DCSS Text Improvement Taskforce

[Krag]

Quick question on the spreadsheet, what do the colours indicate? Apart from blue being new stuff mentioned in a post above I couldn't quite figure out the system.

[Grimm]

green - stuff that is already in the game
yellow/red - stuff that needs/NEEDS changing
orange - stuff that does not exist and needs creating
blue - new stuff
black - has been reviewed
dark green - has been submitted
grey - has been submitted

I think that covers it. Also keep an eye out for little orange triangles that indicate comments.

[Grimm]

Does anyone here speak Danish? I've found a Danish source for a quote for the bog mummy but there's no official English translation, and The Goog is not helping:

http://adl.dk/adl_pub/pg/cv/ShowPgImg.x ... sidenr=366

Another good one is here:
http://www.adl.dk/adl_pub/pg/cv/ShowPgT ... sidenr=150

If no one can translate it I'll leave it in the original language.

[Krag]

My best (quick) try at one stanza.

Da ligger Du nøgen og skrumpen og fæl.
Alt med Dit Skalled Hoved
Langt sortere end den Egepæl,
Hvormed Du blev Sumpen troloved.

There you lie, naked and shrunken and foul.
Complete with your barren head,
Much blacker than the oaken pole,
With which to the swamp you were wed.

Doesn't sound quite old enough though and couldn't find a rhyme for something foul and something pole'y.

[Grimm]

It'll do. Thank you very much.

[Grimm]

I've put in lots of new descriptions and quotes on the monsters tab. It's going pretty slowly - if you're interested in participating now's a good time to jump in.

Wensleydale, I've responded to your comment on "hound".

If anyone has a copy of Day of the Triffids (the original book) we might be able to get a good quote for the oklob out of that.

[Wensleydale]

I'll try and finish off a quotes patch tonight. The adjective changes might be a little more tricky, and since they're a lot more visible (and potentially controversial) than changes to monster descriptions/quotes, I'd like dpeg to look at them first.

Edit: I wouldn't say the monsters tab is coming along slowly, it looks like you've already gotten about 60 new monster descriptions since the last patch! :P Once you get around 100, let me know and I'll shove out another descriptions patch.

[dpeg]

Wensleydale: send me a list by mail, if you want.

[Wensleydale]

Grimm: with regard to the new adjectives, where did you intend for the nutrition adjectives for each type of permafood to be shown?

[Grimm]

The nutrition adjectives are actually on hold until after vintermann's food reform gets implemented. Sorry, I should have made that clearer on the sheet.

[Grimm]

Here's another proposal that calls for wider review:

I want to change the names of vegetation.

Reasons:

1) Crawl favours specific and interesting names for monsters (quokka, water moccasin, redback, etc.) over generic ones.

2) More types of vegetation might be introduced in the future, so let's start giving the current vegetation specific names now to create space for new species.

3) Different species of vegetation might have different uses for Fedhashians, or even non-Fedhashians ("chunks" of wood to start fires etc.)

Here are my current suggestions:

tree - oak tree (alternative: cave oak)

bush - privet bush
(incidentally the description of the bush has been changed to reflect the fact that it's hard to destroy)

plant - tweeblaarkanniedood plant
(the plant known as Welwitschia in English. Other names for the plant are !kharos, khurub, nyanka, and onyanga.)

[Curio]

Giant cockroach surely needs Kafka reference in quotation department, in my opinion.

[Grimm]

Bring it to the table.

[mumra]

Giant cockroach surely needs Kafka reference in quotation department, in my opinion.

Or perhaps for beetles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metamorphosis

[Kate]

"A large brown cockroach. I call him 'Gregor'." was the old giant cockroach description.

[Wensleydale]

Grimm: adjective changes are approved, although I'm still not sure where those nutrition adjectives are going to go once the food reform is complete. :P Also, I thought it was weird that all the ants had the same quote, so I've given soldier ants a new quote. This awaits your approval. Have you specified the format for quotes? I inferred the following:

"Quote."
Author, _Title_. Date.

[Grimm]

Grimm: adjective changes are approved, although I'm still not sure where those nutrition adjectives are going to go once the food reform is complete.

I realised halfway through doing the nutrition adjectives that they would change depending on the player's level of carn/veg. Adapting to that would require special coding. So the whole thing will probably die a quiet death.

Also, I thought it was weird that all the ants had the same quote, so I've given soldier ants a new quote. This awaits your approval.

Looks good. Everyone feel free to go over my descriptions and quotes. I'm not the final authority, I just want to review them all at least once.

Have you specified the format for quotes? I inferred the following:

"Quote."
Author, _Title_. Date.

Correct. I am having second thoughts about the format now but it's a little late.

[Wensleydale]

Who says we can't change it? :) We have the power of computers! What format would you prefer?

[Grimm]

  Code:

Quote.

 - Author, _Title_. Date.

I'm doing poems as

  Code:

Quote.

 - Author, "Title", Lines. Date.

A million Orbs of Zot to whomever found the "Queen of Cheese" poem.


The quote for the emperor scorpion seems to have disappeared. If anyone remembers what it was please replace it.

[coolio]

As nice as the literary quotes are, the main focus ought to be bringing the descriptions up to date. There are still plenty of items missing from the items tab, for example, and the dungeon features tab is still very incomplete.

Some uniques still have boring speech files and / or descriptions - feel free to improve upon them as well!

A million Orbs of Zot to whomever found the "Queen of Cheese" poem.

Also, please, for your own sake, do not edit the quotes manually in the spreadsheet as the changes you want to make can be made in a click of a button if you configure a macro in a proper text editing program like notepad++

[Grimm]

As nice as the literary quotes are, the main focus ought to be bringing the descriptions up to date. There are still plenty of items missing from the items tab, for example, and the dungeon features tab is still very incomplete.

I completely agree. I am working (slowly) through the monsters tab in order to get that all done first, then I will move to the items tab.

My immediate aim is to have similar style and length for all the descriptions of monsters that are also player races (dwarf, elf, draconian, kenku, etc. etc.).

Also, please, for your own sake, do not edit the quotes manually in the spreadsheet as the changes you want to make can be made in a click of a button if you configure a macro in a proper text editing program like notepad++

Roger.

[Grimm]

Are all draconian monsters yellow, per Gretell? Or can they be of any hue?

[coolio]

Are all draconian monsters yellow, per Gretell? Or can they be of any hue?

The latter, you can test this by typing f. ex. Red Draconian or Black Draconian in it, or by spawning them in WizMode.

[Mychaelh]

Added some description for body armours. Needs prove reading by native english speaker.

[Grimm]

Are all draconian monsters yellow, per Gretell? Or can they be of any hue?

The latter, you can test this by typing f. ex. Red Draconian or Black Draconian in it, or by spawning them in WizMode.

What about classed draconians? When I look up e.g. "draconian monk" on the bot it is listed as a yellow draconian.

[nicolae]

Are all draconian monsters yellow, per Gretell? Or can they be of any hue?

The latter, you can test this by typing f. ex. Red Draconian or Black Draconian in it, or by spawning them in WizMode.

What about classed draconians? When I look up e.g. "draconian monk" on the bot it is listed as a yellow draconian.

Draconians have a class and a color, if you type "black draconian monk" into the bot you get the stats for it, though there's no tile.

Also I ended up completely forgetting to contribute like I said I would (I blame work) but I have more free time now.

I did end up coming up with some ideas for Harold's description and speech, though sadly I never got around to testing them. I have an idea for a labyrinth quote, since the current one is flagged yellow. Is The Name of the Rose (1983) too recent for use, even though it's set in the 1300s?

[Grimm]

If it's a good quote we'll bend the rules.

[nicolae]

If it's a good quote we'll bend the rules.

Let's hope Eco counts as high modern literature, then. This is fun!

[coolio]

I don't think there should be tips for key binds in the descriptions --

Press 'q' to drink from this magic fountain. Expect magical effects, as long as it's still magic.

A wooden door, cunningly hidden. It used to be a secret door but at least for you it's not a secret anymore. To open it, try simply walking into it, or press 'O'.

-- or direct references to any other game play mechanics for that matter.

[Grimm]

Agreed.

[nicolae]

Style question. I have a quote from Jorge Luis Borges for a scroll of magic mapping ("On Exactitude in Science"). One of Borges' things is attributing his own words to fictitious authors to give the appearance that he's merely citing from literary sources, and the paragraph I quote is one of them. Which would be preferred:
1) "Playing along" with Borges, and attributing the quote to his fictional source, which would be kind of fun. (Perhaps with the phrase "Attributed to:")
2) Attributing it to Borges himself, which would be more accurate.

[Grimm]

Put all the information in the box and I'll sort it out when I get to it.

[nicolae]

Another noob question: I checked this thread again but didn't see anything. What's the right way to suggest/submit new speech? I fleshed out a background for Harold and added some speech to go with it (he's a bounty hunter still, and you're his last job before retirement, which he's greatly looking forward to).

[Danei]

I just noticed that the quotation for mermaids in the spreadsheet is about sirens. Is that ideal, given that sirens also exist in the game?

[coolio]

Another noob question: I checked this thread again but didn't see anything. What's the right way to suggest/submit new speech? I fleshed out a background for Harold and added some speech to go with it (he's a bounty hunter still, and you're his last job before retirement, which he's greatly looking forward to).

Haha, that's a great idea. "Harold says: I'm getting too old for this shit!"

I suppose the best way would be to upload the new speech as a txt file (attached to your post), following the format of monspeak.txt, preferably just the parts with Harold's speech, i.e. not the entire monspeak.txt.
Also update the spreadsheet, linking the relevant cell to the new speech file.

[nicolae]

Another noob question: I checked this thread again but didn't see anything. What's the right way to suggest/submit new speech? I fleshed out a background for Harold and added some speech to go with it (he's a bounty hunter still, and you're his last job before retirement, which he's greatly looking forward to).

Haha, that's a great idea. "Harold says: I'm getting too old for this shit!"

Way ahead of ya.

  Code:

%%%%
fleeing Harold

__NEXT

w:1
@The_monster@ @yells@, "I'm getting too old for this!"

%%%%


I suppose the best way would be to upload the new speech as a txt file (attached to your post), following the format of monspeak.txt, preferably just the parts with Harold's speech, i.e. not the entire monspeak.txt.
Also update the spreadsheet, linking the relevant cell to the new speech file.

Cool, I'll give that a whirl later, I think I want to add a couple more speech lines and tweak some of the probability weights too.

[Grimm]

I just noticed that the quotation for mermaids in the spreadsheet is about sirens. Is that ideal, given that sirens also exist in the game?

If you can find a good mermaid quote, put that in for mermaid and switch the current quote to siren.

On quotes in general, let's not go overboard with quotes for items. We don't need a separate quote for every scroll, potion and ring in the game. One per class is fine, with a few choice exceptions. The main thing is to make the descriptions clear and informative.

[nicolae]

Harold. A middle-aged bounty hunter, anxious to retire from bounty-hunting after one final job. He hopes to settle down somewhere and live a quiet life with his family, using the money from his final bounty: you.

Includes some fleeing speech, some death speeches, and a number of retirement options he can think about out loud. Let me know what you all think. If it turns out I'm not terrible at this kind of thing I had an idea for Jozef. (Speaking of which, where in the code is it determined what equipment a unique has?)

Edit: Updated with a suggested replacement

[Grimm]

I like the speech! Nice job. I'd change "little house" to "cottage", and the mountains in "I would like to have seen the mountains..." to perhaps something funnier, like "Paris" or something.

[nicolae]

I like the speech! Nice job. I'd change "little house" to "cottage", and the mountains in "I would like to have seen the mountains..." to perhaps something funnier, like "Paris" or something.

Oh, damn, I totally forgot about the word "cottage" for some reason.

Also that particular death message was taken from "I would like to have seen Montana" (a movie reference, points if you know it) but I didn't know if name-dropping actual real-world places was a problem, so, I just went with mountains.

[Curio]

  Code:

name-dropping actual real-world places was a problem

it isn't? Well, that's weird.

[Grimm]

You're probably right, stick with mountains. Or "the seaside", as the dungeon might be near the mountains.

[nicolae]

  Code:

name-dropping actual real-world places was a problem

it isn't? Well, that's weird.

I know Khufu's speech mentions the Nile, but then again the Nile is older and more mythological than Montana.

[dpeg]

Khufu also mentions the polar star (do you know why?) and I hope this speech is left untouched. I am proud of it.

[coolio]

I'm sad to see the Electric Boogie quotation has been replaced. It was one of my favourites.

There's a few descriptions for uniques that could do with condensing, namely Xtahua, Sonja and Wiglaf, and perhaps The Royal Jelly.
Uniques can and should have longer descriptions than normal monsters, but I'd still like to see them kept in single paragraphs.

[Grimm]

I liked Electric Boogie too but...we are trying to move away from that sort of thing.

Agreed on the unique descriptions. We definitely want meat in them, but not novelettes.

[Mychaelh]

I added item descritptions for dagger, quick blade, shord sword, sabre, falchion, hand axe and club. Needs proof reading by native english speaker [don't be afraid to bring it more 'on the point'].

When I try to get a description 'in game' about cap trough >?/icap< I get "ACC +4 DmgRt 7 BassAttDel 120%" ???? (latest trunk)
Should I report this on mantis?

[galehar]

I added item descritptions for dagger, quick blade, shord sword, sabre, falchion, hand axe and club. Needs proof reading by native english speaker [don't be afraid to bring it more 'on the point'].

When I try to get a description 'in game' about cap trough >?/icap< I get "ACC +4 DmgRt 7 BassAttDel 120%" ???? (latest trunk)
Should I report this on mantis?

Probably some sort of autocompletion for captain's cutlass (MarvinPA guessed it). Yes, put it on mantis;

[Mychaelh]

I added descriptions for long sword, scimitar, demon blade, eudemon blade, great sword.

I can't make sence out of double and triple swords. They are silly from a technological view-point and to explain them as 'magical' is just poor and cheap. (To expand a 'surface area of sharpness' it is just goofy to add an additional blade. The right method is... - to corrugate the single blade !!!).
My suggestion: double swords should be renamed to flamberge (one handed), triple swords to flammard (two handed). Of course new tiles would have to be created. Weapon stats should stay as they are:


Flamberge .......... Flammard

Edit. More suggestions: make quick blade a 2-handed short swort and change falchion DamType from slicing to chopping (as I understand it, a falchion is a sword using the principle of an axe.)

Can someone explain how DamType plays out in DCSS exactly (against different kinds of armour)?

[Kate]

Damage type only matters for chopping off hydra heads currently, it doesn't make weapons behave any differently otherwise (except for some small differences in combat noise and amount of blood splatter caused).