CF: Some ideas for Crossfire... (long)

[quinet@gamers.org (Raphael Quinet)]

So far I have not explained clearly how I intend to use the "recall
objects" that I described in a previous message.  So I will try to
explain some of my long-term goals and ideas now, even if it might
take a while before they are implemented (or if they are not
implemented at all because some of you prefer other solutions).

* Introduction

What I would like to do is to delete Scorn, or at least to turn it
into a city that has nothing more than the other cities.  Currently,
the game is designed around Scorn, because this is the starting city
and everyone comes back there often.  So this is a central place and
the location of the gates, ships, and many quests is influenced by
this.  Instead of this, I would like to have several cities that can
all be used as starting points for the players.  This means that each
of these cities will have some shops, appartments, temples, small
quests, ...

I would also like to change the way the game is started, so that
instead of starting immediately in the middle of a city, each
character would have to prove his strength to the gods who created
him, and start with a short quest (single-player) that would bring him
to level 2 or more.  After completing this mini-quest, the gods would
grant him the right to enter the world in one of the main cities.
These mini-quests would be isolated from the rest of the world and
would only be reachable from the starting point, so that would be a
kind of one-way path.  While the player is in the mini-quest, his
recall point would be set to the start of that set of maps.  After
entering the world, his recall point would be in one of the cities
(his home city).

* Starting with a new character

Here is a bit of ASCII art that should explain what I intend to
do... or confuse you even more.  :-)  I selected some arbitrary names
for the sets of maps, but that is only an example.  The maps or sets
of maps marked with an asterisk (*) contain at least one recall point,
and the arrows (->>) are one-way paths.

                   +---+  +-------------+   +------+      +------------------+
        +------->> | * |--| Dark Forest |---| Gate |--->> | * Santo Dominion |
       /           +---+  +-------------+   +------+      +------------------+
      /                                                                \
     /                                                                  \
 +-------+     +---+  +------------+   +------+     +---------+     +-------+
 | Start |-->> | * |--| Underworld |---| Hole |-->> | * Scorn |-----| World |
 +-------+     +---+  +------------+   +------+     +---------+     +-------+
   |    \                                                            /     |
   |     \                                                          /      |
   |      \     +---+  +--------------+   +------+     +---------------+   |
   |       +->> | * |--| Lost Islands |---| Ship |-->> | * Port Joseph |   |
   |            +---+  +--------------+   +------+     +---------------+   |
   |                                                                       |
   |       +---+  +----------------+   +------+        +---------+         |
   +---->> | * |--| Enchanted Maze |---| Gate |----->> | * Navar |---------+
           +---+  +----------------+   +------+        +---------+

A new character would start on a special map (probably /start) that I
called "limbo" in a message that I sent a few months ago.  After
selecting his race/class, he would go to one of the special one-way
teleporters that bring him to the start of a quest.  At the same time,
the teleporter would set the recall point to its destination, so that
there is no way back to the start map.  Then the character would be
assigned a quest by the gods and he would have to complete it before
being allowed to enter the world (this quest could be as simple as
defeating a single monster).

For example, a character starting in the "Dark Forest" would have to
kill the three hill giants who are destroying the forest.  The player
would appear on a safe map (no monsters) on which he can find some
starting items (they would not be in the player's inventory).  From
there he would have access to a small set of maps in which he can
fight some low-level monsters, buy some equipment in a general shop,
and use that to fight the middle-level monsters.  After completing the
goal of the quest, he would be able to go through a gate that brings
him to Santo Dominion, from which he can reach the rest of the world.

* Maps for the mini-quests

Each mini-quest would consist of a dozen maps for setting the
landscape, one or two shops, and more or less twenty random maps
providing a large supply of low-level monsters.  In order to keep the
game simple at this stage, there would be no temples and no altars in
these maps (except if one of the mini-quests is designed for priests).

I haven't decided yet if the entrances to the world (the gates between
a mini-quest and a city) should be one-way for everybody or if they
should be passable in both directions but only for the characters who
have started with the corresponding quest (identified by an invisible
object in the inventory).  In any case, the players who started with
one mini-quest should not be allowed to enter the other starting
quests.

These mini-quests should be left to the beginners, so that they can be
sure to find all the objects that they need on these maps (among other
things, their starting equipment).  If these maps were accessible to
all players, they would probably be empty most of the time on
multiplayer servers.  And for people playing alone on their home PC,
exploring the other mini-quests would give them a reason to start new
characters with different races/classes.

* Maps for the main cities

The main cities should be far away from each other, without instant
boat transports or instant teleporters between cities (among other
things, there should be no teleporters in the appartments).  That
will strengthen the feeling that one character belongs to one city.
Of course this implies that each city should have enough shops and
temples so that players do not feel the need to visit all cities
hoping to find something better in one of them.  Implementing the
proposed changes to the ships and dragon transports (making them
non-instantaneous) would probably help.

Hopefully the "emergency path" would not be needed anymore.  But if it
is needed (e.g. because someone saved their character on a random
map), then it would not be set to Scorn.  Instead, it would be
somewhere in the middle of the world, preferably at equal distance
from all major cities.

* First steps

1) Create a new city or modify one of the existing cities so that it
   can be used as a starting point (add enough shops, temples, small
   quests and so on).
2) Create a temporary start map that allows someone to select one of
   the two main cities.  Use the one-way teleporters that set the
   point of recall.
3) Start integrating some mini-quests, and maybe a third or fourth
   main city.
4) Change the character creation so that everybody starts with the
   same stats (nothing random) and without equipment.  Create the
   /start map ("limbo") for the new characters, with teleporters to
   the mini-quests.
5) Put everything together, test, and so on...

As I said in the introduction, these are only some ideas of mine.
Maybe they will be implemented in a totally different way if there
are some comments or suggestions about that.

-Raphael

-
[you can put yourself on the announcement list only or unsubscribe altogether
by sending an email stating your wishes to crossfire-request@ifi.uio.no]