
Vim Tutorial as an Adventure Game - KirinDave
https://vim-adventures.com/
======
wjakob
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.

~~~
dllthomas
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.

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

~~~
MichaelGG
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.

~~~
keithnz
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](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.

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

~~~
maddyboo
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](https://github.com/brookhong/Surfingkeys)

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

------
stared
"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](https://github.com/stared/science-based-games-
list#bonus)

~~~
mettamage
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](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14661813)

~~~
stared
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! :)

------
papaver
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...

~~~
jen729w
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.

~~~
Ntrails
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

------
mettamage
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...](http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2006/08/curves.jpg) )

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!

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

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

------
dang
Some older threads had many comments:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9250190](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9250190)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5689971](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5689971)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3877880](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3877880)

------
SPBS
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.

------
MikeKusold
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.

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

~~~
cavanasm
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.

------
budadre75
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.

~~~
jeff_petersen
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

------
springogeek
This inspired me to try harder with my learning of VIM:
[https://vimebook.com](https://vimebook.com)

------
dak1
I found I learned more faster just using vimtutor, although the idea of
learning Vim through a graphical game is still pretty neat.

------
partycoder
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.

~~~
pawadu
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.

------
Sodman
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.

~~~
organsnyder
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.

~~~
wolfgke
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.

~~~
mcorrand
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!

~~~
wolfgke
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.

~~~
mcorrand
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.

~~~
wolfgke
> 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.

~~~
always_good
I don't remember getting to play Everquest indefinitely.

~~~
wolfgke
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_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Uru:_Ages_Beyond_Myst&oldid=781383284#Uru_Live)

------
pawadu
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...

~~~
danielbarla
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"?

~~~
pawadu
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...

------
tehwalrus
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).

------
aryamaan
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?

------
sunilkumarc
This is really cool!

------
minademian
this is excellent.

