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Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:52:28 -0400
From: John Colagioia <JColagioia@csi.com>
Organization: No Conspiracy Here...
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Subject: Re: Tone in IF
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Emily Short wrote:
[...]

> Herewith my own, somewhat lamer, explanation: if the player can ask X
> characters about Y things, there is a range of options defined along two
> axes, X and Y.  This is a basically tractable set of possibilities.  If
> the player can also ask all those questions in Z ways, the puzzle space
> opens out hideously into a third dimension, even if Z is a small number
> (like 3).  It becomes increasingly difficult to be sure one has covered
> all the bases.

I wonder if there isn't a way around this with supplementary verbs, rather
than adverbs.  For example, "laugh," "giggle," "clap," "smirk," "grunt,"
"snarl," and quite a few other verbs could be used by the player to indicate a
mood, rather than outright stating it.

The good news is that it's probably easier for the player to understand, both
in terms of usage and in terms of when to use them (after the verbs are
revealed, anyway).  That is, a player who sees that the verb "smile" is
available will do so when he wants to express his character's happiness.

The downside, unfortunately, is that there's too much room for refinement
(that is, it hard to know the difference between "laugh," "giggle," "titter,"
and "guffaw"--or "smile" and "smirk," for that matter), "handing off" the
verbs to the player is a royal pain in the neck, and it has the serious
potential to break the "rhythm" of a conversation (when the player types, "ask
jim about bob. smile. smile. snarl. laugh. scream. smirk. giggle. ask bob
about jim," what is that supposed to mean?).


> > It would also seem possible to alter the game responses based on the
> > perceived mood of the player (sad, happy, angry, whatever).
> Assuming that you can, in fact, perceive the player's mood.  Seems dubious
> to me.  Not that it would stop me from trying if I could think of a way.

Well, chances are that whatever "player tone system" is in place (contrast
with the author's tone--also a potentially interesting topic), it should be
pretty easy to figure out what the player is intending for his tone to be.


