Re: The Space Project Design Update 5 - Storyline

From: ericsum@aol.com (EricSum)

Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 00:00:00 +0000

>Hmm. You'd think with it be centred around cyberspace, it'd be easy to run.
><ponders> Hmm. <scribbles down idea>. I think you're on to something Eric.
>You've just given me an idea for another PBM/PBeM :)

The problem is that you will not be able to find the true feel of hacking into
a computer system For one thing, the process is not easily committed to PBM
format unless you do it like Arena, where you can pretty much send orders all
day long and get results back all day long as well.

For instance, this would not be fun:

"Player Turn Report for EricSum"
"Account 33443"
"ericsum@aol.com"

"Orders"
"scout 1"
"You have discovered a new network!"
"Login:"

Then I send in this order sheet:
"ENTER PASSWORD "trustno1""

A week later I get back:
"Invalid Password, Try Again."

See what I mean. Of course it all be done with skill sets and dice rolls of
course, but that takes the fun out of it in my opinion. Once you start shedding
some of the detail, it just becomes boring.

"You have successfully hacked into Mindshift Design!"
"HACK Skill improves by 1 point."

Neuromancer (the game I mentioned), basically made you the hacker. Each  of the
systems you hacked was rich with email, messages, and secret corporate
documents to look through to give you the impression that you were actually
hacking.

It would be a really tough thing to do in PBEM, but I could see it being done
as a Java program.

Eric

References

Re: The Space Project Design Update 5 - Storyline
"MindShift Design" <mindshift@usa.net>
Thu, 29 Oct 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Re: The Space Project Design Update 5 - Storyline
"MindShift Design" <mindshift@usa.net>
Thu, 29 Oct 1998 00:00:00 +0000