I've got a lot to write so I'll plop a TL;DR here.
TL;DR: First request is for a mailing/PM system that uses the laplaceNET tablets. Second request is for a simple bulletin board system-like thing using the laplaceNET tablets, probably with ASAGO branding or something. Third-ish? request is for Guilds to be able to have their own BBSes.
Full ramble:
Mail of some sort would be nice! I've gotten into a situation recently where my character, who isn't all that well established I think, went someplace to ask if they're accepting apprentices. They said to check back for an answer another time, so as a result he's had to check back to see if anyone else is present there that time around. Basically, the crux of the issue is that he isn't able to get messages in while he's not around, and he can't contact another person when they aren't around. An in-game E-mail system would work great for this, I feel. It doesn't need to be anything SUPER fancy, it'd probably just be the usual kinda thing you'd expect to see in a PM system. Really, for the UI of the mail system, most of the "Requests" sections could probably be re-used, since those are also e-mails. The only things would be that the objectives and rewards sections could be gotten rid of, and it'd be nice if we could use the same formatting in e-mails as we do in chat, namely grave for italics, and two asterisks for bold.
On a grander scale...
An in-game Bullet Board System would be rad! When I thought of e-mails in game, something a bit more ambitious was a pretty obvious stop for my Train of Thought to get more cargo.
Couple considerations, though:
1. How should it look?
When I started thinking about this, I remembered the general aesthetic of SL2, and my mind instantly went "old-school MySpace," but that could get feature creep pretty easily, and you'd probably have to put a lot of thought into UI/UX stuff. Another thought I had was about old-school Bulletin Board Systems from the 80s, complete with ASCII art and everything.
![[Image: xibalba-message-list.png]](https://enigma-bbs.github.io/assets/images/screenshots/xibalba-message-list.png)
(Though that might also be because I played Digital: A Love Story recently...)
I think this is a pretty perfect fit for the sort of time period SL2 wants to be technologically, especially if you steal Digital: A Love Story's approach, which is described pretty closely in the next part. I still want to describe some more baseline stuff, though.
To access the BBS, you'd click a "BBS" button in the tablet's menu sidebar thing, and (assuming there's more than one BBS,) you'd see a menu in the main screen showing all the BBSes you've visited so far, and a button on the bottom to add a new one to visit. If there's only going to be one BBS though, the "BBS" button would probably just take you to the one.
2. What are the core functions of this thing?
Basically ASCII art as the front page, a "bulletin board" screen where characters can post public messages that can be replied to in a chain, and a user list, so you can see what characters have usernames registered on the BBS. Clicking on someone in the user list could act the same as an e-mail address link, and allow you to PM them with the mail system.
3. What would be nice to have?
Another idea for this that I wanted to mention is that this would be pretty nice if there was only one BBS (perhaps an Asago-branded one?) But what if, in addition to that "global/default" BBS, guilds could make their own? I figure it'd work the same as the default BBS, but you can only access it (as a guest/viewer) if you get told the number/string that's associated with it, and after entering it once, it gets added to a list of BBSes on your tablet so you don't have to memorize whatever "phone number"/string is associated with it. And to post in it, you'd have to join the guild, or something. Guild BBSes should also be able to have custom ASCII art on its front page, and possibly their own color scheme in its UI.
And I think that's pretty much it. Hopefully this looks like something people would want and not just some dumb ramble of mine or something.
TL;DR: First request is for a mailing/PM system that uses the laplaceNET tablets. Second request is for a simple bulletin board system-like thing using the laplaceNET tablets, probably with ASAGO branding or something. Third-ish? request is for Guilds to be able to have their own BBSes.
Full ramble:
Mail of some sort would be nice! I've gotten into a situation recently where my character, who isn't all that well established I think, went someplace to ask if they're accepting apprentices. They said to check back for an answer another time, so as a result he's had to check back to see if anyone else is present there that time around. Basically, the crux of the issue is that he isn't able to get messages in while he's not around, and he can't contact another person when they aren't around. An in-game E-mail system would work great for this, I feel. It doesn't need to be anything SUPER fancy, it'd probably just be the usual kinda thing you'd expect to see in a PM system. Really, for the UI of the mail system, most of the "Requests" sections could probably be re-used, since those are also e-mails. The only things would be that the objectives and rewards sections could be gotten rid of, and it'd be nice if we could use the same formatting in e-mails as we do in chat, namely grave for italics, and two asterisks for bold.
On a grander scale...
An in-game Bullet Board System would be rad! When I thought of e-mails in game, something a bit more ambitious was a pretty obvious stop for my Train of Thought to get more cargo.
Couple considerations, though:
- How should it look?
- What are the core functions of this?
- What things would be really nice to have?
1. How should it look?
When I started thinking about this, I remembered the general aesthetic of SL2, and my mind instantly went "old-school MySpace," but that could get feature creep pretty easily, and you'd probably have to put a lot of thought into UI/UX stuff. Another thought I had was about old-school Bulletin Board Systems from the 80s, complete with ASCII art and everything.
(Though that might also be because I played Digital: A Love Story recently...)
I think this is a pretty perfect fit for the sort of time period SL2 wants to be technologically, especially if you steal Digital: A Love Story's approach, which is described pretty closely in the next part. I still want to describe some more baseline stuff, though.
To access the BBS, you'd click a "BBS" button in the tablet's menu sidebar thing, and (assuming there's more than one BBS,) you'd see a menu in the main screen showing all the BBSes you've visited so far, and a button on the bottom to add a new one to visit. If there's only going to be one BBS though, the "BBS" button would probably just take you to the one.
2. What are the core functions of this thing?
Basically ASCII art as the front page, a "bulletin board" screen where characters can post public messages that can be replied to in a chain, and a user list, so you can see what characters have usernames registered on the BBS. Clicking on someone in the user list could act the same as an e-mail address link, and allow you to PM them with the mail system.
3. What would be nice to have?
Another idea for this that I wanted to mention is that this would be pretty nice if there was only one BBS (perhaps an Asago-branded one?) But what if, in addition to that "global/default" BBS, guilds could make their own? I figure it'd work the same as the default BBS, but you can only access it (as a guest/viewer) if you get told the number/string that's associated with it, and after entering it once, it gets added to a list of BBSes on your tablet so you don't have to memorize whatever "phone number"/string is associated with it. And to post in it, you'd have to join the guild, or something. Guild BBSes should also be able to have custom ASCII art on its front page, and possibly their own color scheme in its UI.
And I think that's pretty much it. Hopefully this looks like something people would want and not just some dumb ramble of mine or something.
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