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Re: Scale




> I agree that it would be annoying for it to take a lot of real time to 
> travel between towns, 

Well, the distances between towns needn't be THAT large.  Has anyone on this
list ever played Ultima 7?  One of the more noticable map differences from
Ultima 6 was that the towns took up much more space while the map itself
seemed to shrink, leaving less room to travel between towns (I kinda liked
it, even though it felt small after 6).  Having played games like these,
I find the "one-scale" map system to feel much more "natural".  If you
really worry about the distances being too large, you can always take some
precautions to make sure that they aren't too large or can be crossed faster
somehow (see below).  I think this would make crossfire seem more "natural"
(as opposed to "realistic", which no D&D-style game could ever hope to be).
Plus, random monster encounters would be better.  I find the current system
to be somewhat lacking.  I just don't like the idea of going to some place
(like the church graveyard in the Tabbland town) and having the 'large'
random encounter areas pop up (in fact, I find the map change accompanying
such encounters a bit annoying).  They should just appear when you're passing
through an area, IMHO.  And not on such small maps.  Any change for a
"one-scale-fits-all" map system gets my vote.

Also, there has been some (good) argument against making lots of nearby towns
which would allow wealthy adventureres to quickly buy whatever items they
wanted by just "shopping around".  If it takes a few minutes (of real
time) to go from one town to the next, players would be more discouraged
from doing this.  Right now it requires very little time to visit Scorn,
Santo Dominion, Navar City, and Tabbland in succession unless I am
carrying too much junk.

> and I don't reccommend changing "screen" movement speeds (i.e. squares

Agreed.  (Although there is no such consideration if only one map scale
is used.)

> per second) on the different maps.  I do think that over time we could
> significantly enhance the atmosphere of the game by tying other pieces of
> game-play to the map scale, the two examples I can think of off the top of

Again, this is something of a moot point if only one scale exists, but if
you use something like the current multi-scale system, I agree.  Lighting
should also be easier (scale-less anyway) on a one-scale system.

> code can start to make use of it.  I can envision eventually adding modes
> of transportation to the game that affect a players speed at different
> scales, for example if a player owns a horse she could use it to move
> more quickly on the world map than someone on foot but would have no
> benefit inside a building (because she'd have to leave the horse outside.)
> Magic carpets, stagecoaches, boats (for going up rivers) could all be
> included for variety.

Yes!  The magic carpet in Ultima 7 was great.  It allowed much faster
travel (and was rather safe from monsters), but had it's limitations
(couldn't land over rough terrain, for example).  Boats are also a great
idea.  One of the map-making guides recommends against creating maps with
remote islands which are only accessible by ship or dragon transport
(which operate more like a teleporter right now than anything else).  But
if you had to use a boat to get to the island (and maybe talk to some
people beforehand to find out where it was located), that would really
enhance the game atmosphere.  I think more "exploration" and "quest"
features (more like a traditional adventure game) could be added to the
game without detracting from the "arcade" features.


And one last thing: how feasible would it be to have NPC's that sell
"black market" merchandise?  I am thinking that it might be neat to
have someone (who you would have to find) that sold a few (maybe even
only one, but changing every now and then) better-than-average magic
items.  With a substantial markup, no doubt (maybe 200% value or more).
This would allow a character to buy items that might be a little more
powerful than those found in normal shops (except maybe Lord of the Rings,
where I once saw really nice ring but I just didn't have the 60000
platinum!), but with limited (rotating) selection and at higher prices.
I guess this would be implemented like a small shop.  Any thoughts?  I think
it would add a little more atmosphere.  (If you really want more atmosphere,
you could have "live" NPC's like in Ultima 6, but that would definitely add
to the server's overhead in addition to requiring day/night changes.)


-Michael