Re: map design

[quinet@montefiore.ulg.ac.be (Raphael Quinet)]

> From: Petri Heinil{ <Petri.Heinila@lut.fi>
> ...
> 	- filenames between maps are always _relative_, exept the
> 	  entering maps in 1st level. this allows easier moving of
> 	  directories (= houses, holes, etc. ). 

Good idea !

> > From: myself :-)
> >- Most new players have some difficulty to find some interesting maps to
> >  begin with.  The beginner's level was a very useful addition to the
> >  crossfire world, but we should go one step further : insert a message near
> >  the entrance of the largest buildings and cities.  Each message would give
> >  some info about the map, its main features, what kind of players should enter
> >  it, and (at least in the debug versions) the name of the people who wrote it.
> >  This could also help the experienced players to find the interesting
> >  locations in the newest maps.  I think that there are too few messages in the
> >  current maps.  (Note : I don't want to spoil the fun of the exploration; we
> >  have to find a way to describe a map without telling too much about it.)
> 
> This message feature could be build into crossfire. Because, there
> is in map-object in maps, a slot for message. It could be invoked
> in command line e.g. "mapinfo". 

I'm not sure that the addition of a new command is the best way to help the
beginners.  A more "natural" solution is to put some signs on the map.  Some
of the newest maps already have some "help" signs.  This is easy to understand.

But, thinking of it, the "map-message" could be a very good place to put some
additional info like the name of the people who built the map.  This could
even be done automatically by CrossEdit.  What do you think of this ?

> >- The new maps should contain at least some of the new archetypes.
> 
> Making different looking archetypes is easy. Making diffrent behaving
> archetypes, needs much more.
> 

I didn't mean that you need to write new archetypes.  There are already
some archetypes (new monsters, special doors, ...) available in CrossEdit 0.5
that should be present in some maps.

                                              Raphael Quinet
                                       <quinet@montefiore.ulg.ac.be>