A Guide to Stringing/Coloring
Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2022 10:53 am
Hi friends! It’s been some time since we had our last stringing guide. I thought I would provide some of my own tips and tricks.
Part 1 - Writing Strings
In TI moreso than other MUDs, players tend towards using strings exactly 59 characters in length. This was not a coded affair, merely player culture that evolved over the years, so there is no expectation that you follow it, but it has become the norm.
Examples:
1. Adding a comma or adjusting the length of a word by 1-2 characters is valuable in getting everything to align. Silver can become silvery or silvered. Titled can become entitled.
2. Simple present-tense should usually be avoided, as it messes up targeting in emotes. For example, 'a silk cape flutters to the ground’ will look strange in an emote:
3. It helps to have a pool of adjectives and thematic nouns to pull from when crafting your strings. I use this website often as a reference, which allows you to look up terms by number of letters:
https://bestforpuzzles.com/lists/index.html
For example, you can look for five-letter colors, or six-letter botanical terms, to help fill out your string.
4. For pieces of clothing, it helps to have synonyms or multiple options for certain slots. A men's torso piece could be a doublet, tunic or surcoat. A piece of women’s headwear could be a wimple, snood, circlet, crespine, or Vavardi/gable hood. A piece of outerwear could be a cloak, cape, greatcoat, mantle, wrap, poncho, or a pelisse. Having multiple options assists in adjusting string lengths.
5. If you’re trying to get 59 characters, working with a monospaced font like Courier or Menlo and using a text ‘ruler’ to line strings up against is crucial. I use:
a fantabulous, fifty-nine character line to line up against
6. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. While I would never encourage plagiarism, keeping a notepad of words and phrases you admire can help when your creativity runs dry. When I see a term I find particularly lovely or useful, I’ll write it down. I browse these when searching for inspiration. Some words I’ve learned from others that I love:
chatoyant
ascetic
herringbone
lucent
athenaeum
bookmatched
gabardine
orangery
venerable
rutile
chatelaine
stygian
trellised
peccadils
marqueterie
7. There are a ton of resources out there, many made by community members. For example, Murrmurs’ gradient (help gradient) and monolu’s updated stringing tool:
https://monolu.github.io/ti-string-tool/
8. The biggest thing is to have fun, take risks, and enjoy. It’s a freeform system to use and enjoy, and however you like your strings, they’re valuable just because they’re yours
Feel free to share your own tips and tricks! I'll try to post a part two about color codes shortly.
Part 1 - Writing Strings
In TI moreso than other MUDs, players tend towards using strings exactly 59 characters in length. This was not a coded affair, merely player culture that evolved over the years, so there is no expectation that you follow it, but it has become the norm.
Examples:
Some more tips:a very sparkly grey-blue diamond with a faceted cushion cut
a threadbare woolen coat, haphazardly patched at the elbows
a six-stringed lute carved from bookmatched maple heartwood
1. Adding a comma or adjusting the length of a word by 1-2 characters is valuable in getting everything to align. Silver can become silvery or silvered. Titled can become entitled.
2. Simple present-tense should usually be avoided, as it messes up targeting in emotes. For example, 'a silk cape flutters to the ground’ will look strange in an emote:
But 'a silk cape that flutters to the ground’ or ‘a silk cape fluttering to the ground’ will do the trick.Bob flips a silk cape flutters to the ground over his shoulder.
3. It helps to have a pool of adjectives and thematic nouns to pull from when crafting your strings. I use this website often as a reference, which allows you to look up terms by number of letters:
https://bestforpuzzles.com/lists/index.html
For example, you can look for five-letter colors, or six-letter botanical terms, to help fill out your string.
4. For pieces of clothing, it helps to have synonyms or multiple options for certain slots. A men's torso piece could be a doublet, tunic or surcoat. A piece of women’s headwear could be a wimple, snood, circlet, crespine, or Vavardi/gable hood. A piece of outerwear could be a cloak, cape, greatcoat, mantle, wrap, poncho, or a pelisse. Having multiple options assists in adjusting string lengths.
5. If you’re trying to get 59 characters, working with a monospaced font like Courier or Menlo and using a text ‘ruler’ to line strings up against is crucial. I use:
a fantabulous, fifty-nine character line to line up against
6. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. While I would never encourage plagiarism, keeping a notepad of words and phrases you admire can help when your creativity runs dry. When I see a term I find particularly lovely or useful, I’ll write it down. I browse these when searching for inspiration. Some words I’ve learned from others that I love:
chatoyant
ascetic
herringbone
lucent
athenaeum
bookmatched
gabardine
orangery
venerable
rutile
chatelaine
stygian
trellised
peccadils
marqueterie
7. There are a ton of resources out there, many made by community members. For example, Murrmurs’ gradient (help gradient) and monolu’s updated stringing tool:
https://monolu.github.io/ti-string-tool/
8. The biggest thing is to have fun, take risks, and enjoy. It’s a freeform system to use and enjoy, and however you like your strings, they’re valuable just because they’re yours
Feel free to share your own tips and tricks! I'll try to post a part two about color codes shortly.
