Species Hunt Minigame

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Re: Species Hunt Minigame

Postby Jennifer_P » Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:58 am

Whoops, I think you were posting while I was. :) Here is the problem with the regions we would have to solve:
Imagine that the explorer is stumbling around looking for the rare green viper goose. Without spotting it (because it is really camouflaged) they pass by and unknowingly pass through the sensor region surrounding the animal. Then when they go back to check on their journal, they'll see a check by the Green Goose Viper and think, "Wha? I never saw that..." If we did that, we'd have to make it so that the player clicks on the animal to actively acknowledge and prove that they see it. But then imagine that the player sees an animal from a distance of 80 feet, running rapidly into dense underbrush...And they don't have time to click it. Then they would be angry because they would be cheated of their check mark, even though they actually did see the animal.


This can be done on a per-player basis so that, say, Sammy's discovery of the rare Medusa plant doesn't benefit everyone currently in the age. These type of regions can be done with the current plugin.

And so it is possible to do a checklist on a per player basis? That's great news! :)
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Re: Species Hunt Minigame

Postby Ruvinka » Fri Aug 29, 2008 8:11 am

Mmmmm 93% cocoa chocolate Mmmmmmmmmm...
oh crap now i'll have to jog 5 miles ...can't resist dark chocolate cravings!!
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Re: Species Hunt Minigame

Postby Rils » Fri Aug 29, 2008 8:41 am

regarding the zoned idea, maybe you could do it like the marker hunts. You remember how when you get in range of a marker, the little ki icon at the bottom of your screen would flash, letting you know you were close. Typically when it'd flash you still weren't in sight of the marker, so you'd still hafta hunt a little bit before you could click on it. Similarly, if the checklist/field journal is a carryable item, perhaps the icon for it flashes when you get in a NEW animal's zone, letting you know you're close and need to look around a little more closely before you check it off...

The emphasis on the word "new" is because if it the blinking was set off every time you entered the zone of a plant or animal, it'd be going constantly and that would kind of defeat the purpose...
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Re: Species Hunt Minigame

Postby ardent red » Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:16 pm

You remember how when you get in range of a marker, the little ki icon at the bottom of your screen would flash, letting you know you were close. Typically when it'd flash you still weren't in sight of the marker, so you'd still hafta hunt a little bit before you could click on it. Similarly, if the checklist/field journal is a carryable item, perhaps the icon for it flashes when you get in a NEW animal's zone, letting you know you're close and need to look around a little more closely before you check it off...


Yeah, I remember that now- that's a great idea, man! This takes advantage of the region, but still makes the player hunt out and cross off the animals by themselves! By new, do you mean an animal that hasn't been checked off yet, or an animal whose region hasn't been entered yet? I suppose you mean the first one, because the icon would never flash after you'd walked all around the age with the latter. As Jen says, we'll have to get a PyPRP dev in here to tell us what can be done. *gets scooby-doo-esque trap set up in the programmers forum* now, who wants to be the bait?? There's a bloc of 97% dark choc in it for you! :lol:
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Re: Species Hunt Minigame

Postby Chacal » Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:20 pm

Rils can be the bait, he's used to that...

/gives red shirt to Rils
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Re: Species Hunt Minigame

Postby Ruvinka » Sat Aug 30, 2008 8:29 am

The Ki marker idea is brilliant I love it.
I would personally love playing this mini game and would probably run it several times if I could.
Maybe (if it's not too complicated) we could program the game to be reset if a player chose to replay the game. For an IC explanation to the Ki like game we could offer that SR members have tagged many of the species in cooperation with the DZS; in response to the tag the Ki symbol lights up. I think it would be a lovely to partner this age with all fan based groups.

hmmm we'll need a neat symbol :)

We could extend the "newness" of this game by releasing small lists at a time.
IE: Ki mail: The ERC has tagged 4 NEW species! There is 1 new plant 2 new mamals and 1 fish. Take a stroll around the garden, check out the outdoor art, or relax in the pavillion and see if you can spot all the new things the ERC and the DZS have discovered!
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Re: Species Hunt Minigame

Postby Shevek » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:52 am

Shorah all!

There are some great ideas coming out for this mini-game. It works well, and reminds me of the good old times on Age Five, hunting beetles and sunners...
Adding new creatures later would also give the age a nice, changing, contemporary atmosphere - new animals could crop up at any time!!
This week in ERC news: TREX spotted! :P
Now, what would the reward be, apart from the "collectivity" approach? Would hunters be given badges or some such? Perhaps finding them all would unlock a gallery of pretty screenshots (or drawings) of the animals? And where are we going to hide them? Hate to point it out, but if we have too many trees (read: Polygons) in the age it'd take forever to load...:(

(On a sub-note, who is heading to SL tonight?)

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Re: Species Hunt Minigame

Postby Rils » Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:36 am

ardent red wrote:By new, do you mean an animal that hasn't been checked off yet, or an animal whose region hasn't been entered yet? I suppose you mean the first one, because the icon would never flash after you'd walked all around the age with the latter.


Yeah, the first one, sorry if my wording was confusing! Once you "checked off" an organism, it would have to disable proximety zones for all the other copies of the same organism within the Age. It doesn't matter which copy you use to check off the list, and after it was checked off, finding the rest would be up to you.

This leads to a couple things. One is that, if you know there are five blue lizards in the Age, and you find the first one and check it off, you won't get the flashing to warn you when you are near another one. This is fine, because once you know what to look for, you're on your own to find the others - as Myst players, we're used to searching for hidden things! If you really really want the help finding the others, then just don't check it off; the marker will continue to flash whenever you get near any of the blue lizards.

Secondly, if there is a reward associated with completing the checklist, you'll have people who will get the list, immediately check everything off, and turn it in for the reward. While you could discourage this through a programming mechanism (ie only allowing an animal to be checked while standing in it's "zone"), my personal opinion is that it's not worth worrying about. If people want to shortcut the system and miss out on all the fun just for a badge/shirt/picture on their wall, that's their problem.

Finally, regarding repeatable play - I definitely like that idea! Maybe the check list is re-settable, and as a player, you can do it again by finding a different individual of each organism to use for checking it off. Or maybe you have periodic, themed lists. Every 1-2 months, you issue a new "Animal Bingo" checklist. The first list is, say, all the Birds in the Age. Then next month is Uncommon Trees. The third month is Reptiles, fourth is Flowers, fifth is maybe a newly implemented and periodic Migration of Butterflies (ala summer/winter Delin), etc. You make these lists available from a location before you link to the Age, and make them mutually exclusive; you can only have one list at a time, though you can pick up any previously issued list (similar to Guild t-shirts). Depending on which list you have "armed" when you enter the Age, it will load only the zones for those organisms. That might help with keeping the zonings from getting cluttered, from a programming point of view.

Just some thoughts...
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Re: Species Hunt Minigame

Postby Jennifer_P » Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:48 pm

About proximity zones--I'm not sure that would work very well for animals. Suppose for example that a player is standing on the roof of the ERC and sees a viper goose go flying past at about 30 meters distance. The player is nowhere near the animal so the flashing wouldn't go off, yet there the animal is.

Now, what would the reward be, apart from the "collectivity" approach? Would hunters be given badges or some such? Perhaps finding them all would unlock a gallery of pretty screenshots (or drawings) of the animals? And where are we going to hide them? Hate to point it out, but if we have too many trees (read: Polygons) in the age it'd take forever to load...

Hm...Rewards...Maybe something to attract animals with, like food? As for the polygons, well, it'll be a balancing act. We'll have to play it by ear. But in terms of hiding places, it seems like we might be able to do something fun with kickables. I.e., move the log and find a lizard underneath.

Secondly, if there is a reward associated with completing the checklist, you'll have people who will get the list, immediately check everything off, and turn it in for the reward. While you could discourage this through a programming mechanism (ie only allowing an animal to be checked while standing in it's "zone"), my personal opinion is that it's not worth worrying about. If people want to shortcut the system and miss out on all the fun just for a badge/shirt/picture on their wall, that's their problem.

Yeah, I think the same; it'll be a lot of work for not much payoff, especially considering that people can use spoilers anyway. ;)

Or maybe you have periodic, themed lists. Every 1-2 months, you issue a new "Animal Bingo" checklist. The first list is, say, all the Birds in the Age. Then next month is Uncommon Trees. The third month is Reptiles, fourth is Flowers, fifth is maybe a newly implemented and periodic Migration of Butterflies (ala summer/winter Delin), etc.

Good idea...It'll keep things fresh. :)

Depending on which list you have "armed" when you enter the Age, it will load only the zones for those organisms. That might help with keeping the zonings from getting cluttered, from a programming point of view.

Hm...People might be struck with a sense of artificialness though, if they see all birds after getting the bird list, and all lizards after getting the lizard list.
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Re: Species Hunt Minigame

Postby Rils » Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:08 pm

Hm...People might be struck with a sense of artificialness though, if they see all birds after getting the bird list, and all lizards after getting the lizard list.


I think you misunderstood. The animals don't get turned on/off, the zones get turned on/off. The birds and lizards and unusual trees are always there. But your list will only flash for the viper goose if you have the Birds list.

My thought there was in consideration of how dense the animals are in the Age. If theres an animal with a zone every 20 steps, your list will be flashing constantly, which is both counterproductive and just irritating. If you limit the zones which set off the list, then you know when it flashes, it's applicable to the hunt you are doing. I just don't want to be walking through the Age and see that thing blinking at me every 2 seconds. That was kind of what I was getting at...
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