[MUD-Dev] Physics

[Mik Clarke]

I sem to have missed the original post...

Laurel Fan wrote:
> 
> Excerpts from muddev: 2-Nov-99 [MUD-Dev] Physics by =?iso-8859-1?Q?Gr=F at ifi.
> > What can we expect from the next generation of (commercial) MUDs
> > with this drive towards physics based systems and the availability
> > of hardware rendering?  Will it matter at all conceptually, given
> > the horrible LAG and BANDWIDTH problems, or will it just become a
> > client side eye-candy thing?

I suspect that the simulations might get more detailed, giving more
realistic results, but the limits on the information that can be sent
to the client mean that it will have to fill in a lot of the detail
itself.

Consider two people fighting with swords, when one of the parries the
other and his sword shatters.

Event wise:

  bubba attacks buffo
  buffo parries bubbas attack
  buffos sword shatters!

Now, suitably encoded, these can be parsed by an intelligent client to
draw pretty pictures of bubba swining, buffo parrying and buffos sword
shattering into a throusand fragments.  Granted the details will be 
different for each viewer, but the overall events will be the same.
A few years ago I proposed a system where such actions (attack, parry,
etc...) could be programmed into the definition of each players
avatar (allowing non-human avatars and 'personal' fighting styles).

I don't even want to think about the data stream you'd need to send to
get a micro-description of the action.  I suppose you might be able
to summarize it into object paths (but what about all the crud that
they are both carrying? Presumably it would move with them...)

Mik



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