Hi, more questions from someone coming from pennmush. In a pennmush server one would use objects as @puppets or placed in a fixed location to pass along rumors or sell gear or tend a bar. How would I, for example, create a village merchant bot the sells gear? Since objects do not appear to exist in this paradigm? Along these lines is it even possible to create enemy npc’s that rely on ai to act? Does that make sense? I am so lost without the ‘object’ class.
I am consuming all of the tutorials voraciously, and if any of you would have the grace and take me under their wing i would appreciate it.
Your question makes complete sense. Hopefully I can shed some light on it - if not feel free to ask follow-ups or even join the discord for some live conversation. (PM me for an invite if you don’t already have one.)
The most important mental shift when coding for Ares is to understand that the nature of Ares’ scene system does not naturally support immersive local code like a “merchant bot in a bar room” because many players will interact with the game solely through the web portal or temporary scene rooms. They can RP all day long and their character object will never actually set foot in the bar grid room.
That is not to say you can’t have characters buy gear or learn gossip. It just means you need to think about it in a different way - more as global systems than as local ones.
Using the built-in code, many games just post gossip to the forums, that way it’s easily accessible to everyone.
With custom code, you might make a global ‘gossip’ command (and corresponding web page) that doles out tidbits on a daily basis, perhaps based on a skill roll, your faction, or other factors. The same could be done with an economy/gear system.
It’s also important to note that Ares is not the best fit for every game. If your game vision relies on immersive grid code, you will probably have better luck with Evennia or Rhost than with Ares. No one platform is right for every game under the sun.