[crossfire] Things to fix

[Yann Chachkoff]

Le jeudi 29 mai 2008, Nicolas Weeger a écrit :
> Hello.
>
> Here are some things that need fixing IMO. I intend to start some, but I
> can't do everything alone :)
>
>
> The game is missing lore. Some is on the wiki, but not much is integrated
> in the game itself. Also, many many maps are missing hints relative to
> their location or purpose (warrior tower, ...).
>
> So we need people to first incorporate the existing lore, then add missing
> one, into a coherent thing, then add hints to various places or things.
> Ideally, *all* houses and maps could have a whole story (ok, not a whole
> quest maybe, but some background).
>
I'd answer "yes, but with comments" on this one. A lot of places do not really 
need a "story" - places like pubs, inns or shops often don't require such 
background for themselves.

OTOH, what they always require is a "taste of truth". A shop is technically 
nothing more than a place where you can buy objects; but in-game-wise, it is 
a place where people work and try to make it so customers are attracted. To 
achieve such a result, "utility" maps, or maps that are too "small" should 
get details that make them more believable: customers passing by in shops; 
drunk lads causing trouble at night in the pub; and so on. 

Another small idea: most places are probably not open all the time, or offer 
different things based on the time of the day - that wouldn't be very hard to 
implement either, but would make the place more alive.


> I'd like to expand towns to let's say 5 times their current size. This
> would enable even more things, and make the scale better IMO.
> Ideally, the world itself could be much expanded.
>
I'm not sure of that. If you mean "scenaristic expansion" (more active NPCs, 
clues - true or false - or dynamic effects that have an impact on the story), 
then I agree. But if you are speaking of geographic expansion, I'd disagree: 
IMHO, the main issue is not how small cities are, but how (in)efficiently the 
available space is used.
Or to say it in another way: it is not the number of pages that makes a book 
good. Besides that, I believe it is easier to not start with huge projects, 
but rather work with smaller scenaristic chunks and maps, and expand places 
only step by step, as the need arises.

>
> I'm not sure of the best way to put lore ingame. Currently we have books
> (random things), NPCs. I added some professors in Navar university, one can
> tell you a long story about Lorkas if you ask.
> Things to take into account, IMO, are: one NPC shouldn't know everything of
> the world, or maybe even all the details of one thing. On the other hand,
> it can be weird to have exactly all the people you need to learn things...
>
> Opinions on how to present lore or on those issues?
>
Two main paths for information diffusion:
- Random diffusion, from automatically generated books, artifacts, or NPCs;
- Human-implemented, by map-makers.

Random lore bits should be managed just like any other item: the rarer they 
are, the higher the chance for them to be meaningful/important/accurate. With 
a few dead-end ones, to trap the player, of course: not every legend known 
has to be true, or lead to a quest. Just because Karis Imaden told you there 
was a huge treasure hidden in one room of the Scorn's Inn doesn't make it 
true :).
Human-implemented lore should follow the classical rules of scenario writing: 
enough clues to allow the player to be able to progress through the story, 
but with a layer of uncertainty/inaccuracy, whose importance depends on the 
average difficulty level of the quest. The principle of "key objects" one 
must own to trigger a new clue, or the right action to take at the right 
moment, should be much more extensively used. Most current NPCs are only 
working on a keyword/answer paradygm, simply because nothing else was 
possible; this is no longer the case, and we should thus make full use of the 
available possibilities.

> The combat rebalance needs to be finished. Mark, how can we help you on
> that? Also, do people have comments about the current hand to hand combat
> rebalance? Can be seen on the Ailesse servers (one permadeath, the other
> non
> permadeath).
> What about general item/monster fixing/balance?
>
No opinion on this.

> IMO, the best way to progress is "game experience-driven development":
> develop things because they add stuff to the general ingame atmosphere, not
> for the sake of it "because it's cool". In the same way, we should avoid
> the "not invented here" syndrom and try to use existing libraries when they
> exist.
>
Again, I'd agree - with caveats. Adding things "because they are cool" is 
perfectly fine - as long as they allow cool in-game results, and just not 
because it is technically esthetical. I'd prefer seeing development being 
driven by the "what kind of game do we want ?" reflexion; the "game 
experience-driven development" is part of it, but there is more than that - 
mainly the need for a coherent idea of the game. Else, you end up with a lot 
of small mechanisms that may be pretty good by themselves, but never really 
interact with each other.

> Concerning bugs, IMO the most critical are:
> -
> http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1967585&group_id=1
>3833&atid=113833 (unique items on world maps deleted)
> -
> http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1936178&group_id=1
>3833&atid=113833 trying to remove removed object causes server crash
> (tentatively fixed)
>
> Others are less critical, and considering our development force for now,
> they can wait.
>
No opinion on this.

> Ideally, we'd have a "chief mapmaker", a "chief lore", a "chief monster",
> a "chief combat balance", whatever, so *someone* can decide various points
> when there is no consensus.
>
What is needed is more coordination and clearer, definite goals, at all stages 
of the development process. Quoting Mike Capps (Epic Games President):

"People use these lofty terms like 'Team Dynamics' and 'Culture'. What this 
really means is that we want people to work harder than usual, and work hard 
on the same thing. We want this unity of purpose -- this willingness to 
sacrifice for this purpose. This doesn't mean sacrificing your family, 
friends, and life, which is a problem in this industry. What I mean is 
sacrificing fun stuff for the sake of making the game."

( http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=16200 )

>
> Nicolas


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