[MUD-Dev] A flamewar startingpoint.)

[coder at ibm.net]

On 21/11/97 at 04:34 PM, "Jon A. Lambert" <jlsysinc at ix.netcom.com> said:
>On 21 Nov 97 at 8:52, Miroslav Silovic wrote:
>> Ola Fosheim Gr=B0stad <olag at ifi.uio.no> writes:

>The example of "Habitat" leads me to think graphics is certainly  doable
>and at low-bandwidth.  When it ran on Quantumlink, it only  used 170K
>clientside storage and the average end-user was at  1200-2400 baud.  The
>quality of these graphics may have a negative impact on your theme.  I
>would think the simple cartoon-like graphics would be less than suitable
>for a WOD theme than a more light-hearted theme.

Agreed -- I've had the same observation.

However its worth noting that even as simple a graphical presentation as
Habitat's automatically gives a sense of space and relative positioning t=
o
characters in a room.  This can significantly affect activities assumed t=
o
be range sensitive, such as combat.

>This seems to be the biggest area of difficulty.  I wish to avoid the
>arcade-like quality to combat (fastest reflexes win), add a more=20
>thoughtful approach (cf. JCL's combat scripts), yet preserve a sense of
>urgency (a time limit on decisions) without imposing excessive lag on
>players.

<nod>

For the technical reasons noted afore I'm moving away from combat scripts
(they just don't work any more), and trying to move to a more losely pace=
d
clocked system.  I don't have much of a design yet, but I'm almost tempte=
d
to something of a tick based system where players define generic
intentions (I want to try and do XXX action) which the system then
periodically evaluates for opportunity and then executes when possible.=20
Actions would then be defined as either ongoing on one-off's within this
structure.  (This is somewhat inspired by reports on Wiggin's system). =20

What I don't like about this is that it does not allow any decent level o=
f
complexity or careful fore-planning, and seems too close to the DIKU-styl=
e
type-kill-and-wait-and-see-who-wins.  I also don't like moving to a
clocked system as it fairly well forces me to move the entire game to a
clocked system, which I'm resistant to.  I'm still much won over with
letting everything execute as quickly as it can.

<ponder>

--=20
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
----------(*)                              Internet: coder at ibm.net
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...