First of all thanks EAX the idea of making the monsters look different is probably one of the best i've gotten so thanks a lot. Random names for towns are already there, I haven't really started to work on the combat system so I haven't decided anything about weapons prefixes and suffixes but I'll definately keep it in mind. However if a weapon does fire damage I don't think that all fire swords will be called fire swords. Depending on the grade of damage i might be Immolation Sword or something like that
Just might add that a random name generator isn't att all hard to build. Right now (and this is sort of the beauty of this game) almost everything like a town an npc or a magic spell can be created through a .rdf file (rogue data file) and that in turn being a txt file with specific commands for the game engine. The random names generator work something like this you have two files one with the first names for a group of people (f.e. Tidarians) let's say that I've written 300 Tidarian firstnames and 300 lastnames. After that it's merely taking two random numbers from 0-299 and then you have 90,000 Tidarian names to choose from.
// Shadows Rogue Software
Edited by - shadows on November 10, 2001 4:57:50 AM
quote:
Original post by Shadows ...let''s say that I''ve written 300 Tidarian firstnames and 300 lastnames...
Which is a ton of work to begin with. Here''s a better idea: define the rules of phoneme transitions for the language/people and the available phonemes, and then randomly select length (number of syllables) and sequence. Boom! A near infinite number of names with roughly the right amount of repetition and disparity.
English, for example, has only about 100 - 150 phoneme pairs. Cataloguing them is a lot less work than writing out 600 names...
I think the player character should be able to meet randomly-generated people and have them join the party. They should be capable of some intelligent actions besides just fighting monsters. They''re not people under your direct control, they''re just people who go on adventures with you.
Also, there should be some way to talk instead of fight. If I made a game, you would be able to talk during combat, i.e. plead for your life, surrender, threaten, negotiate, etc. Your game will be more cool with this feature. I hate how most games (even Fallout) make the only way out of combat the annhilation of one side or the other.
Thanks Shadows! I''m glad you like my idea. I hope this means you''ll use it and put my name as a contributor. I''ve never had my name on a game''s credits before. That''s "Aaron Jones a.k.a. EAX" <--- Just in case.
Hmm... I don''t know why that went as anonymous, I thought I put my user name and password. Oh well.. At least this message will let you know it''s really me that posted that message.
EAX: Yeah your name ''ll be, right on top of the Great Ideas column Thanks again... keep on brainstorming
Anonymous poster: Your first point I''m working on something quite like it actually (can give you the specs if you''re interested) but basicly it''s what you proposed. The second idea I haven''t even considered yet but it sounds rather interesting, however it might be hard to implement in alot of situations but I''ll look into it. Thanks again! (If you want your name in the credits please give me something else then Anonymous poster )
Right, this idea would be a monstrosity to implement, but it''s just so cool...
Graphics engines use certain fixed constants to determine how everything looks, for example color range, fadeout, thresholds for black and white, etcetera. I''m not really an engine person, but you get the idea. Also, character models are built with certain fixed lengths, such as arm and leg length and width.
What if you replaced these constants with bound random variables, so that each area not only has random names, characters, etcetera, but the whole mood of the game is changed? Store character models as deviations from a norm, but have the norm vary from area to area so that the look of the characters is changed. Similarly deform objects such as houses, trees, etcetera. Render the world in flat colors, or stark black and white, or pastels, or cartoony with black lines around everything.
Monstrosity, right?
SpittingTrashcan
----------------------------------------------------SpittingTrashcanYou can't have "civilization" without "civil".
The idea of randomly chagning height, length and stuff is really great, it''d be a pain to implement though. About the coloring... no the game will be more old fashion, it wouldn''t fit I think.
