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[Harlander]

Hi folks.

One thing I've been itching to ask for a while is about the game interface. What plans exist for it?

Also, the maps in-game. Would it be possible for them to only display areas you've seen, or own a map of? (And then you could end up buying less accurate maps to save a few coins, and the map conveniently leaves out the huge orc camp, the swamp with the grabbing tentacles, the sheer 90,000 metre drop, etc..)

Talking of maps, some civilizations or even individual cities might have groups of people specifically chosen by the ruling body for a certain task:
official map makers, official architects, official civil engineering teams, artificiers who are by appointment to the ruling body, a state-sponsored group of healers, etc...

Anyway, the 'ruler-approved' stuff could be of higher quality than your average junk (but they'd probably cost extra)

Could a civilization be, for example, a democracy, or a commune with equal division of labour?

Um...

Well, that's it for now.

[Toady One]

I actually don't have a solid plan for the interface, aside from the recognition that it needs works.  Part of the reason for this is that I'd like feedback from everybody on this -- what sorts of interfaces are you most comfortable with?  If you've seen my earlier versions, you might be in a better position to answer this.  I was originally aiming for a rogue-like interface (predominantly keyboard with simple menus), but the game has grown out of the rogue-like mold.  The interface will probably end up being mouse-driven with keyboard short-cuts.  It will need to be highly customizable, since the number of actions has already begun to surpass the number of keys.  I'll add mouse support and a straight-forward menu system into the next version, and we'll see where we all take it from there.  A lot of otherwise decent games have suffered from horrible interfaces, and I'm determined to see that it doesn't happen here.

Cheap inaccurate maps would be a great addition.  I don't think it would be so difficult, since the maps exist already (the inaccurate map could just have a few extra variables attached to it that distort the actual information .  Having maps that display only places that you've visited is more complicated than it would be normally, since the maps are so large (just storing locations you've visited is too costly).  I might have to compromise -- the game will probably be able to keep track of the places you've been at the "area" level and higher, whereas maps of specific buildings and so on wouldn't be kept.  If this proves to be a nuisance (for instance in mazes), I can have an automapper that you turn off and on (but isn't in operation constantly), although I'd have to get around the memory problems (three dimensional grids eat up space like crazy).

As far as the programming is concerned, no form of government is really that much easier to implement than another, so I imagine I can support quite a few -- monarchies do seem to be standard, though  I was planning to keep track of the popular mood for the purposes of revolts and so on -- the same device could be used to produce election results and up/down votes on propositions.

The official services probably would be higher quality most of the time.  Or maybe the king's nephew suggested the map-maker (who is incompetent).  Then even your official maps would lead you into swamps with tentacles.  I wonder if I could get the king's armies to follow incorrect maps.  It would be difficult, but then the player could pass off a fake map to the king and cause all kinds of trouble...

[Harlander]

To get soldiers and others to follow maps I'm guessing you'd need some method for them to plan their route.. also, a method for them to change their route once they realise they've been given a dodgy map and are up to their necks in steaming swamp).. I'm not a programmer but that sounds quite hard to do (but it would look exceptionally cool if you could achieve it) Being able to follow the trail and see the blood-soaked swamps littered with shredded armour, bent weapons and dismembered limbs would also prove satisfying

[Toady One]

I think adding trails to follow would be much more feasible (those kinds of events can just be saved in their proper locations).  Following maps would be tricky...  oh well, simple combat mechanics first  :roll: