April 1999
- In-Game Languages Eli Stevens {KiZurich}
- In-Game Languages Per Vognsen
- In-Game Languages Chris Gray
- In-Game Languages Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- In-Game Languages Eli Stevens {KiZurich}
- In-Game Languages Matthew D. Fuller
- In-Game Languages Mik Clarke
- In-Game Languages Michael Hohensee
- In-Game Languages Ben Greear
- In-Game Languages Michael Hohensee
- In-Game Languages Mik Clarke
- In-Game Languages Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- In-Game Languages David Bennett
- In-Game Languages Richard Woolcock
- In-Game Languages Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- In-Game Languages Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- In-Game Languages Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- In-Game Languages Andrew Ritchie
- In-Game Languages Matthew D. Fuller
- In-Game Languages adam@treyarch.com
- forward: consistency Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Confined Gameworld Ling
- Confined Gameworld Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Confined Gameworld Richard Woolcock
- Confined Gameworld Eli Stevens {KiZurich}
- Confined Gameworld The Wildman
- Confined Gameworld Koster, Raph
- User centered? Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- User centered? Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- User centered? Marc Bowden
- User centered? Adam Wiggins
- User centered? Richard Woolcock
- User centered? Benjamin D. Wiechel
- User centered? Koster, Raph
- target audience Matthew Mihaly
- target audience Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- target audience Marc Bowden
- Fw: Self-organizing worlds (was: Elder Games) Kylotan
- Fw: Self-organizing worlds (was: Elder Games) Matthew Mihaly
- ScryMUD 1.8.11 released. Ben Greear
- Mud driver architecture info B. Scott Boding
- Blending graphics with text u1391470
- Blending graphics with text Laurel Fan
- Blending graphics with text Kylotan
u1391470 wrote:
>I am currently developing on a mud which has implemented a top-down 2D
>graphical view (somewhat similar to Ultima 4). The graphics are all .jpg
>or .gifs, and come bundled in our custom client. The world file has been
>modified to support this, moving the basic object from a room to a zone.
>Again, the best way I can describe it is to say that it strongly
resembles
>Ultima 4, in that there is a wilderness map which you move around in to
>get to the zones, which upon entering, has a new map.
<snip some details>
>Since we have associated rooms, we have kept room descriptions, titles,
>etc. I am not sure if we need these at all (after all, don't most players
>tog brief anyways?). Similarly, do we need text saying:
>
> A <mob name here> stands to the <direction>.
>
>when that same mob has an associated icon already visible on the map
>screen?
Probably not (but see below).
>For now, we have kept all this text for those players who will be
>connecting without the client (we haven't opened for beta yet), but
seeing
>as the client is free and supports most things other clients do
>(aliasing/triggers/variables/sounds/etc.), is this even a valid concern?
>Similarly, people who telnet in are able to see an asci map rather than
>jpg/gifs.
Well, you might not want to rely on everyone having the client unless you
make it available on multiple platforms, probably Win32 and Linux at a
minimum. Otherwise you may rule out a significant and growing number of
people from playing your game. You have to decide for yourself whether
this is important to you, after all, many commercial games survive when
only available on a single platform.
So, instead of showing redundant text (as you wrote above) to players that
don't need it, I'd simply implement some flag that indicates whether they
have the client or not. In the event of them having the client, the text
is omitted. You could also allow the player to toggle this themselves, in
case people who do have the client prefer a written guide to the graphics
on screen.
>Of course, by removing all/most text (the more graphics we are able to
>create, the less text we would need), we are "moving away" from the whole
>concept of a mud, regardless of our base. There are, of course, certain
>things that could never (realistically) be removed, such as text from
>says/tells, but most other text can be replaced by graphics.
>
>So, what is a good balance? Would making the mud "graphical" rather than
>text based destroy the basis of our being a MUD? Are limited graphics
>best?
I wouldn't worry about fitting the 'MUD' term. No point limiting yourself
just to stay within a genre. If you are worried about missing out on 'MUD
customers' or whatever, just make sure that all the things you like about
muds are mentioned in your feature list, on your website or whatever.
After all, I like muds in general, but I wouldn't go on the majority of
them :) I will decide whether to try something based on features rather
than anything else, and I assume the majority of people will think the
same way.
Kylotan. - Blending graphics with text Chris Gray
- Blending graphics with text J C Lawrence
- Blending graphics with text Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Blending graphics with text Chris Gray
- Blending graphics with text Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Blending graphics with text Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Blending graphics with text Mik Clarke
- Blending graphics with text u1391470
- Blending graphics with text claw@kanga.nu
- Blending graphics with text Alex Stewart
- Blending graphics with text J C Lawrence
- Virtual machine design Shane King
- Virtual machine design Alex Stewart
- Virtual machine design Jo Dillon
- Virtual machine design Ben Greear
- Virtual machine design Niklas Elmqvist
- Virtual machine design Shane King
- Virtual machine design Ben Greear
- Virtual machine design claw@kanga.nu
- Virtual machine design Alex Stewart
- Virtual machine design Felix A. Croes
- Virtual machine design Eli Stevens {KiZurich}
- Virtual machine design Mik Clarke
- Virtual machine design Schubert, Damion
- Virtual machine design Ben Greear
- Virtual machine design Ben Greear
- Virtual machine design Felix A. Croes
- Virtual machine design Matthew Mihaly
- Virtual machine design Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Virtual machine design claw@kanga.nu
- Virtual machine design Mik Clarke
- Virtual machine design Oliver Jowett
- Virtual machine design Chris Gray
- Virtual machine design claw@kanga.nu
- Virtual machine design Chris Gray
- Virtual machine design Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Virtual machine design claw@kanga.nu
- Virtual machine design Petri Virkkula
- Virtual machine design Ben Greear
- Virtual machine design Chris Gray
- Virtual machine design Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Virtual machine design Nathan F Yospe
- Virtual machine design Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Virtual machine design Petri Virkkula
- Virtual machine design Jon A. Lambert
- Virtual machine design Koster, Raph
- Virtual machine design Jon A. Lambert
- Virtual machine design Chris Gray
- Rebooting (was: Virtual machine design) Eli Stevens {KiZurich}
- Game design highpoints (was Virtual machine design) claw@kanga.nu
- Sockets Quzah [softhome]
- ScryMUD 1.8.13 snapshot released. Ben Greear
- Interview I did that may interest you Koster, Raph
- Censorship Greg Munt
- Censorship Ben Greear
- Censorship Matthew Mihaly
- Censorship Shawn Halpenny
- Censorship Darren Henderson
- Censorship Quzah [softhome]
- Censorship Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Python B. Scott Boding
- Python Gaffney, Jeremy
- AW: Censorship Hofbauer Heinz
- AW: Censorship Matthew Mihaly
- AW: Censorship Damion Schubert
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Greg Munt
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Matthew Mihaly
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Ben Greear
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Matthew Mihaly
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Matthew Mihaly
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Ben Greear
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Dan
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Matthew Mihaly
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Marian Griffith
- Censorship, Virtual v Artificial Worlds, Python Benjamin D. Wiechel
- Censorship & Its Impact On World Immersion Greg Munt
- Censorship & Its Impact On World Immersion Matthew Mihaly