The Way ONLINE ?

[BlueWarrior]

I don't understand your "plunge online".
I heard about Network RPG Maker... but I think OTS is more useful

[BlueWarrior]

I've got some work for Lun. Lun honey can you make map of The Way? It will be VEEERY useful during working for The Way server.

[Kyle]

Lun practically never comes onto these boards. In the off chance he's willing to do it, you'll still have to contact him by e-mail.

Although I'd also love to see a map of The Way, if it's even possible to draw one, since The Way supposedly keeps changing.

[Sage Of The Wise]

A map of the way would be a huge spoiler right now. At this point in the game it looks like The Way might be a circular path or somthing like that, so a map being made by Lun is very, very unlikly.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

I don't know if calling Lun "honey" is the best way to motivate him...
I think that threatening to use the Death Star might....
Then again, he might just make EP. 6 the end if I do...

[Deltaway]

I am quite fluent in Polish, just in case you need any help...

[fwacho]

I've got some work for Lun. Lun honey can you make map of The Way? It will be VEEERY useful during working for The Way server.

... nice try...

[SpaceBoy2000]

Pfft, okay, so Lun has a framework done of the Way done already. Curses, I was going to write up my own server for my CompSci Summative Assestment. Heck, I even wrote up a chat program to test the general frameworks of the server, though I do need to implement a database. And a servlet type of server, which should prove to be....fun.

Hey lun, you wouldn't mind releasing the source code, would you? And what language did you write it in?

[Kyle]

Who's stopping you from doing it as well? If your framework is better, Lun might take yours instead or it least borrow from it.

[SpaceBoy2000]

But I'm lazy! Well, to be more accurate, I don't want to reinvent the wheel. I do have a framework in which to transfer game data effectively, but I don't have a graphics engine written up. Also, I'll need to basically rewrite the sucker because of the fact that I need to adapt it for use with a servlet. And if I use a servlet (which effectively quadruples my work time), I might as well write an applet as well as an application for it.

Which makes it even longer, and more tedious, since I have less to work with using an applet. Applications offer the advantages of having access to local files (aka you can choose your own graphics for your character) and the ability to connect to any server, not just the one you got the program off of (which applets limit you to).

Of course, if somebody decides to host a dedicated server, I can easily write out an application. Though without a servlet, I wouldn't know how output the information to a webpage or stuff like that. Heck, i have to learn how to use databases.

Anyways, enough with the ranting. Actually, I wanted to see how far Lun is with the programming aspects. Though I do need his permission to actually write the game, since it is his intellectual property.

[fwacho]

actually I believe (this is not confirmed) that Lun is workign a plunge on-line. to be released some tiem this year... It's working out all the customizations and keeping things fair that take alot of work. but particually datbase refrencing take a while and alot of code.

[Flibbo]

oh great, another online game americans will whoop my ass on

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Yes! Plunging w/out having to deal with annoying semi-randomness of RM2K opponents!

[Exiled]

The Way is more about plot and dialogs then gaming so it be hard to make a MMO of it (impossible!)
But you're right about the Online Plunge
but The Way should stay how it is with no MMO...

Why not?
I think individual people having their own wanderer is a good idea. And maybe a few cameo appearances from characters in the game. Just create a character generator then the rest is just in your imagination.

[DSOK]

Why not?

The appeal of The Way comes from its setting and plot. The only innovative mechanics its possesses is the plunge. The plot is impossible to transport into an online game, and the setting would be phenomenally difficult. The aspects of the setting that are interesting are those that are inherently tied to the structure and politics of The Way--the area around the Blue Scarves' camp, Estrana, the lower Way. Moreover, since this world has a very high aspect ratio (that is, it is very long but not very wide), it would be hard to avoid meeting the same PCs again and again as you wandered. Plus, it would be very difficult to enforce the rule that most movement is supposed to be forward, and without that, much of the uniqueness is lost.

An online plunge game makes sense, but a MMORPG does not.

I think individual people having their own wanderer is a good idea.

We still don't know what the point of the wandering actually is. It seems to be tied to the very queer characterizations of the people on The Way (people such as the Guided). Without an immersive interface, to draw the player into the thinking of the wanderers, I think it would be impossible to capture the essential character of wandering.