Role-playing technology. Part 3. Technology in the entourage and mastering
Role-playing technology. Part 1. Technology and magic
Role-playing technology. Part 2. Technology and technogen
The technical devices shown in the previous sections are entourage by themselves, and their use greatly enhances the realism of the gameplay. It is also possible to use technologies that are not directly involved in the gameplay, but nevertheless significantly improve the anthrability of locations and players. We list the main types of devices that can be used in order to improve the quality of surroundings:
The elements of the entourage can also be divided according to the scale of application into elements of the location level and elements of the player level.
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Here are some examples. So the most common LED lights could transform the location of “Fangorn” in the “Second Age. Time of Legends :
Fangorn, PRI Second Age. Time of Legends
A wide range of LEDs allows you to create amazing things. The most common version of their use in the surroundings are "fireflies" or "wisps", which are a bundle of LEDs and a power source. With massive use of "fireflies" give a very beautiful effect. Below is a picture of the Starry Sky (Navigation Field) location on the same game:
“Starry Sky”, PRI “Second Age. Time of Legends
At the PRI "Hobbit Igrishcha-2010" a combination of "fireflies" and ultraviolet illumination of the voluminous scenery of the elven throne also looked very impressive.
PRI "Hobbit Igrishcha-2010", the throne of elves
Deliberately blinking lights in emergency rooms contribute to the atmosphere of the location, make it possible to orient in such rooms without external light sources, and at the same time increase the difficulty of performing any operations in them.
The illuminated elements in the player’s costume also greatly increase his glamor and entourage. For example, the use of a standard LED strip, powered by a conventional 9-volt battery, can achieve a similar effect:
Class "B" quasi-living personnel, Barbaraoy space-time metric change station
Elements of illumination can have both a static luminescence, and dynamic. For example, they can be assigned the function of demonstrating the player's state (normally burning in the normal state, changing the color of the glow in case of overheating or insufficient power, blinking randomly in the event of damage).
The use of even single LEDs can greatly change the perception of the player's costume. For example, the non-living class “C” staff looked at the 3M16 Barbara station at the Dark Tower:
Class “C” personnel 3M16 code, Barbaraoy space-time metric change station
Thanks to the original illumination, the player from the inside could easily observe the surrounding world through the eye sockets, while from the outside only the luminous elements of the 3M16 staff’s eyes could be seen.
Light inserts are the easiest way to greatly enhance the entourage of a player's suit, but not the only one. Do not forget about the possibility of creating masks, half masks and other parts of the costume with mechanized elements, inserts simulating the noise of the operation of servos, and their combinations.
Directly for the mastering process, the introduction of modern technologies also carries many new opportunities.
The database of players available from different workshop points (reception, trowel, deadman) allows you not only to quickly access the players' data, but also to quickly make notes about overwriting when a player exits the deadman, his quests, stats, status, and other master notes.
If the conditions of the game imply that each player carries a personal module, the player’s data including his current state, the resulting impacts, the current status of completing quests, and other information can be stored directly in it. Thus, we get a player's electronic passport, access to which data can be obtained not only at the workshop stationary point, but also “in the field”.
Installation of reference repeaters on the polygon provides even more interesting possibilities. First, we get the opportunity to directly transfer game information and influences to personal players' modules, which eliminates the need for personal downloads when the game environment changes. Secondly, we get the ability to track the player’s status and contacts in real time, which eliminates the possibility of cheating by the players and allows you to more quickly track events at the site. Thirdly, we get the opportunity to determine the location of each player in real time, which saves us from situations when we have to call the location wizards to find such a character.
Another interesting possibility is the option of installing surveillance cameras at key points of the test site. Cameras can become both a part of gaming reality, as it was at the “Cost of Living” , and a purely masterful tool for tracking events at the test site in real time.
In the future, the concept of a kind of “designer”, a software and hardware platform with unified sets of processor modules, as well as sensor, communication and response modules, the ability to describe the algorithms of various modules in a scripted way or in a visual mode (building a cyclogram of quests) followed translation into data interpreted by game modules.
For the most beginners (and not only) there is a very good site - easyelectronics.ru . There is a very rich set of articles on electronics in general and microcontrollers in particular.
The easiest option to get acquainted with the world of programmable hardware is Arduino boards. They contain an Atmel microcontroller with a set of digital inputs and outputs, analog inputs and outputs, they have standardized sizes and pin arrangements. The functionality of the boards is complemented by expansion cards - shields. Different shields allow you to control powerful loads (motors, bright lights), communicate via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, GPRS, receive coordinates via GPS and much more.
Perhaps the most promising option is STM32 microcontrollers from STMicroelectronics. Their development already requires specialized knowledge and skills, but their capabilities are much wider, and the microcontrollers themselves are much cheaper than the previous version.
For the connection of various devices without wires, there is a rich set of transceiver chips (transceivers), as well as ready-made modules containing a transceiver chip, all the piping necessary for it, and often the antenna. Transceivers usually operate in the following frequency ranges, each with its own propagation characteristics. It:
It is also necessary to make sure in advance that the necessary functions are available with the components ordered. For example, the Chipcon CC Series transceivers have the ability to take readings of the received signal strength, and the popular Nordic nRF24L01 transceiver can only report the presence or absence of a received signal.
All assembled devices must be driven in advance in combat, or close to such conditions. At this stage, something will surely come out. From a failure in a program with a sudden combination of a number of factors (one transmitter after one stone, another after another, as a result of which they do not hear each other and try to broadcast simultaneously), to the equally sudden failure in the “iron part” (for example, from a blow or battery shakes happily fly out of cheap open-type Chinese battery compartments).
In general, the moments that would be good to pay attention to when ordering or producing are well described in the article by Yolaf “ Electronics and how to prepare it ”.
The series of articles is based on the report “Electronics for RI. Theory and Practice of the Present Future ”, which was presented at the Southern Regional Convention in December 2013.
I tried to systematize the currently available knowledge on the application of modern technology in role-playing games of both southern regional and all-Russian. The article used materials from the site of the creative group Ostranna for which she and Kreila personally thank you very much, as well as other materials from the Web.
Always happy to add, comment and suggestions.
Role-playing technology. Part 2. Technology and technogen
Technology and Entourage
The technical devices shown in the previous sections are entourage by themselves, and their use greatly enhances the realism of the gameplay. It is also possible to use technologies that are not directly involved in the gameplay, but nevertheless significantly improve the anthrability of locations and players. We list the main types of devices that can be used in order to improve the quality of surroundings:
- Light (LEDs, lasers, light guides, fluorescent cord, UV illumination)
- Sonic (sounding locations, imitation of the noise of the mechanisms, other noises)
- Mechanical (mechatronic elements, moving parts of mechanisms)
- Combined
The elements of the entourage can also be divided according to the scale of application into elements of the location level and elements of the player level.
')
Here are some examples. So the most common LED lights could transform the location of “Fangorn” in the “Second Age. Time of Legends :
Fangorn, PRI Second Age. Time of Legends
A wide range of LEDs allows you to create amazing things. The most common version of their use in the surroundings are "fireflies" or "wisps", which are a bundle of LEDs and a power source. With massive use of "fireflies" give a very beautiful effect. Below is a picture of the Starry Sky (Navigation Field) location on the same game:
“Starry Sky”, PRI “Second Age. Time of Legends
At the PRI "Hobbit Igrishcha-2010" a combination of "fireflies" and ultraviolet illumination of the voluminous scenery of the elven throne also looked very impressive.
PRI "Hobbit Igrishcha-2010", the throne of elves
Deliberately blinking lights in emergency rooms contribute to the atmosphere of the location, make it possible to orient in such rooms without external light sources, and at the same time increase the difficulty of performing any operations in them.
The illuminated elements in the player’s costume also greatly increase his glamor and entourage. For example, the use of a standard LED strip, powered by a conventional 9-volt battery, can achieve a similar effect:
Class "B" quasi-living personnel, Barbaraoy space-time metric change station
Elements of illumination can have both a static luminescence, and dynamic. For example, they can be assigned the function of demonstrating the player's state (normally burning in the normal state, changing the color of the glow in case of overheating or insufficient power, blinking randomly in the event of damage).
The use of even single LEDs can greatly change the perception of the player's costume. For example, the non-living class “C” staff looked at the 3M16 Barbara station at the Dark Tower:
Class “C” personnel 3M16 code, Barbaraoy space-time metric change station
Thanks to the original illumination, the player from the inside could easily observe the surrounding world through the eye sockets, while from the outside only the luminous elements of the 3M16 staff’s eyes could be seen.
Light inserts are the easiest way to greatly enhance the entourage of a player's suit, but not the only one. Do not forget about the possibility of creating masks, half masks and other parts of the costume with mechanized elements, inserts simulating the noise of the operation of servos, and their combinations.
Technology and Mastering
Directly for the mastering process, the introduction of modern technologies also carries many new opportunities.
The database of players available from different workshop points (reception, trowel, deadman) allows you not only to quickly access the players' data, but also to quickly make notes about overwriting when a player exits the deadman, his quests, stats, status, and other master notes.
If the conditions of the game imply that each player carries a personal module, the player’s data including his current state, the resulting impacts, the current status of completing quests, and other information can be stored directly in it. Thus, we get a player's electronic passport, access to which data can be obtained not only at the workshop stationary point, but also “in the field”.
Installation of reference repeaters on the polygon provides even more interesting possibilities. First, we get the opportunity to directly transfer game information and influences to personal players' modules, which eliminates the need for personal downloads when the game environment changes. Secondly, we get the ability to track the player’s status and contacts in real time, which eliminates the possibility of cheating by the players and allows you to more quickly track events at the site. Thirdly, we get the opportunity to determine the location of each player in real time, which saves us from situations when we have to call the location wizards to find such a character.
Another interesting possibility is the option of installing surveillance cameras at key points of the test site. Cameras can become both a part of gaming reality, as it was at the “Cost of Living” , and a purely masterful tool for tracking events at the test site in real time.
In the future, the concept of a kind of “designer”, a software and hardware platform with unified sets of processor modules, as well as sensor, communication and response modules, the ability to describe the algorithms of various modules in a scripted way or in a visual mode (building a cyclogram of quests) followed translation into data interpreted by game modules.
Technical part and rake
For the most beginners (and not only) there is a very good site - easyelectronics.ru . There is a very rich set of articles on electronics in general and microcontrollers in particular.
The easiest option to get acquainted with the world of programmable hardware is Arduino boards. They contain an Atmel microcontroller with a set of digital inputs and outputs, analog inputs and outputs, they have standardized sizes and pin arrangements. The functionality of the boards is complemented by expansion cards - shields. Different shields allow you to control powerful loads (motors, bright lights), communicate via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, GPRS, receive coordinates via GPS and much more.
Perhaps the most promising option is STM32 microcontrollers from STMicroelectronics. Their development already requires specialized knowledge and skills, but their capabilities are much wider, and the microcontrollers themselves are much cheaper than the previous version.
For the connection of various devices without wires, there is a rich set of transceiver chips (transceivers), as well as ready-made modules containing a transceiver chip, all the piping necessary for it, and often the antenna. Transceivers usually operate in the following frequency ranges, each with its own propagation characteristics. It:
- 430 ... 450 MHz - they require a rather large antenna, but they are the most long-range and passable. Worse reflected from the surrounding terrain, resulting in a more even coating.
- 800 ... 900 MHz - they require a smaller antenna than the previous version, but they pass through obstacles worse
- 2.4 GHz - are the smallest, but the radiation at these frequencies is quite well extinguished even by the foliage, especially wet, which must be taken into account when raising the polygon network, since Wi-Fi works on the same frequencies. Radio waves of this range are well reflected from the surrounding relief, which leads to the formation of a rather uneven pattern of propagation due to the interference of direct and re-reflected signals
It is also necessary to make sure in advance that the necessary functions are available with the components ordered. For example, the Chipcon CC Series transceivers have the ability to take readings of the received signal strength, and the popular Nordic nRF24L01 transceiver can only report the presence or absence of a received signal.
All assembled devices must be driven in advance in combat, or close to such conditions. At this stage, something will surely come out. From a failure in a program with a sudden combination of a number of factors (one transmitter after one stone, another after another, as a result of which they do not hear each other and try to broadcast simultaneously), to the equally sudden failure in the “iron part” (for example, from a blow or battery shakes happily fly out of cheap open-type Chinese battery compartments).
In general, the moments that would be good to pay attention to when ordering or producing are well described in the article by Yolaf “ Electronics and how to prepare it ”.
Conclusion
The series of articles is based on the report “Electronics for RI. Theory and Practice of the Present Future ”, which was presented at the Southern Regional Convention in December 2013.
I tried to systematize the currently available knowledge on the application of modern technology in role-playing games of both southern regional and all-Russian. The article used materials from the site of the creative group Ostranna for which she and Kreila personally thank you very much, as well as other materials from the Web.
Always happy to add, comment and suggestions.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/209616/
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