10 réponses à ce sujet

[Otomo Tetsuo]

Unless I am missing something obvious - and please excuse the post if I am - there is no function to "Examine" creatures/characters in DAO. The standard NWN-style radial context menus allowed for this function (And a bit more creative writing IMO).
If it was decided not to carry over this design feature from previous BW releases, I am curious as to why.

I know there are a lot of gamers who never pay attention to this type of feedback, though I feel it was a worthy include (Dialogue and Descriptions have always been my favorite narrative tools). Having the option to provide minute details that are difficult to convey graphically, such as "You notice a steady trickle of blood coming from the forearm of this man." While it is possible that this could be handled from a conversation or a popup message of some sort, it seems a better choice to use descriptions. While some will avoid reading them like the plague, other players will turn to them in order to get one step closer to character immersion. Tell me the story through my character's eyes - tell me, what do I see?
Hopefully I am making a silly mistake and just can't find it.  I look forward to any feeback I receive, BW or otherwise.

Thank you.

[Otomo Tetsuo]

Ok so, just after hitting submit, it occurred to me what BW may be using as an alternate solution to Descriptions ... this would be the Journal and "Codex" style feedback features. I can see how it could be useful to have some of the information found in Descriptions handled in this way. It lends itself to archiving - allows you to build your own library of Zoology and People or Place-related Lore that you can return to at any time.

While I can see how this architecture can be adapted to cover a great deal of the functionality of descriptions, I am still not a big fan of the disconnect it creates in terms of gameplay. The in-game insta-click for information gathering method seems to be less jarring IMO ... while Examination only took a second or two, the time it takes to amble through the collection of journal entries/codex is far greater. This extended timeframe may detract from the fluidity of quest and scripted events IMO, where getting specific feedback to the player is time-sensitive. Why risk losing their attention to research of a topic that they could have received instantaneous feedback about instead?

And ... most to the point ... is it possible for us to create our own collection of "codex" and Journal categories outside of quest-specific entries?

This is all my opinion. Thank you for making a fantastic game. Long live BW.

-OT

[RecklezzRogue]

Hey OT...good points - I too agree that bouncing into the journal/codex tends to break up the flow...especially since I personally only play when I brain is cooked from modding...time to relax and enjoy the game.



That said - there are a couple of ways you could convey information about a character - here's what I would do (and yes, you can create your own codex entries based on whatever trigger mechanism you can script):



1 - For truly time critical observations, use a concise floaty message over the character, or over the hero. Use can actually get quite a few words out, control the color of the words, and how long they are visible, and, over whom they appear (and when/why). I would also do number 2 for same information (see below)



2 - Setup plot flags to be set when you want information conveyed to the player (set flags during dialgoue, use triggers, capture events, etc). The action of the plot flag could be to either update the journal, or update the codex, or both (script). The player will see a message that the codex or journal has been updated and then has the option for a few seconds to click on the indicator (lower left of screen) and be sent directly to the update.



As I never played NWN, (I was hooked on Oblivion & COD-MW), I can't really relate to the comparison...but hopefully I did understand the intent!

[-Semper-]

there is the option to examine items. right click it and there should be a symbol of a loupe. indeed it's hardly used by bioware. i used it myself - pretty old school. with the help of the toolset you are able to drop a text there like in the good ol' days^^

oh, you ment creatures. guess i missread your whole point

Modifié par -Semper-, 30 avril 2010 - 08:50 .

[RecklezzRogue]

interesting semper...I was using diaglogue on a placeable to get that result (item description)...I didn't know about the right click thing......

[Otomo Tetsuo]

I have noticed that some placeables have a tooltip-style popup that is visible after a second or two of Mouse-Over. (I don't mean the placeables Name Value - the "tooltips" appear to the lower-right of the UI) If it were possible to incorporate this feature on creatures as well, then bingo bango, case is closed .. it would be even easier to provide instantaneous feedback to the player. They wouldn't even have to right-click.

[RecklezzRogue]

well - you could have a floaty message trigger on proximity (I haven't done that yet, but I think there is an event for mousing over creatures). I'll try some of this is my campaign and post some code (unless someone beats me to it - I am working cutscenes right now...total noob).

[Otomo Tetsuo]

Ok I see the basic difference in the placeable and creature "descriptions". Creatures have a Description property, while Placeables have a Popup Text property. How far down the rabbit hole would I have to go to add a Popup Text property to the Creature class, I wonder ... ideas? Anyone?

Edit: Spelling

Modifié par Otomo Tetsuo, 03 mai 2010 - 08:37 .

[RecklezzRogue]

Otomo - that's what I was trying to get you to with a floaty message that triggers on proximity or mouse over on the creature...I just have not quite gotten to doing an example....you could also use setname I think...not the effect you want?

btw - this would be handled in the creature script...

Modifié par RecklezzRogue, 03 mai 2010 - 11:38 .

[Otomo Tetsuo]

It is close. If we could get it to populate the same static text box in the lower-right corner of the screen it would be serving the purpose I am aiming for. I wouldn't want a text box to pop-up over the creature's head though, no. The less obscuring to the player's vision, the better, imo.

[RecklezzRogue]

I agree --- as I work through my module I will keep this in mind and let you know if I happen to figure it out..there must be a way.