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Mah Sekrit Projact
bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
avatar

I kinda wish there was a way to have some auto-name feature so that if I see someone I haven't met before, I would see something that would hopefully uniquely identify them. (even if the way they're identified is different for one character then another, as a way to prevent this from allowing you know someone who met another one of your characters. At least until you ask their name.)

Thinking in terms of Git and Mercurial, I was thinking that a unique hash of some kind might be a good way to uniquely identify "the appearance" of a character. This way, you could at least differentiate between players (prior to assigning them a name). It's not really a problem when players immediately give you a name to call them by (at least, not when their name is unique), but occasionally you encounter multiple players that don't reveal their names. They just appear as "a man" or "a woman" or whatever and you can't differentiate between them (without assigning them an arbitrary name).

Earlier when Tobias mentioned their physical attributes I was thinking about hashing those. They might not be actually unique, but should be more unique than the way it is now. I think it would help, but I haven't played this type of game long enough to know if it would detract from the experience.

Trezker
Member #1,739
December 2001
avatar

I think I ran into the same type of thing as MiquelFire.
I wanna make me some bread.

exception 'Exception' with message 'Project type cannot be started at this location' in /home/rpg/www/db/user/Character.php:393 Stack trace:
#0 /home/rpg/www/play/CreateProject.php(31): DB_Character->createProject(9, true, true, true, 1)
#1 /home/rpg/lib/WebUI/src/Event.php(21): CreateProject->btnCreate_Clicked(Object(WebUI_Button), NULL)
#2 /home/rpg/lib/WebUI/src/Event.php(39): WebUI_EventHandler->raise(Object(WebUI_Button), NULL)
#3 /home/rpg/lib/WebUI/src/Button.php(109): WebUI_Event->raise(Object(WebUI_Button))
#4 /home/rpg/lib/WebUI/src/Container.php(68): WebUI_Button->processRequest()
#5 /home/rpg/www/code/BaseWebPage.php(150): WebUI_Container->processRequest()
#6 /home/rpg/www/code/BasePlayerPage.php(78): BaseWebPage->processRequest()
#7 /home/rpg/www/play/CreateProject.php(125): BasePlayerPage->processRequest()
#8 /home/rpg/lib/WebUI/src/Page.php(99): CreateProject->processRequest()
#9 /home/rpg/www/play/CreateProject.php(133): WebUI_Page->execute()
#10 {main}

Neil Black
Member #7,867
October 2006
avatar

bamccaig said:

It's not really a problem when players immediately give you a name to call them by (at least, not when their name is unique), but occasionally you encounter multiple players that don't reveal their names. They just appear as "a man" or "a woman" or whatever and you can't differentiate between them (without assigning them an arbitrary name).

Assign them an arbitrary name, and then demand that they respond to it.

Tobias Dammers
Member #2,604
August 2002
avatar

I arrived at a place and someone had said something to me, but I didn't know who. So I clicked the "nameless person" link to name them, the screen went semi white but I can't see the box to type anything at all. Have to leave the page.

Will look into this. Semi-white is intentional, but the box needs to be visible. Safari? Chrome?

bamccaig said:

Thinking in terms of Git and Mercurial, I was thinking that a unique hash of some kind might be a good way to uniquely identify "the appearance" of a character. This way, you could at least differentiate between players (prior to assigning them a name). It's not really a problem when players immediately give you a name to call them by (at least, not when their name is unique), but occasionally you encounter multiple players that don't reveal their names. They just appear as "a man" or "a woman" or whatever and you can't differentiate between them (without assigning them an arbitrary name).

Earlier when Tobias mentioned their physical attributes I was thinking about hashing those. They might not be actually unique, but should be more unique than the way it is now. I think it would help, but I haven't played this type of game long enough to know if it would detract from the experience.

This is something I really want to resolve in a better way. Gender and a rough indication of age isn't enough, especially when everyone is in their twenties. However, an actual hash would look way too "computery" to be acceptable - while a programmer might appreciate the fact, a "normal" person's role-playing experience would probably be severely impacted if unknown people were auto-named "f4bb1928d9234e" or something. Even "unknown person #23" would be a bit too technical IMO. This is one of the reasons why I thought about adding a face image, based on (random) physical properties - each character would have an individual combination of face and body metrics, hair, skin, and eye color, and a few parameters you could maybe adjust, given the right tools, such as hair and beard style. That image could then be shown in the message list (icon-sized), or it could appear when you hover over a person's name.
In any case, I want to add a (short) description of a person's physical appearance to what is now the name-change popup.

Trezker said:

I think I ran into the same type of thing as MiquelFire.
I wanna make me some bread.

exception 'Exception' with message 'Project type cannot be started at this location' in /home/rpg/www/db/user/Character.php:393 Stack trace:
#0 /home/rpg/www/play/CreateProject.php(31): DB_Character->createProject(9, true, true, true, 1)
#1 /home/rpg/lib/WebUI/src/Event.php(21): CreateProject->btnCreate_Clicked(Object(WebUI_Button), NULL)
#2 /home/rpg/lib/WebUI/src/Event.php(39): WebUI_EventHandler->raise(Object(WebUI_Button), NULL)
#3 /home/rpg/lib/WebUI/src/Button.php(109): WebUI_Event->raise(Object(WebUI_Button))
#4 /home/rpg/lib/WebUI/src/Container.php(68): WebUI_Button->processRequest()
#5 /home/rpg/www/code/BaseWebPage.php(150): WebUI_Container->processRequest()
#6 /home/rpg/www/code/BasePlayerPage.php(78): BaseWebPage->processRequest()
#7 /home/rpg/www/play/CreateProject.php(125): BasePlayerPage->processRequest()
#8 /home/rpg/lib/WebUI/src/Page.php(99): CreateProject->processRequest()
#9 /home/rpg/www/play/CreateProject.php(133): WebUI_Page->execute()
#10 {main}

Actually, it's not the same issue. You're getting a stack trace at the same point, that's because I accidentally left a die($ex) there. The exception itself is intentional though; what you're supposed to see is just the message: "Project type cannot be started at this location", which probably means you don't have the required machines for this project. For baking bread, you need an oven, and if all ovens are occupied with projects, you cannot start a new one. Either use the existing project, wait until it finishes, or build another oven. Or, if no ovens exist, build one. I admit that this needs to be handled better, but for now, that's the way it is.

---
Me make music: Triofobie
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"We need Tobias and his awesome trombone, too." - Johan Halmén

Trent Gamblin
Member #261
April 2000
avatar

Will look into this. Semi-white is intentional, but the box needs to be visible. Safari? Chrome?

Same in both.

Trezker
Member #1,739
December 2001
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Eating!
Wiki page request, full list of eatables.

This also brings up the topic Animals, when do you think they will come?

Tobias Dammers
Member #2,604
August 2002
avatar

Trezker said:

Eating!
Wiki page request, full list of eatables.

I'll see if I can generate an "Eatables" wiki page. I don't want to maintain one by hand. Least I can do is add food information to the item type wiki page. Good point.

Quote:

This also brings up the topic Animals, when do you think they will come?

This one's still in the thinking phase. Problem is, animals are going to be something that can be used in a number of different ways:

  • slaughtering: kill domesticized animals. Same as using an item as a resource for a project

  • milking, shearing, collecting eggs, etc.: Same as using as a machine

  • domesticizing: catching and taming wild animals.

  • hunting: kill wild animals for their skins, bones, and meat. This would have to be modeled similar to attacking fellow characters.

  • riding etc.: use domesticized animal as a vehicle

  • carriages: use domesticized animal to power a vehicle

  • use as a machine (or tool) on projects: e.g. a domesticized horse could be used in a ploughing project

  • migration: this needs to be added, and I'm not quite done thinking about how to model the rules for this. Animals shouldn't be migrating all the time, migration should be subject to population and available food, and limited to a range of terrain types (and maybe climate zones, if I implement those).

I think I'll tackle plants first, they're probably much easier, and animals can be built on top of plant functionality.

---
Me make music: Triofobie
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"We need Tobias and his awesome trombone, too." - Johan Halmén

type568
Member #8,381
March 2007
avatar

Live long projact..

Trezker
Member #1,739
December 2001
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I think time has stopped. I'm making no progress on my bread and the time is the same as it was last time I logged in.

Tobias Dammers
Member #2,604
August 2002
avatar

You're right. It's running again now though. Believe it or not, this has something to do with line end conversion. I haven't exactly figured out how and why it happens, but somehow, the line endings in the heartbeat script end up different than what the cronjob handling shell on the server expects, and then it complains that #!/usr/bin/php5^M is not a valid hashbang. I've changed the cronjob now so that it doesn't rely on the hashbang anymore.

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Me make music: Triofobie
---
"We need Tobias and his awesome trombone, too." - Johan Halmén

Trezker
Member #1,739
December 2001
avatar

Now that we're eating I noticed that my bread is "almost fresh" and the strawberries on another character are old. Makes me worry about balancing how much food I make versus how long it lasts and how fast I consume it.

Will old food be bad for you? And what happens when it becomes garbage? Will it disappear or become some kind of moldy organic mass?

Will there be storage options that makes food last longer? What was the limit for tech again? Can we make steampunk refrigerators?

Tobias Dammers
Member #2,604
August 2002
avatar

Trezker said:

Will old food be bad for you?

Probably not. It might go down in tastiness, but I'm not sure yet.

Quote:

And what happens when it becomes garbage? Will it disappear or become some kind of moldy organic mass?

It will disappear. Although I might make it so that some things can turn into something else when their lifespan exceeds (this will be needed for growing plants anyway: a sapling would turn into a tree after a few years).

Quote:

Will there be storage options that makes food last longer?

Probably yes.

Quote:

What was the limit for tech again? Can we make steampunk refrigerators?

Early industrialisation I would say, maybe around 1850. So no refrigerators, no combustion engines, but horse carriages, coal ovens, sailing ships (possibly steamers, but if so, then really expensive), maybe radio. Definitely no refrigerators, but I'm thinking of other ways to conserve food - making jam, drying, salting and smoking things, that kind of stuff.

---
Me make music: Triofobie
---
"We need Tobias and his awesome trombone, too." - Johan Halmén

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
avatar

I've been walking for days now and I don't think I've made it anywhere (I'm just outside of my previous location still).

Tobias Dammers
Member #2,604
August 2002
avatar

I just confirmed that time IS ticking. Just about 3 hours ago, a character reached his destination. Maybe you're carrying a lot of weight? The more you carry, the slower you walk.

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Me make music: Triofobie
---
"We need Tobias and his awesome trombone, too." - Johan Halmén

bamccaig
Member #7,536
July 2006
avatar

Trezker
Member #1,739
December 2001
avatar

It's been almost a week of silence here again. And I must say I've lost the attention I had to the project. The bookmark is still there reminding me about it every day but I don't feel compelled to click it.

It needs a serious boost in features, or this thread will soon die.

MiquelFire
Member #3,110
January 2003
avatar

One of my characters is just sitting around waiting for the others at the location to do something.

Yea, it seems no one else is really playing this any more.

---
Febreze (and other air fresheners actually) is just below perfumes/colognes, and that's just below dead skunks in terms of smells that offend my nose.
MiquelFire.red
If anyone is of the opinion that there is no systemic racism in America, they're either blind, stupid, or racist too. ~Edgar Reynaldo

Trent Gamblin
Member #261
April 2000
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I'm still playing, haven't seen anyone in a while but I got some salmon and I'm gonna try to bake a pie or something :P.

type568
Member #8,381
March 2007
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Wow, Trent is now Slardarbeast junior!

CursedTyrant
Member #7,080
April 2006
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I stopped playing some time ago, after I could no longer log in (just says login failed, and I am using my forum username and the password I always used for the game (I changed it, so perhaps it somehow reverted to the default? I don't think I've tried that one)).

---------
Signature.
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[My Website] | [My YouTube Channel]

Tobias Dammers
Member #2,604
August 2002
avatar

Yeah, I know guys. Problem is, it's basically a one-man show (two people have shown interest in contributing, but I haven't received anything substantial in terms of visible features yet), and I've been busy with other things lately. I'll try to pump out a bit of new stuff this week, hope you guys can bring up a bit more patience.

---
Me make music: Triofobie
---
"We need Tobias and his awesome trombone, too." - Johan Halmén

Trezker
Member #1,739
December 2001
avatar

Certainly making it at least a two man show would be a good idea.
Does the project have an IRC channel yet? That'd be a quicker medium for people who are really interested to discuss more specific things.

I'd really like to contribute, but since I'm not a web developer I have a hard time getting going...

Tobias Dammers
Member #2,604
August 2002
avatar

Trezker, if you like (and think you're good enough at these things), I could also use someone to create item types and project types. The interface for this is kind of buggy right now, but if you'd like to take on that job, I'll fix it and give you access. I'd like to have some more food chains, and a more diverse distribution of resources, before I introduce death by starvation.

---
Me make music: Triofobie
---
"We need Tobias and his awesome trombone, too." - Johan Halmén

Trezker
Member #1,739
December 2001
avatar

That would be nice.

One thing I thought about is that you seem to have made each resource and certain projects bound to location types. Like all forest locations has berries.

Will there be different types of forest, or do you think specific locations could have resources that aren't available in other locations of the same type?

MiquelFire
Member #3,110
January 2003
avatar

I had found an apple tree with one of my characters.

---
Febreze (and other air fresheners actually) is just below perfumes/colognes, and that's just below dead skunks in terms of smells that offend my nose.
MiquelFire.red
If anyone is of the opinion that there is no systemic racism in America, they're either blind, stupid, or racist too. ~Edgar Reynaldo



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