People in Buildings

Out-of-character discussion forum for players of Cantr II to discuss new ideas for the development of the Cantr II game.

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RedQueen.exe
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People in Buildings

Postby RedQueen.exe » Sat Jan 07, 2012 7:52 pm

I expect this one to raise some objections, but I think I can answer them.

Along the lines of my belief that if you make it possible for players to do something at all, you should make it as easy for them to do as possible as long as it doesn't create an exploit. I am keeping this out of the UI enhancements because I expect it to generate some controversy initially, and it doesn't seem a good place for any kind of longer conversation as the different discussions may tend to step on each other.

Buildings should have an small indicator displaying the number of people in them if unlocked, or a lock icon if they are locked. Possibly something similar for vehicles.

This would be nice if you spawn or arrive in a dead-silent or empty town and you want to know if maybe there are active people that might be worth your time, but are just inside working at the moment. Obviously, there would be situations where characters might want to hide, so the count should only be visible on unlocked buildings. This is the same information you can already get anyway, and the assumption would be that the character is just walking up to the open door or window to see if anyone is inside.

You already can't tell if someone tried to get into a locked building anyway, and one presumes that if a person wants to check if a door is locked, it is because they want to go inside anyway, so they will.
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SekoETC
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Re: People in Buildings

Postby SekoETC » Sat Jan 07, 2012 8:06 pm

It would sure save people a lot of time. Maybe there could be an extra hiding project if someone wanted to hide in an unlocked building.
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masterekat
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Re: People in Buildings

Postby masterekat » Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:08 pm

I do like the idea, but would only support it if that hiding project could be implemented as well. Or if the character could go in an inner room and hide, I guess that would work too.
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Re: People in Buildings

Postby Piscator » Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:45 pm

Since finding out the number of occupants of buildings requires much conspicious walking in and out, seeing their number directly would be a bit more than a mere simplification of the process. If we want to keep the status quo, we would have to actively perform a "search town" action that would be visible to all. I'm not sure in which situations visibility to others would be important, but I think I should better mention it.
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Greek
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Re: People in Buildings

Postby Greek » Sat Jan 07, 2012 11:03 pm

Maybe instead of numbers add text descriptions i.e.
"It is very quiet inside" = 0 people inside
"There could be very silent noises heared" = 1-3 people
"There are some noises from inside" - 4-10 ppl
"It's very noisy" >11

Or maybe "noise" is not very good, because all people in the building could sleep and say nothing :P
"There is nobody inside" - nobody
"There is somebody inside" - 1 person
"There is small group inside" - 2-3 people
"There are..."

IMO we should avoid strict numbers if only possible. In my opinion hiding is good idea, but not absolutely necessary :P
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Re: People in Buildings

Postby RedQueen.exe » Sat Jan 07, 2012 11:51 pm

Usually the ones who would worry about looking conspicuous are the ones looking for resources, not people, but I would support Piscator or Greek's options since my primary concern is cutting out the amount of busywork in trying to see if someone still lives in some of the giant, mostly dead towns. Either of these would be fine, and exact numbers aren't necessary, so, all good.
"What I really don't understand is what kind of recipe do you want because you talked about porn, phones and cooking and I became lost" - Vega
"Fate loves the fearless" - James Russell Lowell
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Re: People in Buildings

Postby Piscator » Sat Jan 07, 2012 11:56 pm

I like Greek's option. It would especially make sense if buildings would eventually become less sound proof so that you e.g. could communicate with people in adjoining rooms by shouting.
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Re: People in Buildings

Postby Snickie » Sat Jan 07, 2012 11:56 pm

What about instead of a set number for each message, we have a percentage or something, with the exception of 0 and 1?

Where x = the number or percentage of people inside:
x = 0 - You can see nobody inside.
x = 1 - You can see one person inside.
x < 50%, x ≠ 0, 1 - You see some people inside.
50% < x < 100% - This building seems to be rather crowded.
x = 100% - This building is full of people.
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Doug R.
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Re: People in Buildings

Postby Doug R. » Sun Jan 08, 2012 1:12 am

The noise level should actually be dependent on noise. If no one's working a project or talking, it should be silent inside imo. I support being able to peak through unlocked doors with a chance to be seen by the internal occupants. Would allow for peeping Toms.
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Re: People in Buildings

Postby RedQueen.exe » Sun Jan 08, 2012 2:00 am

Doug R. wrote:The noise level should actually be dependent on noise. If no one's working a project or talking, it should be silent inside imo. I support being able to peak through unlocked doors with a chance to be seen by the internal occupants. Would allow for peeping Toms.


I would still be okay with this as long as you can do it for all buildings with one click.
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MelloYell
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Re: People in Buildings

Postby MelloYell » Sun Jan 08, 2012 2:28 am

i like this only because ive had spawns in small places that wanted to look around for life. but usually im too afraid to start running in and out because that obviously would make me look like a newspawn thief. so it would be nice to maybe "hear" or "see" -very- limited info from outside.
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Re: People in Buildings

Postby Addicted » Sun Jan 08, 2012 2:46 am

People who arrive in town in groups will have a very good idea of where to go directly to kill or drag people. The way it is is safer for small coastal towns and for exampe if Klojt were attacked the way Dory and New Xanthe were it would make it easier to plan the buildings to enter.

I see that it would be easier for day to day, but given the history of several of my characters, they would be locking the doors more and disadvantaging newspawns without keys.
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Re: People in Buildings

Postby MelloYell » Sun Jan 08, 2012 3:04 am

hmm..given that thought, i take back my prior liking of the idea. id rather search every building in a new town, than give an advantage to large murdering groups.
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Re: People in Buildings

Postby RedQueen.exe » Sun Jan 08, 2012 3:27 am

Hmm... it's still not stopping them from searching the buildings though. I understand that the chore of it may still be a valid deterrent to attackers, but I'm trying to decide if I think it is a significant one.
"What I really don't understand is what kind of recipe do you want because you talked about porn, phones and cooking and I became lost" - Vega
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Re: People in Buildings

Postby SekoETC » Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:01 am

Maybe the visibility of people could be random and the chance would increase the more people there are. If capacity was filled 100%, people would be visible all the time, but if it was less, there would be a chance that no one happened to be standing in front of the door when somebody looked inside. This way a lonely person or a small group would have a high chance of hiding even without a separate project but larger groups would be likely to get detected.
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