Six Ages is a game about clans and kingdoms and world-shattering events. But it\u2019s also a game about people. In the first game, \u201cRide Like the Wind,\u201d you watch (and help guide) some characters pass through their youth to adulthood, and possibly even to old age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second game, \u201cLights Going Out,\u201d is no different. It goes a step further by presenting characters who are related to each other more directly than belonging to the same family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have friends who raised their children otherwise, but I think in most families, children don\u2019t refer to their parents by their given names. So the bug report complaining that this can happen made sense. Here\u2019s what the line of script looked like (<a><\/code> is a placeholder, filled in with a character\u2019s name):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[Diplomacy \u2265 4] The Wheels have more to worry about than what <a> thinks of them. [1]<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
If this advice was given about the advisor\u2019s mother, it would feel out of place or even rude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another example has the advisor directly talking to someone who might be their elder:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[Default] I\u2019m sorry, <i>. [3]<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
How to deal with this? In many events, we have advice specific to various characters, such as the king and the prince. But this situation could happen with a number of people, and that felt cumbersome (as well as potentially blocking useful skill-related advice in favor of character-specific advice).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We could simply live with this, since it\u2019s pretty rare (we only noticed an example this week) and doesn\u2019t impact game play. But it does weaken the idea that your advisors are real people who behave in complex ways. So I decided to add a few special properties to our scripting language. Those lines of advice are now<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[Diplomacy \u2265 4] The Wheels have more to worry about than what <a.relative> thinks of them. [1]\n\n[Default] I\u2019m sorry, <i.relativeDirect>. [3]<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
If most characters give the advice, the placeholder <a.relative><\/code> is still the name. But if the speaker is related to the person in question, it will be filled in with something like \u201cmy mother\u201d or \u201cmy son.\u201d The second form, when one character talks to another, essentially drops the \u201cmy,\u201d so the complete sentence could be \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Father.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a pretty specialized substitution, but it\u2019s something that\u2019s really only practical because the game uses its own scripting language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
![\"Advisor](\"https:\/\/blog.sixages.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Wheels-worrying.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n