<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! -- By Ernest Adams --> <!--X-From-R13: "F. Oyrknaqre Bbcvry" <cbcvryNoryqva.fahtuneobe.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 17:47:03 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 199805190046.RAA24586#beldin,snugharbor.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Re: Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! -- By Ernest Adam</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:popiel#beldin,snugharbor.com"> </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="msg00676.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00678.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00724.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00731.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00677">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00677">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00677">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! -- By Ernest Adams</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! -- By Ernest Adams</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: "T. Alexander Popiel" <<A HREF="mailto:popiel#beldin,snugharbor.com">popiel#beldin,snugharbor.com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Mon, 18 May 1998 17:46:56 -0700</LI> <LI><em>cc</em>: <A HREF="mailto:popiel#beldin,snugharbor.com">popiel#beldin,snugharbor.com</A></LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Sender</em>: "Petidomo List Agent -- Kanga.Nu version" <<A HREF="mailto:petidomo#kanga,nu">petidomo#kanga,nu</A>></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> In message: <<A HREF="msg00676.html">199805182342.QAA08300#under,engr.sgi.com</A>> J C Lawrence <claw#under,engr.sgi.com> writes: > >"Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie!" > >By Ernest Adams While I agree with nearly everything Ernest says, I'd like to take exception to one of his examples: >Boring and Stupid Mazes > >The original text adventure, Colossal Cave, had two mazes. One was a >series of rooms each of which was described thus: "You're in a maze of >twisty little passages, all alike." The other was a series of rooms >described as, "You're in a twisting little maze of passages, all >different" (or "You're in a little twisty maze of passages, all >different," or "You're in a maze of little twisting passages, all >different," etc.). These were the prototypical boring and stupid >mazes. I believe that both of these mazes were incredibly well done (in sharp contrast to the hundreds of boring and stupid mazes that have followed). The maze all alike is (if I recall correctly) a perfectly planar graph, even with orientation preserved; at most there were three edge crossings, and I think I put those in simply to make it fit better on the page. The maze all different is a 12-room maze between start and goal, with edges from any room to every other room, with the sole exception being that there was no edge from the start room to the goal room; also, the edges were laid out so that no two edges leading in direction X from differing rooms would lead to the same room (so if going north took you from twisty little maze to little twisty maze, no other north move from anywhere would take you to little twisty maze). Yes, appreciating these properties of the mazes requires fully exploring them, and then abstracting your perception of the mazes. A helping of graph theory adds spice to them. I don't see this as a failing. The countless boring and stupid mazes that I've seen seem to be made by people who are trying to mimic the style of these two classic mazes, without noticing the higher level of abstractions available. (Either that, or they just took a standard drawn maze, dropped it onto a sheet of dual-lined paper, and made each little square a room. Yawn.) >Mazes don't have to be boring and stupid. It's possible to design >entertaining mazes by ordering the rooms according to a pattern that >the player can figure out. A maze should be attractive, clever, and >above all, fun to solve. If a maze isn't interesting or a pleasure to >be in, then it's a bad feature. I agree. Perhaps my threshold for finding patterns is higher than most people's. - Alex -- MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future. </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <ul compact><li><strong>Follow-Ups</strong>: <ul> <li><strong><A NAME="00731" HREF="msg00731.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! -- By Ernest Adams</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> J C Lawrence <claw#under,engr.sgi.com></li></ul> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00676.html">[MUD-Dev] Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! -- By Ernest Adams</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00678.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Combat Was Re: Leaving characters in play</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00724.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Java multithreading test source</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00731.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! -- By Ernest Adams</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00677"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00677"><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>[MUD-Dev] Re: Java multithreading test source</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00699" HREF="msg00699.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Java multithreading test source</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Tue 19 May 1998, 16:42 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00721" HREF="msg00721.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Java multithreading test source</A></strong>, Vadim Tkachenko <a href="mailto:vt#freehold,crocodile.org">vt#freehold,crocodile.org</a>, Tue 19 May 1998, 22:20 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00722" HREF="msg00722.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Java multithreading test source</A></strong>, Ben Greear <a href="mailto:greear#cyberhighway,net">greear#cyberhighway,net</a>, Wed 20 May 1998, 05:11 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00724" HREF="msg00724.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Java multithreading test source</A></strong>, Vadim Tkachenko <a href="mailto:vt#freehold,crocodile.org">vt#freehold,crocodile.org</a>, Wed 20 May 1998, 05:22 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </ul> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00677" HREF="msg00677.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! -- By Ernest Adams</A></strong>, T. Alexander Popiel <a href="mailto:popiel#beldin,snugharbor.com">popiel#beldin,snugharbor.com</a>, Tue 19 May 1998, 00:47 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00731" HREF="msg00731.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! -- By Ernest Adams</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Wed 20 May 1998, 18:20 GMT </LI> </UL> <UL> <li><Possible follow-up(s)><br> <LI><strong><A NAME="00690" HREF="msg00690.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! -- By Ernest Adams</A></strong>, John Bertoglio <a href="mailto:alexb#internetcds,com">alexb#internetcds,com</a>, Tue 19 May 1998, 06:05 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00692" HREF="msg00692.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! -- By Ernest Adams</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Tue 19 May 1998, 08:56 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00737" HREF="msg00737.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Bad Game Designer, No Twinkie! -- By Ernest Adams</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Wed 20 May 1998, 18:48 GMT </LI> </UL> </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>