Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!agate!shelby!portia.stanford.edu!elaine0.stanford.edu!draphsor From: draphsor@elaine0.stanford.edu (Matt Rollefson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games Subject: Re: RPG opinions (was Re: Programmer...) Message-ID: Date: 8 Nov 90 04:29:30 GMT References: <55634@brunix.UUCP> Sender: news@portia.Stanford.EDU (USENET News System) Organization: AIR, Stanford University Lines: 57 man@cs.brown.edu (Mark H. Nodine) writes: >In article , ck31+@andrew.cmu.edu (Christopher Bruce Kidwell) writes: >>[Discussion of 'problem' with being able to defeat multiple enemies.] >I'm not convinced that this is a problem that needs fixing. History is replete >with examples where a few people held off entire armies. For example, II Samuel 23 >lists some pretty great accomplishments, like Eleazar, who routed an entire army >after the rest of the Israelites had fled. There are modern-day examples, too, >like during the Mexican-American war, where a few sharpshooters turned away the >Mexican army by lying low in a reedy field and standing up only to shoot. >The problem with your argument is that even if 20 people came from all sides, you >probably couldn't get more than 4 of them close enough to do any damage at any >given time. If a single fighter is enough better than his opponents that he can >hold off four at a time (especially after the bodies start piling up), then he >can hold off indefinitely and keep smiting his foes until he tires. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Granted. But he's going to tire pretty quickly. All the massive enemy has to do is surround him and camp out. He can't kill them, because if he attacks anyone he lets down his guard and three other people attack him. They can defend themselves, and just wait till he has to go to sleep, if they can't tire him out by making him run around. Overwhelming numbers will win out every time, except in specific cases where the defender has an overwhelming tactical advantage. And even then, time will usually tell. CRPGs in general don't model fatigue in combat very well. On another note: How do you think the program should tell the player the state of his characters? As in, when they're wounded, tired, hungry, etc. Hit points are annoying aesthetically, but they're simple. What options are there besides numeric displays? Here are some of my thoughts: Graphical displays. Work the same as numeric, except you don't necessarily know what the maximum is. Not all that much an improvement aesthetically. Maintains simplicity and ease of use. Text alerts. Better, as it gives much more flexibility. (You are sorely wounded, you are about to die, etc.) But, can be extremely distracting and/or easy to miss. Difficult to integrate with a graphically-based game. Pretty pictures. These would be displayed when certain conditions occured. Again, disrupt the flow of the game, but they do make things more interesting. Direct Sensory Stimulation. If your character is thirsty, you're thirsty. If he gets wounded, you bleed. Too bad the technology isn't quite there yet... :) Any other thoughts? Comments? Etc? > --Mark -- Draphsor vo'drun-Aelf draphsor@portia.stanford.edu