[MUD-Dev] Wish revisited

[Zach Collins (Siege)]

Ah, something along the lines of the encounter crafting system I've
always wanted to design.

On Thu, 3 Mar 2005 16:03:49 +0100 (CET), olag at ifi.uio.no
<olag at ifi.uio.no> wrote:

> Let users design their own camps of monsters by configuring
> templates and how they cooperate. These configurations could be
> rather simple, the main point is to get something fresh and
> fun. It could be as simple as setting up simple heuristics:

>   hit-by-axe, enemey-is-dwarf:
>      say "something-funny-about-dwarfs"
>      wield shield

> The problem is of course that the players could exploit the system
> and get obsessed with creating vulgar content... ;) A full fledged
> moderation system would of course be the best thing, but maybe a
> rating system could work too?

No, I think automatic moderation coupled with regular GM review
would work better.

> Problem: The user kills his own monsters.  Solution: The creator
> does not place the monster, but specify what kind of environment
> the monster should spawn in. The monster isn't spawned
> immediately.

Alternate solution: Creating monsters costs resources, such as
credits or XP. However, the auto-spawn solution may work very
well. Both of these solutions can be combined.

> Problem: The users create monsters that are too easy Solution: The
> monster doesn't provide XP or loot unless it has lived for at
> least 24 hours. Or, the system aggregate statistics about each
> fight.

Alternate solution: I don't see "too easy" as a problem if a created
monster only lives until it is killed, or its spawn point (if
applicable) is destroyed - monsters which are too easy get wiped out
and don't respawn.

> Problem: The user creates... crap.  Solution: The higher rating
> you get the more monster you can create and the more often your
> monsters spawn. After defeating a monster-camp the user is
> required to rate the fight in order to get XP. This is timer based
> to avoid random answers (meaning: the pop-up will stay on screen
> for at least 10 seconds).

Problem: Griefing will extend even here. "Aw, man, I died! These
stupid eyeball things suck!" "Heh, this was fun, but I don't like
you.  They suck." People won't rate cleverness, at best they'll rate
their effort to reward ratio. Too much effort, and no reward will be
big enough; too much reward, and players will view this as an easy
way to buff their characters.

Alternate solution: Skill points in crafting go here. You can only
create to a certain level with the points you have. Level one
worldcrafting might allow you to create a handful of easy monsters
or one tough monster, based on the resources you spend. Level three
worldcrafting might allow you to create a killable spawn point which
releases monsters at a rate proportionate to their calculated
damage-per-second and defense value (which also counts any special
maneuvers in the creature's AI). Level five allows you to add a
"set-spawn(race)" command in the AI, but only lets the creature use
it once, ever. And so forth.

Sure, occasionally you may end up with super-tough creatures, but if
you use the auto-spawn feature, you can have tougher monsters show
up only in zones rated for toughness. If the player isn't good at
combat, there's a good chance they'll never see their new creation.

As for too much reward for the effort, XP would be calculated based
on toughness, while loot will be either typical for the base
monster-type or one bonus prize if the creature is labelled as elite
or a boss - and this label automatically boosts certain stats, so
that a Little Bitey Eyeball Weenie becomes the Little Bitey Eyeball
Master.

> Other ideas?

As I note above, creature-making ties directly into
worldcrafting. You could have the monster-maker and the place-maker;
perhaps their skills are closely associated, perhaps they're
different paths in the crafting tree. However, every dungeon needs
its minions.

--
Zach Collins (Siege)
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