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< Build A World General ~ Defining the contents of a Reference Shard |
| recentcoin |
 Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:07 pm |
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Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Posts: 55
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This has been an on going topic in the PA forums for some time, but I think it really ought to be here. This is after all, our neutral ground for the other interested teams to participate.
NOTE: This is intended to be starter for discussion, not the end all be all of what will actually get done.
Now I have my own ideas about what should be and should not be included in the reference shard and I'll list them here along with some of my reasoning behind them.
1) You can create an account.
2) You can log in & create a character
3) You have a small town with a few NPC's
4) You have one quest (kill some rats or whatever)
5) The PC is fully functional - inventory, ability to speak other others, etc.
6) A lone merchant
7) limited choice of classes
8) limited choice of races
If we keep it small, it will reduce the coding and artistic effort involved, thus keeping the time line fairly short. It's got just enough stuff that you can see what can be done, and enough examples of what you need to get started. It's not too much though, to where you'd be afraid to toss it and do your own.
That said there is some art that I would like to see released under the CC license and that would be the graphics in the user interface. That way you don't have to tinker with the innards of the user interface unless you just want to. Since they'd be released under the CC, other folks could change the colors, tweak them, etc. without running into licensing issues. IMHO, any art, over and above the UI, that gets released for general use is bonus.
Now there have been other things mentioned for inclusion, most notably crafting, but I'll let you guys add your own ideas. This is just a jumping off point that I think we can prepare in valentin's suggested time line.
As usual...my 2 cents.... |
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RecentCoin
Epoch The Game
www.magnaturris.com
Project Angela
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| Cayle |
| Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:13 pm |
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Joined: 20 Dec 2006
Posts: 79
Location: Germany
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I'd add to that at least two partial rulesets. They don't have to be huge or all encompasing, but there needs to be two to drive home the kind of pluggable architecture we are pushing. A lot of people I have talked to seem to have difficulty grasping the concept of abstracting the ruleset enough to make it pulggable and we need to show what it means.
AFIAK, Edward is willing to work on one as soon as the GRA is defined enough to work on and D_Order of PA (if he has time and is not 100% tied sown with infrastructure) may work on the Epoch (PA world) rules. |
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The Ruleset Modeling Language - A project for making it easier to design virtual worlds. |
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| Edward |
| Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:13 pm |
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Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Posts: 31
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In coming up with design specs, it would be good to consider how the product will be used. What exactly will the engine be used for?
Obviously, both massive and not-so-massive MORPG's. Perhaps first-person shooters, adventure games, and real-time strategy games. Non-game virtual worlds. What else?
One possibility that could attract additional developers (as well as users) is computer-assisted role-playing games (CARP). Many people either don't try MORPG's or try them and drop out because they prefer the feel of a paper-and-pencil tabletop RPG. Sites such as OpenRPG and PCGen develop tools to allow play of tabletop RPG's over the Internet, but they don't create the same level of immersion as a MORPG. It should be relatively easy to set up a small private server (for 5-10 players) and use a MORPG to play a tabletop-style RPG (either over the web or in a LAN party).
The main thing that would be needed is to allow the GM to speed up or slow down the game by changing the ratio of game time to real time. Generally, the ratio would be 1:1 (game time = real time). When there was an encounter or other event, the ratio could automatically change to 1:30 (game time:real time) (unless the GM selected a different ratio). The combat would progress just as in a real-time MORPG; the players would just have more time to choose their actions (and see the results in slow motion). Each action would take a set amount of game time -- the same amount as in a MORPG.
Similarly, when the PC's sleep, the GM could change the ratio to, say, 50:1. Eight hours of game time would pass in ten minutes. Or if the PC's go on a three-week journey, the GM could set the ratio to 6000:1. Three weeks of game time would elapse; NPC's would live their lives, events (wars, politics, etc.) would progress, and the PC's would age, but only five minutes of real time would pass. If there were an encounter or other event, the ratio would automatically change to 1:30.
Of course, many features will not be included in the engine at first, but if all possible uses are kept in mind, it can be designed to make it as easy as possible to add features at a later date. Internationalization is a good example of this; if a product is not designed with it in mind, it can be more difficult to add it later.
We could do some offline testing in addition to the online testing. At a very early stage, the engine could serve as a character generator and combat manager for tabletop RPG's (and would probably be better than the existing ones). Some GM's might want the engine just for this purpose. This would require three things.
1. The ability to create and export characters in a format that is both machine readable and human readable (XML/HTML?). Exported characters would be imported into a different world or viewed offline by the player. It needs to be easy for the GM to edit characters (change skill ranks etc.).
2. The ability to create a very small world (suitable for small group combat) and a set of opponents (a war room, essentially). At some point I'd like to build a variety of war rooms with different terrain types (underground, urban, forest, mountains, etc.) and a variety of different opponents (bandits, Orcs, Trolls), but one terrain type would be fine for testing purposes. Also, it needs to be easy for the GM to view the combat log afterward.
3. The ability to change the ratio of game time to real time (speed up or slow down the game).
So this is what I would add to the list for the reference server:
-character exports
-a small war room
-GM can change ratio of game time to real time |
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| Edward |
| Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:17 pm |
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Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Posts: 31
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Cayle wrote: I'd add to that at least two partial rulesets. They don't have to be huge or all encompasing, but there needs to be two to drive home the kind of pluggable architecture we are pushing. A lot of people I have talked to seem to have difficulty grasping the concept of abstracting the ruleset enough to make it pulggable and we need to show what it means.
AFIAK, Edward is willing to work on one as soon as the GRA is defined enough to work on and D_Order of PA (if he has time and is not 100% tied sown with infrastructure) may work on the Epoch (PA world) rules.
Yes, I will implement my ruleset as soon as the GRA is ready. We'll probably have other designers willing to implement their own rulesets as well. |
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| Han |
| Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:56 pm |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Posts: 34
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I guess in my mind I'm more focused on the extents of the engine and the infrastructure it will require both client-side and server-side. My background is in faulty tolerant high speed networking and security. When we start talking shards , my mind jumps to zone and zoneless, instanced or non. Then It wanders into things like memory allocation by range, poly count, data trafficking and session management, threading of engine parts... all this stuff comes before a rule set is in place. So I guess I'm not there yet.
I'd like to ask the word "World" be replaced by "Space" as in Open Space... In fact "Open Space" is a fine way to describe what we are starting with in each instance of a shard. Open.. as in, "Open source" and Open.. as in, no borders or rules in place. Also, we are placing objects in a 3d "Space". Its a bit particular, but if someone wants to define their Space as a Universe then, "World Builder" won't quite cut the definition.
I think starting with the management stuff like accounts, login, session management is where the user experience starts and its a good place to begin putting together things.. then we can move onto scale and how to handle the "user space" and what will be seen by the user and how that goes.
I hope this helps guide this. I feel like I ramble :)
Hannon |
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| recentcoin |
| Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 5:23 am |
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Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Posts: 55
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| I'm moving this thread to the Buildaworld.net forums, where it more properly belongs. |
_________________
TIA,
RecentCoin
Epoch The Game
www.magnaturris.com
Project Angela
www.rpg-gamerz.com |
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| Edward |
| Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 4:07 am |
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Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Posts: 31
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