Transportation modifications.

The current transportation mechanisms (Buslines and Ferry) add a nice twist of realism to the game by adding a sense taking time to travel to distant areas of the MARE.

One drawback of the current system is the windows of opportunity a user has to board the bus or leave at their final destination. Currently, a user has about a 15-30s window to either board or leave their desired transport vehicle, after which there is a several minute delay before the next transport.

It has been suggested that the desired effect of the transport is more to convey a "cost" of getting to remote areas of the MARE more so than having to be quick or observant on the keyboard, so an alternate way of letting the user on/off their transport of choice has been proposed.

General outline of proposed transport flow:

• User signifies their desired destination
• User waits for next transport (bus, boat, etc) to arrive
• Transport NPC ushers/leads the player onto the transport
• Time passes during transport
• Transport NPC leads the player off of the transport at final destination

The only interaction required by the user is when signifying their destination.

Prior to boarding the transport the user can change destination (if alternate destinations are available from that location) or leave the room to abort the transportation sequence.

Once on the bus, the user is kept until the transport arrives at the destination.

Sample for Sluggyville bus stop:

• User arrives at Sluggyville transit area
• User uses $ command to obtain a 'ticket' (free cost) for their desired destination and is told they subsequently sit on the bench under the destination sign they requested
• Transit arrives, bus driver welcomes player(s) onto the bus
• Transit NPC takes the ticket, tells the user he will let them know when it is their stop
• Transit arrives at destination, NPC tells user their stop has arrived, user is told they get off the bus

Questions:

• If there are multiple stops on the route, should the user be allowed to switch destinations?
• Is this level of (non)interaction desirable/acceptable?

Other suggestions:

• Vim: Periodically emit a message to users inside the bus to indicate passing scenery.

-- WindsMerlin - 23 Dec 2005