Starting to build my first area - Help!

[Ursan]

I've badgered Sharni enough with my questions I think.
Time the rest of you earned your way

Can someone give me a breakdown on what info needs to be submitted
when designing new objects for an area?

Are there any guidelines on what limits such items should have?

thanks

[Andreas]

I'm speaking from my personal experience here since I'm an OLC builder working with others who are designing their own areas. What is stated below are my preferences for how an area should be written so I can put it together in OLC.

ROOMS

Give a room title and at least three sentences describing the room and its contents (if applicable). Proper spelling, grammar and punctuation are very important! Having the description formatted to 80 characters per line also helps. That allows me to just copy and paste through the area. Please note any room exits and where they go.

ROOM EXAMPLE

Home Office

It's a small room with only one door tucked into the southeast corner.
Set in the center of the north wall is a widow. Bookshelves line the
walls, holding all manner of reading materials.

south to 02 Hall

I can generally figure out room sectors and flags from there. If there's anything special about the room or exit, be sure to include it as well.

MOBS

Things start getting a bit more tricky here. First you'll need keywords. Keywords aren't only WHAT the mob is (i.e. goblin) but also what they APPEAR to be (i.e. short squat ugly humanoid). The short description is what you see when you look at a creature or it speaks/moves (i.e. a goblin) and the long description is what you see when you are in the same room together (i.e. A short, squat and ugly humanoid stands here.). The short description needs no punctuation or capitalisation (exept for proper names) while the long description needs both. Mob description should be at least three sentences (spelling, grammar and punctuation!!) and formatted to 80 characters.

Most racial abilities are already coded into the game. If it's a critter that isn't coded, I have most of the monster manuals and can set its abilities appropriately. Anything out of the ordinary (skills, abilities, trains, repairs, etc.) needs to be noted.

MOB EXAMPLE

keywords: goblin short squat ugly humanoid
short: a goblin
long: A short, squat and ugly humanoid stands here.
desc: About three feet tall but standing shorter due to its stooped posture,
this creature has a face that only a mother could love. Sickly yellowish
skin is spotted with scaly olive patches and hairy warts. Beady eyes
peer out from beneath a sloping brow and its fanged maw is drawn up
into a cruel leer.

specials: trains goblin, wears leather armour and has a short sword, calls for help if attacked, bringing other tribe members

If your mob is a SHOPKEEPER, note that in the specials and what objects it buys and sells. REPAIR mobs should have it noted what types and materials they'll repair.

OBJECTS

Objects should be done the same way as MOBS: keywords, short description, long description, and anything special about it. It's usually simple to figure out how an item should be worn (i.e. not going to set a WEAR_HEAD flag for a pair of socks). IF there is something extremely unique about the item, give it an extra description. Otherwise, I prefer to leave them out because it allows the objects to be renamed. A plain dagger wouldn't get an extra description but a slim, elven dagger would. Please remember, that is just my personal preference. You'll also need to include the material an object is made of and its quality.

OBJECT EXAMPLE

keywords: slim elven dagger
short: a slim elven dagger
long: A slim, elven dagger has been left here.
desc: The lightness of this weapon and delicate etching of a leafy vine
along the blade indicate its elven origins. Its polished rosewood grip is
inlaid with mother-of-pearl. It has a short guard and small, rounded
pommel of polished brass.
quality: outstanding
material: elven

specials: lighter than normal dagger due to excellent smithing, increased value for the rosewood & mother-of-pearl handle

Again, this is what I look for when working with someone else through an area. Other builders might have different preferences, but I think I've covered the basics. And I can't stress it enough: GOOD spelling, grammar and punctuation!!!

[Stayne]

Different question from Ursan - but will keep it in the same thread.

For an area that has multiple shopkeepers, do I need a storeroom for each shopkeep, or one for the area? (ie. How many VNUMs do I need to leave free for this non-existant room)

Also - for an area that needs to be covered by the law enforcement system (for eg. an area inside a city where trhe guards woul go, or an area with its own guards) is this covered in the area file, or do I need to make every MOB able to help each other out, or do they 'call for help?' (ie How do I make a shopkeep summon the guards if they are attacked). I am interested in what I should note for the builder (as I mainly am designing ATM - but would love the long answer as I am interested in coding it myself eventually).

Thanks in advance
Stayne

[Talos]

In reply to Stayne, you don't need a storeroom for every shopkeeper. The shop is based off the mob, so you can have shpkeepers wander if you like. However, pet shops DO need pet storerooms, and each petshop needs its own.
Personally, I do usually make one room in the area a special room where I put mobs that are on time programs or that are for rp use only.

As for justice, mobs flagged CITIZEN take part in the justice system. Which is reporting crimes.
The summoning guards part of things is a fight_prog, which I'll let someone with a detailed example on hand give.

[Tychina]

1. Where will the temple be located? ie: town, woods, general area etc

2. Can a pet shop and a mount shop be located in the same room? Or would I need to design two seperate rooms?

3. The extra hidden rooms for shops that no one really enters, do I need to design the temple knowing where they are placed on the (map) or is that something that is taken care of by the coders? And if I do need to account for them on the "map", then do they have to be right next to/touching the shops themselves?

hmm I had a list of questions but I cannot find it and these are lal I can remember at the moment.

Thanks
Jenn

[Stayne]

Usually the builder decides where they want to place the entrance to the area (wether it be in the wilderness or a city) and gets that approved, unless of course your building an area that is specifically meant for a certain location.

You can have a pet shop and a mount shop in the same room as far as I know. Pets and Mounts are essentially the same type of MOB, just with a few different flags. If you wanted to make seperate shops then you would need an spare room (with sequential VNUMs) for each store.

The "extra" rooms are essentially virtual rooms that are there to allow the MUD to work. They are never actually on the map so to speak. In the case of pet/mount shops the spare room allocated for the shop to work MUST be the following VNUM (ie. if QQ23 is your petshop then QQ24 must be left spare for it too work)

Hope this helps (and is correct )
S.

[Tychina]

I don't really understand about the vnums and stuff, but I'm only designing so I spose I don't need to...

Thanks, it does help. Now if only I could find my bloody notebook grrr

[Stayne]

Don't worry about VNUMs then. If you have 50 rooms for your area then you you must leave a room free for shops (if you have any) and a room free for each sperate mount seller or pet seller.
For eg. My temple has a stablemaster selling mounts and 8 shopkeepers so I have in total, 2 spare rooms that count towards my 50 total.

Hope that clarifies a bit.
S.

[Stayne]

What I meant was that in my example area there was 1 mob selling mounts/pets and 8 mobs that were normal shopkeepers, therefore 2 spare rooms in total were needed to be left aside 1 for the mount/pet seller and 1 for the 8 shopkeepers. These 2 spare rooms counted towards the total number of rooms I had to write.

Sorry for the ambiguity.
S.

[Dalvyn]

3. The extra hidden rooms for shops that no one really enters, do I need to design the temple knowing where they are placed on the (map) or is that something that is taken care of by the coders? And if I do need to account for them on the "map", then do they have to be right next to/touching the shops themselves?

First, you only need "hidden rooms" for pet shops, not for normal shops. (Normal) shops are actually mobs and not rooms since they always require a shopkeeper, but you can have travelling merchants.

For pet shops, you need a hidden room where new pets (that can be bought) are stored. This room should not be accessible (that is, you do not need to have 'exits'/'doors' leading to and from this room).

A few things about VNUMs (it's still easier to talk with the person who is going to code your area if you know what they are more or less). Each room has a "number", which is its vnum. For a 50-room area, the rooms are numbered from 0 up to 49. When you're talking with the coder, it's easier to speak about "Room 27" rather than "You know, the tailor workshop that is just next to the fountain room" because the coder will most likely not know the map of the area as well as you.

Code-wise, the VNUM/number of the hidden room where pets are stocked HAS to be the number right after the VNUM of the room where the pet seller is. That is, if you have your pet seller stay in room 21 ("Entrance to the stables"), room number 22 will have to be used as the hidden storeroom.

Depending on the kind of pet shop / stables you design, you might also need a third room (a second hidden room) for your stables. Such a room is needed to store the pets that have been stabled (and should not be sold). There is no code requirement on the VNUM of that room, but it's easier to remember where it is if you use the next number for it. If you do not want to allow people to stable their pets there, you don't need this room.

[Tychina]

Thanks I don't know who is going to code the area, but I would be more then willing to talk to whoever it is.