trivia.tcl
file: trivia.tcl
ver: 1.2.0 beta, 27/12/01
author: graeme donaldson
e-mail: gpd@planetpastel.com
www: http://www.geocities.com/triviatcl/
irc: Souperman on #trivia-game @ irc.blabber.net (sometimes undernet)
------------------------------------
contents
1. general info
2. history
3. installation & use
4. known bugs/issues
5. conditions of use
6. thanks
------------------------------------
1. general info
i made this script because i couldn't find a trivia game for irc which worked
the way i wanted. i first wrote a trivia game script for mirc which more or
less looked like the one used on #trivia on irc.blabber.net. i then decided
to run my own trivia game using eggdrop instead.
i'd initially released version 1.01 and 1.02, then decided to leave it alone.
however, after quite a lot of positive feedback and suggestions, i've decided
to continue the development of the script. it seems there are a large number
of people who want a good trivia bot, so development will continue until i
either get tired of it, or i don't have the time for it any longer.
this script was developed on eggdrop 1.6.4+. while it should work on any of
the 1.6 series, i have not tested it on anything below 1.6.4. also note that
i am by no means any kind of tcl expert, so i expect that there may be more
efficient/correct ways of doing some things in places. if you have any tips
you'd like to share, you can contact me at the e-mail address at the top of
this file. =)
------------------------------------
2. history
dd/mm/yy ver comments
27/12/01 1.2.0 * fixed the target lookup command barfing if you were ranked
beta first.
* cleaned up a lot of code after rewriting most of the score
tracking in the previous release.
* added option to show only the score of the person who
answered the question, instead of the top 3 and everyone
on the channel. this is useful on channels with more than
20 players at a time.
* fixed problem when you disabled one or more colours by
setting it to "". the ascii character for colour was still
being sent, causing some problems with text which had
numbers in it.
* added timer to disable the !hint command for x seconds
(default 10) after using it. this prevents cases where 2
people type !hint together and the bot gives 2 hints.
* fixed using the !hint command on the last hint causing
the question to be skipped. you cannot use !hint if it's
the last hint.
* added option to have the bot generate an html page which
lists the people on the channel as their scores, as well
as listing all the scores from top to bottom by rank.
at the moment this is very basic and can definitely be
improved a lot. i need feedback on this to make it better.
26/12/01 1.1.0 * changed version number structure. new structure is a.b.c,
where a is the major version number, b is the minor
version number and c is the bugfix release number.
* added option to customise colours. you can also disable
them.
* added option to show the answer if nobody gets the question
right. the answer will be shown if the question "expires",
not if the question is skipped.
* added option to show how long person took to answer the
question correctly.
* changed behaviour of startup checks. the bot will no longer
"die" if an error is detected. instead, the script will
stop loading when an error is encountered and give the
reason in the log.
* changed help text to only show how to start the game (on
join message and help reply) if user has required flags.
* added option to send private messages using /msg instead
of /notice.
* added /msg command to display channel rules. both the
command and the actual rules are customisable.
* fixed various case issues, e.g. if "joesoap" has 2 points,
then changes nick to JoeSoap and gets another correct,
there would be a score of 3 for "joesoap" and a score of
1 for "JoeSoap". such a stupid bug but it was tricky to fix.
* fixed issues with people having [, {, etc. in their nicks
where scoring would be duplicated similar to the case bug
above. also very tricky to fix. this bug and the previous
one resulted in me having to rethink and recode most of the
stuff relating to scoring. expect bugs! ;o)
* removed some redundant code and consolidated some
duplicated stuff into procs.
04/08/01 v1.02 * added auto disable after x unanswered questions. (set
tgmaxmissed).
* removed check on load if channel set for the game is a
valid channel. was causing some problems.
* added option to use bold in messages or not.
(set tgusebold 1/0).
* added option to disable winning streaks.
(set tgstreakmin 0).
28/07/01 v1.01 * first public release.
??/07/01 - * decided to abandon mirc script in favour of eggdrop.
installed an eggdrop and started to learn tcl.
??/06/01 - * wrote a trivia script for mirc. total development time was
approximately 24 hours over a period of about 3 weeks.
------------------------------------
3. installation & use
to use the script:
* extract all the files in the archive to a directory on your shell.
* edit the trivia.tcl file to customise the settings to your liking.
* add the script to your bot's config. see the eggdrop documentation if you
don't know how to do this.
* make sure that alltools.tcl 1.6 or higher is loaded in your bot's config.
also, make sure that it loads before trivia.tcl.
* make sure that the file you set for the question/answers database exists,
or the script will not load.
* make sure that you only set one channel as your trivia channel. if not,
the script will fail to load.
* if this is a first time installation, rehash your bot. if you're upgrading
from an older version, restart the bot instead, as a rehash does not clear
the current binds and i may have made changes to them. also, if you're
upgrading from an older version, reset your bot's scores.
once you've done all this, you can start the game by typing the start command
on the channel you specified.
note: the question database included is for example purposes. add more
questions by following the format of the example file, i.e. one question/answer
pair per line, answer first, then question, seperated by a '|'. it does not
need to be in any order, i just find it easier to prevent adding a duplicate
question if my database is sorted alphabetically by answer.
the default channel commands (and flags required for their use) are:
command flags description
!hint o|o gives another hint to the current question.
!skip o|o skips the question and selects a new one.
!start -|- starts the game (if it's not running).
!stop o|o stops the game (if it's running).
the default /msg commands (and flags required for their use) are:
command flags description
? n/a gives help.
error n/a report errors in questions/answers.
reset n|n reset score table.
rules n/a show the channel's rules (customisable).
score n/a looks up someone's score.
target n/a tells you who is ranked one above you.
------------------------------------
4. known bugs/issues
the following are bugs and/or issues i am aware of, but have not yet resolved:
* if your answers have non-english characters such as in them, the
bot does not recognise a correct answer. i think this is related to the
issue regarding unicode characters as documented in eggdrop's
doc/known-problems file. i'm not an expert, so i could be wrong.
quick fix: make sure your answers don't have any high-ascii characters in
them.
------------------------------------
5. conditions of use
you have my permission to:
* use the script "as is"
* make any modifications you want to. if you distribute a modified version
of the script, please give me credit somewhere (in a readme file or
whatever), and include a link to the script's home page (see top of file).
you do not have my permission to:
* "rip" the script and claim it as your own work. i know there's no way i
can really prevent you from doing it, but if you do, i hope you feel really
really rotten about it. :-p
* make money from this script. at all. ever. ;o)
------------------------------------
6. thanks
thanks goes to...
* the helpful folks on undernet's #eggdrop for answering my questions.
especially when i've been up late and am not thinking straight. you guys
have tons of patience. =)
* the forum regulars on egghelpforum.com for being such helpful souls. (so
helpful in fact that i've never had to post a question because i invariably
find it's already been answered).
* the guy who originally wrote the mirc trivia script as used on blabber.net
and various other places.
* prince_of_chaos @ irc.blabber.net: assisting with beta testing.
* stuuu @ irc.xnet.org, #xnet-trivia & #gimp: bug reports and suggestions.
* nightshade @ irc.axenet.org, #trivia! & #trance: tons of suggestions.
* and of course, the biggest thanks goes to you, for being smart enough to
use the best damn trivia script available for eggdrop! hehehehehe.
eof
