StoryNexus: rich quality effects, social actions

StoryNexus
1

[color=#009900]Hi all[/color]
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[color=#009900]We’ve implemented the long-promised rich quality effects - non-hardcoded effects for quality changes. Social acts, which were stealth-released a while ago, are live and pretty solid.[/color]

[color=#009900]Both these are documented in tuhe manual: we haven’t documented Mirroring or Relationship Qualities, which are still bedding in.[/color]
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[color=#009900]Also in this release: a UI refresh to make all the pages look more consistent; a ‘force-equip’ option to equip an item to a player immediately when they receive it; and a ‘random image’ button for when you want inspiration.[/color]
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[color=#009900]We’re hunkering down to do some performance improvements and framework updates, but custom image uploads and custom tabs will likely come after that.[/color]

2

Yaay force-equip!

3

Rich quality effects look -brilliant-. Can’t wait to try these out!

4

I wonder why the good old sex-changing cursed belt from d&d comes to mind when force-equip is mentioned. :)

5

Bless you, sir.

6

I also noticed “World Editors”…does this mean we can include multiple people to collaborate on a world on our own?

7

I can’t seem to find “rich quality effects” in the manual and the only thing that so far hasn’t gotten an error code in the formula field is “-20” where does it say what we can write in the rich quality effect?

8

It’s there, but it’s missing from the table of contents. Look in chapter 3, under “Quality numbering”.

The bottom line is though: use [q:Quality Name] to stand for the value of an existing quality, and you can use the four basic arithmetic operators. But before anyone gets too excited, you can only do it for effects (the changes which happen after playing a branch), not for requirements or difficulty checks (yet).

So you can do “Set armour class to helmet plus breastplate”, but you can’t do “compare monster studliness to amour class” at the moment.

Cheers
Richard

9

It would appear so - I’ve just done it.

One nice application of this is to allow your alt accounts to use inline editing. I’ve got a couple of alts at different stages in my worlds, and it’s always irritated me that I can’t just click and type like I can with my main account.

Cheers
Richard

10

Since the new release, when I create a simple action that changes a quality by -X, it is considered a “rich action” even though it is more a regular action.

11

That’s been mentioned over here, and a fix is promised imminently.

Cheers
Richard

12

[quote]Total Loyalty: Set To [q:Western Loyalty] + [q:Eastern Loyalty]

(We expect to extend this feature to Branch Requirements, but probably not Event Requirements.)[/quote]

So it sounds like we can have qualities that are set based on other qualities. Since the rich qualities only can be affected in a branch result, this would probably have to be set during some event in the game. Is there any way, or would it be useful to have a quality that does this math as a rule?

For example, in the Total Loyalty=Western Loyalty+Eastern Loyalty example, that can possibly only happen in a result branch. It’s going to stay that way even if I gain loyalty somewhere else until I hit the result branch that adds it.

Would there be a place for a “Rich Quality” type that contains a field for an expression like “Overall Health=(Hit Points+Morale)-(Wounds+Deep Seated Emotional Scars)” ? A moderate expression like that could become tedious to activate every single time one of those four qualities changed.

13

Force-equip is a great option; now we can start the player off wearing some clothing without instructing them to equip it.

The other instance where I’d want to force-equip someone would be essentially with a &quotcursed&quot item. My &quotStrange Breeding Zenomorph&quot can latch onto the players face as he first discovers it.

What’s the best strategy to keep the little bugger equipped until the player finds the &quotAcid-Cauterizing Laser Torch&quot?

First thing that comes to mind is a quality for the item itself &quotBreeding Xenomorph&quot at 1 means it is carried and disabled, 2 means it’s alive and ready for loving. I would need another quality (&quotOMIGOD GETITOFF!&quot that is enhanced when the Xenomorph is equipped.

If the Xenomorph quality is at 2, and &quotOMIGOD…&quot is 0, I can fire a must card with separate branches based on whether the player also has the laser torch. &quotYour efforts to disentangle the long spindly legs of the creature are unsuccessful! You’ll need to find some way to cut through it.&quot Then it seems like the only course is to use bracketed support text explaining to the player he must re-equip the xenomorph himself, and require that &quotOMG&quot quality set at one to proceed. This also requires a browser refresh to unlock the branch since the quality doesn’t show set immediately.

This allows fiddling - since my card to force the player to requip the Xenomorph has to fire in the clear, I could see a situation where getting out of quarantine into the public area requires that I not be wearing a deadly face-humping alien on my head. The card that changes areas could be activated, the xenomorph unequipped, then the browser refreshed, and the guard will change his mind since I’m holding the xenomorph lovingly, letting me through before the &quotPUT THIS ON YOUR FACE!&quot card fires. Havoc ensues, or the game is broken if I am allowed to freely explore the spaceship whilst being a happy couple with aforementioned alien presence since I expected that the player would need to remove it before proceeding.

I suppose in this case, what I’d do is require that the Xeno actualy be dead and its quality set to 1 before letting the player through the door, the only way to set the Xeno quality to 1 is to use the laser torch.

But the part about ordering the player to re-equip an item seems cumbersome. Is there any tidier or more efficient way this could work?[li]

==on edit

Probably the actual way to do this would make the face-hugging xenomorph a reqular quality instead of an equippable one. So bad example. But what if I wanted a game mechanic where via a social action a player could trade a cursed and non-unequppable item with someone else?
edited by HanonO on 5/5/2013