Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas all, just last night got my machine setup dual boot, got gentoo and win xp on here now. XP is all set, but need to get gentoo working all nice so I can start my R&D stuff. Hopefully by the end of the week ill be moving ahead again. Also considering putting the old dynamic proto on my second machine and see if I can run it for the next month while im off of school. Anyone who use to help test or would like to play please express your interest here or get in touch with me so I can see if its worth it. Anyways, hope everyone has a great day/week.

-Toraux

Dynamic Spec Draft Complete!

Just finished the first draft of the spec.... printing as we speak(damn it took a while). I wrote up constructables tonight, which is the system that will cover constructing buildings, wagons, heavy weapons, and mines. The only really new thing people might not have heard of here is the blueprinting system for construction.

Blueprinting allows people specified by the tribe leaders to create plans for structures which mobs will try to complete, and players will be able to see and help work on as well. I really noticed during the prototype phase that group construction was hard if there wasnt very very low level micro management etc so this should help.

The spec is 61 pages at the moment. You can see it zoomed way out in the pic with this post. Ill be revising this over the month of January, and ill be working on finding the best system to design dynamic on in terms of programming language and other supporting architecture. Ill be reporting here as normal. Dont expect to hear from me until finals finish, time to buckle down. C-ya guys then.

-Toraux

Player Interface

This section basicly just outlined player accounts, prompts, etc. Not much to mention except for the following.

Players will own a single account, with a limited number of living player slots. They will also be able to purchase a warning system for this account. If their characters are at risk they may get an email or a text message etc.

We'll have custom prompts and a nice 3d hearing system.

Got 59 pages now and just constructables left. Ill write that up tomorrow or thursday, and post a screen of the zoomed out doc right after and get this printed for the next phase of editing. Finals and other tests starting next week too so ill be posting less for a bit. Once im done ill work on editing and testing languages and software stuff too. Laters.

-Toraux

Logging

Nothing big, basicly just outlined the logging section, not much of interest here except that it will log basicly anything and everything as well as track bugs and statistics. Got player interface and constructables left to do. When I complete the first draft I think ill get a screenshot up here of the document zoomed way out. Anyways, laters.

-Toraux

Events

Pretty busy today with all the hw. Did manage to write up the events section though. Basicly events will be preplanned occurances, they will be published in the book of prophecy mentioned earlier in the media stuff. These events may be triggered by various things etc. An evil magic user might unleash a demon, or an army might attack from afar. Staff members will monitor and track these potential happenings as well as make an attempt to guide events and keep the story fun.

Coolest idea I had with this was the method that staff will use to directly impact decisions. They will be able to play the concious(or lack of) in players with special commands, and trying their best to provoke them. They will also use a dream feature to make a player notice a message when they awake. They can reread it etc, but it will deteriorate each time it is read. This message will help show them the future or what they should do etc to try to get them to advance the story.

Anyways, three sections left, hopefully ill have more time tomorrow.
-Toraux

Effects

Effects include day/night cycles, weather, wind, and fire. Day and night will effect growth, and visibility at night etc. Might not see people on map at night smaller map maybe etc.

Weather is as is expected. Weather will damage items and wilderness rooms, impact growth, change visibilty, start fires, kill people etc. Heres a list of basic weather items:
Rain
Lightning
Hurricane
Tornado
Flood
Snow
Blizzard
Sandstorm

I also decided different areas will be predisposed to different weather, like wintery northern areas etc. Time of the game year will also impact weather.

Wind will effect weather and fire etc. My cool idea for wind is that it will be based on magic. Magic users, demons, magical events, fires, etc will all help to create high and low magic pressure areas. Wind will flow from high to low areas. This could cause players to notice large magical battles or demons or add to the enviornment or sense of urgency.

Fire will burn items, players, and the wilderness, it will spread based on fire, damage stuff and piss people off. Should be fun :P

Anyways up to 57 pages now, 4 items remain to be completed, expecting early next week ill be done with the first draft. Weeee! Laters.

-Toraux