Minor Progress
Haven't been spending a lot of time in game lately. It happens that way, sometimes. And I've been spending what little game time I have had catching up with in-world friends. I really need to work on making that a priority more often. It's been far too easy to get buried in coding lately.

But I did sort out a minor game play issue, anyway. Specifically, a player can now only use the continue function of the death teleporter (the gold orb) twice, instead of indefinitely. After the third death, he must leave the game and return to the security office.

This is the first part of some changes that grew out of a brief IM discussion with Hamlet Au. (Who is, incidentally, the reigning best Legendary Monster Slayer. Going to have to see about dethroning him sometime soon.) Or, more specifically, he asked me one question, "How many players can play at one time?"

You'd think I'd have a ready answer to that, wouldn't you? Strictly speaking, there is no limit. You could have a few dozen players crammed in one 60x60 space, and the game would probably be able to more or less chug along. The main problem is monster count, at that level. Yes, the players could be there. But there is a preset limit to the maximum number of monsters that can be in play at any one time. (This is both to limit lag and keep the monster server system from bogging down.) Monster count increases with player count, up to that limit. Beyond that, the players would probably get pretty bored. The game gets kind of slow when there's only one or two monsters per player.

So, to keep things from getting out of hand, I've decided to limit the number of players in game at any one time. The continues limit above is part of that. If things are really busy, I want to give other players the chance to get in on the game, by kicking out folks who have already been playing for a while.

The other part of the equation is entry control. I'm already counting players as part of the monster targeting system, so it should be relatively easy to shout the player count to the entry doors (the double doors in the security room). Under normal circumstances, using these doors is the only way to activate the game HUD and start play. Given that, I can simply deactivate the door when player count is too high. I'll probably limit it to 4 or 5 players and see how it goes. Extra players can at least watch the game using the security monitors (camera overriding seats with four preset camera views).

I should be able to sort that out tonight. From there, it's just play testing and cosmetic issues. More to come.
Posted by Moriash Moreau at 10:42 AM