Aust Diamondew
First Post
Seems to me that it's just stated something that I pretty much do any way with out using their vocab or writing down every last detail.
Object oriented adventure design
jmucchiello
Hero
Actually, it looks more like how to write a Choose Your Own Adventure what with the "exit" lines in the scenes.
I would think this is no different than organizing your stuff on index cards. You might also try Ronin Arts' Campaign Planner PDFs.
I don't really find this "object oriented" though.
I would think this is no different than organizing your stuff on index cards. You might also try Ronin Arts' Campaign Planner PDFs.
I don't really find this "object oriented" though.
buzz
Adventurer
I feel that the attribute of each object serves as essentially a checklist of reminders, and I'm the type of person who can benefit from reminders.Joshua Dyal said:
I'm never usually as organized as this methodology requires, so I figure it could be helpful.But, yeah, it's just formalizing what a GM would do anyway, but sometimes formality is a useful tool.
Duncan Haldane
Explorer
Sounds interesteing.
I started working a while ago on a program using XML to store world data. What I was aiming for mostly was an NPC database that would list from published material.
Every lookup field is based on a table, so there is a list of alignments - if someone decided to include a new alignment they could just add it to the alignment table and it would be there.
Tables include:
NPC
Organisation (eg Evil Army)
Organisation Rank (so one can be listed as a Captain in the Evil Army)
Class
Source (eg book/page#, www address, author)
Location (which can be within another location, eg NY City might be in NY State which is in USA).
Most tables contain a source lookup. so NY City might be in Sourcebook X, page 2, the Evil Army might be in sourcebook Y, and Fred the Captian of the Evil Army, NY City branch might be listed in book Z.
I think I even included a relationship table, so one could enter the relationship between two NPCs
eg, Fred's Evil Half-brother might have been created by DM ABC.
Anyway, I haven't worked on it for a while.. should get back to it, but when my career is writing programs I don't really feel like doing it at home too often.
Duncan
I started working a while ago on a program using XML to store world data. What I was aiming for mostly was an NPC database that would list from published material.
Every lookup field is based on a table, so there is a list of alignments - if someone decided to include a new alignment they could just add it to the alignment table and it would be there.
Tables include:
NPC
Organisation (eg Evil Army)
Organisation Rank (so one can be listed as a Captain in the Evil Army)
Class
Source (eg book/page#, www address, author)
Location (which can be within another location, eg NY City might be in NY State which is in USA).
Most tables contain a source lookup. so NY City might be in Sourcebook X, page 2, the Evil Army might be in sourcebook Y, and Fred the Captian of the Evil Army, NY City branch might be listed in book Z.
I think I even included a relationship table, so one could enter the relationship between two NPCs
eg, Fred's Evil Half-brother might have been created by DM ABC.
Anyway, I haven't worked on it for a while.. should get back to it, but when my career is writing programs I don't really feel like doing it at home too often.
Duncan
Duncan Haldane
Explorer
First ever double post!
Last edited:
Psion
Adventurer
My experience, using a similar method to track NPCs and events, is the opposite. I had events and NPCs in notecard format, and I just linked them in where appropriate. This made it very flexible, because if the PCs failed to take the bait or made choices that led them another direction, I merely saved it for later. Made things much more flexible than the static plot/flow-chart style conceptualization.
(The Software Engineer in me... and starting saturday I am formally a software engineer, BID ... pains to point out that these aren't really objects because they lack methods. They are merely structures.
)
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
An "object-oriented approach" isn't really a meaningful concept outside of programming. Like buzz says, it's a set of more or less useful reminders. Whether you put them on an index card or write a program to put up forms for you to fill in, it's still not "object-oriented" in any meaningful way.
But buzzwords sure are fun.
But buzzwords sure are fun.
good point psion.
So here's the mental challenge. What kinds of "methods" would you associate with NPCs and locations that would make them objects?
Having a list of cross-referencef location and NPCs would be cool. But it wouldn't really drive an adventure. You need points where the NPCs intersect the PCs. That implies motion, something note-cards don't define.
From there, the methods for a NPC object might be related to their reaction to the PCs and their own agenda.
Some choices might be:
Negotiate()
Fight()
Run()
Take by force()
In which case, a GM generally knows how to handle those...
Janx
So here's the mental challenge. What kinds of "methods" would you associate with NPCs and locations that would make them objects?
Having a list of cross-referencef location and NPCs would be cool. But it wouldn't really drive an adventure. You need points where the NPCs intersect the PCs. That implies motion, something note-cards don't define.
From there, the methods for a NPC object might be related to their reaction to the PCs and their own agenda.
Some choices might be:
Negotiate()
Fight()
Run()
Take by force()
In which case, a GM generally knows how to handle those...
Janx
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