Re: CF: Bottles (was Re: ice cubes)

[David Andrew Michael Noelle <>]

Hwei Sheng TEOH wrote:
[...]
> >     This also introduces the idea of partially full, which implies that
> > potions might have a number of doses.  I would suggest three as the maximum
> > number of doses per bottle for normal potions, with stat potions filling
> > whole bottles.
> 
> Didn't Raphael mention something about using the weights of the liquid as a
> measure? It might make things very complicated (player may want to specify
> exactly how much of a liquid to pour out), but it's also very realistic. We
> might want a minimum weight of for a potion to be effective -- ie. a few drops
> or dregs from a stat potion would be useless. Or half a potion of heroism may
> not give you the normal stat boost.

    That's getting too complicated.  Let's just keep it simple for now. 
Potions can just all have the same standard volume for one dose, so generic
empty bottles will always hold exactly one dose.  Potions can still have
different weights, representing liquids of various density.  Once the basics
are in place, we can worry about allowing players to put multiple or partial
doses in bottles of various shapes and sizes.


> Hmm, you'll be adding a LOT of archetypes (have to split the potions/drinks
> from their containers). Plus, change a lot of code for randomly-generated
> items (so that random potions are properly generated with the containers and
> contents). Plus update every single map that contains potions/liquids to use
> the appropriate object combinations (from one object to a nested object, one
> for the container, one for the contents). Plus add lots of new graphics to
> display the various containers with the various filled-states. (Unless you
> want to start off with having only one kind of bottle that contains every
> known liquid in the game and add more gradually).

    Actually, no.  By making the changes at the object level instead of the
achetypes, I won't have to add many archtypes at all.  And it will require
no changes to any of the maps or treasure generators.  Drinking a potion
turns it into an empty bottle and picking up a liquid turns an empty bottle
into a full potion.  Better to add one trick at a time rather than tackle
the whole compilcated mess at once.


> I suppose Mark/Peter has the final say on this, but it seems to me that this
> might want to be done on 0.96.* instead of the current branch? This way, we
> don't have to worry about patching existing stuff to work with the new
> feature.

    That depends on how complicated we want this to get.  Odds are, to do
anything really interesting will require the 0.96 objects, but the basics
can be started now so we can play around with that and decide exactly what
we want from bottles while the new objects take shape, get stable, etc.  I'm
just proposing a first step here, which requires only minimal changes, but
opens the door for several more.  That said, it seems to be unanimous that
filling and emptying bottles should be implemented, but I want to hear all
the ideas we can come up with before I start, so I won't accidentally close
any doors we want to keep open.

-- 
            -Dave Noelle,                 
            -the Villa Straylight,  http://www.straylight.org
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Disclaimer: U.C.L.A. doesn't share my opinions; life isn't that good.

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