Dungeon Master Forum

I find it cumbersome to always "save" and then "leave the game" and then "reload the game" in order to consult the hint oracle.

Couldn't a CRYSTALL BALL item be added in the game that grants direct access to the hint oracle screen? Or something?


Pax.

The Oracle functionality is a replication of how it worked in CSB.

In the original game, this was partly due to the management of game versus save floppy disks but also a deliberate design choice to force the user to really question whether they needed a hint or to see if they could actually solve a problem without going through the whole game boot/save/reboot oracle/read hint/game boot/try again process. I like that RTC preserves this aspect.

Having said that, a Crystal Ball or something is a good idea for players who have found a major secret or something like that...

If you die, you already get the option of going straight to the hint oracle without exiting and restarting (which wasn't in the original game).

Do you however mean an object that you can pick up and carry around with you that when you use it as a weapon, displays a local hint?

You could always short circuit the whole thing and put in your own hint system that works similar to this way-- a crystal ball that shows a different hint in the text area depending on where you are, for example.

(This can be done by having its attack method trigger a bunch of conditional relays, and have various hidden triggers throughout the dungeon to update a counter of possible hints)

No, Sophia, this is too much work.

I mean more like this:

A "magical item" weapon with the following actions (probably requiring mana to use):

VERSION A:

Crystal Ball
Action: Voyance (Same as X-Ray Vision Spell)
Action: Destiny (displays a single line of hints text)
Action: Oracle (access directly the hint oracle screen)

Destiny:
Hints are first sorted according to their radius area (smaller areas first), then center proximity to current location. Level-wide hints or any hint covering a really large area (above a certain threshold) are not covered. The next line of text in the sequence is displayed on screen as on-screen normal text. The next-line-to-display counter is reset when entering a new square or reaching the last line of hint text in the list of all hints lines available for the current square. Level-wide hints (most notably monster hints) are not included in the list.

Graphics:
The crystal ball is blue, but becomes brighter and more cyan and white when there is one hint or more avalaible. The more hints available, the more bright. Same principle as torches, really.
Example:
Hints: 0 Dull Blue Ball.
Hints: 1 Deep Cyan Ball with small white star or a bit or energy.
Hints: 2 Cyan Ball with two white stars or medium energy.
Hints: 3+ Bright Cyan Ball with 3 stars or a lot of energy.

Thus, just "walking around" with the ball in hand could be useful.

That would be a really useful item.

Pax.

Believe it or not, all of the above (apart from going direct to the hint oracle screen) can actually already be done with existing mechanics...

It may be too much work, but it's even more work (and unnecessary work, at that) for George to code something that's already not that difficult to create with dungeon mechanics. What you outlined is, except for going directly to the hint oracle screen, what I was getting at with my idea. Conditional relays and such are not that hard to use; you should look into them. You'll probably find some neat things.

It is already possible to "display" the hint oracle screen.