It's all in your head, Part 4

[prophile]

A lack of corridors and windods jumped out at me mainly from that video.

I'll steal your windod!

[martin]

A couple of thoughts:

*blah*

xander

hmm, I would do it differently again. The point of a floor is to subdivide it into functional spaces *while still allowing access to the exits*

so we have two requirements, functional spaces and that everything should be linked into one particular place (ie, the stairs/lift). So maybe you could start off by randomly generating some walls city grid style. Then it's doors, as xander said they need to be in corners more, also a room which has a larger wallspace:floorspace ratio is more likely to be a corridor. So then you apply a "door limit", rooms classified more officey have a lower door limit while spaces classified as more corridorey have a higher door limit. Then you can add in all the doors; respecting door limits. (and I'd avoid doors on the fifth floor too )

[RabidZombie]

Of course, above all, you need to make sure doors that are on the outside walls are clearly marked as emergency exits.

And make sure they're alarmed. Hey, they're for emergency use only, not getting home 5 mins quicker by skipping the elevator!

[Ace Rimmer]

I must say you guys get me quite pissed off. Like Nutter said previously, I'm quite worried about us probably having influence on the game. All these suggestions are in my eyes not really good.

Yes, there should be hallways. Yes, there should be stairs. NO, THERE SHOULDN'T BE DEATH DOORS.

From my point of view, I have figured out what the game already is, thus not an influence in that respect. And as far as death doors, thats quite wrong, its the chairs, desks, rooms, and such that will cause death. Not the doors, well, unless they lead to the outside of the building on the 6th floor or something.

PS: I've had a good time laughing about those ideas anyways, so I don't think it's all bad. Definitely.

*I'm quite serious.

*If you beleive that then why don't you smegging-well smeg off, you annoying little smeggy smegging smegger!

[Xocrates]

The lack of windows is simply due to the fact that Linux is cheaper!

[BrianBlessed]

*groan*

[xander]

I must say you guys get me quite pissed off. Like Nutter said previously, I'm quite worried about us probably having influence on the game. All these suggestions are in my eyes not really good.

Yes, there should be hallways. Yes, there should be stairs. NO, THERE SHOULDN'T BE DEATH DOORS.

But it's not as if Chris won't notice that on his own. The most complex things have been built upon simple bases. This algorithm Chris is talking about can be expanded (possibly with other algorithms or stuff) or upgraded (create a bigger whole in which this thing plays a small role).

Of course there's nothing revealed about the gameplay, so that includes suggestive parts, until it gets to the later stages. If we go back to Darwinia, it might even be the case no-one has even thought of a possible gameplay, and it'll evolve later.

Don't get me wrong. I'm talking for myself, it's very probable Chris appreciates it. I'll be wrong.

I'll be happy to.

Jelco

PS: I've had a good time laughing about those ideas anyways, so I don't think it's all bad. Definitely.

Personally, I am not trying to influence the game. Chris posted about his creative process, and the algorithms that he has used. He also stated that he is not quite happy with the way in which they are working. Now, if I am working on something, and am not happy with the way it is working out, I will tend to talk to people about it. Often, the things that people say will spark something off in my head that will cause me to go in another direction, and might help alleviate the feeling that it is not quite right. Sometimes I will take another person's advice, sometimes I will go 180° from what they suggest, but their suggestion is the catalyst.

I don't think that anyone here is trying to directly influence the game. Rather, we are suggesting what we might do, and bouncing ideas around. If Chris didn't want that kind of feedback, I am sure that he would lock the topic, or make it otherwise impossible to comment. If he finds it offensive, he could say as much, and delete our posts.

Now, with regards to what martin said: perhaps you could generate a floor plan like a fractal tree? have an iteration or two for hallways, then the "leaves" would be rooms. Starting from a central point (say a floor entrance or elevator exit), a main "branch" or hallway could be generated, followed by a couple of subsidiary hallways. Hallways could then be given a width, and rooms could be generated to fill the empty space. Function could then be assigned to the room based on size and proximity to the trunk -- i.e. a small room close to the trunk might be a bathroom, while a large room far from the trunk might be an executive office. Rooms might be "seeded" at doorways, and grown until they encounter another room or the edge of the building, then squared off to make a more realistic looking floorplan. To control the size of a room, you might have a "rate of growth" variable -- a big room would have to grow quickly to take up more space. This variable, like the others, could be randomly generated.

I would try to code something up, but I wouldn't even know where to begin :\ I have worked a little with Python in the past, but I have no idea how to display anything of a graphical nature.

xander

[Xocrates]

*groan*

You had it coming

[Darksun]

The lack of windows is simply due to the fact that Linux is cheaper!

For me:

Cost of Windows Vista Business: £0
Cost of some random business oriented GNU/Linux distro like Redhat: >£0

Therefore, I conclude YOU LIE.

[Shwart!!]

THISSUX I CANNOT DAWNLOD TEH VIDEO!!!1!11!!one!

By the way, that looks sweet. Nice job.
And why does a building need a hallway? I don't have hallways in MY room.

Shwart!!

[Montyphy]

And why does a building need a hallway? I don't have hallways in MY room.

Hallways tradionally connect rooms, not go through them.

[Crook]

I haven't looked too deeply at office blueprints but it seems to me to be very similar to a city structure, with the roads making the hallways and the buildings becoming rooms. As we don't know what's really going to be the playability of the game we can't know what accuracy Chris is going for. Maybe a 'realistic office' isn't necessary. If this is a much larger project than IV games before (like a FPS or something) then I'd say it has to be quite familiar looking. BTW how cool would it be to have a whole city to play in with a FPS? Not just a map, each building taking an hour to explore like a real building might, and there being thousands of such buildings and then streets, parks etc etc. Procedural content would give us almost infinite space to play in. The next city would also be just a bus ride/teleport away, and the next, and the next county etc. Populate that with people and you have a limitless world to play in. The only problem with procedural content is repetition, which is the holy grail of game design (or should be! Would save millions in asset making)

If these graphical examples are indicative of the final game engine then it's looking to be a typical IV style game, hot on gameplay and the graphics while great aren't the be all and end all of it. Vector looking, stylistic, TRON like.

[DueAccident]

A lack of corridors and windods jumped out at me mainly from that video.

I'll steal your windod!

My windod! Though you must admit, there is a significant lacking of windods.

BrianBlessed wrote:

*groan*

You had it coming

I second that groan..

[Spacemonkey]

Yes, there should be hallways. Yes, there should be stairs. NO, THERE SHOULDN'T BE DEATH DOORS.

I demand Death Doors!

[BrianBlessed]

I demand Death Doors!

FINE! Here's your Death Doors!