Use the character name more often?

[Nick]

So far the character's name is only used in about 2 places. I think Characters in Crossglen aught to seem like they know your name since it's a small community. I know that using basic strings is easier, but I think it would add a little depth if what you name your characters name was used by npc's that should know who you are, or get to know you later on. If nothing else, Mikhail should be using your name.

Another idea is being able to give a fake name to some npcs. This fake name could propagate. The main reason for this is say you use one name when working with the thieves guild and another when working with the guards so that it could take longer for someone to put two and two together and figure out what you've really been up to. ( there could be ups and downs for only using your real name or having fake names. )

[Lady Drager]

I agree. But, mind you I'm not one who's in-the-know on these things, it stands to reason this is currently a minor concern at this stage of development.

[rijackson741]

Actually, I don't think the character's name is used anywhere in dialogue. Dialogue is hard coded, and I know of no way so substitute the name into it. It could be done, but it would require coding changes and then a lot of dialogue editing.

[Zukero]

Sure you can. Just write "$playername" in one of the dialogue or replies.

[rijackson741]

I didn't know that. Are there any other meta-strings to display other things? Such as $gold?

[Zukero]

Nope. And I also think this one is buggy. I think only the first occurrence is substituted in each string. I'll have to test that.

[rijackson741]

If we could also select a reply based on gold, we could have, for example:
"Do you have a potion that will cure fractures?"
Reply 1: "Yes, it will cost 380GP. I see you have $gold, so you can buy some if you wish"
Reply 2: "Yes, but I see you only have $gold, which is not enough. You need at least 380GP"

Even better,
Reply 1: "Yes, it will cost 380GP. I see you have $gold, so you can buy as many as $(floor($gold/380) if you wish"

[Duvalon]

That's getting fairly complicated. You're going from a simple search and replace to a formula parser and evaluator with not only standard operators but things like floor(), and parenthesis for precedence. For the number of times it might be used, I'm not sure it'd be worth the effort.

[rijackson741]

I was just thinking out loud when I wrote that. I agree it would probably be more work than it's worth.

No parentheses for precedence though, just for the function argument. And one is missing in what I wrote . All that would be needed is $floor($gold/380).

[Zukero]

$gold, why not. Parser and interpreter, nope. Too expensive in terms of dev time and CPu usage (this gets called once every time a line of dialogue is displayed....)