scheduling

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Argh
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scheduling

Post by Argh »

Hi again!

I have the idea of a global schedule that affects the npcs and other things in the world.
This might my not very realistic but it would bring real life into The Mana World:
The schedule would include events(these arrive or last for a defined time span) which have targets(these could be a creature, all creatures in a special area, or other things like the "weather", in general what ever you want).
I imagine a schedule file looking like the following (just a plan)

Code: Select all

// general stuff:
year * // the "*" means that every year will be affected
	|_ month *
		|_ week *
			|_ day *
				|_ hour *
					|_ minute *: all_creatures->fulfill_needs() // every living creature not controlled by the player has the task to fulfill its needs, if not specialized further

// now the specialization is following:
year *
	|_ month *
		|_ week *
			|_ day 0-4 // all_npcs->do_your_job() // npcs do their daily job (appropriate job script are called) in the week, otherwise they just fulfill their needs)

// and now something different
year *
	|_ month 12 // if you let the following "week" out it will take all the days of the month, instead the days of a week, in account
		|_ day 24: set_special_day("christmas") // xmas time...
it would also be possible with this to change the weather and/or the seasons...

Okay as I said its just an idea, maybe you can somehow benefit from it.

Oh about the jobs: A very simple plan for a jobscript could look like that:
What first would be needed where special areas that are related to character (he owns his homeplace-area, there it is furthermore easier to him to fulfill his needs).
[9:00] go_to_area("workplace")
[9:30] work()
[18:00] go_to_area("homeplace")
...all the unassigned time he would use to fulfill his needs.
imorgado
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Yeah

Post by imorgado »

This should be funny.

But we should add some randomness.

there is some days that we don't want wake up to go to work, or we want sleep just more 5 minutes ;-)
Argh
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Post by Argh »

Yes indeed such randomness would be more realistic :D.
But as I said above, this all is just a raw idea, so there are many points unclear or not included: A problem with the current concept would definitely be that if something holds off a npc from doing it stuff all his plans would get disarranged: imagine an npc is out for the walk to his workplace and you talk to him some minutes - then he would miss his event for starting his work and possibly would start doing strange things (oder triing to to them) on the street :wink:

So, maybe it would be better to let every npc know about his plans so that he for him self knows how long he will have to go to his workplace and starts some minutes early to be there when it starts - same goes with getting to bed so that he can wake up early to get everything managed in time(maybe he could randomly oversleep to bring some dynamic into the world).

I also thought about how a npc would manage his daily life: for example he would recognize things around him: i.e. he's at his place, where are some objects hes allowed to use (he's the owner): a chair, a bed, some breads and a glass of wine. Because he is not currently bound to any task, he starts to fulfill his needs: he drinks and eats. Then he notices he his tired and goes to bed.

A problem would then be then, what would happen if he finds nothing to eat - a solution would be to give the npc a list of places in their city where they get the goods they need to manage their daily life.

Actually, the most interesting I find about this schedule is the possibilty to create special days as I said above: for exemple a "market day" where all the npcs meet in a special area in the city to trade (and - because they enjoy that day - have better prices), or a "Day of the King" with festivals and maybe little fun games, quiz games with real players as the quizmaster, a bow&arrow-contest, player-vs-player-show-matches, and all this naturally with special prizes like unique or funny items, or simply money.

Wow, I begin to zone out :) better stop now.
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Bjørn
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Post by Bjørn »

One thing though. Do players need to eat, drink and sleep? I'm assuming not, so I fail to see why NPCs need to, besides the fact that it's interesting to make the world feel alive.

If we go with a day/night cycle, which at the moment seems unlikely simply because of performance reasons, I do think shops could open/close at appropriate times and most people will be inside at night, and with monsters lurking closer to town.
Argh
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Post by Argh »

Do players need to eat, drink and sleep?
No, I think I said that in the needs-suggestion :)
The only two needs that I think are useful for a player are stamina(so resting is needed after long runs) and fatigue(sleeping), alway care to eat and drink would mean no fun, so I think this should be maybe happen automaticly in the backround without influencing tha players actions.
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Rotonen
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Post by Rotonen »

If we had a day/night rythm, there would have to be at least 2 shops in every city that's large enough and the time when shops are closed should be minimal.. Let's say about 5 minutes between the 2 shops when there is no shop open. (In smaller cities it could be a realistic nuisance that you cannot find everything you want to 24/7)
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Kyokai
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Post by Kyokai »

I've played games wih that sort of day/night system, and it doesn't add a whole lot to the game. All the shops tend to close when you need them most, and you have to wait like 15 minutes to buy the stuff you've been wanting so long. Also, day/night could be difficult to implement considering the type of graphics system we're working on.
The Mana World System Coordinator.
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So what does the systems coordinator actually do? My job is to take your ideas for TMW and build them into working aspects of gameplay that can be implemented by the artists and programmers. If there's anything you think we can do better or differently, let me know.
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Rotonen
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Post by Rotonen »

Yeah, agreeing on the fact that the day/night rythm wouldn't really bring anything relevant, new or great to the game.
Unless the entire world would revolve around it so there'd be different monsters out during nighttime and different types of skills/magic would be more efficent during nighttime and vice versa..
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Kyokai
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Post by Kyokai »

I think a seasons system would be alot more useful for rotating shop stocks and the types of monsters that appear on the world map.
The Mana World System Coordinator.
View the Systems
So what does the systems coordinator actually do? My job is to take your ideas for TMW and build them into working aspects of gameplay that can be implemented by the artists and programmers. If there's anything you think we can do better or differently, let me know.
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