Items smoting

[Isolrem]

Again... not sure if this would prove too difficult a task, but is it possible that something in smote (e.g. @) would allow interactions with items worn, in the inventory, and in the room?
e.g.

smote runs his hand along the hilt of @long
Isolrem runs his hand along the hilt of a shining longsword.

smote touches @stat lightly
Isolrem touches the stone statue of a knight lightly.

[Bugoron]

The idea sounds good, but it doesn't seem like anything that couldn't already be done with a normal smote and some color-coding mixed in. Since they should already be able to see what is "on" the character, the smote should be sufficiant, I think.

[Isolrem]

Yeah... but takes a long time to do the colorful items.

[Gwain]

I usually set an alias to a coloured item to do a smote with it quickly, it takes a bit of time but it works when you need to do a quick emote

[Andreas]

From a builder's standpoint...

This would be nearly impossible. Multiple items have the same keyword. Doing an ofind on builder port for something like... silk... brings up at least 20 items (probably more).

Gwain's suggestion of making aliases for emotes with the colour codes in them is a very good idea. I use it on some alts.

[Glim]

Hmm

Im not really sure, but I dont know if it would be too hard. I mean, the code can differentiate between items in your inventory and items not, I dont think itd have to sort through every item in the game each time you use the command.

Of course, you could make an alias for the items, but Itd be like not being able to use $ and having to make an alias for every character you meet. I know ide use this command alot more if it were coded.

[Andreas]

If there is a cloth pack in your inventory (or if you're wearing it) and one on the ground, the game defaults to the one in your possession. SOMEtimes you can exam 2.(object) and get the one that's not on your PC. But if there are more than two instances of an object, the game will always default to the one in your inventory or worn by you.

This might sound like a good thing for the item smotes (which I really think would be a wasted effort to code when we can smote and emote just fine and there's other things that need coding... like quests and areas), BUT it really isn't because multiple instances of an object in a room will "confuse" the life out of the coded smote for an object due to the repetitive use of keywords... aaaaaaaaand we all know that "confused" code means crashes

Smote, emote and alias can all be used just fine to produce these same effects without the need for additional code. The tools for roleplay are in your hands, all you need to do is use them

[Dalvyn]

I think that could be a nice help.

By the way, this would require hard coders' time, not area/quest coders' time, so these are two different things.

This would basically reuse the code for mob/PC names in smote, except that it would be way simpler (since the same message would be sent to all). I'd bet it would not take much more than 20 minutes for Mask to add it.

[Lorion]

I'm sorry but as a non-coder i don't really see the problem with confusing of objects..take the "look in pack" command..it gets the keyword pack and is apparently able to search the area and worn and carried equipment for items with the word "pack" in it, then decides which is meant in this case after a priority list(that i partly, but not completely understand :p), and executes the command(which would be "look in" in this case). it should be at least humanly possible to code a function for smotes/emotes, even though i'm not sure it is done in 20 minutes.
As for the "i think there are more important things" statement: yesterday i heard something that is true as well: the coders work on this game for free. Of course they will go in their priority list for needed codechanges, but they will probably also code things that they themselves think are needed or useful. Som maybe they should decide if it is useful and also doable in a reasonable amount of time.
I know that I would have wished such a thing would exist. I saw the use of colours in emotes to describe an item..about once since i started playing FK. I am sure if a function like this would be included people would use this way more. As for aliases: they will(probaly) work fine for items you carry. but what if you want to interact with the fountain that is in the market square? or a dead tree that stands somewhere around? if you knew before you would get to a certain place and want to interact with certain objects, that is fine, you can make aliases beforehand then. But if you find something that is unexpected, and maybe even in more than one colour, you would probably consider the time used for making the emote against those other people you might be with waiting for your emote, and then decide against it.

[Glim]

Also:

Another thing to consider would be ease of use. Now, I know most new players figure out how to use $ in their smotes to differentiate between people easily enough, but color codes and aliases can take alot more time to learn to use. Andreas and Gwain, you both know the game well enough to use color codes, but newer people might not and this would make a much simpler way to use items in smotes than to color code them. This would also prevent people from smoting items they do not have, as when they type out the command, the code would determine if they actually posses the item they are using in their smotes.

Just another thing to think of, as well as added support for item smoting.

[Gwain]

I would not say I know colour smoting very well, I was able to learn it over a period of time. Maybe a help file adressing how to use colour in smotes and emotes would be the best thing?

[Keltorn]

Andreas and Gwain, you both know the game well enough to use color codes, but newer people might not and this would make a much simpler way to use items in smotes than to color code them.

I didn't even know it could be done until reading this thread. Now I just have to figure it out...

[Andreas]

As far as I know, colour coding will only work in EMOTE and not smote. I haven't tested this recently however.

i.e.

emote looks at the {90}red bird{60} and smiles.

will produce:

Andreas looks at the red bird and smiles.

[Glim]

And you can find the color codes by typing in the game:

help feralcolour

Here is a representation as best as I can put it.

Builder Colour Codes
====================
Below is a series of colour codes for use by builders and deities. For
colourising objects the codes in the second paragraph are the most
commonly used.

Test 00(NU) Test 01(NU) Test 02(NU) Test 03(NU) Test 04(NU)
Test 05(NU) Test 06(NU) Test 07(NU) Test 08 Test 09
Test 0A Test 0B Test 0C Test 0D Test 0E
Test 0F

Test 10 Test 50 Test 90 Test D0
Test 20 Test 60 Test A0 Test E0
Test 30 Test 70 Test B0 Test F0
Test 40 Test 80 Test C0

NU = Shouldnt be used

Now, the colors cant all be represented on the forums, but this should give you a general idea.

Only the text colors should be used, not the ones with colored backgrounds. It is a good rule to only use them from the second paragraph.

[Dalvyn]

Actually, only use the colour codes from 10 up to 90, A0, ..., F0, and not those that start with a zero.

That will be good practice in case you decide to build an area afterwards.

[Ellian]

http://www.forgottenkingdoms.com/builders/colour

Go there, and it will give you exactly what you would see in game with help feralcolour.

Kudos for the effort though, Nick. =)

Jayson

[Hviti]

emote looks at the {90}red bird{60} and smiles.

Why does this produce a red bird? It does say Test 90 is red, but Test 60 is blue...so why does this yield a red color? (Sorry if I'm missing something really simple, I just don't get it )

[Balek]

60 changes the emote back to the default color. Without the second color code, everything after the 90 would be red, including, "and smiles."

[Dalvyn]

Actually, it depends on whether you chose the style with cool colours or the style with warm colours. That affects the "normal" colour for smotes/emotes.