I've been out of town for several days but you all have been discussing something near and dear to my heart. I think I have pointed out several times that I am not a coder, I'm staff and Head RP Imm at WoTMUD (wotmud.org:2222). It's a heavily modified Circle 2.X code and the implementers/coders (Flash and Zun) reached what in my mind is an excellent compromise between user functionality and information. During melee you cannot view your health, etc. in a precise manner. At first this is confusing but after you use it/get used to it it's an excellent way (again IMHO) to provide quick info to the players. The information during melee is contained in the prompt like so: * R HP:Hurt SP:Strong MV:StrongHaggard - Slaydak: Hurt - Ibiet: Healthy > From left to right it's room lighting (* for lighted, o for dark), hitpoints, spell points, movement points. Then if you were assisting you see the tanker's name and relative health, then you see the opponent's relative health. Health (HP) for instance goes from Healthy, Scratched, Hurt, Wounded, Battered, Beaten, Critical, Incapacitated, Dead. Similar output for Manna and movement points. As you can see you get a rough approximation of your health and the health of your opponent at each prompt. Typing "score" during melee shows normal TNL and such but omits health, spell points (manna) and moves. The prompt remains the same even while not in melee (without the addition of the opponent of course) so remains a "quick" reference and typing "score" is for when you really want to know exactly where you are. Weave (spell) timing is done with a spinning timer, a succession of -=+**+=- characters followed by a backspace. Some enterprising players use local processing to stretch these out to visibly time the weaves. Again on this mud it's not about letting them know exactly what's up (preventing scripted bots) but more a seat of the pants feel that I personally enjoy. Again, YMMV. Anyway, the inclusion of an opponents relative health is a nice change from stock, it leaves the players not having to spam "look X" or "dia X" during melee and lets them concentrate on other things. Not saying it's the solution, just pointing out "a" solution for your information. -=-=-=-=- Lee C. Bussy Aennor on WoTMUD wotmud.org:2222 http://www.wotmud.org The difference between a hero and a coward is one step sideways. -Gene Hackman -- +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | FAQ: http://qsilver.queensu.ca/~fletchra/Circle/list-faq.html | | Archives: http://post.queensu.ca/listserv/wwwarch/circle.html | | Newbie List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/circle-newbies/ | +---------------------------------------------------------------+
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