

This is core problem with learning VIM, many people are off-put by VIMs complexity.

I think this game does a great job of letting the player explore vim commands, while complete objectives that are common to many video games.

What makes this game great isn't the fact that it's a video game that lets you learn VIM as you play. It's that it simply incorporates VIM commands into a game that could appear on any popular flash game site.

Very well done, keep up the good work.

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#36

Post by Sumaso » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 12:53 PM UTC

pervycreeper wrote: post #21

vog wrote: post #14

Congratulations to that very nice and useful game! I loved to play around with the first 2 levels. It's a pity that the project's state is totally unclear (at least to me, a casual visitor). Is it meant to become a community project? Is it a demo of something that will be sold in the future? The explaining text behind the "Unlock Levels" button adds even more confusion: > Additional levels are currently being develop…

Not to mention that this all goes against free software values, in a game that touts "the power of open source".

Open Source != Free Software

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#37

Post by 54mf » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 12:58 PM UTC

Wow. I've been aching to learn Vim for years, struggling through the rare occasions I have to use it while SSHing in to a machine. I've picked up more in 5 minutes with this game then I have in all that time. Very impressive!

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#38

Post by drostie » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 12:59 PM UTC

lwm wrote: post #20

Fantastic! This game had me laughing instantly...gaining a proficiency in 'hjkl' via a crazy web browser game is a great idea!

On a side note, several times when playing through the game I noticed that my motions weren't working, and traced it back to this: that for me, the home row is jkl; and not hjkl. I don't know very much about vim -- is there a reason that you have to put your hand in the "wrong place" on the keyboard?

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#39

Post by steve8918 » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 1:03 PM UTC

I learned how to use the controls of VI decades before I actually learned that VIM existed, through Hack/Nethack. I thought the controls were ridiculous, but I was a kid, so I just accepted it and learned them, little did I know how useful they would become later on in life.

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#40

Post by vog » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 1:07 PM UTC

Sumaso wrote: post #36

pervycreeper wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention that this all goes against free software values, in a game that touts "the power of open source".

Open Source != Free Software

Although I agree that both terms are not exactly equal as they emphasize different aspects, those differences are totally irrelevant to the argument at hand:

If you advertise your project by stating you are convinced of the "power of Open Source", but don't make use of that "power", how much credible is that?

No matter if you find this argument convincing or not, it has nothing to do with the difference between Open Source and Free Software. It's just about adverticing a proprietary project with "power of Open Source" versus advertising it with, say, "power of Vim".