by mhughes2k on Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:01 am
The actual sending of resources to the Player doesn't happen automatically. The reason for this is the level of discretion required to determine whether or not a player has successfully completed a task to allow them to continue.
The NED and release documents provides an more automated (rather than automatic) way for a supervisor to send a bundle of documents, instead of having to send each document individually (and simulation groups allow this to be done to a group of simulations).
We describe critical events as "major plot expositions" that set up a task or reveal new information to the player. Typically these may involve a number of different non-player characters supplying information to the player.
Non-Player Character (NPC) events are typically a reaction of a fictional character to a task that a player has performed. So if the player has to write to their client, the client (an NPC) may respond with more information.
Staff activities on the other hand are almost entirely non-fictional. This level allows you to model where staff have to do things such as assess a piece of work. That piece of work may have been sent by the Player to an NPC (e.g. the client). The task of assessing the work (the Staff task) is entirely subsumed by the NPC task.