Thank you for sharing these kind thoughts, Please forgive that three seasons have passed between your post(s) and this reply.

Your remarks here keep me going. I've got a small update to this typing game brewing, but it's not time yet to share it.

I hope you've all been well out there.

Thanks for this ahghahgh. Fixed in v0.922!

Thanks for catching this — it's fixed in v0.922

They always were the same thing.

ok but I give a shit tho. Thanks for pinging back.

Itch still has a “creator page” listing for you. You really never uploaded any projects here? Sorry, if not.

Anyway, it’s a fair gripe w the lack of updates etc so what the hell, I sent it. Thanks for the interest-free loan and thanks for looking at the typing game. Have fun w itch.io on your new machine!

Minnie won, of course. Nobody cheated. Tegiminis won longest streak AND best accuracy with zero errors. Jingle happened to tie them both (Minnie’s accuracy and Teg’s speed). We raced the “Found Dog” poster during which daphny screams after each typo, so that was fun.

Trivia: Of all the text we tested, “Found Dog” broke the most streaks, caused the most typos, and was most players’ slowest result. In short: it’s the toughest one for the most people.

(You might hear my (Richard’s) voice on the stream getting it WRONG about Teg’s perfect accuracy automatically getting the streak award too; Minnie was about twice as fast, so of course it was possible she could’ve achieved a higher number of consecutive keystrokes within the time limit. If we’d have typed the entire poster in the library [ie: no time limit] instead of competition [ie: only 30sec], perfect accuracy would’ve indeed been the highest possible streak. But, as you see in these screenshots, our initial result was [incidentally] correct. For this fuckup, I am hereby resigning from math club.)

We synced up using the new “Shestov Challenge” book. Fortunately, we only had a handful of racers so it went well; mostly because @doublezmagnum volunteered as technical director and improvised the live broadcast. Thanks, Lucas!

Originally, the race was gonna be each competitor’s “entry form” answers to these two questions: “What’s your typing background?” and “Why do you want to win?”. These were fun! But … well, it crashed.

I copied those entry forms into the code base without retyping them. (Doing otherwise would’ve provided me an unfair advantage as a competitor, of course.) An anomalous grouping of three consecutive spaces crashed the type dreams text parser, so we just raced to the crash haha. “Found Dog” was a rematch and we mutually agreed to use that race for our result.

Thanks competitors!

“Congration” to Minnie (102wpm) and Tej (100% Accuracy) and Jingle who tied them both.

Special thanks to our special guest judge Talha Kaya who tripped over a discord link and found himself in the chat stream right before the race. He’s the author of three books in type dreams but had never seen them typed until Saturday (he’s updated me with mp3s [2 songs + a spoken readthru] which I integrated tenuously for the next update). Talha also counted us down and “fired the starting gun” as it were (no guns). Thanks Talha!

Where’s Glembovski, Lucas?

It has been suggested we establish a policy forbidding “chorded” or “Plover-style” typists on Race Day but… I kind of want to see it, first. There are plenty of yootoob clips of 200wpm+ speeds but I haven’t seen it function in Type Dreams. I don’t doubt that it’s possible! I doubt that it’s likely.

I regard bots and scripts the same way. Clearly the in-game AIs can produce high-frequency keystrokes (I’ll never win in Toronto), but there’s a lot more that goes into creating a bot which can win races, as a player, against other players. To do this, it’d have to either….

• read the screen and derive only the input text, then discern keystrokes from that text, then issue them as keyboard input commands within a frequency range which doesn’t fracture the interface but is fast enough to win

//==// OR \==\

• contain all the text in Type Dreams, readily accessible to its operator whenever a book is decided. I’ve tried this with a range of keyboard macro software and it can work. …until the given text is new material, on which this approach is useless.

I send my sincere warmest wishes to anybody experimenting with a bot for this. Please reach out or reply here if I can help somehow. All players are welcome in these and all other ways to bring whatever cheap tricks, shortcuts, buffs, etc to the math club server where you can show off and we’ll make a decision. Unless you want to wait til race day, in which case… no promises.

Howdy, nicolasstag!

Sorry for this obscenely tardy response. I should’ve gone with an earlier impulse and made this offer while it was possible: you had a game (or two? or several?) on this itchio website, too. I was gonna buy a download of your software projects as a way of annealing trust. Please let me know if you make those public again.

What a ride.

Update: Results

We’ve tested a few live races across simultaneous discord streams with promising results. Those of us in Math Club estimate that up to ten people can dream the same dream at the same time from anywhere on earth with only like one second of latency (but we haven’t tested more than 4, yet).

Now, we’re doing a tournament. THE ROYAL RUM BOWL: FIRST ANNUAL TYPE DREAMS CONTEST OF SPEED Next Saturday: Nov. 28th.

*Updated 11.24 *We’ve set up a bracket of 16 open slots for competitors. There’s a $10 registration fee; half of which goes to the pot ($80, provisionally). Winner takes all. The other half goes toward the continued development of Type Dreams. Competitors are invited to register now on the Type Dreams page.

I’ll update this thread as we build the race. Here’s the discord server where we’ve been practicing up and doing tests. As of tonight, the fastest official competitor so far is almost certainly minnie; we thought our best shot of getting a cheap victory against her was by racing the numbers 1-100. I actually won one (1) practice race against her before she began rehearsing that book and, as of yesterday, she can do “Numbers” at 124wpm w 100% accuracy. She’s still the most likely one to win Saturday’s race.

That’s fast, but it’s beatable. Minnie will probably exceed it. Can you?

We’re also discussing whether bots and “chorded” input will be allowed: Here’s a thread.

I wonder if somebody really astonishingly fast at typing registers for this tournament. Will that cause possible entrants to skip, instead? This and other questions will be answered in the days to come. Unless they somehow remain unanswered. In which case: there was many a mystery.

Thanks, NotaRein! I think this one’s stitched up now, sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for posting a screenshot! Your new saves should be ok in the new build, too. If not, please keep me updated? Thanks!

Howdy, thanks for giving type dreams a shot and please forgive the lateness of this reply. It’s a crime to have fucked up the credits for that song; many of the songs displayed incorrect credit information in that options menu until tonight, but getting The Crave wrong was somehow especially shameful. Which is to say you’re right, of course, and it does insane things to me knowing that other people get entranced by this tune, too. I TOO ALWAYS lamented the flatness of its portrayal BY MORRICONE in the movie “The Legend of 1900” because piano fights are great, but it was not an exalting portrayal of Mr. Jelly Roll. Even though both Jelly and the hero play it, back-to-back, identically (but with equal dryness, too). Anyway. Jelly’s own recordings are unparalleled of course but sometimes unclear. My favorite is this one which I stole from Matthew Ball. He hasn’t responded but I’ll ask him again for permission to use what you’ve already heard without his permission to hear. I really love this rendition, too - isn’t it great?! I DON’T WANT TO LOVE IT BUT I CAN’T HELP IT. I hope this supremely talented “Boogie Woogie Kid” fellow is feeling generous about his rendition’s use in this typing suite.

So far, it’s a mystery equal to what, exactly, makes his rendition more compelling than the dozens of others… Of which here are some: an ongoing attempt to identify and compare renditions of The Crave across a wide group of pianists on spotify:

Thanks so much for asking, it threatens to validate my obsession with this most ephemeral of melodies.

EDIT: I wanted to make a special acknowledgment here to “crunchydeliciousstomptastic”. So perfect.

Thanks for asking! (Sorry to have been this late in replying.) Anyone encountering these composers’ libraries for the first time is, I feel, a moment away from experiencing something beautiful. It’s always a pleasure to guide anyone toward these artists and their collections! On account of your asking, I updated the game’s main page to include this bit:

CART LIFE’s soundtrack features maximum bitrate chiptune compositions by MAT64, STU, LO.BAT, & POCKETMASTER.

There’s also one track (a slowed-down, chipset cover of “follow you into (etc)”) made by a gentleman named Luke Hodgerson which was since removed from the youtubes and, since discussing its use in this game with Mr. Hodgerson years ago, I’m afraid I can’t be certain of his online whereabouts. However, each of the tracks which play as loops in Cart Life (including this one) are included as full-length mp3s in the download.

Cheers!

Yep! Thanks, Faldrath, for pointing this out.

• If you downloaded and unzipped this game without the (great) Itch App, winsetup.exe can be found in the same folder as typedreams.exe
• If you installed this game with the (great) Itch App, you can find winsetup.exe by right-clicking Type Dreams and selecting "open folder in explorer".

cheers!

Nnnnooooo

Thanks for this post and I'm sorry it crashed on you like this. Did it show an error message on the first of these two crashes?

I did restitch some options and profile stuff for this build, but I didn't experience (and can't recreate) this crash.

BUT I think your profile(s) can be saved by deleting their "_settings.dat" files from the "%USERDATA%\Saved Games\Type Dreams" directory.
Then, when you highlight the profile(s) in the game's opening screen, that file is rebuilt with default values and you can then set however you'd like.

If this somehow doesn't solve the issue, please let me know!

April 23, 2020 -- "v0.9mq"
Howdy once again, typist, whoever you are. Most of the time I've dedicated to Type Dreams this spring has focused on its library  of distinct texts and improving the individual books therein, as well as smoothing the "carousel shelf" interface, and (since the pile of books is growing nicely) adding a search function.

//==// Library Search \\==\\
• Added search functions to the library. Quickly pull up any unlocked book by typing a chunk of its title or genre while anywhere in the library. (Searching by author or keyword will be functional in the next build).

//==// New & Improved Books \\==\\
•  Added Lucky Spin feat. Lucas Steele
• Reimplemented Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce: get a few random definitions every time you crack the cover.
•  Improved Wildfire Poems by James Murf feat.  paintings by Maddox and music by Robert Alex Fralin.

//==// Fixes and Interface Tweaks \\==\\
• Fixed the crash which occurred while reverse-cycling thru library shelves.
• Fixed the occasionally-invisible-book dilemma and the <new> tags' strange behavior.
• Fixed inconsistencies among audio settings.
• Fixed fractured randominity among competition texts. Now, any unlocked book is a candidate when rolling for a random.

Plus other, minor stuff, hopefully all of it being the kind which makes the game smoother, faster, more enjoyable or intuitive without being apparent. Hopefully.

This build was made possible  thru the insights and support of Lucas Steele, Robert Miller, Laurie Pope, and everyone who has bug-reported, donated, or tipped either here on itch (thanks itch!) or on Patreon.

I struggle to articulate exactly how nourishing and enlivening it feels when I see that people are downloading and playing this project either for the first time or having come back to it. Maybe it goes without saying, but in case it doesn't: I'd love to hear your thoughts on this project and on typing in general. I'm focused on this project with the belief that communication thru text is a profound phenomenon which transcends temporal and spacial divides; I'd like to return, this summer, to the ways in which this game showcases the lives of luminary individuals throughout typing's history*, but for now I'm far more attuned to the hope of a synchrony made possible between two individuals (across space & time) when they've typed, or are typing, identical sequences of letters.

Thanks for playing Type Dreams.

- Richard

* = For example, it'd be fun to point out that typing hero Sean Wrona finally broke Michael Shestov's record of 801 consecutive numbers in 5 minutes [with no mistakes]). He didn't even use the num pad! Also, Mr. Wrona is writing (not merely typing) a book on the history of typing speed.

Too kind. Thanks so much!

<spoilers> BTW: have you talked to Marcus (the guy in the Florin's Gate coffee shop) about "comics"? Or the dude pacing upstairs in the downtown hotel? Ever buy coffee grade A? Or get the scrap plate at Dompactor Raxby? Also, the cashier at the flying pizzaria gets concerned when people overindulge in saturated fats and sodium.</spoilers>

Thanks for this! I got it stitched for the next update current version. Cheers!

Thanks for your help with this. I'm pretty sure this is all fixable!

First, tell me if I understand this correctly: your old profile data is either backed up or mostly intact?

Try restoring everything but _cache.dat to the "%USERDATA%\Saved Games\Type Dreams" directory. Or, if your files are still there, deleting only that one. Like Hank suggests, in this demonstrative image:



By restoring all of those .dat files, except for _cache.dat, a seemingly-corrupt profile from an old build is repaired when Type Dreams loads it. It'll show this message:


After that, it'll say it's loading for the first time (although it obviously isn't). You'll get the character-creation screen and pick a typewriter. Then you're back in business leisure!

//::// The Crash \\::\\
I can reproduce the crash you mention by removing all of a profile's .dat files from the save directory:




This is what I'm würking on, today: stitching this glitch and then giving players the option of deleting profiles.

I hope this is helpful!

Wow. This is amazing. 

I believe that this issue can also be remedied by deleting only the (name)_cache.dat file from the "%USERDATA%\Saved Games\Type Dreams" folder, too.

I'm so sorry your savedata was lost this way; did you keep a backup of the other .dat files from the previous build? Restoring all but the "_cache.dat" file might do it. Sometimes these issues are caused by "ROAD MODE" (which I'm taking out for now).

It's a major priority for me to keep this game's updates backwards-compatible because players' stats are so crucial. I love to see those upward-curving slopes on the stats screen!

Others have asked for a way to delete profiles, too. I'll include that in the next build.

Thanks so much for sharing these findings, Minnie! I'll be following your screenshots and combing thru the script to stitch this up.

As of v0.9m (Feb 29th, 2020), players can choose one of three carriage slide options under "options":

F1-F12
1-0
or Q-P.

I hope one of these three is more suitable, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Should be fixed, now!

As of v0.9m (Feb 29th, 2020), players can choose one of three carriage slide options under "options":
F1-F12
1-0
or Q-P.

I hope one of these three is more suitable, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Type Dreams v0.9m

Player Character & Competition Map

It ain't been pretty, but this thing's going up presently. The main difference between this and previous builds is the addition of a player character. Otherwise, it's been bug-slaying and interface tweaks. If your sign-in screen matches this image, you're up-to-date as of this writing.

Changelog:

• Added a "city map" to the competition screen, so players can choose the level of skill at which they'd like to compete. Would you like a gentle affair, wherein humble hunt-and-peckists are welcome to compare abilities, or would you like your ass kicked by the fastest typists ever? If you can win in Toronto, I want to see a screenshot!

• Integrated the Player-Character stuff which wasn't ready on release day. There are 21 appearances from which to choose. If there ain't one here that suits you, please send me a note, would you?

• Core math revision: after encountering some rounding errors, I've upped the timescale resolution to characters-per-milisecond (from characters-per-centisecond) for more accurate calculation of both players' and npcs' words-per-minute.
• 13 New books! They'll come up in competition or unlock as you explore the game.
• 4 new typing locations: 
        The improved player library,
        Salt Lake City's 3rd District Courtroom,
        The University of Toronto (1888),
        and
        the Metropolitain Society Meeting Hall in Ithaca, NY (1888).
• Added a wax-cylinder victrola thing to the options menu, so players can flip thru the soundtrack.
• 6 New Songs for the soundtrack. 4 have lyrics and are included as typing exercises. (This is most of the diff in filesize.)
• Shift+Space (or Shift+Tab) will navigate most menus in reverse.
• Players now have the choice of which row functions as their "carriage return": F1-F12, 1-0, or Q-P.
• Improved Epilepsy-Safe mode. The uhh "Colorblind" mode still sucks, sorry. 
• Added a smoke effect for typewriters which have ceased burning.
• Finished the side-panel art for all the library's genres.

• Fixed a bug which occasionally duplicated available books.
• Improved dynamic-text-resizing.
• Better snow and melting effects.
• Added little "NEW" badges for each book the player hasn't yet typed (thanks for suggesting this idea, Lucas!).
• Fixed a rotten slew of typos and glitches in the Socrates monologues (and elsewhere).
• Updated all the appropriate  "2019"s to "2020". Fuck.

• Fixed  buggy unlock graphic for "News"

• Books won't unlock after typing them in races, now; only their scripted unlock events will do that.

• Fixed ambient sound and music issues in the options menu.

• Fixed a state in the competition map which prevented escaping to the main menu.

• Fixed the recurring "stats unlocked!" notification.

• Fixed some glitched "[Thing] Unlocked" notifications.

Okay. Plus lots of little things which don't merit transcribing. I've got a spot to würk on this, so I plan to update this again soon. 
Thanks, everybody!
-Richard

Thanks for posting this - just gotta upload the fix.

Got it, thanks for posting this.

I put in a check for "special" characters during profile stuff, which will prevent this, but I'd of course much rather support glyphs across multiple languages. I'd like to include excercises from different languages, but I'm unsure how US players will know how to input them. 🤔

Agh. Typos, too haha. Sewn up in the next build!