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<H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] There can be.. only ONE!</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#null,net">mud-dev#null,net</A></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: [MUD-Dev] There can be.. only ONE! </LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: Matt Chatterley &lt;<A HREF="mailto:matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org">matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org</A>&gt;</LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Fri, 17 Apr 1998 23:32:38 +0000 (GMT)</LI>
<LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:neddy#itl,net">neddy#itl,net</A></LI>
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<PRE>
On Thu, 16 Apr 1998, J C Lawrence wrote:
&gt; On Wed, 15 Apr 1998 19:27:02 PST8PDT 
&gt; Matt Chatterley&lt;matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org&gt; wrote:
&gt; &gt; On Tue, 14 Apr 1998, J C Lawrence wrote:
&gt; &gt;&gt; On Sat, 11 Apr 1998 18:26:30 PST8PDT Matt
&gt; &gt;&gt; Chatterley&lt;matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org&gt; wrote:
&gt; 
&gt; &gt;&gt; -- The map then proceeds to change.  I envision an abstract world
&gt; &gt;&gt; with moving walls and floors, visual landmarks which can be
&gt; &gt;&gt; oriented on over large distances, etc (very Tron-like).  The key is
&gt; &gt;&gt; that while the base starting map for that is (presumably) well
&gt; &gt;&gt; known, it very quickly is no longer true.  Changes to the map would
&gt; &gt;&gt; be both player created as well as in-game sourced.
&gt; 
&gt; &gt; So basically, the map changes, but the changes from map to map are
&gt; &gt; exerted over an extended period of time?
&gt; 
&gt; No.  Map changes derived from player base changes are instantaneous.
&gt; There is no translation time from the old map to the new (tho its
&gt; probably worth putting the check-population-count-and-remap check on a
&gt; twenty minute pulse to ensure that the game doesn't spend all its time
&gt; flipping maps when some twit writes a robot to log fake players on and 
&gt; off.
&gt; 
&gt; The result is that from a player perspective the world has a chance of
&gt; totally changing all about them every twenty minutes, but they are
&gt; guaranteed that *within* that 20 minute period the world will remain
&gt; relatively constant.  This effectively fracts the game into segments
&gt; each a multiple of 20 minutes long, each segment being based on a new
&gt; world map.

Hmm, quite interesting. Not sure that this is what I want to go with at
this point, though - I'm looking into a (more or less) constantly shifting
world, and am also going to take on board the idea of different weapons
functioning within different 'zones'. Oh, and I intend to add a 'monitor'
system so that those not actively playing can watch everything from a sort
of 'TV viewer' point of view (while isolated from the game so that they
could not communicate in-game to allies - of course they can collaborate
RL; I can't address that, and don't want to).

The system will certainly be coordinate based, and may or may not use a
custom client (completely undecided - the first incarnations will probably
work with any telnet-happy thing). My next question, or issue to resolve
relates to how to tackle placing players when they enter the game - from a
safe room into random coordinates?
 
&gt; &gt;&gt; -- As objects decay and are destroyed, new objects are popped
&gt; &gt;&gt; elsewhere in the world.  The pop locations are very
&gt; &gt;&gt; non-deterministic, and dependant on the current map etc.
&gt; 
&gt; &gt; But for me, roughly not keeping in balance - if I were working (as I
&gt; &gt; am currently thinking of doing) to hour-long games, I would want the
&gt; &gt; balance to tilt to increase the damage possible towards the end.
&gt; 
&gt; I'd be more tempted to do an equation ala:
&gt; 
&gt;   The power of a newly popped weapon is inversely proportional to the
&gt; time remaining to the current world map _IF_ the map is due to change
&gt; next cycle, and is otherwise constant/pre-set.
&gt; 
&gt; The result would be that players in the final minutes of a world's
&gt; life would be toting planet busters, a few minutes before that a
&gt; few-dozen-megaton nukes, and etc on down.  This also gives the chap
&gt; who manages to find the "ultimate" weapon in the last 30 seconds of
&gt; the world-life the chance to kill *EVERYBODY* in one single trigger
&gt; pull.

Yeah. Given a continuous world, and assuming I go with the 'basically
human' players and weapons/equipment (as opposed to an idea which KaVir
sparked - 'robot' players who collect 'add-ons'), I'm not sure how I'd
approach this.
 
&gt; &gt;&gt; &gt; Players are given the option of joining one of several running
&gt; &gt;&gt; teams &gt; (colours? something more interesting?), or playing solo.
&gt; &gt;&gt; 
&gt; &gt;&gt; Nahh, boring.
&gt; &gt;&gt; 
&gt; &gt;&gt; -- Make the team concept a player based and derived thing, and then
&gt; &gt;&gt; make it anonymous.
&gt; &gt;&gt; 
&gt; &gt;&gt; -- All new players are anonymous and de facto solo.
&gt; 
&gt; &gt; *cower*
&gt; 
&gt; Ahh, but older well established players who are members of successful
&gt; teams are ALSO anonymous to members of different teams...

Yup. Everyone should be anonymous to begin with, and in general. I quite
like the 'account' separate from PC approach, although this causes
problems with maintaing teams. Hmm.
 
&gt; &gt; I was certainly not intended to 'publicly' announce new players -
&gt; &gt; thats like hanging a bullseye around their necks.
&gt; 
&gt; Quite.

Although theres nothing bad about them being targets, it would be 'bad'
(from some points of view, I suppose) for them to be targets *to a greater
extent* than anyone else. :)
  
&gt; &gt;&gt; -- Players may be tagged by other players as members of their team.
&gt; &gt;&gt; This fact is private to the members of that team.  ie if you see a
&gt; &gt;&gt; character which is a member of a team you are in, he is identified
&gt; &gt;&gt; as such.  If you share no team memberships, then there is no such
&gt; &gt;&gt; identification.
&gt; &gt;&gt; 
&gt; &gt;&gt; -- How a new player goes about ensuring that they are recruited for
&gt; &gt;&gt; a team as vs being cannon fodder is their problem.
&gt; &gt;&gt; 
&gt; &gt;&gt; -- Of course a player may thus be a member of many teams and play
&gt; &gt;&gt; all against each other.
&gt; 
&gt; &gt; IOW, more or less leaving teams as a largely social construct with
&gt; &gt; no game mechanics or anything similar to fix them together. Very
&gt; &gt; desirable, actually. What is a guild? This is. ;)
&gt; 
&gt; Yup.  What you would supply are excellent communications and tactical
&gt; coordination tools to encourage group efforts.

Yeah. This would work nicely. Give them tools, let them build their own
teams / organisations.

-- 
Regards,
	-Matt Chatterley
Spod: <A  HREF="http://user.super.net.uk/~neddy/spod/spod.html">http://user.super.net.uk/~neddy/spod/spod.html</A>


</PRE>

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<li><strong><A NAME="00585" HREF="msg00585.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: There can be.. only ONE!</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> J C Lawrence &lt;claw#under,engr.sgi.com&gt;</li></ul>
<li><strong><A NAME="00208" HREF="msg00208.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] There can be.. only ONE!</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> J C Lawrence &lt;claw#under,engr.sgi.com&gt;</li></ul>
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<LI><STRONG><A NAME="00195" HREF="msg00195.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] There can be.. only ONE!</A></STRONG>
<UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> J C Lawrence &lt;claw#under,engr.sgi.com&gt;</LI></UL></LI>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] There can be.. only ONE!</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00196" HREF="msg00196.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] There can be.. only ONE!</A></strong>, 
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Thu 16 Apr 1998, 17:10 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00190" HREF="msg00190.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] There can be.. only ONE!</A></strong>, 
Matt Chatterley <a href="mailto:matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org">matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org</a>, Thu 16 Apr 1998, 02:20 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00186" HREF="msg00186.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] There can be.. only ONE!</A></strong>, 
Matt Chatterley <a href="mailto:matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org">matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org</a>, Thu 16 Apr 1998, 02:05 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00195" HREF="msg00195.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] There can be.. only ONE!</A></strong>, 
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Thu 16 Apr 1998, 16:57 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00207" HREF="msg00207.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] There can be.. only ONE!</A></strong>, 
Matt Chatterley <a href="mailto:matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org">matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org</a>, Fri 17 Apr 1998, 22:33 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00208" HREF="msg00208.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] There can be.. only ONE!</A></strong>, 
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Sat 18 Apr 1998, 00:20 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00211" HREF="msg00211.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] There can be.. only ONE!</A></strong>, 
Ling <a href="mailto:K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk">K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk</a>, Sun 19 Apr 1998, 13:54 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00213" HREF="msg00213.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] There can be.. only ONE!</A></strong>, 
Matt Chatterley <a href="mailto:matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org">matt#mpc,dyn.ml.org</a>, Sun 19 Apr 1998, 15:01 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00784" HREF="msg00784.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: There can be.. only ONE!</A></strong>, 
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Wed 22 Apr 1998, 18:49 GMT
</LI>
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