Re: CF: Re: Word of Recall and Portal (was: Prot/chaos, Efficiency, and Portals)

[David Andrew Michael Noelle <dave@Straylight.org>]

> From: "Nicolas Loechner" <loechner@zenon-media.com>
> Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 12:01:17 +0100
> 
> What about setting the mark when a player casts word of recall ?
> Then he would cast portal...

Using a prayer to change the effect of a magic spell?  I think that's
a bit of a reach, and wouldn't make Portal significantly easier to
code or to use.  In fact, I already had most of it working before I
got that message.  It's just the part with the new map flag to
identify portal-safe maps that I'm still working on.

Which reminds me, is there any particular reason why maps use a
seperate integer for each flag instead of bitmasks like everything
else?  Since the flag operations are macros instead of functions, the
same macros that work for objects would work just as well for map
structures.  I'll try to leave it alone at least until 0.96, but
that's exactly the kind of thing that I feel this compulsive need to
optimize.  


> About private rooms...
> If the destination of a portal is a private room, or if the player
> has no access to the destination square for any reason,
> the portal doesn't work for this player...

Why shouldn't players be allowed to open portals to their own
apartments?  Are you saying you prefer these ultra-secure apartments
that no one else can ever enter, with or without your permission?
Even with portals, there would be no way to access anyone else's
apartment without first setting a destination by using a portal they
opened themselves.  If that's really a concern, I could make setting a
portal destination fail if you're in someone else's apartment.

Since you have to set the destination by actually being there first,
there's no way to open a portal to someplace you couldn't otherwise
access.  If it's something that you had to unlock to set the
destination, it probably wasn't a portal-safe map, so as soon as it
resets, the destination is no longer valid.

So, basically, yes.  In almost all cases, if it's somewhere you have
no way to access normally, the portal won't open.  The other exception
is burnt bridges.  If you manage to cut off your access to someplace
you've just been, a portal would let you return if you had the
foresight to set a destination first.  I suppose a trap or puzzle
could be designed in such a way that that would allow a cheat, but
there aren't any examples of that in any current maps that I'm aware
of.  Usually in such cases, either you can get back there normally by
finishing the first path then re-entering the dungeon and trying the
other, or both paths are sealed as soon as you choose one, so that
returning to any previous location still won't grant access.


> >Quote of the Day:
> >I am prepared for all emergencies but totally unprepared for everyday life.
> 
> So that everyday life becomes an emergency ?

Exactly.  Is this a phenomenon that you too are familiar with?

-- 
            -Dave "Unnecessarily Verbose" Noelle,    dave@Straylight.org
            -the Villa Straylight,             http://www.straylight.org
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