Sierra Christmas Card 1986: A Computer Christmas(archive.org)
archive.org
Sierra Christmas Card 1986: A Computer Christmas
https://archive.org/details/sierra-christmas-card-1986
18 comments
I always liked the 1988 version better. To my memory, it sounds more like the Sierra games I knew growing up. Sadly the archive.org emulation doesn't seem to include sound, but there are a few youtube videos of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tleEygmmikI
Yes, agreed. If you can find a copy of it, it works perfectly in ScummVM. I will certainly having it running on a loop on Christmas Day.
https://archive.org/details/sierra-christmas-card-1988 - It's on archive.org as well. When I tried it the music didn't work though.
I downloaded the card and ran it in my own copy of Dosbox. The music started working when I cut down the speed to about 1500 cycles/ms, down from the 3000 that Dosbox defaults to.
Unless you experienced it first-hand, it's hard to explain how magical these kind of things were in the 80's. All week long I'd look forward to getting to play Lode Runner, Ultima III, Wizardry, etc on the weekends.
"This program is hard disk installable and is meant to be run in the morning and left running all day" - well, given the musical capabilities of the PC beeper, this is certainly not for the easily annoyed.
Getting a virtual keyboard on the screen would be a useful feature for mobile.
I know it's all open source. Maybe just an input box that captures keystrokes and proxies them over. That'd be the easiest.
How hard can this be?
(It's always important to not honestly answer that question with open source)
I know it's all open source. Maybe just an input box that captures keystrokes and proxies them over. That'd be the easiest.
How hard can this be?
(It's always important to not honestly answer that question with open source)
Couldn't the browser see that javascript has added a handler for keyboard events, and use that information to display a keybaoard?
Mobile's always gotta ruin everything.
You have it backwards. The majority of internet traffic comes from mobiles. If anything, it’s the other way around, and website designers assuming everyone uses a desktop computer that ruins it for most people.
Right, but look at it this way:
1. I'm not using a real computer
2. I'm accessing something built for real computers
3. The solution is to morph the thing I'm accessing around the device with horrible physical input/output that I'm using
At 2 of those steps (probably all 3), I think you've made a mistake. And, yeah, most people make all 3. That doesn't make them correct or the thing you're morphing to the lowest common denominator better.
From the creators' perspective, it's not the other way around; you're probably not going to be coding on a phone, for example. You're probably coding things on a real computer. When you're creating something new, whether you should cater that thing to mobile or not is a different matter. (Odds are, though, it's probably going to be a better experience when consumed on a real computer, too, just like for creating it.)
1. I'm not using a real computer
2. I'm accessing something built for real computers
3. The solution is to morph the thing I'm accessing around the device with horrible physical input/output that I'm using
At 2 of those steps (probably all 3), I think you've made a mistake. And, yeah, most people make all 3. That doesn't make them correct or the thing you're morphing to the lowest common denominator better.
From the creators' perspective, it's not the other way around; you're probably not going to be coding on a phone, for example. You're probably coding things on a real computer. When you're creating something new, whether you should cater that thing to mobile or not is a different matter. (Odds are, though, it's probably going to be a better experience when consumed on a real computer, too, just like for creating it.)
> 1. I'm not using a real computer
It has a CPU, some RAM, and I/O devices. It is a real computer, by any definition of “computer”. Just maybe not in a form factor you like.
> 2. I'm accessing something built for real computers
By and large, it’s not the people accessing the web who build it. Web developers just follow their audience.
> 3. The solution is to morph the thing I'm accessing around the device with horrible physical input/output that I'm using
It is not horrible, merely different. Some things are hard to do on a touch screen and easy on a keyboard, and some others are the other way around.
The thing is, mobile-friendly web design does not imply desktop-unfriendliness. In this case, it is easy to add an input to show the keyboard. Particularly compared to putting a whole emulator on the same page. It also would not change a thing for desktop users.
It has a CPU, some RAM, and I/O devices. It is a real computer, by any definition of “computer”. Just maybe not in a form factor you like.
> 2. I'm accessing something built for real computers
By and large, it’s not the people accessing the web who build it. Web developers just follow their audience.
> 3. The solution is to morph the thing I'm accessing around the device with horrible physical input/output that I'm using
It is not horrible, merely different. Some things are hard to do on a touch screen and easy on a keyboard, and some others are the other way around.
The thing is, mobile-friendly web design does not imply desktop-unfriendliness. In this case, it is easy to add an input to show the keyboard. Particularly compared to putting a whole emulator on the same page. It also would not change a thing for desktop users.
Also interesting: A Tandy Bear Christmas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPYmpf64OfA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPYmpf64OfA
Knowing how Sierra games work ... how many different ways of dying does it contain?
I really enjoy how a lot of the top posts on HN end up generating related posts. I dont know if this post was somewhat related to the “40 years of PC Mag” post or not but to me it seems related.
Anyway thanks for sharing.
Anyway thanks for sharing.
Just a coincidence! I didn't have any other post in mind.
Ahh, Sierra. All the hours spent playing LSL1-2-3. CGA soft porn.
Wow you can even customize it with a message of your own :)