[MUD-Dev] Better Combat

[John Buehler]

Amanda Walker writes:
> On Aug 3, 2004, at 10:04 AM, John Buehler wrote:

> Or maybe we have some sort of encounter on the way back--but in
> either case there was none of this driving around every little
> turn in the road.  "OK, I turn left exactly 3.5 degrees, because
> if I turn 4 degrees, I'll get hung up on that fencepost every
> time..."

LOL I think most of us have fiddled with that sort of thing.  "If I
aim just between those two trees, I miss the spider camp and end up
trapped in the corner of that building on the far side of the
forest.  I can come back anytime and just peel my character off the
wall."

>> Returning to the flight simulator, note that there is nothing
>> random about the behavior of a flight simulator.  It's all very
>> straightforward calculations - but entirely based on environment,
>> the characteristics of the vehicle and the imprecise control of
>> the pilot.  That is what makes it engaging.

> It's also based on actual skill, not time spent "leveling".
> People without good spatial skills hate flight sims because they
> always crash.

Sure.  No form of entertainment is universally appealing. Some
segment of the player population doesn't like to socialize because
either their socialization skills or their typing skills lack.

I brought up the example of the simulator as a vehicle for
illustrating that a few well-chosen equations can produce a wide
variety of behaviors - which is far more engaging than a random
distribution of behaviors.  Patterns more complex than 'uniform
distribution over time' are needed in order to give players a sense
of depth in an experience over the long term.

JB
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev