[MUD-Dev] Re: mobile movement

[Ling]

On Tue, 12 Jan 1999, J C Lawrence wrote:
> On Tue, 12 Jan 1999 13:39:51 +0000 (BST) 
> Ling <K.L.Lo-94 at student.lboro.ac.uk> wrote:
> 
> > The ambitious mud designer will, of course, not define the
> > highways and write an algorithm which tracks players and
> > extrapolate the routes from the players' movements. :)
> 
> I forsee an algorithm:
> 
>   Plot and follow path from current position to position of target.
>   if current position was position of target within last X time
>     follow path of target (ie same location motions)
>     if blocked, resume plot/follow.
>     if current location is too-old target position, resume plot/follow

I was thinking more of:

  Log all player movement that is in quick succession.  That is,
  continuous movement with only brief pauses.  Starting a log requires
  monitoring the player until the server thinks that the player really is
  on the move.  Ending the log means waiting for a significant pause (like
  over 30 seconds, maybe a minute).

  Compare logs of locations traversed, if there are significant
  continuous agreements in location between multiple logs, make these
  locations a highway with branch offs equal to the start and end of the
  players' moves.

Then add code to give highways a score.  This score decays to remove
highways that are out of fashion.  Highways that are in use constantly
would have their score topped up by the players.  Maybe code to join
highways up...  Hope this isn't too obscure.

  |    Ling Lo (aka Lethargic Lad)
_O_O_  kllo at iee.org