<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft --> <!--X-From-R13: [vpunry.IvyyrlNnoanzeb.pbz --> <!--X-Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 15:12:24 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 86256689.0079839A.00#usmta03,itsc.na.abnamro.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: let's call it a spellcraft</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:Michael.Willey#abnamro,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="msg01199.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg01201.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg01171.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg01203.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#01200">Author</A> | <A HREF="#01200">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#01200">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</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: let's call it a spellcraft</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: <A HREF="mailto:Michael.Willey#abnamro,com">Michael.Willey#abnamro,com</A></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 18:14:03 -0500</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> ____________________Reply Separator____________________ Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft Author: mud-dev#kanga,nu ("Brandon J. Rickman" <ashes#pc4,zennet.com>) Date: 9/24/98 7:52 PM --------------------------------- [SNIP] >Some thought should go into how numbers are important >to the game, not to the CPU. Player stats ranging into >the thousands would be irritating, stats in the millions >incomprehensible. A player walking around with 2^31 coins >in her pocket is still a bug, even if the code is bulletproof. That's dependent on your game system. I'm currently working on a complete rewrite of our game system, and one of my prime tenets is to avoid the haggard problem of players "maxxing out" all of their vital statistics by making all of the numbers open-ended. A little playing with the math gives me a couple of options for letting the numbers roll up into insane values but keeping their effects on a leash. The two systems I'm considering both use natural logarithms to reduce insane numbers into reasonable values - one option allows the numbers on a player's "sheet" to escalate rapidly, but takes the LN of that number to get an effective value (I'm using a multiple dice vs. target # system ala Shadowrun, Vampire, et al. The effective value would become the number of chances to hit the target). The other option is to use the effective values as statistics, and the difficulty of advancement is based on e^(current stat value). (Of course, if players can't see actual numbers on their "sheet", this doesn't matter.) The "zero, one, and many" axiom applies just as well to game design as to programming concerns. How many game design problems are the result of "magic numbers" that are far too easy to butt up against? </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="01208" HREF="msg01208.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> "Brandon J. Rickman" <ashes#pc4,zennet.com></li></ul> <li><strong><A NAME="01203" HREF="msg01203.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> James Wilson <jwilson#rochester,rr.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="msg01199.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01201.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01171.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01203.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#01200"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#01200"><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: let's call it a spellcraft</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="01153" HREF="msg01153.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></strong>, S. Patrick Gallaty <a href="mailto:choke#sirius,com">choke#sirius,com</a>, Wed 23 Sep 1998, 20:29 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01160" HREF="msg01160.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Wed 23 Sep 1998, 21:44 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01167" HREF="msg01167.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></strong>, quzah [sotfhome] <a href="mailto:quzah#softhome,net">quzah#softhome,net</a>, Wed 23 Sep 1998, 23:20 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="01171" HREF="msg01171.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></strong>, Vadim Tkachenko <a href="mailto:vt#freehold,crocodile.org">vt#freehold,crocodile.org</a>, Thu 24 Sep 1998, 00:24 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01200" HREF="msg01200.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></strong>, Michael.Willey <a href="mailto:Michael.Willey#abnamro,com">Michael.Willey#abnamro,com</a>, Thu 24 Sep 1998, 22:12 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="01203" HREF="msg01203.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></strong>, James Wilson <a href="mailto:jwilson#rochester,rr.com">jwilson#rochester,rr.com</a>, Fri 25 Sep 1998, 00:15 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01208" HREF="msg01208.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></strong>, Brandon J. Rickman <a href="mailto:ashes#pc4,zennet.com">ashes#pc4,zennet.com</a>, Fri 25 Sep 1998, 03:29 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01220" HREF="msg01220.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></strong>, Michael.Willey <a href="mailto:Michael.Willey#abnamro,com">Michael.Willey#abnamro,com</a>, Fri 25 Sep 1998, 14:57 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="01350" HREF="msg01350.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: let's call it a spellcraft</A></strong>, Jon Leonard <a href="mailto:jleonard#divcom,slimy.com">jleonard#divcom,slimy.com</a>, Tue 29 Sep 1998, 06:10 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>