How difficult would it be to add a Target Bar and percentage string to the prompt options?
I could express the value of such a tool, but feel most of you already understand the benefits.
Target Bar
As in target percentage?
Example:
[Exits: S]
Magick: [===|===|===|---][71]
Target: [===|===|---|---][52]
Exactly.
Not sure that's a good idea. The guess work in the different ranges in target status is, to my knowledge, intended.
31 minutes ago, Lloth said:
Not sure that's a good idea. The guess work in the different ranges in target status is, to my knowledge, intended.
I can see that. But I can not see how it would harm to have the bar without the percentage. The greatest affect would be the ease of knowing your target with Target Name.
32 minutes ago, Fool_Hardy said:
I can see that. But I can not see how it would harm to have the bar without the percentage. The greatest affect would be the ease of knowing your target with Target Name.
Part of the skill of PK, my dude. Gotta be able to figure out opponent's health(when not blinded), know if you need to re-target.. all that shizz. Player skill.
That same player skill used to alert you to current tank. Now we have a name tag, do you claim not to use it?
The name and health bar of the tank has been around since at least the middle of 2000. It's something completely different to having your opponents' health bar on show.
I wouldn't mind it if the target's health prompt were obfuscated if you can't see the target or their condition was otherwise hidden (mirror image or whatever).
Basically, if you could see the condition line in the round of combat, I'd have no problem with it in the prompt. I'd have a number of bars = the number of condition messages, without a percentage.
excellent, scratches, small wounds, quite a few wounds, nasty, pretty hurt, awful -- so seven bars? That way it would not give you any more information than is already provided.
Edited
While I can't speak about the MUD which FL's codebase has been stolen from, the vague description of the condition of your target has been around since the very start of this MUD.
How one interprets it is based on his own skill and has little to do with with showing the name of the Tank, which has always been there too.
There are some scripts out there, even some in the wiki, which will put percentage ranges next to the condition of your target, though, if that suits you. But the original designer of this game has never intended it to show the exact condition of your target. Otherwise he would have done so himself.
The condition descriptions go back to at least original DIKU and maybe further.
the "prompt" settings were not created by any other Diku based MUD. It was included in DIKU's base code, IIRC.
11 hours ago, Erelei said:
the "prompt" settings were not created by any other Diku based MUD. It was included in DIKU's base code, IIRC.
I thought speech came along years ago. I do not remember it before languages were created. Perhaps it was omitted waiting languages.
I know those like @Fireman believe that "seeing" who your target is should be a skill, and not added as a prompt feature.
However, we know our way of life (text based) is all but headed for extinction. This got me to playing with @Magick's prompts to see how I could improve the visual output without losing the flavor of text.
Utilizing multi-lines, and adding colors for most prompts and triggered things, I have changed the output to the point that my son 23 and my son-in-law 26 have both recently sat down and started watching me play.
They were actually the ones who said the game would be easier if you could track your enemies as well as the tanks. I offered the Idea because it seems like a tool that would aid new players in learning how to play.
Even if you do not add a "HP Tracker for the Opponent", Knowing who your are focused on would be useful to players both old and new.
This could be accomplished with triggers, as long as the client sees who you are fighting (aka not blind).
You can highlight/blink/underline the name of the enemy you are fighting, you could also store it as a variable and have it echoed in your client or even displayed as a button.
CMUD, which I use, as well as other clients are very powerful. Most of what you want does not need to be coded into the game when you can simply do it yourself.
19 minutes ago, Manual Labour said:
This could be accomplished with triggers, as long as the client sees who you are fighting (aka not blind).
You can highlight/blink/underline the name of the enemy you are fighting, you could also store it as a variable and have it echoed in your client or even displayed as a button.
CMUD, which I use, as well as other clients are very powerful. Most of what you want does not need to be coded into the game when you can simply do it yourself.
I really do not want to learn a new client, and reprogram 20 years of aliases/triggers/macros. But your starting to convince me. PM me a link to the client?
20 minutes ago, Fool_Hardy said:
I really do not want to learn a new client, and reprogram 20 years of aliases/triggers/macros. But your starting to convince me. PM me a link to the client?
It won't be that bad. I can help (and will, got something up my sleeve for just this occasion) with your C/Zmud queries and potential client translation help.
Just gimme a day or so to ready it.
I am also willing to help if you need it.
People say that MUDS are a dying breed of gameplay yet when players ask for simple 'optional features' they are shut down by old school minds who are unwilling to change with the times. A health bar on your opponent hurts NOTHING and offers NO advantage where 75% of 1500HP and 75% of 800HP still shows up on a health bar as 75%, what it does do is gives the players who want it a visual option.
Morphious: [===|===|==-|---]
<798/1324hp 1012/1012m 113/113mv> 13601tnl (5258gold) (16o'clock)autov
You choose to see your victims health bar.
Daryth, the Giant Priest [===|===|===|---]
Morphious: [===|===|=--|---]
<742/1324hp 1012/1012m 113/113mv> 13601tnl (5258gold) (16o'clock)autov
You will no longer see your victims health bar.
Daryth, the Giant Priest has quite a few wounds.
if (IS_GAME(ch,GAME_VICT_BAR))
{
buf[0] = UPPER(buf[0]);
health_prompt(buf, ch->fighting->hit, ch->fighting->max_hit, FALSE);
if (!is_affected(victim,gsn_mirror_image))
sendf( ch, "%s %s\n\r", PERS(victim,ch), buf );
}
else do the old thing
Every MUD has races and classes and clans and bla bla bla but not every MUD offers an alternate health prompt on your victim. New players to MUDS these days wont stick around long enough to learn 'how we did it back in the day', they will move on to another game where options are available. This victim health bar idea targets NEW players where the benefit to OLD players is they could likely have more people to play with.
Gameplay options 'especially visual ones' are never a bad thing where even if only 1 player uses it he becomes a happier player.
Why make @Fool_Hardy and other people like him "learn a new client, and reprogram 20 years of aliases/triggers/macros" when you can install and offer the option to everyone from this point onwards in less than 5 minutes.
UC
Like I said before, you can keep both sides happy with a condition prompt such as this:
Daryth, the Giant Priest: [===|===]
[===|===] excellent
[===|==-] few scratches
..
[---|---] awful
If can't see the target:
Something: [??|??|??]
If can see the target, but not the condition:
Daryth, the Giant Priest: [??|??|??]
People who want the condition in the prompt are happy because they get it. People who don't want to give any advantage to viewing conditions are also happy, because it is obfuscated when condition/target is normally hidden AND it does not give any more detailed information than the text description (same number of bars as conditions).
--
If implementing this, I'd also implement an option to suppress condition every round. That way you can keep it only in the prompt if you want, similar to brief mode. Anything to reduce combat round spam.
--
In the same vein, I'd also suggest an option to condense similar defenses with the same actors.
Monster parries Player's attack.
Monster parries Player's attack.
Monster dodges Player's attack.
to
Monster parries Player's attack. [2]
Monster dodges Player's attack. [1]
Adding the [1] when the mode is active even for single attacks is on purpose to ease eye tracking and to aid in counts.
--
Similarly, you can do the same thing with damage, if the source is the same in the same round.
Player's flaming bite grazes Monster.
Player's flaming bite hits Monster.
Player's stab scratches Monster.
to
Player's flaming bite injures Monster. [2] (combines damage)
Player's stab scratches Monster. [1]
--
These kinds of changes will do a lot to reduce combat spam without hurting the skill portion of the game.