[MUD-Dev] Realistic travel times/virtual terrain

[Richard Tew]

> From: Inq Admin [mailto:inqcode at excalibur.inetsolve.com]
> Granted, we lost a
> rather large number of our playerbase when it was implemented=20
> (I estimate
> 30% of our 'regulars' ceased stopping by so often, with probably 10%
> totally leaving the MUD), but it is now rarely even complained about.

Nice to find an admin that doesn't toady to the "change is implicitly
bad" crowd :)  I find it so frustrating that people let their mud be
limited by player objections against things that improve the depth of
the game - although its not my playerbase at risk, obviously :)

> Our system divides a room into a matrix (width, height and=20
> length) based
> upon the terrain type (city sectors are much smaller than say,
> forests) and continuously updates their relative position in=20
> the room with
> their direction of travel.  It can be halted at any time, with several

Ahah.  Very similar to how we do it.  I have seen the term "roomless
coordinate system" mentioned in this forum, can someone confirm to me
that something like this falls under that definition?  If not, a
definition of roomless would be great.

Do you do anything special with the terrain type, like:

  - Provide persistent placement of differing landscape withing that
    terrained area?  Rare trees that can be used as landmarks?
  - Provide resources based on the terrain type, like herbs, plants,
    trees to climb and chop down?
  - Provide persistence in resource availability depending on paste
    use?

> queue).  Movement
> speed can be varied (ranging from crawl to sprint for=20
> players, and walk to
> gallop for horses), but is also calculated based upon the=20
> player/mounts
> encumbrance, stats (strength and constitution mainly) and [still being
> developed] total distance travelled.  Short of having the=20
> same stats, the
> same pace, and the same equipment, no two players move at the same
> speed.

Again, very similar to what I plan.  It seems you have covered all the
bases, so theres not really much I can ask you to expand on here :)

> People passing thru rooms no longer do so without giving=20
> those in the room
> time to react to them, nor can OOC help be summoned from=20
> someone who is

Hmm, so are you saying you subdivide the movement space into fixed
size rooms?  And if so, how do you handle modifying the room
description to indicate the position of notable things within sight,
but within other/distant rooms?

> group.  We're working on making it possible for the=20
> less-honest players to
> 'shadow' someone, trailing a room or so behind them without=20
> their noticing
> (if the player's good and lucky).

A logical extension, will you be taking the terrain type into
effect on this?

My own take on this is that there might be several types of
trailing that a similar system provides.

  - Line of sight trailing, where the follower runs the risk
    of being seen (sounds like your system).  Plan to have
    terrain type influencing their chance of being seen.

  - Tracking trailing :) where you follow the signs they left
    behind.  This may be ranger type tracking with physical
    signs of movement, or magical detection even.

> The players path can be added to during their movement, or=20
> prior to their
> movement.  It works with aliases, so known paths can be set=20
> by players who
> take the time to map them out, but we also have the ability=20
> for them to
> attempt to 'navigate' their way to a known room name - using=20
> a recursive
> read thru the rooms, trying to find the best route (modified=20
> based upon
> the players intelligence).

Haven't really thought this over, but I would probably go with
the player remembering waypoints to define a trail - although
the waypoints would probably have to be distinctive, so if you
got to waypoint X and a clearing had been made where there was
a large tree before, this would be pointed out and the journey
halted perhaps making you question whether you are lost.

> All in all, the system (at least to my biased perceptions) is=20
> well thought
> out and well implemented.  We took inputs from the players=20

I think it woulds head and tails above most of whats our there,
especially most of the LP crud I have seen (of course I don't
mean Discworld, David :).

I would be very interested in any thoughts you have in how to
describe the proximity of objects of note when players are in
the midst of terrain.  Like other players nearby, landmarks,
etc.

Cheers,
Richard.



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