Re: My comments on the entries


9 Oct 1995 15:55:12 GMT

In article <459fep$ft8@news.duke.edu>, sgranade@scratchy.phy.duke.edu (Stephen Granade) says:

>I can understand your aversion to timed games, and that is a personal
>dislike that I can't really fault. However, in my defense, I couldn't
>come up with a way to realistically make the game untimed. The game
>begins after 10 am, and the Coast Guard is called at about noonish. If
>the game wasn't timed, then a player could wait through the afternoon,
>into the night, into the next day, etc. etc.

What about not keeping track of time at all? You can't wait into the
night if the night never comes.

>I believe that the second charge leveled at Undertow is the serious flaw
>in the game. As I was writing the game, I quickly realized that I
>wouldn't be able to handle a huge amount of possible reactions among the
>NPCs and the players. [...] I'm open to
>any suggestions as to how to improve this flaw.

Write a different game. That probably sounds harsh, but you just can't
do a murder mystery without allowing for extensive interaction with the
suspects... and, as you point out, that much interaction just isn't
feasible within the time frame we're talking about.

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