July 2004
- [News] Ultima X: Odyssey cancelled Luca Girardo
- [News] Ultima X: Odyssey cancelled Steven King
- [News] Ultima X: Odyssey cancelled Luca Girardo
- [News] Ultima X: Odyssey cancelled David Kennerly
- [News] Ultima X: Odyssey cancelled Derek Licciardi
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Threshold RPG
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Par Winzell
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Threshold RPG
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Matt Mihaly
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Dana V. Baldwin
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Matt Mihaly
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Mark Mensch
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Luca Girardo
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Dana V. Baldwin
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Michael Hartman
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Derek Licciardi
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Threshold RPG
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Adam Burr
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Sean Howard
- CoH (was: MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Scott Macmillan
- CoH (was: MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Douglas Goodall
- CoH (was: MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Sean Howard
- CoH (was: MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Amanda Walker
- CoH (was: MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Scott Macmillan
- CoH (was: MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Sean Howard
- CoH Michael Hartman
- CoH Michael Hartman
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Ryan Shwayder
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? cruise
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Oliver Smith
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Koster, Raph
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Oliver Smith
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Koster, Raph
- Instancing (was: MMORPG Cancellations...) Byron Ellacott
- Instancing (was: MMORPG Cancellations...) Koster, Raph
- Instancing (was: MMORPG Cancellations...) Brad McQuaid
- Instancing (was: MMORPG Cancellations...) Douglas Goodall
- Instancing (was: MMORPG Cancellations...) Dana V. Baldwin
- Instancing (was: MMORPG Cancellations...) Douglas Goodall
- Instancing (was: MMORPG Cancellations...) Zach Collins (Siege)
- Instancing (was: MMORPG Cancellations...) Douglas Goodall
- Instancing ceo
- Instancing Douglas Goodall
- Instancing ceo
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Sean Howard
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Oliver Smith
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Matt Mihaly
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Koster, Raph
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Sean Howard
- Depth (was: MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Damion Schubert
- CoH (was: MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Sean Howard
- CoH (was: MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Ghilardi Filippo
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Michael Hartman
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Michael Hartman
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Amanda Walker
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Matt Mihaly
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Michael Sellers
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Matt Mihaly
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Amanda Walker
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Matt Mihaly
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Koster, Raph
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Matt Mihaly
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Paul McInnes
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Andres Ferraro
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Koster, Raph
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Ryan Shwayder
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Amanda Walker
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Sean Howard
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Koster, Raph
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Sean Howard
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Mark Mensch
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Sean Howard
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Mark Mensch
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Sean Howard
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Derek Licciardi
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Tom "cro" Gordon
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Erik Bethke
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: The skyis falling?) Koster, Raph
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: The skyis falling?) Tom "cro" Gordon
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Douglas Goodall
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Tom "cro" Gordon
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: The sky isfalling?) Sean Howard
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: Thesky isfalling?) Derek Licciardi
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: Theskyisfalling?) Sean Howard
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: Thesky isfalling?) John MacQueen
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: Thesky isfalling?) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: Thesky isfalling?) Byron Ellacott
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: The sky isfalling?) Aaron Switzer
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: Thesky isfalling?) Sean Howard
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: Thesky isfalling?) Aaron Switzer
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Thesky isfalling?) Sean Howard
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Thesky isfalling?) Aaron Switzer
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Koster, Raph
- MMO Communities (was MMORPGCancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Sean Howard
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) ceo
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Paul Schwanz
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Tom "cro" Gordon
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Paul Schwanz
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Byron Ellacott
- MMO Communities (was [MUD-Dev]MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Matt Mihaly
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) John Arras
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Byron Ellacott
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Douglas Goodall
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) John Arras
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Douglas Goodall
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) cruise
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Douglas Goodall
- MMO Simulations (was MMO Communities) John Arras
- MMO Simulations (was MMO Communities) Douglas Goodall
- MMO Simulations (was MMO Communities) Peter Keeler
- MMO Simulations (was MMO Communities) Otis Viles
- MMO Simulations (was MMO Communities) Malcolm W. Tester II
- MMO Simulations (was MMO Communities) Matt Mihaly
- MMO Simulations (was MMO Communities) cruise
- MMO Communities (was [MUD-Dev] MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Paul Schwanz
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Douglas Goodall
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Zach Collins (Siege)
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Paolo Piselli
- forced grouping/coop play Tamzen Cannoy
- forced grouping/coop play Koster, Raph
- forced grouping/coop play Sean Kelly
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Andrew L. Tepper
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) HRose
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Douglas Goodall
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) HRose
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Byron Ellacott
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) HRose
- What is an MMOG? (was: MMO Communities) ceo
- What is an MMOG? (was: MMO Communities) HRose
- What is an MMOG? ceo
- What is an MMOG? HRose
- What is an MMOG? Dana V. Baldwin
- What is an MMOG? HRose
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) HRose
- MMO Communities Eric Random
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: The sky isfalling?) Paul Schwanz
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) J C Lawrence
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- MMO Communities (was MMORPG Cancellations: The skyis falling?) Derek Licciardi
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? ceo
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Tom "cro" Gordon
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Thomas Tomiczek
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Sean Howard
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Sean Howard
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Douglas Goodall
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Koster, Raph
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Scott Jennings
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Steven King
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Amanda Walker
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? David Kennerly
- Words (WAS: MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Zach Collins (Siege)
- Words (WAS: MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) kennerly@finegamedesign.com
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? zgj22@drexel.edu
- Is space deep? (was MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) David Kennerly
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Tony Hoyt
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Damion Schubert
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Sean Howard
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Samantha LeCraft
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Sean Howard
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Samantha LeCraft
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Matt Mihaly
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Brian 'Psychochild' Green
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Matt Mihaly
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Oliver Smith
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Kerry Fraser-Robinson
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Damion Schubert
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Amanda Walker
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? J C Lawrence
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? David Kennerly
- MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling? Michael Sellers
- Sun Game Server Technology Chat Artur Biesiadowski
- Quick Hello Mark Mensch
- Virtual/Real Currencies (was: [MUD-Dev][NEWS]GamingOpenMarket) Jon A. Lambert
- CoH and others (was Cancellations: ...) Alex Chacha
- CoH and others (was Cancellations: ...) Matt Mihaly
- CoH and others (was Cancellations: ...) Russ Whiteman
- CoH and others (was Cancellations: ...) Mike Rozak
- CoH and others (was Cancellations: ...) Douglas Goodall
- CoH and others (was Cancellations: ...) Mike Rozak
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Byron Ellacott
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Mike Rozak
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Byron Ellacott
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Yannick Jean
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Otis Viles
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Mike Rozak
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Erik Bethke
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Matt Mihaly
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) dienw
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Matt Mihaly
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) J C Lawrence
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Matt Mihaly
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) J C Lawrence
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Matt Mihaly
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Erik Bethke
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Matt Mihaly
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Erik Bethke
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Matt Mihaly
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Sean Howard
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes
- CoH and others (was Cancellations: ...) Michael Hartman
- CoH and others (was Cancellations: ...) Erik Bethke
- CoH and others (was Cancellations: ...) Michael Hartman
- CoH and others (was Cancellations: ...) Luca Girardo
- CoH and others Alex Chacha
- CoH and others Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- CoH and others David Eckelberry
- CoH and others Vincent Archer
- COH and others Alex Chacha
- COH and others Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- COH and others Alex Chacha
- Revenues Rafael Seabra
- CoH (was: MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Koster, Raph
- CoH (was: MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?) Damion Schubert
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Ghilardi Filippo
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Mike Rozak
- [MUD-Dev]: Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Luca Girardo
- Virtual/Real Currencies Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Indie MMOG's ceo
- Indie MMOG's Koster, Raph
- Indie MMOG's ceo
- Indie MMOG's Derek Licciardi
- Indie MMOG's ceo
- Indie MMOG's Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Indie MMOG's Rob C
- Indie MMOG's ceo
- Indie MMOG's Rob C
- Indie MMOG's ceo
- Indie MMOG's Rob C
- Indie MMOG's ceo
- Indie MMOG's Michael Sellers
- Indie MMOG's Michael Sellers
- Indie MMOG's ceo
- Indie MMOG's Matt Mihaly
- Indie MMOG's Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Indie MMOG's Matt Mihaly
- Indie MMOG's Amanda Walker
- Indie MMOG's Jon A. Lambert
- Indie MMOG's Zach Collins (Siege)
- Indie MMOG's Amanda Walker
- Indie MMOG's Derek Licciardi
- Indie MMOG's ceo
- Indie MMOG's Matt Mihaly
- Indie MMOG's Mike Rozak
- Indie MMOG's Scott Jennings
- Indie MMOG's Mike Rozak
- Indie MMOG's Tiago Carita
- Indie MMOG's Matt Mihaly
- Indie MMOG's Derek Licciardi
- Indie MMOG's Matt Mihaly
- Online vs Offline (was CoH and others) Mike Rozak
- Security and cheating in MMOs jmbroyer
- [NEWS] Artifact Entertainment going bankrupt? Luca Girardo
- MEDIA: Multiplayer Gaming's Quiet Revolution J C Lawrence
- DarkGalaxy Tiago Carita
- (no subject) Ghilardi Filippo
- Community? Erik Bethke
- Community? Scott Jennings
- Community? Paul Schwanz
- Community? Brian Thyer
- Community? Sean Howard
- Community? Zach Collins (Siege)
- Community? (Level Grind) Brian Thyer
- Community? (Level Grind) Sean Howard
- Community? (Level Grind) Damion Schubert
- Community? (Level Grind) Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Community? (Level Grind) Malcolm W. Tester II
- Community? (Level Grind) Victor Wachter
- Community? (Level Grind) Douglas Goodall
- Community? (Level Grind) Matt Mihaly
- Community? (Level Grind) Ghilardi Filippo
- Community? (Level Grind) HRose
- Community? (Level Grind) Douglas Goodall
- Community? (Level Grind) Ghilardi Filippo
- Community? (Level Grind) Samurai Cat!
- Scalabity in MMOG's Rafael Seabra
- Level Grind - alternative Brendan O'Brien
- Level Grind - alternative darksuit
- Level Grind - alternative Brendan O'Brien
- Level Grind - alternative cruise
- Level Grind - alternative Brendan O'Brien
- Level Grind - alternative cruise
- Level Grind - alternative Brendan O'Brien
- Level Grind - alternative Corey Cauble
- Level Grind - alternative Sean Howard
- Level Grind - alternative Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Better Combat cruise
- Better Combat Ghilardi Filippo
- Better Combat cruise
- Better Combat John Buehler
- Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat John Buehler
David Kennerly writes:
> John Buehler wrote:
>> cruise writes:
>>> So what ways could depth be added to combat?
>> If we start to lose, our characters will run away.
> Did you propose that a player character runs away against its
> player's wishes?
Yes. I believe that this is one possible next step for multiplayer
games. Instead of driving a character around and micro-managing its
every action, it is my hope that characters can be more like they
were in the days of Dungeons & Dragons; a player issues high level
commands, and the character executes them as well as it is able,
according to its stats, abilities, equipment, environment, etc.
Within the context of current games, I hard argued vehemently
against other characters controlling my character. That's because a
hallmark of entertainment in current games is my ability to directly
control my character. To have that removed or blocked is anathema.
In the context that I'm talking about, I'm starting with the
assumption that the player has a different mindset for interacting
with a character. They herd it more than they drive it. Because
their control is imprecise, the game is about trying to get the
character to navigate and accomodate the influences that affect it.
It may be that encouraging such a separation between character and
player will encourage socialization - which implies a certain loss
of control.
Roleplayers need not be overly concerned about this because the
herding effect is greatest in cases where realtime reactions are
needed. But it can be applied to less time-restrictive situations.
>> Not as single values, but as a set of vectors that the computer
>> knows about, and that the player can only guess at.
> It may be wise to assume that the player population has perfect
> knowledge of the game state. Any vector can be represented as a
> sufficiently large single value, albeit not as elegantly. And, in
> my limited experience with MMPs, there are two cases of variation:
> relations (as in generalizations of functions) and randomness.
> Players, over time and with a level of esprit de corp that would
> make a Communist blush, catalogue relations. In the other case,
> even when the result is random, players catalogue its
> distribution.
I'm not trying to fake out players by introducing complexity. I'm
trying to introduce variety for the purpose of entertainment. I'd
like players to go with their instincts instead of trying to
reverse-engineer the game. By making any game interaction that
takes place in real time sufficiently complex, it won't matter if
players know the internal workings or not - they'll have to go with
their instincts to deal with the immediate situation.
The experience that I'm drawing on here is that of flight
simulation. I could hand you the equations that we used to model
vehicles, weapons and the world. Atmospheric densities, lift and
drag curves, engine performance, the whole nine yards. But when
you're flying along in real time, having to juggle a
three-dimensional problem that is not linear, all that knowledge
affords you nothing. You still have to fly your aircraft. So long
as the context in which your decisions are being made remains fluid,
so will your reactions. That characteristic of fluidity contributes
to the appeal of PvP.
Which takes us back to the herding tactic. Imprecise control over a
character impairs a player's ability to micro-manage the character.
Given that knowledge, the game need not be predicated on players
micro-managing characters, running treadmills optimally, etc.
Applying what I'm talking about to a current game would probably be
rather pointless. Players would be insensed that they could not get
their characters to do exactly what they want so that they could
complete their tasks in minimum time. The whole goal of this
technique is to encourage players to stay in the encounters instead
of racing through them. This entire system would be what I call a
'barrier to entertainment' if the bottom line remains an issue of
achieving the highest level. Players will want their opponents
dead. My ideas are predicated on the idea that they want the fight
to keep going in new and interesting ways.
I want players to relate stories of what happened in a single
encounter, not talk about how many hours they camped a mob. The
stories that I've heard and told are invariably the ones where
something unexpected happens, and usually because a player made some
mistake. Imprecise control by herding a character can aid in making
encounters more involved and unpredictable.
>> 3. Involve the environment. In a combat system with blunt
>> weapons, anything that is hard enough can be used as a weapon.
>> Improvisation becomes an art. Grab a chair and have at it.
>> Punch this guy, throw a rock at that guy. Daylight combat
>> tactics versus night combat tactics. Slippery wet grass versus
>> dry rock. Falling down on rocks versus falling down on sand.
>> Dodging and diving on a steep slope versus the same on a flat.
> Assuming this is a persistent game.... :) Once someone has a
> weapon that she likes, why would she then choose to improvise with
> the items that she already turned down in previous play sessions?
> Are items non-persistent?
Items are persistent. You just dropped your staff. It just broke.
You're in a narrow corridor and the staff cannot be used there. You
improvised earlier and used your staff to prop open a door, and the
rest of your group is moving through that doorwy to join you and
help you out with your problem. Staffs are not permitted in town
because they are recognized as the weapon of a warrior. Somebody
big grabbed your staff during combat and you let go of it for fear
of being dragged away. Your staff became entangled in the
environment and you were forced to release it, at least temporarily.
It's a brawl and you'd be thrown in jail for using an actual weapon.
Further, we needn't assume that the game is a treadmill grind. If
many activities are available to me, I may not even pursue combat as
my avocation, but instead concentrate on other activities. When I
do that, improvisation against an opponent of moderate skill may be
the normal means of getting into a fight. That is, combat could be
moved to being a sidelight instead of the main entertainment of the
game. Perhaps political and economic cooperation and competition
are the cornerstone of the game's entertainment.
> From what you said so far, it sounds like the worst-case is more
> fun if it is instanced than if it is public. In a public
> environment, in the worst-case, there is nothing worth using on
> the ground anywhere, because if there was, it would have already
> been used.
If you are herding a character and your character is behaving
according to the computer's mandates as well as your own, then when
you pick up a bucket to bonk someone over the head, you can't keep
that bucket. It belongs to someone already. If you break it, you
have to pay for it. You are probably annoying the bucket owner by
grabbing it and bonking your opponent. If the game's faction system
is appropriately sophisticated, the shop owner will either be
doubly-mad at you for hitting his son-in-law or thankful that you
saved him from bandits. These things are all enforced by the game.
Further, in the wilderness there are lots of sticks and stones that
can be picked up and thrown or used as a cudgel.
>> 4. Multiple opponents. This requires careful collision
>> detection to ensure that opponents don't overlap, etc.
> How can careful collision detection be done on the Internet at a
> pace that feels somewhat like combat? There's several techniques
> for client-side simulation in MMPs and MP FPSs, but is there one
> anywhere in existence that guarantees collision detection on the
> Internet in the US? In Korea they can play arcade games on the
> Internet, but Korea is wired to the gils and is a tiny landmass.
> But for the rest of the world, we're stuck between the rock
> (reverting the client state) the hard place (inaccurate collision
> detection) and the other rock (an authoritative client). At least
> until our Internet catches up.
Herding a character is the key. Clients send directives to the
server to get them implemented. Such directives cannot be
fine-grained, such as 'move left 1 foot'. They would be directives
such as 'go to the bakery'. The server then relies on the design of
the player's character to decide how to get to the bakery.
The character might stay on the sidewalks and say hello to people,
or it might trudge right through gardens and scowl at people. Those
are the sorts of decisions that a player makes about a character
when it is designed, and the server implements them. Of course,
those decisions will have consequences in the game. But back to the
design.
As the character is moved by the server, the server ensures that
spatial integrity is retained. It will not permit any two objects
to intersect. It knows when two people are going to blindside each
other as they walk around a corner. They'll bump, but not pass
through each other.
As the server changes the state of the game world, it notifies
interested clients. This ends up meaning that you get notified of
what your character does at the same time and in the same way that
you are notified of everyone else's character, including the NPCs
and monsters. The difference is that you are sending directives to
herd your character.
In combat, this means that characters must be able to operate fairly
autonomously because of all the real time reactions that go into
combat. Ducking, dodging, etc. This doesn't mean that players lose
control of their characters nor does it mean that all characters
fight in the same way. It means that players will design the
realtime elements of combat tactics in advance.
One tactic might be "Generally aggressive". Into that tactic, you
make incapacitation a top priority. Lower priorities are pushing
the opponent back, knocking it down, disarming it, personal safety,
etc. Personal safety could be further broken down into a
prioritization of which skills to use in defense. Block before
duck, duck before dodge, dodge before backing up, etc.
The interactive control that the player provides should happen
perhaps once every two or three seconds. "Get to there" "Prioritize
this target" "Defend Boffo" as well as changes of tactics. Instead
of "Generally aggressive", the choice is made to "Hold ground" or
"Berserk", where each of those sets of tactics is defined by the
player.
The server is relying on all of that up-front information to decide
how to have a given character behave in real time. One nice thing
about all this work that is going into operating player characters
is that the same techniques can be used on NPCs and monsters.
Consider too the possibility of running a game instance in a
metropolitan area, where network delays will tend to be reduced.
>> Or the sky is cloudy, and that mirror distraction trick isn't
>> going to work.
> I missed that. Could you explain it again? It sounds
> fascinating.
It's just another factor that goes into interactions. After-images
from bright lights, including reflected sunlight, magical flashes,
etc., should impair a character's abilities. A mirror might also be
used to attract the attention of a guard (characters have
perceptions, after all) so that another character might sneak up on
the guard from the opposite direction. Without a bright light
source, that's difficult to do.
JB - Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat John Buehler
- Better Combat Amanda Walker
- Better Combat John Buehler
- Better Combat cruise
- Better Combat Michael Hartman
- Better Combat Yannick Jean
- Better Combat Koster, Raph
- Better Combat HRose
- Better Combat Michael Hartman
- Better Communication [was: Better Combat] cruise
- Better Communication [was: Better Combat] Michael Hartman
- Better Communication [was: Better Combat] cruise
- Better Communication [was: Better Combat] Koster, Raph
- Better Communication [was: Better Combat] Michael Hartman
- Better Combat Paul Schwanz
- Better Combat Douglas Goodall
- Better Combat Darkwolf
- Better Combat Dana V. Baldwin
- Better Combat Matt Mihaly
- Better Combat Koster, Raph
- Better Combat Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Better Combat HRose
- Better Combat Steven King
- Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat Paolo Piselli
- Better Combat Zach Collins (Siege)
- Better Combat Douglas Goodall
- Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat John Buehler
- Better Combat HRose
- Better Combat Koster, Raph
- Better Combat HRose
- Better Combat (keywords: downtime, socialization, UI) Eric Random
- Better Combat Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes
- Better Combat Amanda Walker
- Better Combat Yannick Jean
- Better Combat Yannick Jean
- Better Combat Tom "cro" Gordon
- Better Combat Alex Arnon
- Better Combat Douglas Goodall
- Better Combat Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- Better Combat Douglas Goodall
- Better Combat Douglas Goodall
- Better Combat Michael Hartman
- Better Combat Douglas Goodall
- Better Combat Michael Hartman
- Better Combat Dana V. Baldwin
- Better Combat Michael Hartman
- Better Combat Dana V. Baldwin
- Cognitively Interesting Combat (was Better Combat) Paolo Piselli
- Cognitively Interesting Combat Derek Larson
- Cognitively Interesting Combat Paolo Piselli
- Cognitively Interesting Combat Derek Larson
- Cognitively Interesting Combat Paolo Piselli
- Cognitively Interesting Combat cruise
- Cognitively Interesting Combat ceo
- Cognitively Interesting Combat Byron Ellacott
- Cognitively Interesting Combat Ben Hawes
- Cognitively Interesting Combat Ben Hawes
- Cognitively Interesting Combat KaVir@t-online.de (Richard Woolcock)
- Cognitively Interesting Combat Mike Rozak
- Cognitively Interesting Combat
- Cognitively Interesting Combat Zach Collins (Siege)
- Cognitively Interesting Combat Peter A. Harkins
- Cognitively Interesting Combat Paolo Piselli
- Cognitively Interesting Combat (was Better Combat) cruise
- Better Combat Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- [DGN] Designed Downtime (was Better Combat) David Kennerly
- [DGN] Designed Downtime (was Better Combat) Ryan Shwayder
- [DGN] Designed Downtime (was Better Combat) Ryan Shwayder
- [DGN] Designed Downtime (was Better Combat) Michael Hartman
- Better Combat Alex Arnon
- Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat John Buehler
- Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat John Buehler
- Long-Term Rewards [was: Better Combat] cruise
- Long-Term Rewards [was: Better Combat] John Buehler
- Long-Term Rewards [was: Better Combat] Matt Mihaly
- Long-Term Rewards [was: Better Combat] Otis Viles
- Long-Term Rewards [was: Better Combat] Ben Hawes
- Long-Term Rewards [was: Better Combat] John Buehler
- Deriving Self Esteem from one's MMORPG avatar [was: Long-Term Rewards] Michael Hartman
- Deriving Self Esteem from one's MMORPG avatar [was:Long-Term Rewards] Vladimir Cole
- Deriving Self Esteem from one's MMORPG avatar Corey Crawford
- Deriving Self Esteem from one's MMORPG avatar Byron Ellacott
- Deriving Self Esteem from one's MMORPG avatar Vladimir Cole
- Deriving Self Esteem from one's MMORPG avatar Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes
- Deriving Self Esteem from one's MMORPG avatar Mark Mensch
- Better Combat John Buehler
- Better Combat Brendan O'Brien
- Better Combat Zach Collins (Siege)
- Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat Brendan O'Brien
- Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat cruise
- Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat Byron Ellacott
- Better Combat Craig Huber
- Better Combat Matt Mihaly
- Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat Byron Ellacott
- Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat Byron Ellacott
- Better Combat Paul Schwanz
- Better Combat Michael Hartman
- Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat Matt Mihaly
- Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat Eric Random
- Better Combat Eric Random
- Better Combat Corey Cauble
- Better Combat David Kennerly
- Better Combat Corey Cauble
- Better Combat Brendan O'Brien
- Better Combat (long) Paul Schwanz
- Better Combat (long) Douglas Goodall
- [DGN] Music (was: Better Combat (long)) Zach Collins (Siege)
- Better Combat (long) Koster, Raph
- Better Combat (long) Matthew Dobervich
- Better Combat (long) David Kennerly
- Better Combat (long) Koster, Raph
- Better Combat (long) David Kennerly
- Creating a Player Narrative Ben Hawes
- Creating a Player Narrative Douglas Goodall
- Creating a Player Narrative Tim Schubert
- Creating a Player Narrative Dana V. Baldwin
- Creating a Player Narrative John MacQueen
- Better Combat (long) Matt Monaghan
- Better Combat (long) David Kennerly
- Better Combat (long) Byron Ellacott
- Better Combat (long) J C Lawrence
- Better Combat (long) Freeman, Jeff
- Better Combat (long) cruise
- Better Combat (long) J C Lawrence
- Better Combat (long) Kwon J. Ekstrom
- Better Combat (long) Vincent Archer
- Better Combat (long) Matt Cruikshank
- Better Combat (long) Kwon J. Ekstrom
- Better Combat (long) Zach Collins (Siege)
- Better Combat (long) David Kennerly
- Better Combat (long) Zach Collins (Siege)
- Better Combat (long) Paul Schwanz
- Better Combat (long) David Kennerly
- Better Combat (long) Ben Hawes
- Better Combat Byron Ellacott
- Better Combat cruise
- Better Combat Brendan O'Brien
- Better Combat Dana V. Baldwin
- Better Combat Byron Ellacott
- Level Grind - alternative Sean Kelly
- Level Grind - alternative Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes
- Level Grind - alternative Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- Level Grind - alternative Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- [mudlist] MMO Communities (was [MUD-Dev] MMORPG Cancellations:Theskyisfalling?) Morgan Dodge
- New combat system Cameron Zemek
- MMO Communities Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- MMO Communities Randolf Richardson
- MMO Communities Ashley Penney
- MMO Communities Damion Schubert
- MMO Communities Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- MMO Communities Byron Ellacott
- MMO Communities Freeman, Jeff
- MMO Communities Byron Ellacott
- MMO Communities Dana V. Baldwin
- MMO Communities Byron Ellacott
- MMO Communities Freeman, Jeff
- MMO Communities Zach Collins (Siege)
- MMO Communities Brendan O'Brien
- MMO Communities Matt Mihaly
- MMO Communities Brendan O'Brien
- MMO Communities Brad McQuaid
- MMO Communities Matt Mihaly
- MMO Communities Brendan O'Brien
- MMO Communities Matt Mihaly
- MMO Communities J C Lawrence
- MMO Communities Freeman, Jeff
- MMO Communities Brad McQuaid
- MMO Communities Freeman, Jeff
- MMO Communities Matt Mihaly
- MMO Communities Mike Rozak
- MMO Communities Matt Mihaly
- MMO Communities Tom Hunter
- MMO Communities zgj22@drexel.edu
- MMO Communities Tom Hunter
- MMO Communities (keywords: commercial influence) Eric Random
- MMO Communities Brad McQuaid
- MMO Communities Michael Hartman
- MMO Communities Tom "cro" Gordon
- MMO Communities Paul Schwanz
- MMO Communities Michael Hartman
- MMO Communities Paul Schwanz
- MMO Communities Byron Ellacott
- MMO Communities HRose
- MMO Communities Freeman, Jeff
- MMO Communities Michael Sellers
- MMO Communities HRose
- MMO Communities Freeman, Jeff
- MMO Communities HRose
- MMO Communities Morgan Dodge
- MMO Communities Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- MMO Communities Freeman, Jeff
- [DGN] Socialization against the fun Eric Random
- MMO Communities Koster, Raph
- MMO Communities Michael Sellers
- MMO Communities Yannick Jean
- MMO Communities Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- What is an MMOG? (was: MMO Communities) ceo