<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is --> <!--X-From-R13: X Q Znjerapr <pynjNhaqre.rate.ftv.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 19:53:18 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 199806030251.TAA08193#under,engr.sgi.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: Pine.SOL.3.96.980527120307.11971A-100000@sun-cc203 --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.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="msg00862.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00864.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00848.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00866.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00863">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00863">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00863">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</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: MURKLE: Wot it is </LI> <LI><em>From</em>: J C Lawrence <<A HREF="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 19:51:02 -0700</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#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> On Thu, 28 May 1998 19:46:05 +0100 (BST) Ling <K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk> wrote: > On Tue, 26 May 1998, J C Lawrence wrote: >> On Sat, 23 May 1998 15:12:40 +0100 (BST) Ling >> <K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk> wrote: >> On Fri, 22 May 1998, J C Lawrence wrote: > Had a strange idea of sorts: Magical objects require mana > maintanence. Some of the mana is sucked up from the environment. > This would cause a small delta of mana flowing in from the region > around. Loose spores gently roll with the flow (mana wind). > Unfortunately, an artifact requiring massive amounts of maintenance > would suck up spores from the entire region (having said that, the > spores would sprout asap). I currently do a little of that, but found that the effects took far too long to percolate across the land. The liquid flow was just to slow, and also too uniform. I wanted waves, tides, roaring floods, deserts, etc. What I have at the moment are mana producers and some base mechanics on mana motion. So far its semi-working (ie I still don't like it). Mana producers produce mana at variant and unstable rates. The current formulaes are simple: Pick a random time not too too far in the future, pick a random mana production rate to be accomplished at that time. Then produce mana over time at a rate that progresses linearly from the current rate to the target rate by X time. Mana is of course produced in equal qualtities of oppositely signed particles. Mana producers are made in pairs, one produces -ve mana, the other +ve. The clever bits come in with motion. Mana is repelled by like signed mana, and attracted by opposite signed mana inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. However mana is attracted to like sign mana proportionally to the square of their relative velocities, and inversely proportional to the square of the seperating distance. The result is that mana tends to travel in packs, blobs as it were, and to travel at speed. Once a blob strts to form, and once it starts to move, the mana attractive force quickly escalates to a point where its affecting and attacting the mana over a very large area, which mana, as it starts to move toward the blob, causes the attraction wave to expand and grow exponentially. Just to kick things off, mana producers occassionally emit mana particles with high random velocities. The velocity of produced particles maps against a curve which peaks at zero velocity, and rapidly approaches zero as the velocity grows. The goal is for a big puddle of slowly self-repellant mana to form about each producer, for the puddle to tend to form streams and rivers (see earlier discussion with Keegan about Ley Lines) that head toward the opposite sign mana producers, and for the random high speed emmissions to act rather like sun spots, ripping chunks out from the puddles and plunging across the land much like an exponentially growing tidal wave. I'm considering making mana destruction (opposite signs meet) attractive to all mana inversely proportional the the square of the intervening distance. This would encourage stream/river formation. Currently tuning is required. The high speed particles/blobs are so chaotic and powerful that they rip any nascent pattern that may have started to form apart. I also have problems deciding what happens when a blob reaches the boundary of the coordinate global system -- currently I silently destroy it and immediately emit it as unbalanced particles at appropriately signed producers. >> > cf Shadowrun. >> >> ??? > Sorry, this was a bit too obscure. :) Someone once told me that the > Shadowrun's explanation for 'goblinization', when a quarter of the > world's population started morphing quite painfully into one of the > mythical races (elves, dwarves, orcs, etc), was due to mana cycles. > When the global mana level dropped, dragons and such went into > hibernation. Within the really big mana cycle is a lot of smaller > mana cycles, and so on (akin to days, years, that 11 yr period of > the Sun and ice ages - seasons within seasons). Ahh, neat! A comparitive is Vinge's "Fire Upon The Deep" (excellant read) which postulates that the base laws of the physical universe vary dependant (non-uniformly) on radial distant from the galacti core. As a result FTL, for isntance, is physically impossible for much of the galaxy, but becomes possible further out. More interestingly FTL craft can only be constructed near the edge of the galaxy, but will continue working (at reduced efficiency/capabilit) for some futher distance in -- at locations where it is physically impossible to manufacture them. Similar patterns apply to other technologies like anti-gravity materials, self-aware computers, some forms of software etc. The can be used as close in as X, but can only be made at X+Y distance and further out. There are many other extremely neat ideas in the book. -- J C Lawrence Internet: claw#null,net (Contractor) Internet: coder#ibm,net ---------(*) Internet: claw#under,engr.sgi.com ...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith... </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="00866" HREF="msg00866.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> "Jon A. Lambert" <jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com></li></ul> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00848" HREF="msg00848.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Ling <K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00862.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Nested coorindate space model</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00864.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: CGDC, a summary</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00848.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00866.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00863"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00863"><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: MURKLE: Wot it is</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00799" HREF="msg00799.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Sat 23 May 1998, 00:12 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00804" HREF="msg00804.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</A></strong>, Ling <a href="mailto:K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk">K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk</a>, Sat 23 May 1998, 14:13 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00840" HREF="msg00840.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Wed 27 May 1998, 03:26 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00848" HREF="msg00848.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</A></strong>, Ling <a href="mailto:K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk">K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk</a>, Thu 28 May 1998, 18:47 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00863" HREF="msg00863.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Wed 03 Jun 1998, 02:53 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00866" HREF="msg00866.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</A></strong>, Jon A. Lambert <a href="mailto:jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com">jlsysinc#ix,netcom.com</a>, Wed 03 Jun 1998, 04:35 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00881" HREF="msg00881.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</A></strong>, J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Thu 04 Jun 1998, 23:54 GMT </LI> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00759" HREF="msg00759.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</A></strong>, Ling <a href="mailto:K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk">K.L.Lo-94#student,lboro.ac.uk</a>, Thu 21 May 1998, 17:30 GMT </LI> </ul> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00740" HREF="msg00740.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: MURKLE: Wot it is</A></strong>, jacob langthorn <a href="mailto:jlangthorn#towertechinc,com">jlangthorn#towertechinc,com</a>, Wed 20 May 1998, 20:33 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>