[MUD-Dev] Rooms

[Ross Nicoll]

On Fri, 4 Jun 1999, Greg Miller wrote:

> It could certainly be done, and would be pretty flexible. The first two
> problems that come to mind are builder confusion (placing items relative
> to different points might lead to builders forgetting where they are
> relative to each other, leading potentially to some deranged room
> layouts) and efficiency (you might end up with heavy recursion trying to
> calculate relative positions of various objects in placement changes if
> people place a lot of items in the room).
That's assuming you're using a co-ordinate system; I was thinking a room
based system, more, actually. This means recursion shouldn't go deeper
than one room, to start with, and locations do not have to be calculated.
The biggest problem will be how to accurately describe the relationships
between objects.

A table in the centre of a room is easy.

Now put that table against one wall. Suddenly, you have to be able to
define walls individually.

Now put it against a corner. You need to make it relative to two walls
now. And where is it defined as being on the floor, BTW...

You also need to be able to define simple layouts, for the rendering (is
that what you meant earlier, actually?). Items need to be able to be
defines as associated; for example around a table, you have three equally
spaced chairs. Or if you have three tables in a row/column. Or even in a
matrix formation. Just gets more and more fun doesn't it :)

> I guess one approach would be to allow items to be placed that way and
> display overhead maps during building... Once the builder is finished,
> the locations could be preresolved into absolute coordinates. I'm not
> really satisfied that a good map representation is very feasible,
> though.
It probably is feasible, but I really don't want to have to write a custom
client...
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