stupid question...
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Apprentice
Member # 5015
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 07:40
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But I was just wondering how time is handled in games such as Avernum. I am creating my own rpg and have coded it so that time will pass by the seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years. However, what if a player were to play for over 40 game years? Does the characters in such games as Avernum age if this happens? Is this not possible to play for 40 years? Or does the game just ignore the fact that people age? Thanks :) Posts: 10 | Registered: Friday, September 24 2004 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 07:44
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I'm quite sure there is no such thing as aging in any of the Exile games. I've heard rumors about aging being in Nethergate or some of the Avernum games, but I don't think that's true... -------------------- The Encyclopaedia Ermariana <-- Now a Wiki! "Polaris leers down from the black vault, winking hideously like an insane watching eye which strives to convey some strange message, yet recalls nothing save that it once had a message to convey." --- HP Lovecraft. "I single Aran out due to his nasty temperament, and his superior intellect." --- SupaNik Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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BANNED
Member # 5219
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 07:57
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Well, I've only played a3 for about a little over 1,000 days, an nothing's ever happened. :) Of course, thats only for like 3 years. -------------------- You can take my Windows XP when you pry my cold, dead fingers off the mouse! Posts: 394 | Registered: Saturday, November 20 2004 08:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 5015
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 07:57
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Ok... But wouldn't people find it kinda odd, that their players are over 100 years old at some point and everyone of them look the same as they did when they started and didn't die from old age? Is this all just ignored? Posts: 10 | Registered: Friday, September 24 2004 07:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 4414
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 08:57
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quote:Yeah, that's kinda odd. But so are slimes, giant hostile fungi, and many other elements of RPGs. Aging is annoying. It more or less imposes a time limit on your characters. While it can add to realism, realism has never been necessary in RPGs. If aging is implememted, it should be an option that can be turned off at the player's discretion. Realmz had PCs that aged. It bugged me. I just wanted to explore, but the game treated me as if my characters had just wasted their lives wandering around. Why bring one of the most obnoxious aspects of reality into a game meant to suspend reality? Don't get me wrong, aging can add interesting mechanics to the game world, but it can also seem like an arbitrary fiddling with stats that annoys the player. I guess it could be fun to draw multiple age variations of character portraits. And it might be interesting to create a world that changes with generations. But in most RPGs, it would be an annoyance. -------------------- AIM/Yahoo IM: Cavanoskus Scary artwork and Bad Poetry The Wildlife Research Team SnakeNetMetalRadio "We, who are about to die, salute you." Posts: 86 | Registered: Friday, May 21 2004 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 09:44
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Ancient Domains of Mystery had an aging feature, but usually you never even got a year into the game even with the most extended exploring. If you died from old age it was because some ghost had got you. :P I agree about suspending reality and time; I think that goes for forum roleplaying characters as well. I've rejuvenated dear old Eferas... how often now? Twice? He just loves to travel around, so why make him age? :) -------------------- The Encyclopaedia Ermariana <-- Now a Wiki! "Polaris leers down from the black vault, winking hideously like an insane watching eye which strives to convey some strange message, yet recalls nothing save that it once had a message to convey." --- HP Lovecraft. "I single Aran out due to his nasty temperament, and his superior intellect." --- SupaNik Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 10:22
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In Avernum, it's darn near impossible to play for long enough in game-time for aging to be necessary. Even A3, which is extraordinarily massive, requires less than 200 game days to beat with any reasonable playing style. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
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Triad Mage
Member # 7
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 10:24
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In Exile III, you die after 512 game days. Presumably it's the same in Avernum 3. -------------------- "At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool." - Menander ==== Drakefyre's Demesne - Happy Happy Joy Joy desperance.net - We're Everywhere ==== You can take my Mac when you pry my cold, dead fingers off the mouse! Posts: 9436 | Registered: Wednesday, September 19 2001 07:00 |
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BANNED
Member # 4
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 10:31
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Drakey- How, and why? -------------------- 私のバラドですそしてころしたいいらればころす Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 5181
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 10:37
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The date is an unsigned char value, I think, so any more than 512 would roll it back to 0. Posts: 262 | Registered: Thursday, November 11 2004 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 5091
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 11:13
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Arenax, 2 to the eighth power is 256, not 512. 512 would be 9 bits, and such a variable could only range from 0 to 511. I, too, am interested in this supposed death. Is it just a sudden "WHOOPS U R DED", or is it plot-related ("TEH EVIL VAHNATAIS HAVE BLOWED UP EXILE!!!")? Does anything similar happen in the other Exiles? Also, to the thread parent: most games have no concept of aging. Indeed, the usual reason for a game to have "game time" is for a time limit of some sort (reference: Fallout) and thus you don't have time to age significantly. However, if you want to have game time for a clearer timeline of events (certain things happen on certain days, at night, etc.) nobody will count it against you that people seem to be ageless. The number of games that prominently feature aging can be counted on one hand, and none of them are RPGs, really. ---  Windows version. If you can't read that, I'm on day 514. [ Sunday, December 12, 2004 12:24: Message edited by: The Dog And Pony Show ] Posts: 180 | Registered: Friday, October 15 2004 07:00 |
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Triad Mage
Member # 7
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 12:51
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It was actually day 500, and using the character editor didn't trigger it. It was basically a "You lose, lagot" death, and I don't know if it's still in it. -------------------- "At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool." - Menander ==== Drakefyre's Demesne - Happy Happy Joy Joy desperance.net - We're Everywhere ==== You can take my Mac when you pry my cold, dead fingers off the mouse! Posts: 9436 | Registered: Wednesday, September 19 2001 07:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 5181
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 13:19
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...Wow. I can't believe I said that. My brain hurts. I'll go shoot myself now. Must have thought it said 200 when I looked at it. Posts: 262 | Registered: Thursday, November 11 2004 08:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 5015
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 15:40
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Thanks guys for the responses. I wanted to make my world realistic, without the realism effecting the fun factor in a negative form. I don't want to really place a time limit on the game, but I thought maybe it would be a good idea to have the game able to be finished and completely explored in around 10-15 years or so... That way I don't think age would make a difference. However, for the odd player that goes beyond that, I'm thinking of making something happen to kill him off. I don't really like that idea, but it seems to be the easy way out. I do realize that an RPG isn't suppose to be fully realistic. But If I want to keep a believable world, age is a big way of taking the player out of that world, if not taken care of correctly. It would be a monstrous feat on my hands to age every NPC, and the player. So the best I could think of is maybe making the world come to an end at a certain point. However, there is a chance that could really work out against me and piss some of my players off. It's something I really need to work on and I'm open for suggestions. Posts: 10 | Registered: Friday, September 24 2004 07:00 |
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BANNED
Member # 4
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 15:56
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One thing you could do is that you could introduce aging into your scenario if the player takes a really, really, really long time to finish. Like, if the player takes +3500 days (roughly 10 years), you could start downing their statistics as a result of aging. ;) -------------------- 私のバラドですそしてころしたいいらればころす Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 17:39
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The Might and Magic series of RPGs included an aging system (which gradually lowered your stats after around age 60, and randomly killed your characters off after around age 80), but also included various ways to magically rejuvenate your characters. That might be the best of both worlds, if you really expect your game to take years of game time to finish. [ Sunday, December 12, 2004 17:40: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 18:03
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Politely inform the player that all characters have the genes for Huntington's Chorea. Slap crippling stat decreases on characters and then declare them dead. You can't argue with genetic degenerative disorders! —Alorael, who is more in favor of accepting the possibility of endless games in the name of fun over realism. If there is a good reason for a hard limit on time, use that. If there isn't but you don't want to deal with aging characters and changes in the world, just shrug and hope that players aren't bothered by nonagenerarian characters, children who never grow up, and wounded men who never heal. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 5091
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written Sunday, December 12 2004 22:00
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Unless the game has a plot-oriented explicit or implicit time limit (the former: Super Mario Bros.; the latter: Fallout after the water chip), making the game suddenly end is a great way to really piss people off. Most games do not feature aging, and don't suffer for it. If you wish to include aging, then make it possible to circumvent it. I mean, you already have to suspend disbelief numerous times to play an RPG. Many games force you to believe that a person either always stands in the same place or wanders around randomly. The most realistic behavior in RPGs tends to assume that everyone does the exact same thing every day. Your actions in most games speed along the plot -- no matter how long it takes you to get to a certain point, you always arrive exactly when the villain is stealing the golden dingus. (The cliche is that you always arrive too late.) You have to assume that a normal person can survive being at the center of a cone of cold, a fireball, and a few axe blows in quick succession. You have to assume that people say the same thing over and over again. There are many, many more assumptions a player must make to play even the most realistic of games. Don't let a futile desire for perfect realism ruin your game. Posts: 180 | Registered: Friday, October 15 2004 07:00 |