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Reddit-Mud / RMUD

A MUD written in C# using the fantastique literary genre, started by redditors.
MIT License
25 stars 8 forks source link

[DAY 2] Piggy's Demo Discussion #55

Closed ghost closed 10 years ago

ghost commented 10 years ago

Day 2 | Piggy's Demo Discussion

As posted here...

I have gone through each demo and I have a lot to bring up, but I have been busy with work over the weekend. I'll take the initiative (unless someone else would like to), and this will be our task for the rest of the week, ending on Saturday the 27th.

We will set one day of this week to discuss a single persons map each for every demo area. Everyone should explore the map on the day of, and use it for referencing back to. If you do not have a local server running connect to the live server at luna.devrw.com:8669. The focus will lie solely on that persons' map all day. We can discuss their style, voice, etc. etc.

After we spend the 4 days on each map, we will have a round-table discussion where we will compare and contrast all of the maps. At this point, we will spend the rest of the following week (hopefully less) finalizing rules regarding the overall writing style this game will have. We will come to agreement on an overall tone and other miscellaneous quirks.

Once that discussion closes, I will compile and properly document our final plan, and add it to the repo for everyone to reference, and newcomers to have a clear plan-of-action regarding how the game will be written.

TUESDAY: Discuss Trevoke's demo area. WEDNESDAY: Discuss piggy's demo area. THURSDAY: Discuss DevRW's demo area. FRIDAY: Discuss Blecki's demo area. SATURDAY: Group discussion for all demo areas. SUNDAY - SATURDAY[?]: Finalization discussion for over-all game. ETA: Completed plan posted to repo.

I will open an issue each day and all discussion will go in there.

Everyone should participate in these threads as whatever follows will result in how we shape our game. Please limit the discussion to only Piggy's areas. Stay on topic. This is for writing styles focusing on descriptions, word-use, prose, and how they build their world. This is not for game-play or anything code-related.

You can access the maps for in-game exploration at luna.devrw.com:8669, or run your own local copy.

This topic will be closed tomorrow at midnight.

Trevoke commented 10 years ago
  1. I find that the usage of [] to indicate something that can be looked at is nice, although I think it broke the flow of reading a little. This might not be a big deal - as MUD users, all we have to play with is text, so maybe the players will be able to make abstraction of it. I know that games like Everquest used that to indicate potential quest openers - but then again, people only spoke to NPC to find further conversation pieces, and I thought it was a bit clunky there.
  2. The exits are in the description which, as I mentioned in the discussion for my area, it something I wanted to avoid. I'd like people to be able to get a very quick read on the immediate map based on the exits (and the 'short description' is not helpful when you only have cardinal exits).
  3. I really like how rich the lighthouse description is, though I think it's too rich :) elegantly framed pictures? I'd expect soberly framed, maybe yellowing black-and-white photographs.
  4. The first aid kit is, I'm guessing, intended to be picked up. Hell, I want to pick it up. Unless descriptions can be modified to include or not include objects, I'd prefer we leave those objects as just plain objects that exist in the room, or that might lead to strange behavior.
  5. Much like in my area, there's a fair amount of using "you", which I think we should endeavor to avoid.
  6. Looking at the objects provides much of the tone of each room, which I feel to be a bit of a shame. I want the description to engage me, and each object to feel like the cherry on top.
  7. I like how the picture of the woman in the green dress comes back regularly, setting up a mysterious tone. It feels more like a murder mystery than a vague sense of foreboding and darkness, but a lot of other details give you the feel that something is just a little off, which I really like.

On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 1:45 AM, Rob notifications@github.com wrote:

Day 1 | Piggy's Demo Discussion

As posted here... https://github.com/Reddit-Mud/RMUD/issues/3

I have gone through each demo and I have a lot to bring up, but I have been busy with work over the weekend. I'll take the initiative (unless someone else would like to), and this will be our task for the rest of the week, ending on Saturday the 27th.

We will set one day of this week to discuss a single persons map each for every demo area. Everyone should explore the map on the day of, and use it for referencing back to. If you do not have a local server running connect to the live server at luna.devrw.com:8669. The focus will lie solely on that persons' map all day. We can discuss their style, voice, etc. etc.

After we spend the 4 days on each map, we will have a round-table discussion where we will compare and contrast all of the maps. At this point, we will spend the rest of the following week (hopefully less) finalizing rules regarding the overall writing style this game will have. We will come to agreement on an overall tone and other miscellaneous quirks.

Once that discussion closes, I will compile and properly document our final plan, and add it to the repo for everyone to reference, and newcomers to have a clear plan-of-action regarding how the game will be written.

TUESDAY: Discuss Trevoke's demo area. WEDNESDAY: Discuss piggy's demo area. THURSDAY: Discuss DevRW's demo area. FRIDAY: Discuss Blecki's demo area. SATURDAY: Group discussion for all demo areas. SUNDAY - SATURDAY[?]: Finalization discussion for over-all game. ETA: Completed plan posted to repo.

I will open an issue each day and all discussion will go in there.

Everyone should participate in these threads as whatever follows will result in how we shape our game. Please limit the discussion to only Piggy's areas. Stay on topic. This is for writing styles focusing on descriptions, word-use, prose, and how they build their world. This is not for game-play or anything code-related.

You can access the maps for in-game exploration at luna.devrw.com:8669 http://luna.devrw.com:8669, or run your own local copy.

This topic will be closed tomorrow at midnight.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/Reddit-Mud/RMUD/issues/55.

ghost commented 10 years ago

About the brackets, I was just using those as place holders with the intention of bringing up colored text for objects that can be looked at, quest initiators, etc, and forgot. Whoops!

Post your opinion on exits on the issue I just started, as that is something I think we all need to discuss and agree on before we proceed with map making and layouts. I'm totally open to any idea, I just tossed out my proposal and reasons for handling it there.

Blecki commented 10 years ago

I took the brackets to mean 'this is the name of a scenery object', and I almost removed them when I translated the text to a playable format. I sort of wish I had, if they are causing confusion.

The first thing I noticed is that the descriptions are at odds with the 'There is nothing here.' line. I've taken care of that.

I'm going to ignore grammatical errors, but encourage everyone to edit their work. You don't gain anything by rushing it out. It only takes a moment to read back what you typed. You'll find more mistakes than you expect.

When I visit the bluff, it tells me that I followed the fence there just now. I do something while at the bluff, it doesn't matter what, then I look again.. and it tells me that I followed the fence there just now. These sorts of descriptions should be avoided. Never describe what the player is doing, or how things make them feel. Just describe the place.

I like the way the environment tells a story. I'm getting something about a fisherman and his lost love, who threw herself off the bluff. Or possibly fell one day, while she was out there smoking. The fisherman obviously couldn't help her - his first aid kit is unopened. I would like to see how this area feels with all those nicknacks scattered about implemented as things that can be picked up and fiddled with.

The whole place has a sense that someone still lives there, and they've just stepped out for a moment, which is a different feel than I've gotten from all the other areas.

Off topic a little; you know, I'm still not sure what exactly we're trying to decide with this exercise. Every author has their own voice and writing in a different voice will make their work.. less. I think we should expect different areas to have different feels to them, and while it's a good idea to strike for a common tone throughout, that tone should be vague enough to allow for variation from area to area.

ghost commented 10 years ago

It was mostly just a way to see what common things we all agree on in practice, and come up with a list of 'rules' that every room should follow! I felt being able to explore the areas would give us a better, more concrete way to nail all of them down before-hand! That's just my take though.

As a writer, I like being able to get a feel for everyone's style before working with them on a team! I'm sure it could be done differently!

My apologies that I've been unable to contribute the past few days, especially to these topics -- unfortunately, my life can get insanely hectic some weeks and I've been trying to squeeze so much into so few hours.

ghost commented 10 years ago

I've found them helpful so far. The points about involving the player in the descriptions are spot on, and I fell into that trap even though I am aware of it. These exercises are valuable in getting stuff like that firmly into my brain before we start hammering out descriptions.