Trivial thoughts

ID:41927
 
Apr 21 2008, 10:22 am
Keywords: design, idea
Just an idea for a single-player trivia game based on knowledge about DM. Other than that, nothing extraordinary.

Test your knowledge of coding in DM
  • Choose from categories
  • Get next question, code snippet, screenshot, etc, and some multiple choice or true/false questions.
  • Pick the answer


If you are right:
You get points added to your score.

If you are wrong:
You get an explanation why.

The game would refer to a forum where questions are submitted and/or answers are disputed. This would allow the dream maker community to come up with interesting content.

Some desired features
  • remembers what you've answered so when you play again you can choose only unseen content or stuff previously answered wrong.
  • posts username and score on web (if you don't like it, play again)
  • a limited time for full points, like those trivia questions in bars


Development
  • Via DM: could be done with just skins. No need for map.
  • Via web forms: dunno how to do something like this, but there are examples all over the place.


My opinion
  • Could be a way for developers to check themselves for holes in learning.
  • Just because you score high doesn't mean you are expert coder.
  • I wonder if the scoring might be ammo for flame wars between developers. That would not be good.


Questions
Has anyone tried this before?

Your thoughts?
Apr 21 2008, 11:19 am
I don't think true/false questions are challenging enough... how about an american quiz? Or maybe a mix of the two?
Apr 21 2008, 3:41 pm
I think it would become a very unpopular game once people realize they don't know jack shit unless they constantly open the help guide.
Apr 22 2008, 8:00 am
DivineO'peanut wrote:
I don't think true/false questions are challenging enough... how about an american quiz? Or maybe a mix of the two?

What do you mean by "american quiz"?
Apr 22 2008, 11:49 am
Er, I don't know, really. I completely forgot I wrote this (perhaps staying up until 5 AM wasn't a good idea... I'm doing it again though).

What I think I meant to say is that, instead of just true/false questions you can have the player select from multiple answers. E.g.

var/some_list[] = block(atom1,atom2)

Question: What is assigned to some_list?
a. turfs between atom1 and atom2
b. every atom besides atom1 and atom2
c. the number of turfs between atom1 and atom2 (block() doesn't return lists)
d. none of the above (due to lack of creativity and sleep)

Obviously the questions would need to be more challenging (as in, not ones you can answer by simply opening the reference), but you get the idea....

Edit: bah, you already mentioned multiple choices. I really need to get my sleep.
Apr 22 2008, 12:31 pm
Yep, it needs challenging content. But I don't see why it shouldn't include easy stuff too.

Here's how:
- Each question is assigned a number of points as well as a category
- Players choose category and point range. Let them decide how much challenge they want

An idea is to also let the game track the response time/accuracy and apply a modifier to the points. So let's say a question is added for 10 points (easy) but players are taking 2x the normal time on this question vs other 10 point questions, so modify it to 20 points.

The problem with that, of course, is you have to recompute the high score table each time you change the basis for it.

Anyway, food for thought.