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Old 04-25-2005, 12:34 PM   #21
KaVir
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Right, but it's important to keep in mind that "dynamic" and "generated" are two separate things. Eg, you can have:

1) Static hand-written: Traditional mud descriptions.

2) Dynamic hand-written: Like traditional mud descriptions, but with tags placed within the text so that different parts of the hand-written description are displayed based on various conditions.

3) Static generated: Some muds use this to generate filler descriptions for wilderness locations.

4) Dynamic generated: Generated descriptions, modified based on the viewer.
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Old 04-26-2005, 11:11 AM   #22
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KaVir wrote April 25 2005,13:34
Right - I guess I'd settle for your type 2 then, which seems to combine the best of the two cultures. Typically enough that is also the one that demands the most work from the Builder. And - since this thread is about Mud Aestethics - I can see at least one problem with it. How do you handle the formatting of the lines, when some of the dynamic input may be of varying length?

Anyhow, the code generated descs that I mentioned were of course of type 3. Do you happen to remember what Mud they were in? I would have liked to see some more of them. The examples that were posted on the board at the time looked impressive enough, but I suspect that they chose some of the descs that looked the best for that. And I also wonder how many variables they had - i.e. how soon the descs got repetitive.
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Old 04-26-2005, 05:37 PM   #23
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Well you just justify it - you've probably got the functionality for that in your OLC already, but with a dynamic description you automatically format it each time rather than doing it manually.

Nope, sorry - I recall a few muds using static generated descriptions for their wilderness rooms, but didn't pay much attention to their names. It's not an approach I consider worthwhile to be honest.
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Old 04-29-2005, 11:43 AM   #24
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Just something that struck me regarding generated descriptions and repetitiveness:

Is the repetitive 'feel' also related to room-based systems, and the expectations players have of such a system? If I move to another room, I want to see something different - but if I move gradually in a larger space, I find myself quite satisfied with just small variations in the description. Must have something to do with the way text subconsciously translates into space for me. Anybody else had the same experience?
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Old 04-29-2005, 11:44 PM   #25
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One thing to remember when justifying text is that the text between two words should at no point equal or surpass the size of the leading space between lines of text. If your leading space is small, then this could be difficult to achieve without making your lines too long.

I can't remember where I got this, but a good rule of thumb is an 'i' width for the space between words, .25 'i' widths for the space between characters, 1.25 'i' widths for the leading space between lines. But when in doubt, it is generally better to make the first two spaces more compact than to absolutely or relatively shrink the leading spaces.

When using unjustified text, probably around 60 characters per line of text is ideal, assuming the user has some control over the verticle size of their telnet console. When using justified text, closer to 70 may be better. But honestly, since research suggests justified text does not enhance readablity by any significant amount, I'm not convinced that justification is worth bothering with.
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Old 04-30-2005, 09:42 AM   #26
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Er sorry, I didn't mean justify - I meant align (so that words don't run over the end of the line).
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Old 05-02-2005, 07:17 PM   #27
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> If it is not going to be a picture, what is the next best thing you can do with a thousand words?


I like a clean, uncluttered look, with a limited ASCII palette. I don't always achieve this, but it's a goal. I like to support raw telnet on MUDs, I don't seem to care on MUSHes, for some reason. I try to keep the page length to under 20 lines to accommodate command line clients. I hate spam. I like short, poignant descriptions. I prefer horizontal contents listings.



Domo Dandolo: Salone
Morning and afternoon, a gentle Mediteranean light filters through the
coloured panes of the ornately framed windows high on the end walls and bathes
the fading frescos on the side walls with a restorative glow. Sumptuous woolen
oriental rugs are arrayed askance with a lack of precision contrapuntal to the
geometric parquet floor. Low couches, chairs, and tables with an Egyptian look
cluster in several settings.

Occupying the Salone are Magister Meduci, Dona Dandolo, and Angelina.
The Salone contains the Ancient Book, a glass of wine, and a rose.
There is a door to the north, a door to the south, and an archway to the east.



(BTW, if you use a fixed width font, the above desc is right justified.)
Some things have changed over the years:



Harbor View Cafe
Through the many panes of the broad bay window in the east wall, a
picturesque view of the harbor dominates the room. Rough tables and worn
captain's chairs add to the flavor of the setting, if not the food.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Entrances: The Pier The Deck
Standing: Anne(4m) Sandi(0s) Soruk(17s)
Seating: Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4
Seated: 0
Items:



I've become fond of lines dividing the description from the room contents. The contents is now more of a 'heads up display' than an attempt at prose. The idle times next to the players names are for roleplay, so you don't have to check the WHO to be sure you're not starting a conversation with someone that's 25 minutes idle. Seated players are not shown in the "Standing" list - you have to look at each table. The "Standing" list is not sorted from the contents by the Player flag, but by sex. This treats Puppets (a Player animated object (think 'switch')) the same as Players, and allows them to roleplay fully. And while I'm bragging, MUSH objects don't have articles, so in the first example the contents list has the articles, punctuation and conjunction added by the code (a limited version is now a built-in function in some codebases).

As far as decorative color goes, I think a game should have no more than two primary colors (that's a pun) and two accent colors, though much can be done with one primary and one accent. There are very few combinations that I find appealing. Red, white and blue looks good, but is perhaps a bit patriotic (depending on your country of origin, I suppose). Perhaps the best is a combination of blues and cyans. I've also used high red and yellow to good effect.

The main use of color, I believe, should be to expand the information provided by the text. On my mud, the results of the 'consider' command use stoplight colors - green for go ahead, yellow for caution, and red for stop, so while the dozen clever little quips might need to be deciphered to determine the exact level difference, the color provides quick recognition of safety or danger. In other command responses, I use the order of the spectrum to provide finer grained evaluations. Yes, Molly, coloring the name of the room by terrain is garish. Sorry about that. :)

Something else I've done that I hate is add the weather as the first line of the description in outdoor rooms. It gets really boring when you travel quickly, especially with short descriptions as it dominates the text field. But, it does give you sense of being outdoors. Another idea I've toyed with is making outdoor descs wrap at 80, and indoor descs wrap at 60, to give a feeling of confinement.

Anyway, yes, I care very much about how things look, but I think you can't forget that while the text might be fiction, perhaps even poetry, it's also a collection of facts. There are times when elegant formatting and appealing colors have to be restrained to ensure the information the player needs is presented in a concise, coherent display.
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