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Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 02:32

Commander

Messages: 1008
Registered: September 2003
Location: Finland

I suspect we'll use mostly new names - there isn't any need to use the same names that the planets currently have.

Ptolemy

Though we often ask how and why, we must also do to get the answers to the questions.

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 03:30

Dogthinkers

Commander

Messages: 1316
Registered: August 2003
Location: Hiding from Meklar

That's a shame... I so enjoyed trying to make sure I always spelled "Tsagigla'lal" correctly for tech trading emails Rolling Eyes

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 04:54

Lt. Junior Grade

Stars! Nova developer

Messages: 383
Registered: January 2004
Location: South Africa

Well... We could use moset of them probavly. Like earth and asguard and mars and jupiter and stuff like that.

"There are two types of people in the world. AR players and non-AR players" Nick Fraser

Working on some new stuff: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/stars-nova/index.php?t itle=Graphics
And the Mentor Database www.groep7.co.za/Mentor/ ZOMGWTFBBQ!! it still works lol!
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Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 05:05

Commander

Messages: 1008
Registered: September 2003
Location: Finland

Valhalla, Olympus, Haven, Gangrene, Slime Pit, Dung, Leprosy, Facelift, Liposuction, Lobotomy, Frostbite, Garbage Dump, Lands End, Space Debris, Hole in the Wall, Outhouse, Black Hole, Rustbucket, Diddly Squat, Roundtoit ..... Laughing

Ptolemy

Though we often ask how and why, we must also do to get the answers to the questions.

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 07:17

chaosknight

Petty Officer 2nd Class

Messages: 52
Registered: March 2004
Location: Minsk

what about name generator?? it's possible to make some logic with phonethic rules and generate name from game to another... every game will be unique. Cool

we will never die

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 07:23

Commander

Messages: 1008
Registered: September 2003
Location: Finland

I hope not. For one it would be a lot of extra coding on the client side. The client and the host need to be using the same name list I would guess also. I don't think we are going to want to add all the planet names into the xml files.
Ptolemy

[Updated on: Mon, 05 April 2004 07:23]

Though we often ask how and why, we must also do to get the answers to the questions.

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 09:43

Kotk

Commander

Messages: 1227
Registered: May 2003

Ptolemy wrote on Mon, 05 April 2004 13:23

I hope not. For one it would be a lot of extra coding on the client side.

Why ? It actually shortens client code. Universe definition file is quite OK place to have all the planet names in. Where you read the x and y and name ID now you will read x and y and name itself. But you have no 942 planet names in some header or resource file and so your code is for 942 constants shorter.

Quote:

I don't think we are going to want to add all the planet names into the xml files.

It lets hosts to develop themed games with thematic planet names.... just edit the universe definition. Sounds like quite good idea?!?

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 11:22

LEit

Lt. Commander

Messages: 879
Registered: April 2003
Location: CT

Currently the planet names are in the XML files. We may take them out for size issues, but currently I'm not worrying about size of the data files. If I do take them out, putting them in the universe defination file is the most likely solution. I was thinking that the host would supply a list of names, it may even be possible for races to name their own home worlds.

- LEit

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 13:02

EDog

Lt. Junior Grade

Messages: 417
Registered: November 2002
Location: Denver, Colorado, USA

It could be fun to make it so that the first player to scout a planet gets to name it (this is a long-standing tradition in sci-fi literature). It could add to the roleplaying depths of the game simply because players can give systems names relevant to their own race. It shouldn't be a complicated bit of coding (like I would know or anything) to add planetary names to the .h files, should it?

EDog

http://ianthealy.com
Born, grew up, became an adventurer

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 15:43

Lt. Junior Grade

Stars! Nova developer

Messages: 383
Registered: January 2004
Location: South Africa

ok, but what if nobody has colonized/Scouted that planet yet? what will it's default name be? How do you tell your allie or enemy not to go to that planet/system if neither of you has scouted it? Also, everybody will imediately know the location of you HW and colonies. Mabey if we combine the name generator with the ability to Change names of planets and put the option of naming your HW in the race editor.

Just a few thaughts

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 15:47

Commander

Messages: 1008
Registered: September 2003
Location: Finland

what we can easily do is assign planets by co-ordinates instead of names. The universe definition then only cares about co-ordinates as does the host utility. The client can use any names to reference the co-ordinates. From top left to bottom right, each planet can be read into an array - the index can then be assigned a name for use in the rest of the game. The Client can keep the info in the history file for the game. This file can contain the array index and planet name (encoded). The Planet_ref info changes can be appended to the turn file as an encoded block and the host program simply strips off the info before processing the turn and appends all the Planet_ref info blocks from each file as one block at the end of each new turn file. All history files are updated on the next turn load at the client anyway.

Planets not yet scanned or named by anybody just show up as a co-ordinate i.e. Planet 6,84. Easy enough to understand. IF it has a name - somebody else has visited it and given it a name Smile

Ptolemy

[Updated on: Mon, 05 April 2004 15:51]

Though we often ask how and why, we must also do to get the answers to the questions.

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 16:38

Hyena

Master Chief Petty Officer

Messages: 109
Registered: January 2004

What's the maximum number of planet names? I'm pretty sure if I open up a word processer or take out a sheet of paper, eventually I'll come up with a ton of funny/interesting/cool/bizarre ones.

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 18:18

Dogthinkers

Commander

Messages: 1316
Registered: August 2003
Location: Hiding from Meklar

I think it is better if names do not change (or appear to change) mid-game. It has the possibility of causing major problems for diplomacy Rolling Eyes

"I thought we agreed to tech trade at 'loosebottom'?"
"loosewhere?"
"oh... gone... again... Embarassed

"

Or perhaps a joint attack is being arranged against a planet, but the defender swaps the names with the star next door... Laughing

For similar reasons I think it is important that players do not have the ability to 'privately' change their own view of the universe.

my 2 cents

[Updated on: Mon, 05 April 2004 18:22]

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 18:28

Lt. Junior Grade

Stars! Nova developer

Messages: 383
Registered: January 2004
Location: South Africa

I agree with dogthinkers. But my point is still unanswered. Everybody will imediately know the players HW if only thier planets arn't co-ordinates. Also as soon as you scout any planet, it immediately get a name and everybody knows that a players HW is VERY close to that planet.

I do not have an answer, just like to throw a spanner in the works Wink

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 19:03

overworked

Lt. Junior Grade

Messages: 403
Registered: November 2002
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

ForceUser wrote on Mon, 05 April 2004 18:28

Still client-side in terms of storage, but allow a race to rename any planet to whatever value it wants. Other players do not see it (unless you want to add some flagging that allow its - then you have client capability issues.)

That would allow you to make "notes" by renaming planets if you wish; ie. "Germ 100", "Rascal HW", Housecat Colony" etc. Interface could probably handle displaying both the assigned name and the official name.

- Kurt

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 19:12

overworked

Lt. Junior Grade

Messages: 403
Registered: November 2002
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Dogthinkers wrote on Mon, 05 April 2004 18:18

I think it is better if names do not change (or appear to change) mid-game. It has the possibility of causing major problems for diplomacy Rolling Eyes

"I thought we agreed to tech trade at 'loosebottom'?"
"loosewhere?"
"oh... gone... again... Embarassed

"

Or perhaps a joint attack is being arranged against a planet, but the defender swaps the names with the star next door... Laughing

For similar reasons I think it is important that players do not have the ability to 'privately' change their own view of the universe.

my 2 cents

I think the host program wouldn't really care about the program name.

But I guess the "local" name can change when the planet comes under new ownership. Possibly playing something from Holst's "The Planets Suite" while the new flag is unfurled...

- Kurt

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 19:27

Commander

Messages: 1008
Registered: September 2003
Location: Finland

My philosophy didn't work that way.
My concept was that All planets NOT scanned by you show up as co-ordinates in the universe display. Once you visit a planet, if it doesn't have a name, you get to give it one if you wish. That 'star/planet' is now a bright color not a dim color and shows the co-ordinate/name. Any planet you visit that was named by someone else gets the name they gave it. The only conflict is in the case of multiple races scanning a planet simultaneously.. Haven't figured out what to do there yet - throw the random number generator I guess and send the loser(s) a message that the other name was first. That would probably have to resolve in the host though.
Ptolemy

Though we often ask how and why, we must also do to get the answers to the questions.

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 21:24

nash

Chief Petty Officer

Messages: 84
Registered: December 2003
Location: Sydney Australia

Personally my thought was that the game engine just use IDs for the planets (as the game currently does), and the client supplies the name from a local file.

The main reason to do this is for i18n and l10n. So if there is a english speaking person and a chinese speaking person both get the appropriate name in any reports.

The main challenge is dealing with private messages between players - but then again, the whole concept that people may not be able to communicate perfectly between worlds is a useful thing. Messages sent in game can be easily name trnaslated between clients.

Additionally this allows special locales to be set up for themed games, so long as everyone in the game uses the locale data file it will work fine, but things still work with out it.

I also think this should be the same for minerals, planet hab ranges, ship hulls and components...

Sentio aliquos togatos contra me conspirare.

Re: Planet Names

Mon, 05 April 2004 23:06

Dogthinkers

Commander

Messages: 1316
Registered: August 2003
Location: Hiding from Meklar

I think we'll find that with ANY method that permits renaming of planets will result in effective diplomacy having to use using coords instead of using star names.

I think that would detract from the 'experience' of the game.

I think the best 'solution' is to use a list of names predetermined when the game is generated (with no player input at all) my 2 cents

On the other hand, a feature where we can attach informative text labels to stars (client side only) could be extremely useful for the player. I can't see any real reason for these notes to be uploaded to the server.

Re: Planet Names

Tue, 06 April 2004 01:17

Commander

Messages: 1008
Registered: September 2003
Location: Finland

It makes sense to me that id's get used for the planets and the client deals with names. The server has no use for them anyway. Stick a 'names list' somewhere - everybody come up with some names and when we have enough to cover a huge dense universe they can be added to the client.

Ptolemy

Though we often ask how and why, we must also do to get the answers to the questions.

Re: Planet Names

Tue, 06 April 2004 03:32

Hyena

Master Chief Petty Officer

Messages: 109
Registered: January 2004

While at work, when I didn't have much to do, I wrote a big list of names for planets.

http://hyena.kiwibonga.com/freestars_planets.txt

Enjoy. Smile

And yes, those are correct. Some intentionally don't make sense, like "Death From"

[Updated on: Tue, 06 April 2004 03:36]

Re: Planet Names

Tue, 06 April 2004 03:38

Lt. Junior Grade

Stars! Nova developer

Messages: 383
Registered: January 2004
Location: South Africa

ok, but could you still give each planet 2 names? 1 is the default or the coordinates or a custom text file that someone can import (Mabey make it options at the start of the game) and one is a private name that only the player who scanned a planet can name. so THAT info would stay on the players HD coz only he uses it. Almost like notes for each planet like germ 100 or pop 1 mill or something like that??