[CF-Devel] Proposal: jobs

Tue Aug 5 13:23:39 CDT 2003

On 06-Aug-03 Todd Mitchell wrote:
>

      I do think that it is worth working on just to improve the

     >

      options/capabilities for mapmakers making quests...  This is a often

     >

      requested feature actually - a quest system.  I really like the idea of the

     >

      Job/quest object - although I think it would be something that would be part

     >

      of a map set (a .qst file?) being that it would have to be map dependent.  I

     >

      really enjoy stressing that the arches and the maps and the server packages

     >

      should operate as modularly as possible.  I realize this complicates things

     >

      a bit - but with two map sets and the possibility of custom mapsets, these

     >

      mini quests should go with the maps rather than the arches.  If you consider

     >

      the lore field in the map header as requiring some sort of 'load process' to

     >

      generate book content from the maps - perhaps this could be extended to read

     >

      in these 'jobs' as well.

The jobs are objects just like any other object.  You can put them in maps or
arch files or wherever.  Right now I'm still trying to come up with a good way
that I can make sure the objects don't start trampling on one another. 
Inititally I had used "food" as a unique job id number.  This doesn't work well
for maps, because if everyone puts the jobs directly on the map.. its hard to
tell where to start for the next number.  Perhaps I'll use some combination of
board number/job number, and put a file in the map directory where people can
register thier unique board numbers. (I can't trust object numbers, because
they are not persistent across reboots)

The other problem I've smacked into is that currently there is no way to give
"raw" experience.  You have to staple it to a skill.  I think thats supposed to
change when mark finishes his work, so I might just have it pick a random skill
until then. (or default to the enabled one when you complete)

>

      - trivial but worth mentioning I thinkthat you should not be too specific on

     >

      the usage commands so that any object could serve as a 'board' (a talking

     >

      dog or a shop keeper for example) - especially when developing the commands

     >

      for the interface.

the only one that is specific is the checkboard command.  But thats because the
board object is more than just a job board.  I think I can probably program it
to be a universal bulletin board object.. to some degree.  Like for top 10
lists, we can just put a score obejct in the board, bubble sort them, and junk
the bottom objects.  Theoretically a player could post things on a board by
writing them on paper and sticking it in the board's inventory.

As for making NPC's hold jobs.  I think you could probably do some trickery. 
Like put an invisible board under the floor in front of an NPC, and then have
the NPC describe the job, and tell you to "accept_job 1 to take this job
friend, but stand directly in front of me".  NPC's can also just tell you "I
have a job posted on the board, can you do it?" and perhaps be programmed to
react to the presence of your job completion token later on.  "thanks!"

You actually have to stand on the board to use it right now.  I might be able
to expand that to check the square you are facing too.. but I'm not sure thats
much better, as it won't help the "apply" command.

Does anyone have a good board image?

---
Tim Rightnour <

     root at garbled.net

     >
NetBSD: Free multi-architecture OS 

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