Talking to passengers

[byronarn]

The "I'm bored. Are we there yet?" message for green condition is definitely the most used message by far. Does anyone have any suggestions of what else can be said by the passenger? I am going to add several such messages and then have one picked randomly. What would you say if you were in a confined space for several days to a couple weeks?

Here's the list I am thinking of so far:

• "I'm bored. Are we there yet?"
• "I can't wait to get there. I have important business there, you know."
• "Just think, in your father's day, a trip of this distance would take at least twice as long!"
• "I have heard many stories about this system. Let's hope half of them aren't true!"

I also want to add other features. I am thinking of having a 1 in 4 chance of a mission screen telling you to not take too long upon docking. Anybody have ideas for other features?

[Cody]

'Call yourself a pilot! You fly like a pregnant yak!'

[mossfoot]

"Excuse me, but does this ship have any bathroom facilities?"
"I was told there would be a complementary in-flight meal."
"Can I take some pictures out the window?"
"I like pie."
"You are fully licenced and bonded, right?"
"Sir, your in-flight magazines are wildly out of date!"

(when cabin temp goes yellow)
"Are you sure the cabin temperature is correct? I'm sweltering in here!"
"Geeze, are you trying to cook us?"

[Diziet Sma]

• It now lists the passenger's name and destination when the passenger speaks

I'm not sure the destination is necessary.. it adds nothing of importance, and is slightly distracting from the message itself.

I find some messages from NPC ships distracting in the same way..

"Die, Commander Diziet Sma: Pitviper SE Blackwidow!" is ridiculous.. Call me by my name, or call me by my ship, but when you're sending what by all rights ought to be a brief and angry statement, why on earth would you transmit that mouthful and three quarters? It's unrealistic, and immersion-breaking.

[byronarn]

• It now lists the passenger's name and destination when the passenger speaks

I'm not sure the destination is necessary.. it adds nothing of importance, and is slightly distracting from the message itself.

I find some messages from NPC ships distracting in the same way..

"Die, Commander Diziet Sma: Pitviper SE Blackwidow!" is ridiculous.. Call me by my name, or call me by my ship, but when you're sending what by all rights ought to be a brief and angry statement, why on earth would you transmit that mouthful and three quarters? It's unrealistic, and immersion-breaking.

It was something along the lines of

Jon Andrews (Going to Lave): I'm bored. Are we there yet?

Anyways, I see your point, and took out the destination from the messages.

Any other feedback? Any other ideas of what to needs added to the OXP?

[Diziet Sma]

Any other feedback? Any other ideas of what to needs added to the OXP?

You're already off to a great start.. Just keep doing what you're doing.. adding more messages, and trying to think up as many potential situations/conditions as possible for passengers to remark about. And as some of the suggested remarks hint at, not all passengers are good-tempered. Some might be (vocally) anti-social. Maybe some are hungry, thirsty, horny.. whatever. Perhaps some like to party, or go bar-crawling.. Maybe some are sick of all the damn noise.. Maybe some complain about other passengers, if there are others aboard.. Perhaps some passengers don't get along very well with one another.. Perhaps some get along too well..

Oh yeah.. species-specific comments would be a good idea too. What special needs/interests/requirements might a cat have? A frog? A lobstoid? Would they be particularly interested if they arrive, in passing, at another planet with a species similar to their own? Or one very different? Certain species might not get along, and start fighting.. Maybe a Lobstoid keeps pinching a cat's tail.. he thinks it's amusing, she doesn't. Potential passenger interactions provides a lot of scope for ideas.

Another idea.. perhaps some things should be less random.. maybe assign a personality and character type to a passenger when they board.. then keep all (or most) comments from that passenger in character.

Basically, exercise your imagination.. and keep soliciting for others to contribute phrases as well..

[byronarn]

Any other feedback? Any other ideas of what to needs added to the OXP?

You're already off to a great start.. Just keep doing what you're doing.. adding more messages, and trying to think up as many potential situations/conditions as possible for passengers to remark about. And as some of the suggested remarks hint at, not all passengers are good-tempered. Some might be (vocally) anti-social. Maybe some are hungry, thirsty, horny.. whatever. Perhaps some like to party, or go bar-crawling.. Maybe some are sick of all the damn noise.. Maybe some complain about other passengers, if there are others aboard.. Perhaps some passengers don't get along very well with one another.. Perhaps some get along too well..

Oh yeah.. species-specific comments would be a good idea too. What special needs/interests/requirements might a cat have? A frog? A lobstoid? Would they be particularly interested if they arrive, in passing, at another planet with a species similar to their own? Or one very different? Certain species might not get along, and start fighting.. Maybe a Lobstoid keeps pinching a cat's tail.. he thinks it's amusing, she doesn't. Potential passenger interactions provides a lot of scope for ideas.

Another idea.. perhaps some things should be less random.. maybe assign a personality and character type to a passenger when they board.. then keep all (or most) comments from that passenger in character.

Basically, exercise your imagination.. and keep soliciting for others to contribute phrases as well..

As far as I know, the game never gives the species of a passenger, so its something else I'd have to assign upon boarding. But that's beyond my Javascript abilities atm. I think I may add those things later on as I get better at OXP code writing though. Thanks for the ideas!

I am finished with v0.5 , and will upload it later this evening. This one has a lot more sentences, and has message screens for when you dock.

[Wildeblood]

The "I'm bored. Are we there yet?" message for green condition is definitely the most used message by far. Does anyone have any suggestions of what else can be said by the passenger?

I also want to add other features. I am thinking of having a 1 in 4 chance of a mission screen telling you to not take too long upon docking. Anybody have ideas for other features?

At alertCondition 1 I'd test for speed. The player.ship.maxSpeed is the maximum manoeuvring speed, so it will be < or > player.ship.speed, depending whether you're at manoeuvring or torus drive speed. So that's "Why are we going so slow/fast?"

And without even seeing it, I'll predict you'll lose the mission screens before you reach version 1.0, so don't put too much effort in there.

[byronarn]

The "I'm bored. Are we there yet?" message for green condition is definitely the most used message by far. Does anyone have any suggestions of what else can be said by the passenger?

I also want to add other features. I am thinking of having a 1 in 4 chance of a mission screen telling you to not take too long upon docking. Anybody have ideas for other features?

At alertCondition 1 I'd test for speed. The player.ship.maxSpeed is the maximum manoeuvring speed, so it will be < or > player.ship.speed, depending whether you're at manoeuvring or torus drive speed. So that's "Why are we going so slow/fast?"

And without even seeing it, I'll predict you'll lose the mission screens before you reach version 1.0, so don't put too much effort in there.

Okay, I will work on adding that tomorrow.

As for now, I will go ahead and post version 0.5. DOWNLOAD it here: Passenger Communications v0.5.

(I hope Wildeblood doesn't mind me changing the name. It makes more sense to me. If you do, I can always change it back.)

[Rese249er]

I think this kind of idea would go well with the crew-hiring concepts discussed in another thread. A challenge for anyone who can: instead of having the script check for passengers, have it linked to a piece of equipment like Ship's Cat, but instead of a cat it's a copilot or a ship's AI...

[Wildeblood]

I've thought about this thread several times over the last four months. But not about the OXP Byron started, just the fact that after seeming so enthusiastic he hasn't logged in to the forum since. I hope he wasn't hit by a bus or anything; it always makes me uneasy when people onlinely disappear like that.

[Smivs]

I hope he wasn't hit by a bus or anything...

You're a cheerful soul, aren't you!?
I do know what you mean, though, and I suppose this is a problem for any on-line community. People come and go for all sorts of reasons, not always sinister ones thankfully, and the fact is that you just have to accept it is that way. Of course this doesn't stop it being a worry, and it is cool that we do care about people we normally only know in a most tenuous way. I guess that's what makes us 'The friendliest Board.....'
Personally I do try to flag any absence of mine to avoid this happening.

[byronarn]

I've thought about this thread several times over the last four months. But not about the OXP Byron started, just the fact that after seeming so enthusiastic he hasn't logged in to the forum since. I hope he wasn't hit by a bus or anything; it always makes me uneasy when people onlinely disappear like that.

I think I had a computer crash and lost the latest version of the OXP, so I decided to ditch it. I'm not really sure, as this thread is from 3 years ago. Anyways, I thought of this OXP today (doing a passenger run, naturally) and decided to look it up again on the forums. I think I may get back to developing this OXP, though.

[Diziet Sma]

I think I may get back to developing this OXP, though.

Yay!

(a tip - my development folders are always backed up to my Dropbox account.. that way, whatever happens, I don't lose my work)

(and the same goes for my Oolite gamesave folder!)