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                    JOURNAL FOR SUNDAY 13TH FEBRUARY, 2022
______________________________________________________________________________

SUBJECT: WolfMUD greatest HITs
   DATE: Sun 13 Feb 19:50:02 GMT 2022

Time for an update as I feel I've fallen down a black hole and disappeared
again. There are so many things to think about and work on when implementing
combat. Before I start rambling, here are the results of my latest efforts:


  [Secluded path by shed]
  You are on a small secluded gravel path screened off from the formal gardens
  by large bushes. To the south is a small shed with its door facing you. A
  rock has been positioned by the shed, from the looks of it by someone who
  thought it was artistic. The gravel path you are on leads northward.

  You see a small frog here.

  You see exits: north, south
  H:35/35>hit frog
  You hit the small frog (3). The small frog looks nearly dead.
  H:35/35>hit frog
  You kill the small frog (2).
  H:35/35>exam corpse
  You examine the corpse of a small frog.
  It is a small, lime green frog. It's slimy and croaks. What more can you
  say?
  H:35/35>
  The corpse of a small frog turns to dust.
  H:35/35>
  A frog hops into view.
  H:35/35>
  The small frog croaks a bit.
  H:35/35>
  The small frog leaps high into the air.
  H:35/35>


The HIT command is nearly done, but only when hitting mobiles. While it is
possible to hit players, there is an issue. That issue being I can’t safely
have one player cause another to be extracted from the game yet. I have an
idea to remedy the issue, but it’s still being worked on.

It should also be noted that the HIT command is intended for testing combat,
health regeneration and other associated mechanics. The ultimate goal is to be
able to ‘KILL DIDDYMUS’ or ‘FIGHT DIDDYMUS’ and the fighting then plays out
automatically with players — and mobiles — able to interject with skills,
potions and other items during the fight.

Currently I’m retesting the server after implementing a better solution for
dealing with stale events. This is the problem I discussed in the previous two
journal entries. I’ve also started committing changes to my local repository.
I’ve not pushed anything to the public dev branch just yet as I’m being very
cautious — once these changes are public I have to live with them. Having said
that, I don’t think it will be much longer before the changes are out allowing
everyone to have a play.

Am I happy with the implementation and changes made? There are a few rough
edges still. However, health events are lightweight and only registered when
needed. Issues I’ve come across have improved other parts of the code.

Overall I’d say yes, I’m happy with how the changes have turned out :)

I’ll have to start thinking about all of the other things that combat implies
soon. Wearing items that can boost maximum health or increase regeneration.
Potions that can be drunk to restore health. Poisons that can reduce health.
Effects occurring over time. There is also damage. Different types of damage:
physical, fire, cold, etc. Items that can provide resistances, armour bonuses
and maybe item sets — that provide more bonuses when more items in the set are
used? All the ‘normal stuff’ players will be expecting.

For now the focus is on player health, the HIT command and being able to kill
critters[1]. That will provide the foundation upon which incremental changes
can be made to add all of the other nice features, with faster release cycles.

--
Diddymus

  [1] Note to self: Still need to update the documentation for the health
      attribute and add health to mobiles in the stock zones…


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