Python IRC Zork

[Kris Davidson]

Hi,

If this has been done before in another language could someone please
tell me, if not I was wondering is its possible and what the easier
way is to create an IRC bot that allows you to play Zork:

I was thinking of just creating a simple Python IRC bot or finding an
existing one then have it run Zork and read/write from stdout/stdin.

Is that possible? Is there a better or easier way to do it? Are there
any existing programs that do something similar?

Or just really anything else people have to say on the subject.

Thanks

Kris

 

[Erik Max Francis]

If this has been done before in another language could someone please
tell me, if not I was wondering is its possible and what the easier
way is to create an IRC bot that allows you to play Zork:

I was thinking of just creating a simple Python IRC bot or finding an
existing one then have it run Zork and read/write from stdout/stdin.

Is that possible? Is there a better or easier way to do it? Are there
any existing programs that do something similar?

Or just really anything else people have to say on the subject.

The easiest way would be to start with a standalone Z-code interpreter
that does just basic stdin/stdout transactions, get a licensed copy of
the Zork data set, and hook it up via a subprocess -- in other words,
just what you suggest. I haven't done recent surveys, but there are
_many_ portable Z machine interpreters such that I'm sure one or two
would suffice. (You'd also have to play buffering/fcntl games to make
sure that it doesn't block, but those are in the details.)

The bigger picture would be writing a full Z machine in Python, which is
something I embarked on for my own amusement a while back but never got
far enough to do anything useful at all, given the size of the task.

 

[Kris Davidson]

The bigger picture would be writing a full Z machine in Python, which is

something I embarked on for my own amusement a while back but never got
far enough to do anything useful at all, given the size of the task.

Might be worth trying that or setting up a project somewhere, do any
exist? Have you posted what code you had somewhere?