<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: Re: Just a bit of musing --> <!--X-From-R13: "Qnegre F Eubpx" <pgfbNhzvnpf.hzq.rqh> --> <!--X-Date: from fabius.globecomm.net [207.51.48.6] by mx01.ca.us.ibm.net id 857071117.99629-1 Thu Feb 27 19:18:37 1997 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 199702271918.OAA21164#rosebud,umiacs.umd.edu --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, Re: Just a bit of musing</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:ctso#umiacs,umd.edu"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00015.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00017.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00015.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00017.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00016">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00016">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00016">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>Re: Just a bit of musing</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A>></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: Just a bit of musing</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: "Carter T Shock" <<A HREF="mailto:ctso#umiacs,umd.edu">ctso#umiacs,umd.edu</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 14:18:19 -0500</LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> [snip] > I think that's my main objection to these schemes - they produce output > which is hard for the player to interpret. Text doesn't distinguish what > is important and new from what is unimportant detail or is repetition. [snip] > Anyway, a co-ordinate system can probably be used in a text MUD, but > you have to be very careful to hide it from the user, and avoid a lot > of description duplication. > Not necessarily.. seems to me the real reason to preserve spatial integrity at low cost is two-fold: first ranged and area stuff works correctly and is easy to calculate, second, it allows you to define a world and only fill in the interesting bits. If the "You are in a forest" lines were too much spam (likely) one could simply include terrain type in the prompt. Undescribed rooms get the default "You see nothing special". As far as distant objects are concerned, you could report "there's a building to the west" only when the user does a scan or some such. No reason the level of detail can't be configurable. One could also include the clue about the building in the distance as descriptions in specific rooms. In this arrangement the simple presence of a description is a key to items/places of interest (rooms with road signs start to make sense... jolly implementors can lie on the signs etc.) On the contrary, I would not hide the coordinate system from the user. It's one way to allow a user to remember places, and can lead one to alternative routes to the same place. You could make it a skill if you chose. You could also have great fun... if someone is "lost" or "confused" they get bad or no coordinate info. Store a second location field in the player struct that is an offset and all of a sudden magical doors get interesting (if they don't know they were teleported you can set the new location and offset their reported coordinates.. as far as they know they moved next door, not accross the world). While all of this is required for a graphical mud, I see no reason to limit the techniques to graphical muds. While endless spam can be confusing, going east a dozen times and ending up west (because your builder put the zone in a stupid place) makes navigation both unusual and difficult. -Todd (not that I feel strongly about this or anything...) </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00015.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00017.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00015.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00017.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00016"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00016"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>Re: Just a bit of musing</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00012" HREF="msg00012.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, coder <a href="mailto:coder#ibm,net">coder#ibm,net</a>, Thu 27 Feb 1997, 14:20 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00013" HREF="msg00013.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Carter T Shock <a href="mailto:ctso#umiacs,umd.edu">ctso#umiacs,umd.edu</a>, Thu 27 Feb 1997, 21:13 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00014" HREF="msg00014.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Wout Mertens <a href="mailto:Wout.Mertens#rug,ac.be">Wout.Mertens#rug,ac.be</a>, Thu 27 Feb 1997, 21:40 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00015" HREF="msg00015.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Fri 28 Feb 1997, 02:21 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00016" HREF="msg00016.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Carter T Shock <a href="mailto:ctso#umiacs,umd.edu">ctso#umiacs,umd.edu</a>, Fri 28 Feb 1997, 03:18 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00017" HREF="msg00017.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Fri 28 Feb 1997, 10:13 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00020" HREF="msg00020.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Alex Oren <a href="mailto:alexo#europa,com">alexo#europa,com</a>, Fri 28 Feb 1997, 23:13 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00024" HREF="msg00024.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, S001GMU <a href="mailto:S001GMU#nova,wright.edu">S001GMU#nova,wright.edu</a>, Sat 01 Mar 1997, 05:03 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00027" HREF="msg00027.html">Re: Just a bit of musing</A></strong>, Carter T Shock <a href="mailto:ctso#umiacs,umd.edu">ctso#umiacs,umd.edu</a>, Sat 01 Mar 1997, 05:45 GMT </LI> </ul> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>