Help a clueless person run a simple program

September 28, 2008 1:31 PM

A plea for help in installing/running a seemingly simple open-source program on a Windows box.

I'm a big fan of the flash game Dice Wars, but after a few dozen hundred thousand playthroughs, I'm left wanting more. So I was intrigued when I learned of an indie remake of the game called DiceWarz.

Unfortunately for me, this game hails from the Linux universe, and as a Windows user I'm bristling at the unfamiliar context in which I've found the game.

For starters: the game data is found here. Seems like all the relevant rules and data files are there. There was no obvious installer, but I knew enough to recognize the "tarball" referenced at the bottom as a compact package of the needed files.

So I grabbed the tar, opened it in Izarc, and successfully extracted the game's innards to my desktop. Here's where I'm stuck.

I've got a folder with a mixture of things: a bunch of js files, a bin file, a configuration file, and an MS Word doc (which offers no help in actually running the thing). Given these files, what do I need to do to get the program running?

I'm usually reasonably proficient at this stuff, but I'm at a loss here. I don't have a lot of experience working with Javascript (which is apparently what the games is built with). And searching Google has led to horrifying open-source DIY jargon like this. It's hard to find what you need when you don't speak the language! And I would inquire at the site I got the files from, but even that is a confusing setup of directories and references to CVS's and BBS's that I just can't follow.

Please disabuse me of my ignorance! And many thanks in advance.

posted by Rhaomi to computers & internet (6 comments total)

What you're looking at is designed to be an addon for the Synchronet BBS software. It most likely will not run standalone. Unless you really want to first install and configure a BBS, it's not going to be of any use to you.
posted by Rhomboid at 1:54 PM on September 28, 2008

Thanks for the heads-up, Rhomboid. I guess it was just too good to be true...

I wonder why there aren't more permutations of Dice Wars out there, anyway. It's fairly popular and addictive, and has a simple enough ruleset. But the only versions I'm aware of are the original, the multiplayer remake kdice, a purely cosmetic remake called World Wars, and this BBS thing. You'd think more people would capitalize on it.
posted by Rhaomi at 2:13 PM on September 28, 2008

The original place has a windows standalone version if you're interested. Go to the Gamedesign website, and there's a game called "Dice strategy" which is like the online version, but offline.

I have a version of the game on my DS, so if you have a DS and a flash cart of some sort you could play it on that too.
posted by bjrn at 2:17 PM on September 28, 2008

If you like DiceWars what you really want to be playing is KDice. Warning: it's about 10 times as addictive...
posted by nicwolff at 5:02 PM on September 28, 2008

Ugh, bad link, here: KDice.
posted by nicwolff at 5:02 PM on September 28, 2008

The game you're talking about can be played via my BBS.

telnet://mdj.ath.cx (The Broken Bubble)

I wrote it as a clone of KDice for synchronet BBS systems.

It's a simple text/ANSI interface though, so no mouse clicking for you.
posted by MCMLXXIX at 8:25 AM on June 18