[OT] MUD building

[Edward Glowacki]

There was much discussion at Saturday's LUG party about Multi-User
Dungeons (MUDs).  Probably half a dozen people, including myself,
talked about MUDs at length, and thought it might be fun to design
and build our own.  While it isn't particularly related to Linux
(or the GLLUG), we thought there might be other members of the
GLLUG interested in helping out.  Here's a short outline of what
we're planning:

- Written from the ground up in Python 
	possibly parts in C/C++ if needed
- Advanced magic system
	customizable/scriptable
- Classless character system 
	the goal is to have every single character be unique
- Multiple levels of playability
	single character up to kingdom
- Character and NPC AI
	allow characters to interact when their human is offline
	server-side triggers
- Cross-platform client
	Python/wxWindows?
	Pine(the mail program)-like interface (i.e. Pine's design goals)
	Traditional command-line interface also available
- Multiple levels of control
	beginner - high-level control 
	intermediate - change some values of spells, etc. 
	advanced - edit spells as scripts, etc.
- Goal is to be the most advanced (and stable) text-based online game around
	Client may be semi-graphical though
- Hosted on free software box (Linux, Python, etc.)
- Free to play (donations accepted to help fund hardware/network costs) 

Types of jobs we'll need to pull this off:
Coders (Server) - Write the game code itself, including probably
interpreters for spell scripts, AI, etc.
Coders (Client) - Write the user-side client for the game
World Builders - Create rooms, monsters, items, spells, etc. for the game
Beta Testers - Um, try to break things... ;)
Help/Documentation Writers - Provide the players with a clue to
what's going on
Webmasters - Build a website where people can find out about the game
Sysadmin - Keep the box running, backups, etc.
Designers - Think of what needs to be added, new features, fixes, etc.
Gods - Manage the players and the game once things get going
Probably a bunch more that I haven't thought of yet... =)

I have most of the design already in my head (I've been thinking
about what kind of game I want to build for a long time, as most
of you who talked to me on Saturday realized ;) ), so this is going
to be more or less "my" project.  I'm going to manage it, herd it
where I want it to go, lead the design, etc.  That being said,
there's certainly more than enough room to add new ideas and change
things, so I don't want anyone to think "Oh, so my ideas don't
count?!"  I'm sure there's a lot of stuff we should add that I
haven't thought of yet, and I know some of what I've already come
up with probably won't work the way I expect.  There's also a lot
of stuff that I only have a very vague idea on how I want it to
work, so I'm going to need your help bringing those ideas to life.
=)

This is all of course only relevant if we get enough people willing
to actually put forth energy to do this. =)  So if you're at all
interested, and have at least *some* time (I'm not talking 80hrs/week,
even an hour here or there every week or two would help), send me
an email with what kinds of things you're interested in doing
(either from the list of jobs above, or just "I want to write code"
or "I want to teach the newbies how to play"), and I'll add you to
the list.  This also applies to anyone I talked to on Saturday
that's interested, I don't remember exactly who participated in
the conversations and what they wanted to do. =)

If all goes well and there's enough interest, I'll try to organize
a meeting where I can present the concept and stuff in more detail
and we can all discuss it together.  I'll also try to get a mailing
list set up at some point after that.


-- 
Edward Glowacki				glowack2@msu.edu
GLLUG President				http://www.gllug.org
Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.
                -- Jules de Gaultier