[MUD-Dev] There can be.. only ONE!

[J C Lawrence]

On Wed, 15 Apr 1998 19:27:02 PST8PDT 
Matt Chatterley<matt at mpc.dyn.ml.org> wrote:
> On Tue, 14 Apr 1998, J C Lawrence wrote:
>> On Sat, 11 Apr 1998 18:26:30 PST8PDT Matt
>> Chatterley<matt at mpc.dyn.ml.org> wrote:

>> -- The map then proceeds to change.  I envision an abstract world
>> with moving walls and floors, visual landmarks which can be
>> oriented on over large distances, etc (very Tron-like).  The key is
>> that while the base starting map for that is (presumably) well
>> known, it very quickly is no longer true.  Changes to the map would
>> be both player created as well as in-game sourced.

> So basically, the map changes, but the changes from map to map are
> exerted over an extended period of time?

No.  Map changes derived from player base changes are instantaneous.
There is no translation time from the old map to the new (tho its
probably worth putting the check-population-count-and-remap check on a
twenty minute pulse to ensure that the game doesn't spend all its time
flipping maps when some twit writes a robot to log fake players on and 
off.

The result is that from a player perspective the world has a chance of
totally changing all about them every twenty minutes, but they are
guaranteed that *within* that 20 minute period the world will remain
relatively constant.  This effectively fracts the game into segments
each a multiple of 20 minutes long, each segment being based on a new
world map.

>> -- As objects decay and are destroyed, new objects are popped
>> elsewhere in the world.  The pop locations are very
>> non-deterministic, and dependant on the current map etc.

> But for me, roughly not keeping in balance - if I were working (as I
> am currently thinking of doing) to hour-long games, I would want the
> balance to tilt to increase the damage possible towards the end.

I'd be more tempted to do an equation ala:

  The power of a newly popped weapon is inversely proportional to the
time remaining to the current world map _IF_ the map is due to change
next cycle, and is otherwise constant/pre-set.

The result would be that players in the final minutes of a world's
life would be toting planet busters, a few minutes before that a
few-dozen-megaton nukes, and etc on down.  This also gives the chap
who manages to find the "ultimate" weapon in the last 30 seconds of
the world-life the chance to kill *EVERYBODY* in one single trigger
pull.

>> > Players are given the option of joining one of several running
>> teams > (colours? something more interesting?), or playing solo.
>> 
>> Nahh, boring.
>> 
>> -- Make the team concept a player based and derived thing, and then
>> make it anonymous.
>> 
>> -- All new players are anonymous and de facto solo.

> *cower*

Ahh, but older well established players who are members of successful
teams are ALSO anonymous to members of different teams...

> I was certainly not intended to 'publicly' announce new players -
> thats like hanging a bullseye around their necks.

Quite.
 
>> -- Players may be tagged by other players as members of their team.
>> This fact is private to the members of that team.  ie if you see a
>> character which is a member of a team you are in, he is identified
>> as such.  If you share no team memberships, then there is no such
>> identification.
>> 
>> -- How a new player goes about ensuring that they are recruited for
>> a team as vs being cannon fodder is their problem.
>> 
>> -- Of course a player may thus be a member of many teams and play
>> all against each other.

> IOW, more or less leaving teams as a largely social construct with
> no game mechanics or anything similar to fix them together. Very
> desirable, actually. What is a guild? This is. ;)

Yup.  What you would supply are excellent communications and tactical
coordination tools to encourage group efforts.
 
--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                               Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------(*)                     Internet: claw at under.engr.sgi.com
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...