Re: Empty Rooms problem


04 May 1995 17:54:39 GMT

Tom Ivey <tiv@mail.utexas.edu> wrote:
> The main 'setting' of the game I'm creating is a vast, rather barren
> plain. I felt the need to have some sense of travel and some just
> plain scenery.

Here are some ideas of mine (not mutually exclusive; I'm sure you could
profitably combine them).

1. Have a series of plot events that can occur on the barren plain.
Make sure that these are triggered off, not by location, but by
*time*.

For example, after making 10 moves (in any directions), the player
comes across a caravan of Bedouin; another 8 + random(8) moves after
leaving the caravan (and as long as he's at least 5 locations away
from the caravan?), he comes across the Lost City, nestled in a deep
valley between two rocky hills (or whatever).

Thus, the player gets the sensation of wandering around on a vast
plain that you seem to be after, but they never run the risk of
missing the interesting bits by going in the wrong direction.

2. Rather than having one game room for each location in the plain,
have a *single* location, plus a large array which indicates what
kind of scenery is to be found in each square, which objects have
been dropped where, and where the special events are to be found
(once it's known where they are). The single location would build
up its room description by examining the information in the array,
and thus provide the illusion of travel.

3. Take the approach of the Infocom game "Infidel": i.e., the plain is
large and trackless (and maybe liable to lead to quick death from
thirst, if you're feeling nasty) unless the player has the map (or
has paid the nomad guide, or is travelling with the caravan, or
whatever). Moving with the map takes the form of "go to lost city"
or maybe "go to map reference 29 N 150 W", and generates a
description of the appropriate journey.

--
Gareth Rees