re:Starting at levels greater than 1

[Raphael.Quinet@aachen.eed.ericsson.se]

On Fri, 9 Jun 1995 13:29:00 -0500, "tuan (t.) doan" <tdoan@bnr.ca> wrote:
>    If done correctly, the key could be simple word that can easily be memorized.
> For example, let the key be a quasi-unique 8 bit number generated in the same
> manner as CRC checksum.  Then use that number as an index to a file to return
> a meaningful word.  The file can be unique populated by the admin. and is very
> flexible.

Nice idea.  As you wrote, this adds more flexibility: the default file
(distributed with the game) would contain short English words, but the
maintainer of one server could replace them with horribly long names if he
wants to be sure that people won't guess them (this reminds me of some place
in the game).  I hope that most servers will use the default file if they
use the standard maps.

Actually, the player would have to remember two things: the level number and
the key, but that shouldn't be a problem.  When creating a new character,
the client would ask: "which level do you want to start at? [1]", and if the
player enters a number greater than one: "please enter your key:".  If the
index of the word matches the 8-bit CRC based on the player name and level,
then the player will start at that level (with the minimum amount of
experience corresponding to that level).  Unless there is a limit for the
highest level at which a player may start; if this is the case, a notification
will be displayed and the player will start at the maximum available.

-Raphael
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