Favorite Minigames
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@faraday said in Favorite Minigames:
I've +scavenged seven times this month and all I keep getting is this lousy Cheese Hat.
Weighted systems.
WEIGHTED SYSTEMS.
Holy shit, I didn't think of this before.
Mind you, you can't weigh it too much. That is, reset the weight when you get a result that isn't Junk Roll.
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An example "Lay Pool" location that was designed for The Reach looked vaguely like this:
- Gain X Mana per week
- When Mana > Y, increase X
- When X > Z, spawn another Locus at 1
Everyone with any sense of systems can see the immediate problem with this. What I wanted to develop was a balance to it, so that it would never spawn until players got involved. In fact, letting a nexus stay around could spawn negative...mobs? Spirits? Effects? But not so much so that the game would be overrun, because the point is to let a system tick over day by day, week by week, to give players something to do.
Thinking of RPGs as MMOs puts a lot of clarification on Mu* design.
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Considering the similarities to early edition MMO's (and even many current ones) to the Diku/Rom method of combat and mob respawning and all of that, it makes a lot of sense. The MMO is definitely very similar to a MUD with a very enhanced graphical interface.
Obviously more complex, due to moving bits and whatnot but in the end... very similar in design just different in scope.
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I have always described MMOs as graphical MUDs, I know that isn't exactly correct but it was my first thought when a friend first showed me Everquest way back in the days before WoW and every video I have seen of wow leads me to think the same thing. (Granted Modern MMOs are a lot deeper and slicker than MUDs so I should likely change that to MMOs are graphical MUDs made by professionals instead of hobbyists.)
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@thatguythere everquest definitely had the adversarial feel I associate with MUDs
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Everquest was basically a graphical DikuMUD and the designers have stated as much in interviews. Some people even accused them of stealing code from DikuMUD though this was refuted.
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MMOs exist because of MUD, which exists because of Adventure!, which exists because of Colossal Cave which exists because of Zork.
In the end, all things online are Zork.
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@thenomain said in Favorite Minigames:
Thinking of RPGs as MMOs puts a lot of clarification on Mu* design.
Y'all are just kind of reinforcing the point here that these minigames are more of a MUD/MMO/RPI thing Which is not to say MUSHes can't have them too, of course, just touches on why some folks feel it's out of place.
If I want to do a farm sim, I'll go play Farmville. If I want to grind mobs, I'll go play a MMO. MUSHes offer something different, and I don't think they can really compete. Anything we do would feel like a pale knockoff of what else is out there. (And the cynic in me says: probably also be horribly broken/unbalanced.)
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@thenomain said in Favorite Minigames:
Adventure!
If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck - it must be a dragon. I have an Atari 2600 that is still operational, I may have to fire it up now.
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@thenomain said in Favorite Minigames:
In the end, all things online are Zork.
Colossal Cave Adventure came first (1976 versus Zork's 1977).</geek nitpick>
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I feel that Zork bends time and space. I kind of knew that, but wanted my reality to be true.
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And Colossal Cave Adventure was based on Mammoth Cave and D&D. So we have Kentucky and Wisconsin to thank for MU*s.
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Xyzzy
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@ominous said in Favorite Minigames:
So we have Kentucky and Wisconsin to thank for MU*s.
This makes as much sense as anything.
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Having done a poker game tonight with some improvised rolls (Luck and Wits/Intellect, then people doing social rolls as they like for their poker faces and/or bluffing), I do really like IC game minigames.
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@faraday said in Favorite Minigames:
If I want to do a farm sim, I'll go play Farmville. If I want to grind mobs, I'll go play a MMO.
Do we need to have Farmville AND an MMO AND a MUSH if we want to roleplay the results of killing a mob that interfered with our farm sim?
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@jennkryst said in Favorite Minigames:
Do we need to have Farmville AND an MMO AND a MUSH if we want to roleplay the results of killing a mob that interfered with our farm sim?
If that's what (generic) you wants, you should make it. I'm just expressing my preference. I think we've seen that a dilution of focus makes for a worse experience because game designers and coders can't reasonably be expected to be great at everything. They could add mob AI to FarmVille, sure, but it probably would be poor compared to the experience in a MMO. People do try to "RP" in WoW, but it's not really what most MUSHers would consider RP. And so on.
ETA: Also I think it becomes a culture issue. How many folks want to do farm sim stuff, AND don't mind if zombies invade their vegetable garden while they're planting potatoes, AND want to roleplay about it? Hey, if you can pull off a game like that, more power to you. But I'm skeptical.
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@faraday said in Favorite Minigames:
can't reasonably be expected to be great at everything
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Follow up statement: If you have to do any of it, is it a mini game? (That’s a statement because it’s not really to you, but is one of the ongoing uncertainties I have with the thread.)
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@thenomain Dunno. Think that distinction is in the eye of the beholder.
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@faraday said in Favorite Minigames:
@thenomain Dunno. Think that distinction is in the eye of the beholder.
Too many eyes.