Armageddon General Discussion Board

General => Code Discussion => Topic started by: Northlander on August 27, 2009, 06:15:36 PM

Title: The echo "you"
Post by: Northlander on August 27, 2009, 06:15:36 PM
The simplest way of phrasing this idea is that I'd like everything that currently echoes 'you' to instead echo my character's sdesc. This would further my enjoyment of the world by putting it into the natural phrases of a story.

Currently, it's like this:

You type:
>draw warsword

You see:
You draw a serrated bone warsword.

The room sees:
The awesome woman draws a serrated bone warsword.

With changes according to to the suggestion, it would echo as the latter sentence to everyone who sees the action, including the player whose character draws the weapon.

Currently, it's like this:

He types:
>emote sits down next to ~woman

You see:
The wonderful man sits down next to you.

The room sees:
The wonderful man sits down next to the awesome woman.

With changes according to the suggestion, it would echo 'The wonderful man sits down next to the the awesome woman' to every player who sees the action.

                               

With those basics out of the way, let's delve a bit deeper into the idea. Some actions produce very different echoes to the room than they do to the players of the involved characters - spice and combat skills come to mind. Some echoes are only directed to the player, such as some spice effects, and sometimes when a character is poisoned. I think it'd be nice to see all of them in third person. Beyond "story-mode", an added benefit would be to know what the room is reacting to.
   As for combat skills, this is pretty simple: the three echoes of the 'kick' command, one to the kicker, one to the recipient, one to the onlooker, could easily be brought together into one echo showed to everyone.
   Echoes which are only given to one player could be put in parenthesis, and echoes which are one kind to the affected character and another to the onlooker, for a good reason, can echo both to the player of the affected character. The 'personal' one could then be in parenthesis.

A simple example. Currently, it's like this:

You type:
>eat poison

You see:
You don't feel so good.

With changes according to the suggestion, you would see:

(The tall, muscular woman doesn't feel so good.)
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: jhunter on August 27, 2009, 06:19:54 PM
I find it more immersive when the game refers to "me" as if I'm my character. So, I would have to say no.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: MarshallDFX on August 27, 2009, 06:25:54 PM
I'd actually rather it go the other way.  I find it jarring when I see "The tall, muscular man pats the hilt of your badass sword" instead of "You pat the hilt of your badass sword".  But at the same time, I'd rather it not be changed, because sometimes it's the only way I remember to remove my mask/facewrap/hood.

Edit to also add: Seeing the word "you" is a good way to make sure you pay attention.  Anybody ever try to read what they see on the screen out loud?  Man, sdescs get tedious.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: The7DeadlyVenomz on August 27, 2009, 06:36:09 PM
Yeh, I have to agree ... I would rather pronouns were universally fixed, rather than changing that to sdesc and third-person pronouns.

So when I do emotes, I'd rather see, "You grin at the lanky man", instead of our current situation.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: Pale Horse on August 27, 2009, 06:41:54 PM
  I've toyed with the idea of somehow setting it up so that I see my character's short description instead of "you" a time or two, simply because it underscores the fact that I am not my character and shouldn't be playing them as "me", as my mind tends to slip towards, when I keep seeing "you, you, you, you."
  At the same time, I have to agree that it's easier to recognize when your character is being interacted with, by focusing on the "you" that pops up.

  If I remember right, the ability to change your personal perspective between first, second, or third person is going to be a feature of Arm 2.0
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: Lizzie on August 27, 2009, 06:42:12 PM
Except it'd end up reading:

The blue eyed man grin at the lanky man.

To everyone except you.

Notice the lack of "s" at the end of grin.

It's an issue with conjugating verbs. One of three people (you, the target, or the witness) will see it wrong, no matter how you do it.

Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: MarshallDFX on August 27, 2009, 07:05:38 PM
Quote from: Lizzie on August 27, 2009, 06:42:12 PM
Except it'd end up reading:

The blue eyed man grin at the lanky man.

To everyone except you.

Notice the lack of "s" at the end of grin.

It's an issue with conjugating verbs. One of three people (you, the target, or the witness) will see it wrong, no matter how you do it.

Good call.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: Gimfalisette on August 27, 2009, 07:18:55 PM
I want the game to show me "you" in real time, with the ability to output to two logs at a time, one using "you" and one using a third-person view.

Yeah, I'm high-maintenance.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: Aaron Goulet on August 27, 2009, 07:46:58 PM
Quote from: Gimfalisette on August 27, 2009, 07:18:55 PM
I want the game to show me "you" in real time, with the ability to output to two logs at a time, one using "you" and one using a third-person view.

Yeah, I'm high-maintenance.

Gimfalisette, you are a coder's worst nightmare.

While the idea of having output formatted in third-person perspective would be useful for making logs more readable, I feel that, as MarshallDFX had mentioned, the use of "you" does catch your eye, which is especially handy when you have a wall of text scrolling down your screen at impossible speeds.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: a strange shadow on August 27, 2009, 07:51:05 PM
Quote from: Pale Horse on August 27, 2009, 06:41:54 PM
If I remember right, the ability to change your personal perspective between first, second, or third person is going to be a feature of Arm 2.0

Yup. It's on the blog somewhere. It accounts for the 'grin/s' problem. So you can have your cake and eat/s it, too.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: Lizzie on August 27, 2009, 08:25:39 PM
Quote from: a strange shadow on August 27, 2009, 07:51:05 PM
Quote from: Pale Horse on August 27, 2009, 06:41:54 PM
If I remember right, the ability to change your personal perspective between first, second, or third person is going to be a feature of Arm 2.0

Yup. It's on the blog somewhere. It accounts for the 'grin/s' problem. So you can have your cake and eat/s it, too.

You mean you can have/has your cake and eat/s it too :)

I'm referring of course to the typical scene where you approach/es me, at which point I give/s you the item you now have/has.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: musashi on August 27, 2009, 08:28:03 PM
Just wanted to chime in and say we get to have our cake and eat it too come 2.arm.

Morgenes already said there will be a feature where you can toggle whether the world refers to your PC in 1st, or 3rd person.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: Northlander on August 28, 2009, 03:11:16 AM
That's pretty darn cool, right there. Thanks for informing me :)
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: AreteX on August 28, 2009, 11:40:03 AM
The less I see my characters sdesc the better, only because sometimes in crowded situations it gets confusing to see my sdesc included with others... much harder to separate things happening to you.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: Morgenes on August 28, 2009, 03:32:41 PM
For the record, the perspective command in Arm 2 supports first (I/me), second (you), and third (sdesc), it handles verb conjugation so long as you specify it in the third person as you do today.

So you must do your emotes like:

> emote smiles at ~bob.
You smile at the talk, dark, and handsome man.


Note that if you use the second/first person:

> emote smile at ~bob.
You smile at the tall, dark, and handsome man.


It looks right to you, but everyone else will see:

The short, stubby man smile at the tall, dark, and handsome man.

So long as you can keep the Arm 1 mindset in how you phrase your emotes, you'll get your cake and eat it too in Arm 2.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: brytta.leofa on August 28, 2009, 03:47:41 PM
I still want everything in third-person past-tense:

The tall, muscular man leapt viciously at the rugged, war-braided woman, but a vine-broidered cotton skirt got in the way.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: Morgenes on August 28, 2009, 05:56:10 PM
Quote from: brytta.leofa on August 28, 2009, 03:47:41 PM
I still want everything in third-person past-tense:

The tall, muscular man leapt viciously at the rugged, war-braided woman, but a vine-broidered cotton skirt got in the way.

sorry, not likely to happen
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: Delstro on August 28, 2009, 11:40:08 PM
I could not handle what the OP wants. I always just watch the mud and look for "You, "your", and anything else that specifically means me.
I have been in two situations where I was in the same room as someone with the same ldesc. If it was always third person, I'd never know if they meant me, or if they meant that other person that looks exactly like me.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: musashi on August 29, 2009, 12:12:24 AM
I would like to know though, if the new game will be able to handle instances like this:

emote glances over at ~person as #person stirs.

In the current system ... that has to look bad for someone.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: Aaron Goulet on August 29, 2009, 05:12:27 AM
Quote from: musashi on August 29, 2009, 12:12:24 AM
I would like to know though, if the new game will be able to handle instances like this:

emote glances over at ~person as #person stirs.

In the current system ... that has to look bad for someone.

That'd be the recipient, who sees "you stirs" instead of "you stir".
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: musashi on August 29, 2009, 08:39:51 AM
Or it looks bad for you (and all 3rd party people) if you decide to leave the "stir" instead.

Either way, I'm wondering if that can be fixed in reborn.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: Morgenes on August 29, 2009, 01:12:06 PM
Quote from: musashi on August 29, 2009, 12:12:24 AM
I would like to know though, if the new game will be able to handle instances like this:

emote glances over at ~person as #person stirs.

In the current system ... that has to look bad for someone.

In Arm 2, here it is from each person's point of view (all set to 2nd person perspective), first the actor:

> emote glances over at ~kid as #kid stirs
You glance over at the fat kid as he stirs.


Now, from the fat kid's perspective:

The tall, dark and handsome man glances over at you as you stir.

And from everyone else in the room's perspective:

The tall, dark and handsome man glances over at the fat kid as he stirs.

So the short answer would be 'yes, Reborn handles this'
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: Kol on August 29, 2009, 01:53:24 PM
 :o

This just makes me want to lather my skull in barbeque sauce and hand myself over to the staff.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: musashi on August 29, 2009, 07:57:51 PM
That is pretty sexy, I admit.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: Xio on August 30, 2009, 12:32:17 AM
I think this could/would be a pain in the genital regions of your fingers. But it'd be nice IMO if there was some toggle somewhere for seeing things in pure Third-person, or from your character's perspective. Personally, it makes RP a bit easier for me if I'm looking at it from third-person. Doesn't mess with my immersion, just changes my mental approach so I don't slip my own personal feelings and such into my RP.

This proposal is for Arm 2.0, by the by
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: FantasyWriter on August 30, 2009, 08:03:01 AM
Quote from: Xio on August 30, 2009, 12:32:17 AM
Personally, it makes RP a bit easier for me if I'm looking at it from third-person. Doesn't mess with my immersion, just changes my mental approach so I don't slip my own personal feelings and such into my RP.

Same here.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: myg76 on August 30, 2009, 02:20:43 PM
Not seeing "you"s when talking to 2-3 people with same height as yours and same cloaks with hoods up -will- be tricky.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: FantasyWriter on August 30, 2009, 04:09:39 PM
What's really cool is when you've been playing with the same group for long enough that you still know who's saying what because you recognize their speech patterns.
Title: Re: The echo "you"
Post by: Morgenes on August 30, 2009, 04:53:56 PM
I hear you (Xio) say:

Quote from: Xio on August 30, 2009, 12:32:17 AM
I think this could/would be a pain in the genital regions of your fingers. But it'd be nice IMO if there was some toggle somewhere for seeing things in pure Third-person, or from your character's perspective. Personally, it makes RP a bit easier for me if I'm looking at it from third-person. Doesn't mess with my immersion, just changes my mental approach so I don't slip my own personal feelings and such into my RP.

This proposal is for Arm 2.0, by the by

I'm trying to figure out how what I said here, doesn't fulfill this desire:

Quote from: Morgenes on August 28, 2009, 03:32:41 PM
For the record, the perspective command in Arm 2 supports first (I/me), second (you), and third (sdesc), it handles verb conjugation so long as you specify it in the third person as you do today.

So you must do your emotes like:

> emote smiles at ~bob.
You smile at the talk, dark, and handsome man.


Note that if you use the second/first person:

> emote smile at ~bob.
You smile at the tall, dark, and handsome man.


It looks right to you, but everyone else will see:

The short, stubby man smile at the tall, dark, and handsome man.

So long as you can keep the Arm 1 mindset in how you phrase your emotes, you'll get your cake and eat it too in Arm 2.