I'm currently working on a design for a game which is more realistic. The
player can get by eating only one meal a day, but when you're hungry, your
character tends to overlook things he could find if he didn't have the
hunger to break his concentration (it's a detective game, BTW). Further,
one or two puzzles directly involve eating and/or drinking.
: Part of the problem is that time, as measured in moves, is highly
: non-linear; a move may correspond to something that takes a lot of
: time in real life (say, climbing a mountain, crossing a lake in a
: small boat), or something that's very quickly done, like lighting a
: match or taking a gulp of water. Yet most adventure games simply
: measure time by the number of moves.
Again, this is a concept I'm working to make more realistic. Each move takes
about the time it would in real life. (I know, this is probably far too
ambitious for a person with my limited programming experience, but I'm
giving it my best shot. It's going to be a HUGE game if it ever gets done.)
: IMHO adding thirst and hunger "just for realism" is a plot device that
: has far outlived its novelty. Like those endless "drop an object and
: try all exits" mazes, they used to be great, now they're only boring
: and irritating.
True, although there are variations that make it tolerable. For example,
in another game I'm fiddling around with in my spare time, the player has
a pack with food and water that he can carry throughout the game. He'll
eat whenever he gets hungry. Doing something stupid like dropping the
pack, though, can cause the character to starve to death. I don't find
this unfair.