Vim Tutorial as an Adventure Game | Hacker News Reader

Vim Tutorial as an Adventure Game

vim-adventures.com

285 pointsKirinDave59 comments

I finished VIM adventures a few years ago and found this approach quite helpful to improve my VIM muscle memory.

What's very unfortunate though is that the licenses are limited to 6 months. Occasionally I wish I could go back to one of the levels focusing on a specific feature, but paying another $25 every time just seems excessive.

Yeah, I loved the intro but balked at the cost as well. I'd happily pay a flat $30, or $10/yr, but $50/yr turned me away.

Really, I'm not sure it's worth it for me - plenty of other good sources of entertainment, and my vim skills are already solid. If the rest of the game is the same quality as the intro, there are plenty of people it would be worth it for! But... I'm not sure they realize it.

It's great until you realize it costs $50. A year.

I agree this is annoying. But, you're likely to pick up most all of it within 6 months ($25), and learning vim keys will pay back so, so, much more.

For those considering this, just install vim bindings for whatever editor you use. Leave it in insert mode. Bit by bit, you'll start using the commands you learn from Vim Adventures. I rarely use Vim itself, but use its commands in browsers and IDEs.

A year later, you will look at normal text editing people with frustration. It's like watching someone that doesn't know how to use a PC slowly mouse around - that's how much a difference vim makes.

Though you don't really need this game to get started in VIM, but you do need to have practice sessions to try new things which is where this game seems to fit in. Like yourself, I mostly use other editors with Vim emulation, mostly I use VsVim in Visual Studio with Resharper ( I'm slowly creating a guide, though a long way from finished and mostly for myself! https://github.com/keithn/vsvimguide ). There I use a hybrid approach of core vim, vim like binding for resharper, and Resharper/Visual studio bindings. As long as my hands don't have to leave the main part of the keyboard I'm generally happy.

It's insanely easy to code using this combination, and yes, frustrating watching others, and frustrating having to code on PCs not setup with Vim bindings.

Haha, this is hard to play with cVim bindings on Chrome. An insert mode inside an insert mode.

I used cVim for a few months and loved it. However, I recently discovered SurfingKeys[1] and I think it's even better.

All configuration is done in JavaScript rather than cVim's weird viml clone language. SK is way more flexible in my opinion.

[1] https://github.com/brookhong/Surfingkeys

Thanks for that! Just installed it, and yes, this is really nicely done.

Vimception.

Editing text with Vim is already pretty game-like. Some of my favorite combos are gg=G and yyPVr*. But of course I prefer to play with mods (surround.vim etc.) and texture packs (colorschemes).

Ctrl-shift-n to quickly launch a window without your extensions enabled (unless you've overridden it).

"If it is possible to gamify so seemingly boring things as learning keyboard shortcuts, then sky's the limit!" from https://github.com/stared/science-based-games-list#bonus

I just submitted this Github link to HN, despite that this was submitted a month ago. I curate a list like that myself (I'll make a pull request) and the list already looks AMAZING!

Please upvote the submission if you think more HNers should know about this list. The list is essentially about educational based games that nailed entertainment (with a focus on scientific phenomenon).

Title: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14661813

Thank you for these kind words! BTW: could you send me link to your own list?

And I am totally excited to see it on the front page, thanks once more! :)

can't say i'm a fan... i found the best way to learn to use vim is to force yourself to use it in an everyday environment. that means at work, where you need to get stuff done. and it will suck and hurt but it works. jump in the water and you will learn to swim. i wanted to quit around a dozen times but i stuck through it. sometimes i would copy and paste using the cursor and clicking so i could move forward, that's fine. you have to learn little things at a time. in 6 months i found i was fluent enough to get my normal work done with ease. 10 years later i love every movement of it and am still learning new things everyday... what an amazing editor...

Just like learning to touch type if you're already a proficient look-while-you-peck typist.

Painful. Oh so painful for a few months. But then, the greatest time investment you can make.

I never learned to touch type, I have just typed a lot. I have no idea where the keys are consciously but in general my fingers can figure it out themselves.

Sometimes something will go wrong and my conscious brain steps in and suddenly I've just got to look because I literally do not know where the hell "v" is. :D

But it's actually an interesting game.

vimtutor takes of some of the edge of learning.

Hey! This thread keeps popping up! Yay :D

In another thread someone recommended me vimtutor isntead of this game. I played both, and for learning I like vimtutor much more.

To people who don't know vimtutor allow me to explain :)

Vim Adventures still gave me the feeling that vim takes 5+ years to learn and you need to be crazy dedicated and good to understand vim. That's not the fault of Vim Adventures, that's the fault of the folklore that surrounds vim (e.g. http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/wp-content/uploads... )

30 minutes of vimtutor and I felt that I had "basic vim skills" and that I "could manage myself in a vim editor." I thought it would take 2 years to get these skills. In other words, if you feel you have realistic expectations about how hard it is to learn vim, try vimtutor!

That said this is a fun game!

> That's not the fault of Vim Adventures, that's the fault of the folklore that surrounds vim (e.g. http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/wp-content/uploads.... )

Archived link: http://web.archive.org/web/20160311183833/http://www.termina...

I cannot access (terminally-incoherent) link. Can you provide an alternate one?

nvm. Thanks [wolfgke](https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=wolfgke)

For people who don't know, vimtutor is generally installed with vim. So if you have vim, just put `vimtutor` in the command linr and add the two letter language code if you want something besides English.

Having only played the demo of vim adventure, I felt like it was more of a drill of what you should do (to use Vim effectively) whereas vimtutor is what you can do, meaning it leaves you a lot quicker.

Some older threads had many comments:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9250190

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5689971

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3877880

I remember playing the first few levels of this game when I was still new and starting to learn vim. It marked my first foray into programming as it was a requirement for my basic programming module, so vim tutor was quite intimidating back then (huge wall of text). I believe I stopped using vim adventures when I found out about the paywall.

However, googling about vim had convinced me that it was this awesome piece of ancient software that was somehow better than modern editors, so I stuck with it. I ended up doing my assignments in vim starting with only the hjkl/<Esc>/i keys. Then whenever I wanted to do some shortcut I thought vim might be able to do I just googled it, got my mind blown, then internalised it. Or reading up on articles talking about the must-know vim shortcuts.

This is a great tutorial. Most people point out that most of this is in `vimtutor`, but I found this easier to consume.

That said, I got stuck when I had to learn how to switch buffers. I don't know if I missed a description with how to do it, or if it was missing.

I just started and I can't seem to get to the treasure chest. Sigh, am I that dumb?

Looks like you unlock new modes as you progress (like Link finds new tools as he goes through dungeons), so you can't get the treasure chest until you have a delete one of some type. I'm a vim noob myself, so I don't know which one you necessarily need.

Just keep going forward, you'll get the skills and items to get that treasure chest.

I remembered playing this in 2013 and it really helped me learning vim. Then I discovered roguelike games, which depend heavily on vim key bindings, especially hjkl for movements, played a bunch of them ever since and got really fluent in vim keybindings. Now besides using vim as text editor and play roguelikes, I have vimfx extension for browsing web under Firefox and vimium for Chrome. Now I just hope I can have vim editing functionalities in any text boxes, and I have been searching for a solution for years.

Rougelikes might teach you hjkl but that's hardly a major source of vim's powers - it's not even scratching the surface. Doing text motions and macros is where it really, really, shines.

Vimium is fantastic (and I say that as an emacs user). Does vimfx for Firefox have similar smooth scrolling? Last time I tried FF vim extensions I was disappointed that they all seemed to scroll jumpily by lines

This inspired me to try harder with my learning of VIM: https://vimebook.com

I found I learned more faster just using vimtutor, although the idea of learning Vim through a graphical game is still pretty neat.

I have been a IDE guy for years. But here at work everyone uses vim, so I gave it a try. I tried to set up the thing, and gave up shortly after that. Then tried SpaceVim, which was too clunky for my taste (I am sure it will improve, it's a rather recent project). So migrated to Spacemacs, which surprisingly supports vim style commands well.

May I ask, if you are not interested in vim why would you choose spacemacs instead of vanilla emacs?

To me spacemacs just feels heavier than many IDEs.

For anyone that continued past the paywall, is it worth it?

I started this game back when I was in college but stopped at the paywall because I didn't have the money at the time. Forgot about it till just now! If this can teach more advanced vim concepts via gameplay then I'd probably be open to buying it now than I used to be.

I played it almost to completion a couple of years ago. I found it very helpful to shore up basic Vim skills, and introduce me to more advanced commands. Come to think of it, I could probably use a refresher...

I'd recommend it.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll give the full version a try!

I bought a license about a year ago. When I logged in today, a message came:

> License Expired

> [my email address]

> There is no time left in your license.

> License activated on [date]

and an offer to buy another half a year for 25$. Here I openly say: No, thank you.

Same here. I bought when it had just launched, wasn't complete yet and there was no mention of the license not being perpetual. Disappointing, but I did get a lot of value from it though!

For me it was mentioned, but I read on HN that the main reason for the "6 month" restriction is that the author wants to avoid complaints and reclaims in the case that he stops providing the website after 6 months. In other words: there are legal reasons why this restriction exists, but it will not be restricted to 6 months. So I trusted the HN crowd and paid the price that I considered as "a little high".

Lesson learned: Don't trust the HN crowd.

I'd renew for a month to refresh the less usual commands in a heartbeat if it was $2-3 bucks! $25 is hard to swallow. I do feel like I got my $25 worth at the time though. It was a great way to learn and I use a lot of it daily.

> I do feel like I got my $25 worth at the time though.

If you buy a game for 25$, you can play it as often as you want.

I don't remember getting to play Everquest indefinitely.

Vim Adventures is not an MMOG.

Beside that: For every MMOG that was stopped, there was typically lots of fan outcry and attempts to set up fan-managed servers to continue playing (often a legal grayzone). Sometimes fans even manage to convince the developers to release server code/source code: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Uru:_Ages_Beyond_...

I agree with you, somewhat: there is not much of a server component to this game and we should get to play it forever and ever, and it is frustrating that we didn't know for sure ahead of time this was a 6 months license only.

However, as a solo entrepreneur, I agree even more with the creator of the game. He gets to price his creation however he likes, and he probably needs to make money like the rest of us. His game teaches a super valuable skill that has saved me well over the price in typing efficiency. Again, I'm fine with the price tag. Just wish he had the option to renew for a month after the initial purchase to brush up. Probably leaving money on the table!

I think this was more helpful than any other vim resource i found when beginning. Highly recommend!

I went through the entire game in 2014 - thoroughly enjoyed it. Taught me vim basics as well as more advanced concepts. After going through the game I used vim as my primary editor for almost a year. Despite the annoying $25/6 months of access I still recommend it to those looking to learn vim.

What made you stop using vim after that year?

I began working in a large Scala codebase and the IDE support made quickly navigating the code very easy.

I still use vim or emacs whenever I need to do some serious text editing or I'm in a console.

I tried this when it was first created. After 30 minutes of fighting with foreign key bindings I realized I can't stand vim even in the context of a game.

So yes, this game is the reason I will always be an emacs person...

Interesting, I have almost exactly the opposite experience (I hated the reliance on Ctrl+ when considering a switch to Emacs). Do you have some specific issues with the bindings, or was it just a case of "too different"?

There are just too many and not compatible with my brain.

Emacs has a graphical interface with menus, icons and help text. You can use it without knowing any keyboard shortcuts which I feel makes it easier for newcomers. vim on the other hand...

I'll save my $25 for some time when I'll be not too busy to play all the way through. So, maybe at Christmas (if I even remember).

Let's say I want to learn an editor in and out, is it worth to learn Vim now or should I invest my time in Sublime?

This is really cool!

this is excellent.

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