Creeping Features

[ShannonA]

As we take Castle Marrach through its beta test phase, we expect to be fairly regularly adding features. This is a place to announce them.

** CONSENT LISTS **

This is an oldish feature, but it's been poorly documented until today, and thus many people are not familiar with its use.

You probably already *have* met our consent system. If you approach someone (via the "approach" verb or just trying to stand/sit/kneel on/near/by them) then they need to give you permission--consent.

With the "consent" verb you can make lists of people whom you always give consent to (or whom you always refuse).

* To always allow someone, type "consent allow [name]", ie "consent allow gwen".

* To always deny someone, type "consent deny [name", ie "consent deny victor".

* To see your consent list, type "consent list".

* To totally remove someone from your consent list, type "consent remove [name].

NOTE: Someone must be in your current room for you to add them to your consent list.

Shannon

[Erica]

Here is the error I'm getting when attempting to take advantage of being on someones consent list.

This is from a sit next to command

Bad argument 1 (array) for function act_allow
85 receive_message /kernel/obj/binary (#6372)
232 receive_message /kernel/lib/connection (/kernel/obj/binary#6372)
233 receive_message /usr/TextIF/obj/user (#242)
420 receive_line /usr/TextIF/obj/user (#242)
631 call_limited /kernel/lib/auto (/usr/TextIF/obj/user#242)
432 parse_command /usr/TextIF/obj/user (#242)
92 command /usr/TextIF/main
168 cmd_stance /usr/TextIF/lib/cmds/stance (/usr/TextIF/main)
140 start_consent /base/lib/act/consent (/base/obj/thing#2912)

[wconnell]

Thanks for the report. I have fixed this problem.

http://www.skotos.net/ubb/smile.gif

[ShannonA]

** COURIERS **

Here's the newest feature online: couriers wandering the castle. You can "ask" these folks for scrolls and then use the scrolls to write to your friends and fellows in the castle.

If you leave someone a message, the couriers will deliver it the next time they see the recipient, so you can use it even if the recipient isn't online at the time.

Type "help courier" to get the complete list of commands for couriers and scrolls.

[Chronos]

Re: Couriers.

There appear to be almost a dozen couriers around the castle - Since real servants would move around a lot, and since we can't tell the difference between couriers anyway, perhaps all scrolls given to couriers could be placed in a big 'pot'. Anytime one of the couriers is in the same room as someone with a scroll in the pot, they are given it.

This helps prevent me giving scrolls to couriers, and not getting them delivered because that particular courier has not met the person I wanted them to.

C.

[robzilla]

this may be a silly question but - how do we destroy old, read scrolls? (or any other item, for that matter?)

[LadySilverwolf]

I was under the impression that the couriers were actually CNPC's and not played characters.

Also, I think there is a minor problem with the scroll system. I read the courier help before using it because I was just waiting for this part of the system to come up. http://www.skotos.net/ubb/wink.gif I think it was an excellent idea btw.

I wrote 3 scrolls last night to 3 different people. The first one went off fine and dandy.

The second one had to be addressed at least a dozen times before I was finally able to give it to a courier.

The third time, I could not for the life of me address the scroll! No matter how many times I did this, and tried to give it to the courier, it would say the scroll needs to be addressed. I know I spelled the individuals name correctly for when they did come online, I knew I had the correct spelling.

Should the scroll be addressed first before someone writes on it? I have been thinking about this since I reported the problem through the game.

Details concerning how scrolls were written:
When I wrote my first scroll, I addressed it before writing it. Also it was a short message. The second scroll was written first, but it was a very very short message. The third scroll was a long message and I did not attempt to address it until after I finished writing the scroll.

There it is. Please let me know if somehow I was not following directions. Hope this helps some in figuring out what is up with the scroll problem I had.

[ShannonA]

Originally posted by Chronos:
Re: Couriers.

There appear to be almost a dozen couriers around the castle - Since real servants would move around a lot, and since we can't tell the difference between couriers anyway, perhaps all scrolls given to couriers could be placed in a big 'pot'. Anytime one of the couriers is in the same room as someone with a scroll in the pot, they are given it.

This helps prevent me giving scrolls to couriers, and not getting them delivered because that particular courier has not met the person I wanted them to.

C.

That actually is how things work. http://www.skotos.net/ubb/wink.gif

Shannon

[ShannonA]

Originally posted by LadySilverwolf:
I was under the impression that the couriers were actually CNPC's and not played characters.

That's correct.

The second one had to be addressed at least a dozen times before I was finally able to give it to a courier.

The third time, I could not for the life of me address the scroll! No matter how many times I did this, and tried to give it to the courier, it would say the scroll needs to be addressed.

Order doesn't matter. You can address a scroll before or after writing a message.

I can quess what happened.

There's an evocation called address:

> address dolfin "Speak up! I can't hear you!"
You address Dolfin, "Speak up! I can't hear you!"

There's an address command related to the scroll system:

> address scroll to "launfal"
You address the scroll.

That's really, really subtle--the behavior is totally different depending on if you put that preposition ("to") in.

We probably need to get rid of the evocation, but that's how things stand right now.

Shannon

[StaciD]

You can reuse your old scrolls! Not only will it keep you from carrying around dozens of old messages, you will only have to find a courier once, when you're ready to deliver it.

I'm sure Engineering is working on a way to actually destroy them, but there's no reason why we can't "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" in Castle Marrach just like we do in the real world.

Staci D.

[ShannonA]

Originally posted by StaciD:
You can reuse your old scrolls! Not only will it keep you from carrying around dozens of old messages, you will only have to find a courier once, when you're ready to deliver it.

Yep! Just readdress and rewrite and resign--everything gets overwritten. (Which means--don't try and write on a scroll that has stuff you want to keep!)

I was just talking to engineering about an "erase" command, which would automatically delete the address, content, and signature, and that should eventually get added too.

Shannon

[Seidl]

Originally posted by ShannonA:
Yep! Just readdress and rewrite and resign--everything gets overwritten. (Which means--don't try and write on a scroll that has stuff you want to keep!)

I was just talking to engineering about an "erase" command, which would automatically delete the address, content, and signature, and that should eventually get added too.

Shannon


If we get an erase, could the default behavior of "write on scroll " be to append instead of to overwrite?

Its really hard to write long IC messages now, even cutting and pasting them from another buffer. It would be easier if we could use multiple write commands to slowly append the text onto the scroll. If we want to erase the scroll and start again, we could use the erase command.

-=- Matt

[ShannonA]

Originally posted by Seidl:
If we get an erase, could the default behavior of "write on scroll " be to append instead of to overwrite?


Technically, that's very easy to do. We haven't done it yet because of some more philosophical questions.

What do you do when someone else has already written on a scroll? If you keep their signature on, it opens up the possibility for forgery. If you remove it, authorship on the original piece is gone.

Also, even if you design a way to take into account the multiple authorships cleanly (and I can see some possibilities, including pushing the old signature down into the text and clearly marking the whole thing as being written by someone else), but even if you do that, do you allow people to forward on scrolls from other characters?

I clearly remember many a privacy argument fought on USEnet or over email about forwarding of messages...

These aren't necessarily reasons that we can't do this, but rather topics I open for discussion while we're trying to come to a decision here.

Shannon

[ShannonA]

Some more new features

** FORGET **

That's right, you can now forget memories. Just type "forget 'some phrase or word'" and you'll lose all of your memories containing that phrase or word. Type "help memory" if you're unfamiliar with the memory system.

** ERASE **

You can now erase a scroll: "erase scroll". It removes the address, signature, and writing.

Note that the address and text would get removed anyway if you wrote a new address or text, respectively. The signature automatically gets erased whenever you write a new address or text. So, erase is just there for convenience...

** TRIALS, TRIUMPHS & TRIVIALITIES **

This is a column that I'm writing about Marrach behind the scenes, with special emphasis on the lessons learned for StoryBuilders. The first three columns are now up at http://www.skotos.net/articles/ covering the first two weeks of Castle Marrach. There will be new articles on a weekly basis, available every Friday.

[LadySilverwolf]

Originally posted by ShannonA:

There's an evocation called address:

> address dolfin "Speak up! I can't hear you!"
You address Dolfin, "Speak up! I can't hear you!"

There's an address command related to the scroll system:

> address scroll to "launfal"
You address the scroll.

That's really, really subtle--the behavior is totally different depending on if you put that preposition ("to") in.

Yep...your right... *smacks head*... guess I am getting used to all these emotes.

Thanks for the clarification. http://www.skotos.net/ubb/wink.gif

[ShannonA]

** MORE TRIALS **

Article #4 in my series that touches upon some of the behind the scenes goings on at Casttle Marrach is now available at http://www.skotos.net/articles/. It's called "This Blessed Plot, Part One". Here's a little snippet:

"In Grand Theatres, there aren't monsters to kill or treasures to collect. There may be a few puzzles here or there, but for the most part the only thing that players can do is participate in stories; thus, active plots and interesting characters are the only things that keep players involved. This week I want to look at plots. In MUDs, they were a nice afterthought; in Grand Theatres, they're the core of gameplay."

Comments, questions, and discussions are quite welcome; there's a special area for the discussion over the StoryBuilders form.

Shannon

[JeffCrook]

Originally posted by ShannonA:
What do you do when someone else has already written on a scroll? If you keep their signature on, it opens up the possibility for forgery. If you remove it, authorship on the original piece is gone.

I clearly remember many a privacy argument fought on USEnet or over email about forwarding of messages...


I think this is something that should be handled in game, not in code. There is nothing wrong game-wise with forgery. In fact, it throws whole new RP monkey wrenches into the works. But there would have to be a justice system to punish it, and detection system. Maybe even when you forge a scroll by changing its contents but leaving the original signature on it, some sort of hidden identifier is placed on it showing your ammendments. Then, when you get active skills implemented, then someone with a detect forgery skill could then 'see' these amendments, and if they have seen forgery by that person before and knew the forger's identity, then the skill would also allow you to 'see' the hidden indentifier and so finger the forger.

[ShannonA]

Originally posted by JeffCrook:
I think this is something that should be handled in game, not in code.

I agree that an in-game forgery could be cool. It just needs to have a careful implementation... i.e., in a realistic system you'd only be able to forget a message of about the same length of the original, as the signature isn't going to move (unless you do something really fancy).

Shannon

[ShannonA]

More new stuff, thanks to our beloved programmers.

** LONGER SCROLLS **

You can now add to scrolls that you're the author of. Just use "write on scroll" multiple times. Your additional missives will be appended to the original.

NOTE. There is no change in behavior for writing on a scroll that SOMEONE ELSE has written on. You will still erase that other person's message before you write. Beware!

** I'LL FOLLOW YOU **

There is now a "follow" command, so that you can follow another player around the castle. Just type "follow [their name]", ie "follow launfal" (Launfal loves this; trust me). When you're done following someone, type "follow nobody". Finally, just type "follow" to see who you're currently following, if you've forgotten.

Shannon

[ShannonA]

** CREEPING FIXES **

I'm started a companion topic over in the "Castle Marrach Bugs" forum called "Creeping Fixes", to talk about some of the bugs that we've fixed recently.

[ShannonA]

** TRIALS #5 **

Article #5 in the Trials, Triumphs & Trivialities series is now available. It's called "Reality Check" and can be found at http://www.skotos.net/articles/. Here's a quick snippet:

"I talked about this briefly in my third article, on objects. When people are confronted with objects in an interactive fiction game, they tend to pick them up – no matter who they might belong to or what other reason there might be for just leaving the object alone. We actually encountered this anew this week. The sorceress discovered that a pillar of scrolls was missing from her amphitheatre The sorceress, one of the most feared personas in the game, was ripped off. What kind of reality is that?"

Comments, questions, and discussion welcome, as always. There's a folder over on the StoryBuilder forum.

Shannon

[Luminaire]

You must realize, only the scrolls were taken - one may not have realized that for some reason or another the column was attached to the scrolls in question http://www.skotos.net/ubb/smile.gif

And one had a reason for it. One may have planned to write something on said scrolls and return them, so that they might be noticed and read.

One apologizes for troubles one caused. One did but try to be quick and inubtrusive, but was vexed by RL problems.

One did not mean to appear as a silly item-snatcher, one was planning a plot and was unable to complete it quickly enough to avoid notice.

Please forgive one,
Anonymous you-know-who.

[Monkey]

I had a question about consent lists:

If my character turns on 'consent allow all' everyone automatically gets consent for everything.

Can I also use this with 'consent deny <name>' so that everone except, for example say Martel :P, gets consent, or does that cancel out the all, or even cause a big problem when Martel tries to punch my character's chest?

Or, maybe I should just experiment, and find out on my own?

--Monkey (aka Philo)

[ShannonA]

Originally posted by Luminaire:
And one had a reason for it. One may have planned to write something on said scrolls and return them, so that they might be noticed and read.

One apologizes for troubles one caused. One did but try to be quick and inubtrusive, but was vexed by RL problems.


Anonymous,

No apologies necessary. It's always great to hear about players working on their own plots.

(And, I hope you won't mind my having used the issue of the scrolls & columns to make an interesting point in my article... even if it was inaccurate in this case.)

Shannon

[ShannonA]

Originally posted by Monkey:
I had a question about consent lists:

If my character turns on 'consent allow all' everyone automatically gets consent for everything.

Can I also use this with 'consent deny <name>' so that everone except, for example say Martel :P, gets consent, or does that cancel out the all, or even cause a big problem when Martel tries to punch my character's chest?

Monkey,

Congrats, you've stumped the programmers! wconnell, who engineered the consent list is looking into what *does* happen and will post when he does.

Shannon

[Retribution]

I was wondering a few things that you might be able to answer... #1, when you give a scroll to a courier, do all the couriers get it so that any of the couriers that happen upon the victim... reciepant rather will get it, or does the courier you gave it to have to happen upon them?

Question #2, What is with the servers, and can we get them to get us beer...?

Thanks a bunch..

Welcome Home.
Retribution

[ChristopherA]

Originally posted by Retribution:
Question #2, What is with the servers, and can we get them to get us beer...?

The beer is simple, it is the containers that are difficult to do right. For instance, a beer mug ought to be fillable with water at a fountain.

However, I can't commit to a date, but I can say that it is reasonably high priority ;-)

-- Christopher Allen

[jwp]

> The beer is simple, it is the containers
> that are difficult to do right. For
> instance, a beer mug ought to be fillable
> with water at a fountain.

Containers aren't the problem; they're easy enough to build. The *real* problem is going to be what to do about the nine million empty beer mugs you're going to find in every conceivable place in the castle http://www.skotos.net/ubb/smile.gif And don't make them break when they're dropped. Did that once.... got really clever... a player could slip and fall on the broken shards and get cut.... Players loved it. It was an utter disaster.... glass and bleeding players everywhere....

-- jwp

[Saurus]

It's good to know that we'll be getting beer soon, but we still don't have an explanation for the sudden Servant infestation. Any clue on what they actually serve?

[LadySilverwolf]

Maybe I am being technical or picky, but besides having that beer, perhaps adding some ale, cider, water or at least a couple of beverage items for players to select from. *sheepish grin* I would hate to see Faer unable to drink anything because the only accessable drink around is the strange beer like stuff which just happens to be the one beverage that does not sit well with her. :P

[Atama]

Yeah, I don't see Zero as much of a drinker either. Water would be great for him... maybe wine would be fine too. He's not much of the beer/ale/hard cider-guzzling type.

I have a clue about the servants... what happens to all the junk that Guests leave lying all over the floors? (Linen wrappings, white cheeses that have lost their flavor, discarded scrolls.) Maybe they pick up all the junk people leave? After all, they don't have anything to give so far... maybe all they do is take?

[LisaD]

Originally posted by Atama:
I have a clue about the servants... what happens to all the junk that Guests leave lying all over the floors? (Linen wrappings, white cheeses that have lost their flavor, discarded scrolls.) Maybe they pick up all the junk people leave? After all, they don't have anything to give so far... maybe all they do is take?

Bingo! http://www.skotos.net/ubb/biggrin.gif

But, they are not quite doing it yet. Will very soon though... Amongst other things, they have to be properly instructed what to take, and what not to. And the new servants are not coming to clean your rooms. You'll have to take care of that yourself. http://www.skotos.net/ubb/wink.gif

[ShannonA]

Originally posted by Retribution:
I was wondering a few things that you might be able to answer... #1, when you give a scroll to a courier, do all the couriers get it so that any of the couriers that happen upon the victim... reciepant rather will get it, or does the courier you gave it to have to happen upon them?


Any courier can deliver your message.

Shannon

[ShannonA]

** YET MORE TRIALS **

Article #6 in the Trials series, "The Castle Marrach Wish List" is now available. Just click on the Articles link in the navbar to the left.

Here's an excerpt:

"Plots are a very work-intensive thing. Though they'll always be central to Castle Marrach, because we are here to tell stories, it'd be really nice if those plots could be supplemented by interesting objects which could help people do things even when we're not around. And to connect this up to my main point, let me say that plots tend to fall more toward the reactive side of things while interesting objects tend to fall more toward the strategy side of things... by putting work into some interesting objects now, we'll be able to entertain a lot more people in the future, supplementing the plots we're running then. It's all a balance."

Comments are always welcome over on the Trials topic in the StoryBuilder forum.

Shannon

[ShannonA]

** ANOTHER NEW TRIAL **

#7 in the series, "Hosting on Your Toes" is now available at http://www.skotos.net/articles/

Here's an excerpt:


I'm going to pause for a second and let you in on a dirty secret. I play Severin. You know, that annoying, cynical, and obnoxious apprentice? That's me. I was playing him last Thursday when a wounded Eduoard and a terrified Faer were suddenly dumped in my lap. I'd been expecting a simpler role that evening – something to the tune of "He's dead, Jim" after the duel to the death was finished. A bleeding chest wound just hadn't even made my itinerary for the evening.

It's talk about the trials and triumphs of hosting events live.

I've also set an official posting time for the TT&T articles; they should always be available by 3pm PST on Thursday afternoon.

Comments quite welcome!

Shannon

[ShannonA]

** THE TRIALS CONTINUE **

Article #8 in this series, "Electoral Ramblings", is now available at http://www.skotos.net/articles/.

Here's an excerpt:


In designing the Skotos StoryBuilder Server, we came up with a neat system where you could use ordinals (first, second, third) to select objects. So, if there were three Denebian Mudslugs in a room, and you typed "take mudslug", you'd be asked "Do you mean the Denebian Mudslug, the Denebian Mudslug, or the Denebian Mudslug?" and the obvious response would be "take first mudslug". It was a terrific system that made sure you never selected the wrong gastropod.


Comments, as always, welcome. There's a Trials, etal. topic over in the StoryBuilder section.

Shannon

[ShannonA]

** CLOTHES LAYERING **

Confused at why you can't take off a piece of clothing? Now you can type i or inventory and see what might be covering up those underclothes.

** MORE HELP FILES **

We are adding to our set of action verb help files, for things like "eat", "drink", "exits" and more. About 20 more went in today and we'll add more as we can.

[ChristopherA]

Also, a few people had clothes that would not come off should find that a striptease is now possible. http://www.skotos.net/ubb/tongue.gif

-- Christopher Allen

[Aeriale]

Originally posted by ShannonA:
** CLOTHES LAYERING **

Confused at why you can't take off a piece of clothing? Now you can type i or inventory and see what might be covering up those underclothes.

Yeah, I was wondering about that. Yesterday I accidentally hit "i" (I meant to type 'say "i"', but forgot the "say" part), and got a list of what I was wearing and what I was carrying. I found that extraordinarily useful - now I don't have to "examine me" when I want to know if I've finished my food or not.

Originally posted by ShannonA:
** MORE HELP FILES **

We are adding to our set of action verb help files, for things like "eat", "drink", "exits" and more. About 20 more went in today and we'll add more as we can.

That's great. How will we know what they are? Will you send them to Tara for her website?
http://www.skotos.net/ubb/smile.gif SMILE
Aeriale (Niki)
misswells

[ShannonA]

"i", "inventory", and "look at me" are all useful commands for finding out what you look like.

As for the action verbs... we need to make some type of in-game listing available. I've added it to my TODO list.

Shannon

[ShannonA]

** THE NINTH TRIAL **

Galactic emperors, absent players, surly couriers, stuck doors. Read the newest TT&T at http://www.skotos.net/articles/


In a virtual reality we just don't have these guarantees. The characters in the game don't have a continuity of existence. You can't always find them; they can't always hear about events that they should participate in.


Comments welcome in the StoryBuilders forum.

Shannon

[ShannonA]

** THE TENTH TRIAL **

The tenth trial (Not a turkey in sight!) has been posted a day early, due to massive masses of food expected tomorrow. Here's a clip:


Verbization, for those of you not in the linguistic loop, is the art of turning a noun into a verb. It happens all the time, particular in the world of business memos gone terribly wrong. Now we have joined those sordid ranks.


Comments are quite welcome, over on the StoryBuilder board.

Shannon

[Aeriale]

Originally posted by JeffCrook:
There is nothing wrong game-wise with forgery. . . . But there would have to be a . . . detection system. Maybe even when you forge a scroll by changing its contents but leaving the original signature on it, some sort of hidden identifier is placed on it showing your ammendments. Then, when you get active skills implemented, then someone with a detect forgery skill could then 'see' these amendments, and if they have seen forgery by that person before and knew the forger's identity, then the skill would also allow you to 'see' the hidden indentifier and so finger the forger.

I was thinking - "If they had seen forgery by that person before and knew the forger's identity" - Well, who's to say that the forger can't get better every time. Practice makes perfect, you know. Maybe, it's something you can learn. Pretend Aeriale wants to learn to forge Retribution's writing. (Sorry, first name I thought of.) So she somehow obtains scroll written by him. Maybe she writes him a scroll that demands an answer, so she can then study his writing. Well, the first time she tried it (unless she was born with this gift - or practiced it in her past, but then it would seem as if she was born with it), it would be a terrible forgery. But if she did it 'x' amount of times (whatever is decided a good amount of times to practice forgery), then, it could be quite good - only Retribution and a few close associates would be able to tell the difference. But maybe, she really wants to forge Retribution's writing, so she keeps practicing. So now, no one is able to tell the difference - only Retribution, and he only because he knows he didn't write it. Of course, one would have to do the same for every single person they wanted to forge. It would be very tedious and you would have to want to do this very badly.
Which brings me to another question: what about handwriting? Would you be able to tell the difference between two documents, if there was no signature, or is it by signature that we are basing this? I think it'd be cool to have different handwritings, but would it be tto difficult?
Just more questions.
Aeriale