Secret Panels<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nI was reading a weblog posting that made the claim of scripting weaknesses in some aspects of Doom 3. It struck me that, from the description, the underlying problem wasn\u2019t the scripting but the design behind it. A person can only script what\u2019s been designed, after all.<\/p>\n
The issue the weblog picked up on centres on secret panels. The ones that open after the player has passed them by, revealing \u2013 usually by shooting you in the back \u2013 that monsters have suddenly appeared in the corridor behind you.<\/p>\n
Now I\u2019ve always had this problem with secret panels in general because, even in the most fantastical of settings, I can rarely see the justification for their existence. The more realistic the setting, the more any justification struggles to gain ground.<\/p>\n
Okay, in a fantasy setting, when the players get to the heart of the castle they may find a secret panel behind the king\u2019s throne that hides something very precious, but you wouldn\u2019t expect to find such panels spread all through the castle. Would you?<\/p>\n
What I want to know is, did the panels exist before the world\/castle\/high-tech base was populated with monsters? If so, what was the reason for their existence? Could a person never trust their colleagues and so must use them to store belongings? What\u2019s wrong with good old-fashioned locks?<\/p>\n
Perhaps I\u2019m looking for my answers in the wrong place and the base has been subject to the whims of a television home-improvement, makeover programme:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what would go really well in here? A secret panel. I know what you\u2019re thinking, that they\u2019re a little pass\u00e9, but just imagine the tricks you can play on your colleagues on a Monday morning. You dress up in the rubber costume from the fancy-dress shop and hide behind the secret panel waiting for them to arrive…\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nBut what really gets me smiling to myself is the thought of putting the monsters behind the secret panels. Presumably there was someone with a big evil plan that felt it was a good idea, making sure there was no food or water so they\u2019d be good and angry when you triggered their appearance:<\/p>\n
\u201cJust hide in there, will you please?\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cDo I have to?\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cYes you do. I\u2019m the arch villain, sorry, antagonist \u2013 it says in my contract, you know \u2013 so you have to do what I tell you.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cIt\u2019s always me. Why not one of the others?\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cThe others don\u2019t have your flair for terrifying the crap out of unsuspecting, gun-toting, space marines.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cI bet you say that to all the monsters.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cOnly the ugly ones.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cOh, you…\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cCome on, I haven\u2019t got all day, you know.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cBut I\u2019m claustrophobic and this is such a small space…\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cFor heaven\u2019s sake, you\u2019re a goddamn monster!\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cOooh! So now you\u2019re saying that we don\u2019t have normal rights and feelings?\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cThat\u2019s all I need, a sulking monster. GET BEHIND THE PANEL!\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cRRAAAWRR!\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cOkay, I may have been a little harsh, there. Now, will you please take my head out of your mouth…?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a9 Steve Ince, 2004<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Another in the series. Though this one may be less than topical now, I’m still reproducing it for completeness’ sake. Secret Panels I was reading a weblog posting that made the claim of scripting weaknesses in some aspects of Doom 3. It struck me that, from the description, the underlying problem wasn\u2019t the scripting but … <\/p>\n
Read more “Developing Thoughts 10”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[36],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devthoughts","tag-developing-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steve-ince.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steve-ince.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steve-ince.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steve-ince.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steve-ince.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.steve-ince.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":544,"href":"https:\/\/www.steve-ince.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions\/544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.steve-ince.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steve-ince.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.steve-ince.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}