Hi all,
Scout the Eph here! I wanted to share some thoughts around my project which Uilani touched on at the Producer Ride-along recently. Called Project Tapestry there, the project creates a new history timeline feature in Lusternia, inspired by the timelines seen in some other IRE games but with our own spin on it. Would love any feedback or thoughts on our plans! Note that everything described here is subject to change.
The timeline will contain entries of different historical happenings, and the functionality of the timeline will be split into different phases. Phase 1 will include basic timeline viewing capabilities, along with entries for publicly known events - think the histories on our website and Events news posts. Entries, which themselves only have a brief synopsis of the event, can carry references to other reading where a player can learn more. Phase 1 will start with references to URLs (e.g. the website histories) and news posts. The timeline can be accessed from a particular room, and commands will look like...
- TIMELINE LIST - views the whole timeline in table form, from the beginning, if they're in a valid room. Entries are grouped by era
- TIMELINE VIEW [X] - view the details of a specific entry X, which will feature the event's date, synopsis, and any relevant references
- TIMELINE FILTER ERA LIST - see list of eligible eras
- TIMELINE FILTER TAG LIST - see list of tags used on entries
- TIMELINE FILTER LOCATION LIST - see list of locations referenced in entries
- TIMELINE FILTER PERSONA LIST - see list of personas referenced in entries (note: this will only encompass divine and notable mobs, not players)
- TIMELINE FILTER ARC LIST - see list of plot arcs referenced in entries
- TIMELINE FILTER [field] [value] - view timeline filtered for that field (era, tag, location, persona, arc)
- TIMELINE SEARCH [term] - searches all entries for the term
Here's an example of what a part of the timeline would look like:
In that mock timeline, you'll notice a few things:
- The timeline view primarily shows you entries ordered by date and each entry's unique identifier
- For those with MXP on, they can click on the entry ID to be taken to the details of that entry
- Anybody can do TIMELINE VIEW [ID] to see details of that entry
- We've chosen not to go with ID #s for entries so that in the future, we can add new entries in the middle of a timeline without having to adjust all entries' #s
- Dates for entries can take various formats - some entries are on a particular day, others might span multiple years
- Because of the above, there will be some admin subjectivity in the ordering on a timeline
Here's an example of what a particular timeline entry would look like:
In this mock entry, you'll notice a few things:
- This particular entry happens to have a reference to a news post - this will be an MXP link
- There will be various tags that can be added to an entry - this will be done by admins but will generally include locations, orgs/guilds, and any very notable personas (eg Divine)
Phase 2, which will come after Phase 1 is launched, will bring some additional functionality - this will be shared later for feedback.
If you have any feedback on the idea or the implementation sketched out here, please leave a note!
Cheers,
Scout the Eph