Re: [DM-dev] okay, just so I'm clear...

[Stephan B. <ste...@ei...>]

On Wednesday 06 June 2001 15:58, you wrote:
> I'm actually considering scrapping the dungeon-evolution stuff, due
> to some negative feedback I got on the idea: Basically it was that
> users would always (mis-)use their ability to rate dungeons to try to
> get the highest score, and rate dungeons higher not on the fun they
> had while playing them, but on the ease with which they could beat
> them. If that is done, it will IMO tend to lead towards extreme and
> possibly degenerate dungeons - either very open or very labyrinthine,
> whatever is better for the player to win. That's something I don't
=2E..

How about instead of a rating system, you use a numeric system where=20
high and low values don't correlate to "quality" of the data. I can't=20
imagine really clearly how this would work, but you're strong with=20
numbers so maybe you could fill that idea out. Maybe something which=20
uses percentages, like "75% must be taken up by rooms, 12% must be kept=20
empty." That sounds like a nightmare to code, though (enforcing the=20
numbers in the output). There may be something we can do, though.

Yes, random generation of dungeons (or "assistedly random," where the=20
user says, "I want N rooms, with cheese, hold the mayo...") would be=20
much more useful for me. The idea of evolving dungeons would certainly=20
be a cool testbed for your AI work, though. Maybe you can train a=20
crawler to spell out "We love you, Pete!" with dungeon walls ;)!

> If you come to finish the things you want to do on the DungeonMaker,
> and have switched it over to work with your objects and files, I
> would probably do the rooms-thing even over the warm season, just
> slowly. I can handle writing a bunch of code every week, just not
> keeping up with your furious pace of change;-)=20

Yes, I do change things quickly and without notice often (it's a=20
side-effect of having coded alone for so long). As I wrote last week,=20
my software tends to "grow" instead of being a product of a=20
well-thought-out API. I "learn" the API I need as I work with it, and=20
change it accordingly, from a user's perspective. I find that that=20
leads to a pretty usable API in the end, with something for both me=20
(the developer of the library) and me (the user of the library) ;).=20
That's 100% how QUB has evolved as well, with very little forethought=20
other than the vague "vision" or concept of the software.=20
The DungeonElement API is almost done "growing," though. I'm pretty=20
happy with the API in it so far, but want to make some minor tweaks as=20
I remove the extra classes (Door, etc.). Actually probably 1/3rd of=20
libdm/*.cpp will go away tonight as I flatten out the model.

> Remember though, it
> must compile on MinGW:-( or I'll not work on that branch. The Windows
> market is still quite a bit larger than Linux<sniff>.

That should be even easier after these changes. Once I'm done I will=20
check out the latest MinGW and try it out under VMWare. I'm only using=20
std c++, so the only problems I anticipate are minor build problems=20
(which I'll work to resolve, of course). I don't _expect_ any problems,=20
but if there are any I anticipate they will be in the shell code I've=20
got embedded in the makefiles. We'll see.

You'll see lots of CVS changes tonight. In fact, I may start on the=20
right now. I'm so sick of apache, PHP, Oracle, tomcat, jserv, setting=20
up user accounts and re-orging our server dir structures that I could=20
puke. We got a new woman (sysadmin) in the office yesterday, and she'll=20
take over some of the more mundane stuff soon. I'm looking forward to=20
that. I was online working until 2:30 this morning, and I'm wiped out=20
(in the sense of sick of THIS stuff for a while). I've got 5 days off=20
starting next Thursday, and I plan on doing nothing but Coding. I can't=20
WAIT. Me, the machine, and my bottle of Sprite. And a periodic call to=20
Tony's Pizza, of course (since they bring the Sprite and Spezi)...

----- Stephan
Generic Universal Computer Guy
st...@ei... - http://www.einsurance.de
Office: +49 (89) 552 92 862   Handy: +49 (179) 211 97 67
"...control is a degree of inhibition, and a system which is perfectly
inhibited is completely frozen." -- Alan W. Watts