Reworking Identify

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Zefz
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Reworking Identify

Post by Zefz »

I want to rework how identifying works in the game. Currently it is useless and in fact doesn't work at all. I was thinking when you cast identify on an item, a small popup window appears with the following information:

Code: Select all

Name: Spear (Unkursed)
Damage: 3-6
Type: POKE
Value: 20$
Description: This simple weapon has good range and can be used as a throwing weapon if stacked.
The name, value, damage and type of the weapon is already in the game and needs no extra work to display. The description however will need a new expansion such as :[DESC] with one long string that will be used as an identify description. Items with no such expansion will not have any description information.

This way we can explain what items exactly do and which ones are better than others for your use. Identify Scrolls will actually be useful!

Other examples:

Non weapon item:

Code: Select all

Name: Amulet of Regeneration (Unkursed)
Type: Item
Value: 300$
Description: This magical amulet constantly heals the wearer's life.
No description item:

Code: Select all

Name: Cinquada (Kursed!)
Damage: 2-4
Damage: POKE
Value: 15$
Description: No description.

Now there are some other things to consider. Does the game pause while the identify window is open? If so what happens in multiplayer? I say the game simply continues, if so how do you close the identify window. Can you open the identify window with a special button as often as you want (as long as you have actually identified it before).

I guess this could be implemented as drawing another layer like the buttons or the end text on top of the game, but not entering menu mode so the game doesn't pause. It would need to redraw the identify window each frame.
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Post by bgbirdsey »

You could make a billboard for the player holding the item. In principle you can turn anything that you can composite using SDL into a bill board. This easily includes any combo of text and images (since you can use SDL to blit these surfaces into a single SDL surface).

This was how I was planning on handling the module linking, so that a description of the linked module would be generated when you encountered the link.... ;)
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Post by Agent of Dread »

If the little billboard is transparent, we can leave it for, say, ten seconds and then have it fade out. It shouldn't obstruct the player overly much.
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Post by octagon »

Depends on size. It should be somehow possible to close it... otherwise, it could happen to obscure your entire screen

This could be a nice way to hide eastereggs as well... for example, an item that looks identical to other items of that class, but has a mysterious/weird/silly/funny description text. Like a sword found in a palace labeled with "Note from [insert name of Lorulean hero here]: Weird damage range."... :)
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Post by bgbirdsey »

So, two observations:

1) identify was just supposed to reveal the "true name" of an object, and turn on the nameknown flag (possibly so that some feature of an object could only be used if the name was known). This may be virtually useless since so many objects have the "true name" in the data.txt file...

2) how would you encode a "description" of the object? From the examples, they seem pretty specific.

What bout this, you have a 5 second billboard that pops up that looks like the player selection buttons. On the left is the object icon, then to the right is the true name of the object and some auto-generated text about the object's prime stat? Something like this...

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Zefz
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Post by Zefz »

We could add special description text through an expansion? Mostly useful for specific items such as amulets or bracelets.

"Bracelet of da Bear - Magical, increases life and strength"

instead of having to figure out yourself exactly what the item does.

With some more text we could tell the players about spells as well. Some of them are a bit obscure in use and only work on specific monsters or objects (like book of Rot)
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Post by Maxaxle »

Perhaps a few characters (Wizard, Adventurer?, G'nome, Elf?, Healer) could identify objects through having a high wisdom level? Wizards could identify arcane magic items, Adventurers could draw upon memory to recognize famous items, G'nomes would examine the items, Elves could do the same as Wizards, and Healers could do the same as Wizards (but with holy/blessed/etc. items). The only downside to identifying objects is that a few of them would harm the user if used improperly.
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