*-*-*-*-*-*  H O W   T O   P L A N   A N   A R E A  *-*-*-*-*-*
                    By Tiresius@Cosmos
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

  First Draft: 05/06/99
Full Revision: 11/07/00
 Second Draft: 12/12/00

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. Universe
3. Story
4. Stage
5. Actors
6. Props
7. Audience
8. Conclusion


INTRODUCTION

Among the few years I have been involved with playing and
coding Muds, I've always noticed a lack of good documentation
which details the process of planning an area. Some documents
are little more than a list of DO's and DONT's concerning
descriptions.  Others just list the rules involved with a
specific Mud's idea of an area (required number of rooms, not
using "you" in a description, etc.)

The purpose of this document is to help the new area builder
create an excellent area that will definitely add to the Mud
they are building for.  How I do this is to describe a method
for planning an area that someone wants to make.  This method
is not particular to LPMuds (which Cosmos is), but can be
used with any type of online adventure game.

I liken planning an area on a Mud to planning a theatrical
play.  I think this analogy works nicely.  After all, what
is a Mud if it's not Interactive Fiction?  So what I try
to do is provide steps to build a plan, starting with the
grand design of the Mud you're involved with, and ending with
the minute details of your area.

UNIVERSE

The universe of a Mud is the combination of both physical and
non-physical realms.  The physical realm consists of areas,
monsters, or items the player can pick up.  The non-physical
realm consists of ideas, beliefs, rules and policies that are
found within the Mud.  Every Mud contains these two realms,
no matter how shallow/deep or large/small they are,

The reason these definitions are given is because it is
important for the area maker to get a good view of what the
mud is all about.  Explore the areas as a coder, carefully
read the descriptions you might have ignored as a player.
Read the documents about other coder's areas (if there are
any).  Make sure you fully understand the physical and
non-physical nature of your Mud's Universe.

Once you've gotten yourself aquainted with the entirety of
the Mud, it is time to find where the deficiencies are.  What
type of area is missing?  What ideas have not been explored
yet?  Would a new area of type X, or another area of type Y
really be beneficial to the mud?  These are the types of
questions that should be in the back of your mind.  The whole
point of area making is to ADD SOMETHING UNIQUE to the Mud.

Once you understand what has already been done in the universe
of your Mud, it is time to add your story to it.  The next
section deals with planning a story.

STORY

Since you now know what stories have been told in the Universe
of your Mud, you are better equipped to make something new and
unique that will benefit the Mud.  This is perhaps the most
difficult part of area making, due to the fact that it requires
the largest amount of creative thought.

At this point you should be thinking about the "big picture"
of your area.  This will allow you to develop the story and
make the overall theme interesting to the player.  What is
good to do (and required at CosmosMUD) is to write up an
AREA file in your directory which gives a good summary of
the story your area holds.  This file could include the general
outline of what is currently going on, the atmosphere of the
situation, who are the good/bad guys, etc.

While you are planning out the story, it is instructive to do
what authors do when they craft a story: capture a piece of
truth about humanity.  Be it a social, personal, or spiritual
issue that is expressed, it is important to graft that into
your story to give it some meaning and purpose.  If the player
picks up on this idea their mudding experience will be improved
a hundredfold.

This injection of substance in your area is easiest done by
setting up a conflict situation.  If you like robots, make them
sentient robots enslaved by an organic race.  If you want to
have Orcs, set up a love/betrayal story for two young Orcs.

An example: I remember on one Mud I played there was a Fairy
Forest area.  There were a lot of magical rubies you could find
among the bushes to sell for gold back at the shops.  There was
a few fairies that would heal you if you gave them a ruby, and
there were plenty of rabbits and deer to kill in the forest.
All the descriptions were well done, and everything was coded
nicely as well, but THE AREA WAS BORING BECAUSE THERE WAS NO
CONFLICT AT ALL!!  The area maker should have put an evil witch
in the forest, or some other type of obstacle, which was trying
to get rid of the fairies... maybe make it roam around the
forest and steal rubies from players.

Another example: A different Mud had an Evil Troll village,
which had 70+ rooms and was quite large and intricate.  The
whole village was filled with these large Trolls, who lived in
wooden shacks and slummy quarters.  They were all aggressive,
and attacked the player if the player had a good alignment. It
was understood throughout the Mud that this area was an "Evil"
area and if you were not evil yourself you will be attacked.
This was all well and good, but IT'S STORY WAS BORING!!
The area did not have any type of dynamic situation presented
at all, it was all painted with evil paint, which made it all
the same.  The area maker could have put a 'dungeon' with some
innocent prisoners locked up there, maybe from a rival Goblin
village.  The player could have been able to save these
prisoners, or at least do tasks for them like deliver food
and water.

I used the second example above to drive home a point.  While
people can argue (and rightly so) that this area has conflict,
it only has one kind (and not the most important kind
story-wise).  The second area has mere conflict with the
player (Trolls attacking), there was no conflict within the
area itself.  It is conflict within the area that is key to
making an interesting story for the player.

All of this planning for the story will complete the
non-physical apsect of your area.  This is definitely the
part that adds most to the Universe of the Mud. Any good
story can be made into an excellent area on a Mud.  This is
what Muds were meant for!!

Now that the non-physical aspect is done, it is time to begin
planning the specific physical representation of your area. The
next section deals with the stage.

STAGE

The stage is the setting of your area.  The physical "rooms"
that make up the area give the story form and space.  The stage
needs to fit the story in both content and size.  Another way
the stage needs to complement the story is by it's mood.

Trying to fit the 'mood' of your story with the area you had in
mind is not all that difficult a task and should come naturally.
Does the story involve illegal testing on alien babies?  Then
the stage should most likely be a hidden lab which is pristine
and medical.  Or it may be an Ogre Mine, in that case the area
would be dark and dirty.  It is the mood of the area that you
can express through your descriptions.  You can affect the
player with room descriptions (if they read them!) nearly as
much as affecting them with active enemies and items.

When you are developing the mood of the area through your stage,
it's a good idea to try and juxtapose sections within the area.
By this I mean within your one area, have two different places.
A small biosphere colony is interesting enough, but if you allow
the player to travel outside it's walls into the desolate climate
of the planet it is on, that would be much more interesting, and
would add to the area.  This juxtaposition within your area will
cause the player to take notice, since they'll have something
immediate to compare it to.

When planning the stage it is also beneficial to draw a map on a
piece of paper.  Some people recommend that this map be a free-
form area and not restricted to individual rooms during the
planning stage.  I tend to agree.  This approach helps you to
see a 'fluid' area with curves, ridges, and other non-blockish
shapes.  Think about where things would go logically, while using
a generous amount of imagination.

After the free-form map is complete, it's a good idea to finally
break it up into individual rooms.  If you do this now while the
specifics of the stage are in mind, it will make it easier for you
down the road when you actually start coding the rooms.  You can
do this on a separate sheet of paper (tracing paper works well)
or you can do it right on the free-form map.  Draw boxes to denote
the rooms, and lines to show individual exits connecting the
rooms, as in this diagram:

                  +-+            +-+  +-+
                  | |            | |  | |  
                  +-+            +-+  +-+
                     \            |  /
                      \           | /
                       +-+  +-+  +-+
                       | |--| |--| |
                       +-+  +-+  +-+

If there are any special exits (not n/e/s/w) then write the exit
name along the line that connects the two rooms.  One-way exits,
if there are any, can be denoted by an arrow.  If this is your
first area, it would probably be best to start out small.  A small
area is around 15-25 rooms, an average area is between 30-50, a
good sized area is 75-100, and a very large area is 150-200.

When the stage is finished being planned, it is time to populate
the stage with actors.  The next section will go over how to plan
just 'who' will be in your area.

ACTORS

Actors in an area are non-player characters (NPCs) that the player
can interact with.  An NPC can be friendly or aggressive, it can
also talk or just grunt.  There are two obvious types of NPCs,
those that are active, and those that are passive and do nothing.
These two types are defined as Main actors, and Extras.

Main actors are those NPCs that are lively and usually have an
active part in the story.  These are, for the most part,
intelligent species which can interact with the player and offer
information or other services.  One thing all Main Actors should
have in common is that they react to the player either through
speech or action.  It is mandatory that each monster react to
the player or have some 'life' to it, so it's not just standing
there like a drone.

Extras are the NPCs which interact much with the player except to
provide target practice.  They might talk and sputter and maybe
even attack the player immediately.  An example of an extra might
be a dog or a guardian robot.  Even though extras don't interact
directly with the player, they still need to be part of the story.

So who should be a Main actor and who should be an extra?  Well,
most NPCs in your area should be Main actors.  Does your area
take place on a battlefield?  Don't have the troops just sitting
around polishing their guns... give each of them a life and
distinct personality, and have them respond to the player.  This
might seem like a lot of extra work, but the extra work will
noticably affect your area in a positive way.  You should only
use extras when necessary... such as groups of animals, or
unintelligible robot droids which can't interact.

Actors don't come on the stage bare and naked.  There are props
to enhance their characteristics and allow the player to take part
of the story away with them.  The next section discusses props and
their importance to an area.

PROPS

Props are objects that enhance both the Actor's and the Stage's
appearance.  They can be things Actors carry around and use, or
objects that are found scattered around the area.  Examples could
be a Laser Rifle carried by a Cyborg soldier, or an ATM machine
in the middle of a busy section of town.

The most important thing to think of when planning props in an area
is to make sure it is appropriate in its surroundings.  Obviously
a low-tech society won't be carrying around lasers, but might be
able to hold a pistol.

Only have actors carrying props that make sense.  If you give a
farmer a laser, it will seem odd.  Give him a rake and watch the
fun when he starts swinging it wildly at the player.  Extras should
probably not be carrying many props, and if they are animals they
should definitely not be carrying around credits.  There's nothing
worse than killing a wolf and finding 50 credits on its corpse.
Unless it's one of those rare credit-eating wolves, it detracts
from any realism we're trying to provide.

Just like actors, the stage shouldn't have inappropriate props
either.  If the player is in the slums, they shouldn't be able to
find rare jewelry lying around in the corner somewhere.  Maybe
a broken pipe, or some dirty gloves.  Slums should be as slummy
as possible to drive home the atmosphere of the place to the player.

Props are there to provide even more interaction with the player.
And especially if they can be picked up, it's as if the player is
taking a piece of the story with them.  "Oh, this rifle?  Yeah I
pulled it off a soldier at Station X."  In the next section we will
turn to the topic of our audience... the players!

AUDIENCE

By now planning the non-physical and physical aspects of the area
should have been completed.  It's time to sit back and think about
how this will impact those who are on the receiving end of things...
the Audience.

The Audience is, of course, the players in the mud.  They are
ultimately the people who will be experiencing your area from the
outside without any prior knowledge of the planning phase.  In
order to make the area more enjoyable for the people it is intended
for, there are a few attributes which relate to players that a good
area should have:

1. Interactive
This was mentioned during the Props and Audience sections.  But just
want to expound on the subject of interaction.

Every area should be interactive.  Interaction is what separates a
Mud from a Novel.  The more interactive an area is (the more things
to DO), the more fun it is for players.

Interaction can occur in NPCs and items.  NPCs can talk back to a
player, answer questions, sell/buy/take/give items, or give riddles.
Items can be used to manipulate the surroundings of the player, or
the player themselves.

The biggest benefit of interaction is that it maintains interest
for the player because the game is "playing back" with them.  They
aren't just moping around an area killing things.  They can turn
on/off switches, work equipment, use an item from your area
elsewhere on the Mud.  The more interaction they can get, the less
boredom your players will experience.

2. Challenging
Challenge can make or break a game.  If the game itself is too
challenging, players will become disheartened and have no will to play
any longer.  If the game is too easy, the players will not care about
playing and feel like it's not worthy of their time.  A balance of
challenge and fun is difficult to achieve.

Within an area you have control over how challenging it will be for
the player.  Of course there are game mechanics involved in how hard
it will be for the player to beat a monster of X strength, etc.  But
this isn't really the concern of the area builder, as it is part of
the core game itself and affects all areas of the game equally.

There are two kinds of challenges: mental and physical.  Both have
their place in an area,  Mental challenge is more with quests and
puzzles that your area may contain.  Maybe figuring out a password
to a locked door would be a mental challenge.  Physical challenges
are based on the current state of the player vs. the environment
they are in.  If they require high strength to climb a rock wall,
that is a physical challenge.  A physical challenge can also be
a group of ogres blocking a path you need to get through.  It's
good to obtain a balance between mental and physical challenges,
so that players concerned with one or the other will still feel
challenged at some point in your area.

The biggest benefit of challenges is that they give the player a
sense of accomplishment when the overcome the challenge.  It can
feel like they've done something important and difficult that not
everybody has been able to do yet.

3. Helpful
That an area is helpful to the player seems like kind of an odd
concept.  When I say helpful, I mean that it can help the player
PLAY the Mud better.  This can be within the area itself, or just
with the general game.

The area should provide means where the player can continue their
goal of getting stronger, getting richer, or getting entertained.
Having a high level area filled with crappy equipment is not really
a good idea.  Some of the more picky and "stat staring" players
will only go where they can get good equipment or good money, and
that would mean they'd never step foot in your area.

The biggest benefit of an area being helfpul to the player is that
they'll feel like they're being rewarded for their effort.  They
will be expecting the "spoil" to equal the "toil".

4. Surprising
An area that contains a few surprises for the player will be
exciting.  Having a monster pop out at the player suddenly, or
causing an unexpected event, will definitely keep them interested
in the area.

Another way to make the area surprising is to have a potential
twist in the story in the middle or the end of the quest.
Scientists complain about alien monsters attacking their lab...
but only after some investigation does the player find out
that they are doing heinous tests on alien babies.

Making the player surprised is difficult to do, but worth it if
it can be pulled off.  In most cases some custom coding will have
to be done in order to get a special event to trigger.  This isn't
necessary for an area to be good, but it is definitely a perk.

5. Meaning
People will accuse me of being cheesy, but every area should
express something meaningful to the player.  This could be a
truth about humanity (mentioned above in story section) or some
important lesson to be learned.  It could also be some information
that adds to the theme of the Mud and makes it a more fulfilling
experience.

This is accomplished by bringing the meaning of your story
to the player through the area itself.  Don't just have an NPC
blab about the situation, have it so the player will be able to
piece together the storyline from various parts of your area.
In a warzone each side could tell their story, and leave it to
the player to decide which is right and which is wrong.

Giving an area some meaning that the player can relate to adds
to the Mud as a whole, not just with your individual area.  Even
if it goes unnoticed by some of the "hack n' slash" players, the
players that do recognize the meaning will appreciate your area
all the more.

CONCLUSION

This document was meant to help the beginning area builder
start thinking about all the right things.  The main point is
that an area is not just written words on a screen, but is a
sum of many parts both physical and non-physical.  Areas add
size/complexity to a particular Mud, but they also bring the
game to life.  Such a responsibility should not be taken
lightly, which is why I've taken time to explain one way in
which areas can be planned.

If you think I've gotten something wrong, or think I've missed
an important aspect of area planning, please don't hesitate to
write me an email.  If you like what you've read and want to
use it in your Mud's system or webpage for your builder's
benefit, please let me know as I'd like to hear from you.

Tiresius@Cosmos

Email address: tiresius@usa.net
  Mud address: cosmos.walkabout.org port 4050
               http://cosmos.walkabout.org/~cosmos/


