Re: World Map (was CF: the begining of crossfire)

[Hwei Sheng TEOH <hsteoh@cs.toronto.edu>]

On Fri, 10 Sep 1999, Mark Wedel wrote:

> Michael Keuchen wrote:
> > 
> 
> > I, on the opposite, would like the world to be less cohesive - there can be islands
> > and continents that are easy to reach, but other strange lands and mysterious places
> > that someone has heard of in legends, but haven't been found yet. Such a world is far
> > more interesting. Why should there be an (official) world map? The beginner only needs
> > an overview of his starting city and continent, but he shouldn't have an overview of
> > the whole world.
> 
>  I don't really mind new continents.
> 
>  But what tends to happen is you get these small islands (10 spaces) that have a
> complete city and big series of dungeons (or more often, have a complete city
> and only a couple dungeons).
> 
>  I think this may have some do with the the map maker and what is fun - creating
> a new continent/world is fun, and pretty easy to do.  But once created, it tends
> to be much more difficult to fill it in with interesting details.  So in the
> end, you get some area which for the most part is empty.
> 
>  If new designers come up with continents which are nicely filled and complete,
> no problem to them.  Certainly, the current method of instaneous travel will
> probably be supported so you can get to areas not on the world map (ie, non
> official maps).

Hmm, I'm playing around with my own set of maps (another `continent' if you
will, although it's pretty small). However, I plan to have a LOT of quests on
these maps -- enough to justify its existence, I hope. :-) Currently, there
is already a small quest completed, plus several large quests in the making.

The nice thing about having my own set of maps (not bound to the `main
continent') is that I can weave intricate storylines around the maps (much
like Pupland does). I plan most of my maps to have its own storyline -- there
will be only a small number of `generic dungeons'.

>  But if at some point, that map designer thinks his map is good enough to be
> part of the official set, then some set location should be found ie, 400 spaces
> sse of brest)

What is the procedure for maps to be incorporated into the `official set'
anyway? Just curious... :-)

[snip]
> > 3) Rowboats
> > These boats can be lend (or bought), but are only usable in shallow waters around
> > the actual island. There would be none in Pupland, but you can use them to explore
> > the small islands around Wolfsburg.
> 
>  I would include this as general ships/crafts.  Now, the different crafts may
> have different properties.  a rowboat could perhaps deal with shallow water,
> while that galleon could not deal with shallow water, but could deal with deep
> water.  Then you could have things like dragons that fly, or maybe balloons that
> drift with the wind, and so on.

Balloons? Cool... I like that idea. We definitely should have more different
means of transportation.

[snip]
> Hwei Sheng TEOH wrote:
[snip]
> > Actually, now that I think about it, to offset the too-powerful-artifact
> > problem, do people think it's a good idea to implement a deterioration factor
> > into equipment, so that it's not just a matter of buying/finding a +7
> > supersword and be powerful forever from then on, but after you use this weapon
> > enough, you may have to repair it (sharpen it or strengthen the waning magical
> > enchantment it has). Same idea as the maintenance fee of ships above. Will
> > this be too cumbersome, or will it actually help in balancing the game?
> 
>  Typed in my idea above before reading your last paragraph.
> 
>  I think aging for all equipment may just end up being too annoying.  I don't
> think it would be very fun to have to head back to town from the middle of the
> wilderness because your equipment needs repair.

I was thinking more of long-term deterioration. It shouldn't be too fast,
otherwise it *would* be annoying as things will fall apart in the middle of a
quest. Whereas if the deterioration process takes much longer to affect a
piece of equipment, the player can realize that his eq is a little worn out
and get it repaired after he finishes the current quest. It should still be in
a good enough condition to last the rest of the quest unless he hasn't been
taking good care of it.

>  For some specialized items or very powerful ones, it could make sense.
> 
>  But for something like a sword, you can't really repair it - you just
> re-sharpen it.  So maybe it could lose some of its pluses, but unless you enable
> the shop keepers to go back up to that high level (which then involves storing a
> maximum plus value), it would be a one way street and in the end, all your
> equipment would end up mediocre.


T

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