Message system / Player interaction

[mindphaser]

So how exactly will the message system work?  Will it be possible to ignore users who are on at the same time?  From what I saw, I thought it worked great.

I'm also curious as to how players will be able to interact.  My major concern is how PvP combat will work.  As I don't think it'd be too fair if a level 5 player just waited outside the complex to take on all the new recruits...

-mp

[Tarix]

So how exactly will the message system work?  Will it be possible to ignore users who are on at the same time?  From what I saw, I thought it worked great.

This is a huge "I don't know".  I put something in there so I could start playing with it.  I'm not 100% satisfied with it because it's so easy to lose messages while you are running around the wastelands.  I'm open to suggestions for improvements.

I'm also curious as to how players will be able to interact.  My major concern is how PvP combat will work.  As I don't think it'd be too fair if a level 5 player just waited outside the complex to take on all the new recruits...

Most likely for a long time you will not be able to directly fight a player who is currently online.  We would like to add this feature in the future however.

I'll be sure and add this after the entire game is actually working so that all the players can discuss this topic to death.

My current idea?  Have negative XP if you kill people too much lower than you.  Not being able to kill people just seems against the original spirit of the game.  Also, the gate guard would protect the area immediately around the complex.  Just like he protects that area from base building.

[mindphaser]

This is a huge "I don't know".  I put something in there so I could start playing with it.  I'm not 100% satisfied with it because it's so easy to lose messages while you are running around the wastelands.  I'm open to suggestions for improvements.

Well, sounds like a message log is the way to go.  Maybe instead of displaying the message on the screen while somoene's walking around, you can flash a light up on the movement screen.  Or even devote a portion of the screen to the message log, which can get updated independantly of the main screen  (Who says you can't expand the display window? )

My current idea?  Have negative XP if you kill people too much lower than you.  Not being able to kill people just seems against the original spirit of the game.  Also, the gate guard would protect the area immediately around the complex.  Just like he protects that area from base building.

Well I agree that players should be able to kill each other.  I'm also of the opinion that it's Humanity vs Hydrites / Wasteland mutants & that PVP shouldn't overshadow that.  So yeah negative Exp for attacking anyone lower then you is a good idea.  However if someone with lower experience then you initiates the fight then positive exp could be given (based on the opponents skill of course).  However now that I think about it, I'm not sure if negative experience would be enough to offset the permanent stat loss incurred by the less experienced recruit.  

On a side note, there could also be a game in the gaming room where arena fights could be done for profit so that maybe players could get a feel for how they stack up without any risk of exp/equipment/stat loss....

[Tarix]

Well, sounds like a message log is the way to go.  Maybe instead of displaying the message on the screen while somoene's walking around, you can flash a light up on the movement screen.  Or even devote a portion of the screen to the message log, which can get updated independantly of the main screen  (Who says you can't expand the display window? )

There in a new command in Build 0028 that shows you the last five messages you got.  It can easily be expanded if that doesn't prove to be enough.  It only works in the wastelands right now, but I could easily add it to other menus.

I've though about expanding the display, but I'd like to hold off on that for now.  In this age of windows it seems like an 80x50 screen could easily be a recommendation for best gameplay experience.

Well I agree that players should be able to kill each other.  I'm also of the opinion that it's Humanity vs Hydrites / Wasteland mutants & that PVP shouldn't overshadow that.  So yeah negative Exp for attacking anyone lower then you is a good idea.  However if someone with lower experience then you initiates the fight then positive exp could be given (based on the opponents skill of course).  However now that I think about it, I'm not sure if negative experience would be enough to offset the permanent stat loss incurred by the less experienced recruit.

I think the penalties for a PvP death are going to have to be different.  Maybe no stat loss and instant or near instant resurrection?  This would make it a little more sporty.  Also, maybe no PvP at all on Level 1?   I think I kind of like where this is going!

On a side note, there could also be a game in the gaming room where arena fights could be done for profit so that maybe players could get a feel for how they stack up without any risk of exp/equipment/stat loss....

Absolutely.  This is a must.

[TracerFox]

Well, sounds like a message log is the way to go.  Maybe instead of displaying the message on the screen while somoene's walking around, you can flash a light up on the movement screen.  Or even devote a portion of the screen to the message log, which can get updated independantly of the main screen  (Who says you can't expand the display window? )

There in a new command in Build 0028 that shows you the last five messages you got.  It can easily be expanded if that doesn't prove to be enough.  It only works in the wastelands right now, but I could easily add it to other menus.

I've though about expanding the display, but I'd like to hold off on that for now.  In this age of windows it seems like an 80x50 screen could easily be a recommendation for best gameplay experience.

Okay, I know that this topic is a few months old, but figured I'd pipe up with a suggestion of my own.

Instead of displaying messages from other players immediately, why not have them stored in a buffer similar to the 'wristwatch' messages you get for going up a level and such.

I'm sure everyone remembers getting to level two and seeing that flashing 'You have an incoming transmission %' message every time they moved afterwards right?

Why can't you do something similar for 'instant messages' in OOII? When a player recieves a message, have that % indicator show up every screen refresh until the key is pressed to recieve and acknowledge the message?

[mindphaser]

Why can't you do something similar for 'instant messages' in OOII? When a player recieves a message, have that % indicator show up every screen refresh until the key is pressed to recieve and acknowledge the message?

Well I was pretty impressed with the realtime messaging.  Granted, there's a possibilty that you might miss a message if you're not reading what's on the screen, but then you're not really playing the game right if you're not reading everything that comes at you!  

Initially I thought the same as you, to have a seperate section for messages but like I said I was impressed when I tried out the realtime code that Tarix put in.  The only drawback would be to see how well it works under load..ie with 10 or 20 people messaging at once it might not be scale very well, but for 2-3 people it worked great.

-mp