[MUD-Dev] Usability and interface

[Chris Gray]

[Adam W:]

:Plus, I write graphics-ladden games at work.  For the same amount of
:work you get about one tenth the functionality.  Doing even the simplest
:thing requires complex animations which have to interact with the rest of
:the graphics in a semi-consitent manner (lighting, shadows, scale, angles
:of viewing...).  Compare this to "There is a blinding flash of light as %s
:polymorphs into a shimmering dragon".

True enough (although that particular text is pretty lousy, IMHO! - whats
this "polymorphs" to a non-RP'er?). However, from my own experience I'll
say that several times I've said "cool!" to something graphical I've
seen in a game. The only time I recall coming close to that for straight
text was a mild "Woah!" when first seeing the Volcano Room description
in Adventure. In other words, graphical stuff may be a lot harder to
produce (I certainly won't argue that!), but it generally can have a lot
more impact on the players.

--
Chris Gray   cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA