<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Lathander's Introduction --> <!--X-From-R13: pbqreNvoz.arg --> <!--X-Date: from fabius.globecomm.net [207.51.48.6] by mx4.ibm.net id 863901545.53604-1 Sat May 17 20:39:05 1997 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 199705172045.UAA518664#out1,ibm.net --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: Pine.LNX.3.95.970517082601.8990B-100000#Sword,CS.UCLA.EDU --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, Re: [MUD-Dev] Lathander's Introduction</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:coder#ibm,net"> </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="msg00539.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00540.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00524.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00519.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00541">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00541">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00541">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] Lathander's Introduction</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: [MUD-Dev] Lathander's Introduction</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: <A HREF="mailto:coder#ibm,net">coder#ibm,net</A></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Sat, 17 May 97 13:12:56 -0700</LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> On 17/05/97 at 11:16 AM, "Dustan M. Hough" <dhough#sword,cs.ucla.edu> said: >Hello everyone... Welcome. >I was just invited to this list by Ling (known to me as >Ceilidh) and he insists that I post an Introduction, so here goes. Always a good idea. It helps create a frame of reference for ensuing discussion. >Skills are worked on individually. Does this mean that a character is able to consult and view the available list of skills and query his proportional ability at each skill on some absolute scale? There was quite a bit of discussion on this area a while ago. The solution which I liked best was that while a player could query his ability at a skill he knew he had (to some extent) he could not query what other skills were available that he didn't have (until he learned of them in some formalised manner). Similarly the value returned by querying his ability in a given skill was not an absolute value that bore any comparison to other values reported to other players. Instead, the system would keep track of his ability in the skill as an absolute value, and would also keep track of what other players and mobiles he had seen excercising that exact skill paying special attention to skills evidenced near his level, above, and any rogues (extremes on the curve). Then, when the player queried his personal skill level he would be returned a weighted proportion on _that_ scale, not the absolute scale. This allows a scenario ala: > skill XXX Skill ability for XXX: 90% > l Bubba is here. Bubbe does something incredible with skill XXX. > skill XXX Skill ability for XXX: 30%. Call it humble pie. You can then age the entries in the log for the extreme value simulating the comfort of forgetting. Thus after a while he'd forget that he'd seen Bubba display incredible skill levels at XXX, and would again start to rise in his own estimation. This model also works rather well for more simple stats like strength. It changes the value of strength to, "how do I compare on the scale of the things I've seen" instead of "I have XXX strength out of an absolute scale of YYY". A side benefit, and possibly the most significant benefit, is that it compleatly devalues stat comparison between players. Stats are now only meaningful within the frame of reference of that player, and have no meaning to another player with a different frame of reference. >Our skill system is based on the learn-as-you-use method, very similar to >Adam Wiggins' descriptions of his mud. We do not use a skill tree, >however, but skill groups instead. The more skills you learn, and the >higher they are in a given group, the easier it is to learn new skills in >that group. True, this doesn't account for cross-over learning between >groups, but there's a limit to how realistic we need to get. How do you define your skill groups? How do you handle a characters advancement in new skills? Must he locate a trainer, and if so, how does that process of skill transference work? >We have an introduction system where each person is described by many >traits until you 'name' them. As such, a given person does not have to >go by their true name, but they get tell others whatever name they want >to go by. Excellant. I've been proposing this for years. I have it to the extent taht *nothing* is named by the system, not players, not characters, not mobiles, or individual (non-unique) objects. Each player can than assign names to anything he encounters with that namespace bing private to that character. Thus you could name a certain mobile "Bernie" and I could name it "Bubba", while Adam names it "DieScum", all compleatly transparently to the rest of the system. (ditto for other players, such as the name(s) I might assign your characters etc). >Our combat system looks like this: > Combat Style >Aim | * | Control >Offensive | * | Dodge >Daring | * | Parry >Power | * | Speed >Attack |* | Defense > ---*--- >You increase one area of combat and lose the benefits of another area. >The scale is non-linear. I presume this is an array of five horizontal scales, with each scale having an index representing the characters level of concentration on that aspect of combat, and the sum value of all index values not being able to exceed a per-character maximum (with possible smaller between-scale relationships)? >Every room is on a coordinate grid. We use this grid to time movement >and to help monsters 'find' their way to a particular destination. How do you handle the simple case of a room only being acessable by a path whose entrance is far from the room? eg: The room is at the end of a long tunnel. The entrace to the tunnel is on the other side of a mountain. The mobile seeking the room happens to be in a location such that the the room is between him and the entrance. -- J C Lawrence Internet: claw#null,net ----------(*) Internet: coder#ibm,net ...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith... </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00524" HREF="msg00524.html">Lathander's Introduction</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> "Dustan M. Hough" <dhough#sword,cs.ucla.edu></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00539.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] RP thesis...</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00540.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Languages</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00524.html">Lathander's Introduction</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00519.html">OO design patterns</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00541"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00541"><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: [MUD-Dev] Re: A brief introduction.. ok, you got me: an introduction</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00551" HREF="msg00551.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Re: A brief introduction.. ok, you got me: an introduction</A></strong>, coder <a href="mailto:coder#ibm,net">coder#ibm,net</a>, Sun 18 May 1997, 07:25 GMT </LI> </ul> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00527" HREF="msg00527.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Availability of our stuff</A></strong>, Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Sun 18 May 1997, 00:09 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00582" HREF="msg00582.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Availability of our stuff</A></strong>, Raz <a href="mailto:muddyraz#mushroom,demon.co.uk">muddyraz#mushroom,demon.co.uk</a>, Mon 19 May 1997, 09:24 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00524" HREF="msg00524.html">Lathander's Introduction</A></strong>, Dustan M. Hough <a href="mailto:dhough#sword,cs.ucla.edu">dhough#sword,cs.ucla.edu</a>, Sat 17 May 1997, 22:27 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00541" HREF="msg00541.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Lathander's Introduction</A></strong>, coder <a href="mailto:coder#ibm,net">coder#ibm,net</a>, Sun 18 May 1997, 03:39 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00519" HREF="msg00519.html">OO design patterns</A></strong>, coder <a href="mailto:coder#ibm,net">coder#ibm,net</a>, Sat 17 May 1997, 12:04 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00511" HREF="msg00511.html">Administration: Subscription problems</A></strong>, clawrenc <a href="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</a>, Sat 17 May 1997, 02:01 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00510" HREF="msg00510.html">Quoting and attributions</A></strong>, clawrenc <a href="mailto:clawrenc#cup,hp.com">clawrenc#cup,hp.com</a>, Sat 17 May 1997, 01:11 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00497" HREF="msg00497.html">Skills in RP games</A></strong>, Matt Chatterley <a href="mailto:root#mpc,dyn.ml.org">root#mpc,dyn.ml.org</a>, Fri 16 May 1997, 16:39 GMT </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>