Seeing items at a distance

[daedroug]

Is it just me or should I be able to see the body of a half giant MUCH easier from a distance then i'd be able to see a tiny ritikki? as of now you'd never see the body until you were right on top of it while you can see a small insect from leagues away.
Basicly what i'm getting at is that large items (maybe use the same guidlines that decide if you can see an item being carried in some ones inventory) aughta be able to be seen when looking across rooms, also as a possible added thing it would be nice if a large amount of items could be seen from a distance as well but just be seen as 'a heep of stuff can be seen' or somthing like that.
Thoughts, ideas?

[LauraMars]

I have already seen this implemented in some areas of the game.  But I agree that it could be more extensive than it currently is.

[Dalmeth]

Yeah, I actually have come across a half-giant's corpse and seen it from a distance, and it could definately be used more.

[daedroug]

Ah didn't know it would work for a half giants body, however my point still remains that a persons body and many large objects and large groups of objects aughta be able to be seen from a distance.

[Rhyden]

I've seen the body of something way bigger than a half-giant from 3 rooms away.

[Cegar]

Bodies in general should be seen from a distance, unless you're in an area with extremely tall grass or dunes. But then, in grass, you'de probably see the gore/scuffle (because there probably is one) anyway.

[Ghost]

Yes, large objects can be seen from a distance.  But a body of an adult human is not considered large enough.  You can see halfgiant bodies and larger beast bodies from a distance, but not something smaller.

So basically, this is already in game.  Just that, the objects you consider large, are not considered large enough.

[spawnloser]

the objects you consider large, are not considered large enough.

I thought I would quote this for emphasis.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Well, if your body isn't big enough to see from a distance, why should a vestric be big enough? Eh?

I would absolutely like to see items from a distance depending on their size. I'd also like to not be able to see animals based on size. It would certianly give a better perspective on what you can and can't see.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I'd add that scan should not only reveal hidden objects, but objects that lie at a farther distance than they can normally be seen at. So if you can see a pack at one room, then you can see it at two rooms, with scan active.

[spawnloser]

Things that are moving are easier to spot than things that are not.  Eyes are attracted to motion.

[Sephiroto]

One possible way to make this possible would be to implant invisible "room" items into each room that correspond to the rooms in all fields of direction that, when looked upon (akin to the out exit or portals), returns an echo of what is in the corresponding room.  I understand that this would take forever to code for the thousands of rooms we've got, but if we started building this way or started implementing it in certain areas at least, it would be nice.

The idea is that you could "look north near",  "look north far" or "look north very far" and see what's in the rooms to the north.  Then a regular "look north" would give the same echo as we get now.

I understand that this isn't a perfect solution because it would enable one to see practically everything in very far rooms as if they were there, but it is one step in the right direction and it is possible with current coding technology.  Time consuming too...  But I'm pretty sure one of our coding wizards could write a zone-by-zone script that strips all the exitis and look directions and automagickally codes these invisible "look" items without too much hassle.

[daedroug]

First off Though I know I instigated it, Epic Rez.

Secondly it would likely be alot easier then that. Basicly just have a chack when looking in a direction that checks the present room weight and then returns a certain message in that room in the look message for instance:

Code Select Expand

To The North of Here
[Near]
Nothing.
[Far]
A gigantic mass of debris is here.
Much easier to code that way and would just need to change the look code. The entire idea behind this is that there could have been a massive battle with 20 bodies piled up in one room and people could go past it all day without ever noticing it. Also Obviously the farther away the stuff is the more would have to be in the room to show up.

[Sephiroto]

I see your point.  Perhaps we could code in the "look north near" to see the whole room for near rooms only, which I still think would be cool, and then have something like you suggest on top of that to draw us in the direction of rooms that have things laying on the ground.

I'd say we select a generic phrase to insert for objects that are larger than a backpack (visible due to size) or smaller objects larger in number than 5 or 6 (visible due to sheer number).  Example: "There is <something> on the ground there."  "There are a few/many <somethings> on the ground there."  Then you walk closer and do a "look north near" to see the complete desc to realize that it was the corpse of a halfling, or perhaps the strewn contents of a backpack discarded on the ground.

Maybe you see the carnage one room away and decide to shit your pants before running.  Or maybe you run in to loot the corpse....only to discover it is a trap and are attacked by a halfling in hiding!

[Cerelum]

You stole my question from ATS, I'm going to sue...

[daedroug]

I see your point.  Perhaps we could code in the "look north near" to see the whole room for near rooms only, which I still think would be cool, and then have something like you suggest on top of that to draw us in the direction of rooms that have things laying on the ground.

I'd say we select a generic phrase to insert for objects that are larger than a backpack (visible due to size) or smaller objects larger in number than 5 or 6 (visible due to sheer number).  Example: "There is <something> on the ground there."  "There are a few/many <somethings> on the ground there."  Then you walk closer and do a "look north near" to see the complete desc to realize that it was the corpse of a halfling, or perhaps the strewn contents of a backpack discarded on the ground.

Maybe you see the carnage one room away and decide to shit your pants before running.  Or maybe you run in to loot the corpse....only to discover it is a trap and are attacked by a halfling in hiding!

I wouldn't want to see a single pack. minimum I would be talking about a body plus all of it's gear counting as one thing big enough to be able to see from 1 room away by look direction. Much better to simply do them all as a whole and if everything in the room weighs enough you can see it from so and so distance.