I'm not sure if this concept has been covered, and I've tried
searching for it with no solutions, or even rough ideas similar to it;
But something I have noticed and tried to look up countless times in
search forums, Youtube, Twitter, and other feed sources, is the ability
to set multiple start locations for players on subsequent maps, based
upon exit location on other maps. Now this may sound like a weird
concept, but bear with me; As a former professional video game
design, web designer, and API developer; one thing that has always been a
constant in most game engines is the very simple mechanic of setting an
"Exit" location (Usually established in the form of invisible collision
boxes, web icons, or some other object that can be activated either by
player interaction, or user operation), and then on the target location
and page a target location, to move the user to. In most cases, The data
set can be built using a reference linking system. Whereupon the access
"portal" has within its object type the referential linking
information, to the landing location in the subsequent pages, or even
other targeted source points. Arguably you could even make these
transition objects, their own permission-driven API UI, where the
player/ GM see's different message boxes based on their object
permissions, type. A player might be given the option of "Would you like
to exit the map" Y/N, while the GM could be given the option of "Exit
map to Map"XYZ" @ Start "ABC" and so on. I feel that if you're
going to make a game environment for players and Gm to have a fully
immersive experience; there need to be a simple mechanic whereupon a map
has multiple access, Exit, and start point based on where the
player(s)/ GM takes the story. For something as complex as Roll20's
already extensive API structure; Offering a 10 exit point/ 10 entry
point per page API would probably be the easiest to implement. From
there, you simply have the GM set the cross-link points on each page. Example: Page 001 - Exit (A) links to Page 002 - Enter (B).
Now when the players interact with the visual or hidden exit "Token" it
prompts a simple Boolean message (Visibility Controlled by GM), and
sends all player/Gm controlled tokens within a set invisible bounding
box area (Which can be the source point to a temporary Input array for
temporary data storage), to the location of the icon tied into the
"Entry point (B)", associated to Page 002. From there the system doesn't
have to worry about determining the exact "X/Y" position for each
transition. It merely instead, looks for a query location of "Entry
Object B" within "page-002" and then load in the Player/ GM content from
the prior page, that was within the "Bounding box". the test for this
would be a simple couple line set of code as well. "If" page 002 Entry B
is Active (True/ false), then load data from Bounding box page location
A into bounding box page location B. What this ends up doing is
taking the linear game mechanic of transitions between pages, and sets
it to a more fluid multiple access/ exit variable where the Gm can set
these access/ exit points using simple "Orange" (Exit) vs "Blue" (Enter)
(using the "Portal" IP as a visual example), to create a fluid easy to
see transition margin that makes the games more dynamic. It also makes
it a ton easier for GM's to create more versatile games, where the
"Sewer" grate in their "Village" map, becomes one exit point, but so too
does the "Blacksmith", "Inn", "Well", and any Map edge or target point.
This also allows GM's to designate 1 map to represent multiple vehicles
or even floors, by allowing them to set different transition points
into and out of that "page" that link to one another based on icon
placement. Now when players hop into the covered Wagon, van, or
starship; They are whisked over into a map dedicated to those functions
that represent in-game conversations or actions while traveling to a new
destination. Plus, it allows Gm's to set multiple start locations based
on how the player transition from one place to another. Even
better; now, you can do the "Legend of Zelda" "Lost Forest" concept
where the player has to exit a page in a specific spot to not return to
the same forest, or map edge. Imagine having a special plane, where
players are stuck in the "Rod Sterling" room. They leave and walk into
the bedroom, only to walk through the front door. they dive out the
window and fall through the ceiling and so on... on and on they go, out
multiple visual exit points only to come back to the same room over and
over again, until they unlock the right exit, that leads them out. The
versatility of a simple little mechanic to any game opens up endless
opportunities for extended long-term play that will keep GM's and
players coming back for years to come because their Rp experience is
more and more like a video game, every day! Thank you for your time; ~Tokumei LLC.
