[MUD-Dev] Unique items (was: Graphic MUDS/Ultima Online)

[Chris Gray]

[Chris L:]

:Why not hand-design the gross features of the world, its basic terrain,
:resources characteristics, etc, and _then_ define the rules which govern
:the use of those resources.  Plug it in, flick the switch, bake at 400 for
:an hour and Voila!  Instant world of 12 million rooms (if you're still
:using rooms).	Want cheaper, easier, more interesting?  Do allt he same
:definition work, but skipp the baking step,  Just load the raw dough onto
:your servers and throw your players in like yeasty raisins.  As soon as a
:player opens his virtual eyes, the world creates itself about him.  The
:question of the tree falling in the woods is finally answered: with nobody
:there, there is no tree, there are no woods, and there are no ears to
:hear.

Pant, pant, drool! That's what I'm slowing heading towards, but I'm sure
the professionals will be there long before I am.

I did a quick calculation about Earth itself, and have decided that an
appropriately sized fractal world is about 16 million tiles squared. For
my scheme that works out well, since it is a multiple of 16, which is
what I chose for the size of my hierarchy nodes. Needless to say, the
vast majority of that world *must* be creatable on demand. One of the
neat things about fractal generation is that you can create maps of any
of it, without actually creating the world. So, a wizard flying around
high over the world can see lots of stuff, without the system actually
having to generate any of it. Of course, if he insists on flying low,
you then have to at least temporarily create mobiles, details, etc.

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