We have these here forums and blogs, we have our IRC server, I think we may have implicitly decided against trying a Second Life "instance" (or however things work in Second Life), but what we are sorely missing – if those of us interested in such a thing are to believed – is our own MUD.
We can flesh out what HMN MUD should (and, in time, does) entail as we go, but for now we can use this thread to gather our thoughts and begin to coordinate development. And "we" in this case does mean multiple of us. So if you fancy getting involved in what may potentially become a community project, post below with your thoughts and dreams and maybe questions as to what the heck a MUD even is after all…
We can flesh out what HMN MUD should (and, in time, does) entail as we go, but for now we can use this thread to gather our thoughts and begin to coordinate development. And "we" in this case does mean multiple of us. So if you fancy getting involved in what may potentially become a community project, post below with your thoughts and dreams and maybe questions as to what the heck a MUD even is after all…
I agree, this could be a fun community project.
Throwing some ideas down:
- text interface via telnet or similar
- simple commands for interacting, looking around, etc
- characters with equipment, items, claimed territory, other attributes
- ability to write books / scriptures / signposts, that other players can see
- spells?
- quests?
- world editing commands from inside the game?
- combat with monsters and dueling each other?
Throwing some ideas down:
- text interface via telnet or similar
- simple commands for interacting, looking around, etc
- characters with equipment, items, claimed territory, other attributes
- ability to write books / scriptures / signposts, that other players can see
- spells?
- quests?
- world editing commands from inside the game?
- combat with monsters and dueling each other?
So basically the only game that kept me for a very long time involved, was a MUD game.
Which i just discovered yesterday. It was called 'Utopia'. A war - strategy massive multiplayer online game, text based. At it's best, it had 50k players, which were constant (there were rumors of botting too but I dunno, people kill bots for fun anyway, in almost all games).
The game very much exists to nowadays. And so does the community that built it, which I can proudly say I was a member of, and built the tools to make it faster/ more interactive to play (data formatters, external forums, irc servers, was a whole org). The thing I loved the most about it is how the community just started building things for it. We have had, in the game's most glorious days, tools to format data with forum integration, to upload all that data for transferring it to a 'teammate', community forums, a bunch of people formed a sort of press agency to report stuff happening (sort of like counter strike had press reporting competitions). We built a recruiting system for members, to work around some gameplay constraints. When press got invented, kingdoms delegated spokesman to talk to the reporters. Allegiances were formed. Something like ethics sort of also got invented, for doing some things were saw rather unfair while others not so much.
A basic description of the game-play can be found right here:
http://wiki.utopia-game.com/index.php?title=Society
Basically, it was a web-page. On the login page, there were the server choices, and then a couple of links to external forums, and to the info about the racial - personality choices. Upon first time login, you would get into a random (not so sure that was random but eh) kingdom. A kingdom would be a fixed group of 24 people maximum. If less than 12 members, the kingdom would disband and the players would again be randomed into other kingdoms, which had the 12 already, but required more players. A kingdom would have an address, like 1:1 would be the address of kingdom. Then a name could be setup by someone called a monarch. 1:2 would also be a kingdom, the closest to kingdom 1:1 :) And so would be 2:1. 2:1 would be another island though. The further apart the kingdoms, the more penalties for attacking within that range. There would be a server time, and everyone was using server time as a time reference. And the game would last 3 months, after which it would reset, with changes on the race-personality bonuses based on data of how things went in the previous age. It was basically balancing itself every 3 months. :)
The menu was having the following links: A throne page, and then some advisers: a military advisor, a science advisor, a buildings advisor. I need to make another post to describe it in more detail, if needed
Now I don't know but I would love if something like that would appear again :)
Which i just discovered yesterday. It was called 'Utopia'. A war - strategy massive multiplayer online game, text based. At it's best, it had 50k players, which were constant (there were rumors of botting too but I dunno, people kill bots for fun anyway, in almost all games).
The game very much exists to nowadays. And so does the community that built it, which I can proudly say I was a member of, and built the tools to make it faster/ more interactive to play (data formatters, external forums, irc servers, was a whole org). The thing I loved the most about it is how the community just started building things for it. We have had, in the game's most glorious days, tools to format data with forum integration, to upload all that data for transferring it to a 'teammate', community forums, a bunch of people formed a sort of press agency to report stuff happening (sort of like counter strike had press reporting competitions). We built a recruiting system for members, to work around some gameplay constraints. When press got invented, kingdoms delegated spokesman to talk to the reporters. Allegiances were formed. Something like ethics sort of also got invented, for doing some things were saw rather unfair while others not so much.
A basic description of the game-play can be found right here:
http://wiki.utopia-game.com/index.php?title=Society
Basically, it was a web-page. On the login page, there were the server choices, and then a couple of links to external forums, and to the info about the racial - personality choices. Upon first time login, you would get into a random (not so sure that was random but eh) kingdom. A kingdom would be a fixed group of 24 people maximum. If less than 12 members, the kingdom would disband and the players would again be randomed into other kingdoms, which had the 12 already, but required more players. A kingdom would have an address, like 1:1 would be the address of kingdom. Then a name could be setup by someone called a monarch. 1:2 would also be a kingdom, the closest to kingdom 1:1 :) And so would be 2:1. 2:1 would be another island though. The further apart the kingdoms, the more penalties for attacking within that range. There would be a server time, and everyone was using server time as a time reference. And the game would last 3 months, after which it would reset, with changes on the race-personality bonuses based on data of how things went in the previous age. It was basically balancing itself every 3 months. :)
The menu was having the following links: A throne page, and then some advisers: a military advisor, a science advisor, a buildings advisor. I need to make another post to describe it in more detail, if needed
Now I don't know but I would love if something like that would appear again :)
I am oddly intrigued by this. So would this be a straight up hack and slash and guild MUD, or would it be more free form, oriented more towards the stuff that this community actually has in common? I guess a better way to ask: would this be role playing elves and knights, or would it be more like the IRC channel, except with some sort of mixed in semi-fictional narrative? :-)
Wow, @alexa, Utopia sounds really quite different from my memories of the MUD I used to play, Materia Magica. Utopia seems to have more overarching structure and organisation "outside of the game world" (I mean, the thing you interact with via telnet / your MUD client), whereas Materia Magica, as I experienced it, took place almost entirely inside that game world. There were forums and pages of lore on the site, but they didn't play a particularly big part for me. Apparently there were clans too but I didn't get involved in that. I'd tend to either go questing alone (or with an AI mount), bumping into folk along the way who were doing the same, or just team up with people ad hoc for quests, journeys off somewhere, etc.
It'd be great if you could you go into more detail about that throne page and the advisors, and how the game played in general. I could also do the same for Materia Magica if needed.
How I'd imagined ours was more your second option, @revivalizer: kind of an extended IRC, with spatially arranged rooms, semi-fictional narrative, potentially a "cinema" complete with popcorn and ice-cream which auto-launches streams for you when you're sitting in there while they're live; but also things like NPC bots giving out quests and generally milling around, some sort of scoring and character progression for completing those quests, and in-games (e.g. dice, hangman) with scoreboards that folk will see upon entering the room where the game is being played.
Your Q: raises an interesting possibility, though: How about having both worlds in there? Like, we could potentially have that everyday "IRC with semi-fictional narrative" world, in which we place a "wardrobe" leading into a fantastical hack 'n' slash role-playing world complete with all the stuff @insofaras threw down. The divide may not necessarily even be so hard and fast, with things like quests being available in both worlds: hunting, looting quests in the RPG world; puzzling, programming quests in the everyday world.
It'd be great if you could you go into more detail about that throne page and the advisors, and how the game played in general. I could also do the same for Materia Magica if needed.
How I'd imagined ours was more your second option, @revivalizer: kind of an extended IRC, with spatially arranged rooms, semi-fictional narrative, potentially a "cinema" complete with popcorn and ice-cream which auto-launches streams for you when you're sitting in there while they're live; but also things like NPC bots giving out quests and generally milling around, some sort of scoring and character progression for completing those quests, and in-games (e.g. dice, hangman) with scoreboards that folk will see upon entering the room where the game is being played.
Your Q: raises an interesting possibility, though: How about having both worlds in there? Like, we could potentially have that everyday "IRC with semi-fictional narrative" world, in which we place a "wardrobe" leading into a fantastical hack 'n' slash role-playing world complete with all the stuff @insofaras threw down. The divide may not necessarily even be so hard and fast, with things like quests being available in both worlds: hunting, looting quests in the RPG world; puzzling, programming quests in the everyday world.
How bout a space MUD?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CzL5-80UkAAK6hw.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CzL5-80UkAAK6hw.jpg:large
Oooh yeah, a space MUD could be cool. 'Twould also tie in nicely with Abner (and, in time, Chronal?) working at NASA.
A few ideas discussed in IRC/#hero today:
We mentioned maybe writing it in C, but preferably not CRT-free C.
A few ideas discussed in IRC/#hero today:
- Tying IRL HMN events into the game world with some kind of representation, e.g. upon a new project entering the Network, "You see <member> pass by and place a note on the notice board, would you like to read it?" or, if projects are represented spatially – houses on a street / rooms off a main hall / modules off a central hub – you may "see" their house / room / module start to appear if you're in the vicinity, else you may "hear" them in the distance so can then travel to check out the commotion
- Countdown studio, fully playable and watchable, complete with bots hosting and playing Rachel and Susie's roles (dunno if we could handle Dictionary Corner guests, nor if we'd be bothered to…)
- Usherette in the cinema, called Fieronya, who provides "flavour": lowering the lights, selling popcorn and ice-cream during intervals, etc.
- Hospital to safely house comatose bots after they crash
We mentioned maybe writing it in C, but preferably not CRT-free C.
Edited by Matt Mascarenhas
on
CRT Free C or bust :P ;)
Idk . Just found these two old games.
https://underhound.eu:8080/#lobby
And :
https://www.playbyweb.com/index.php
I did like Dungeon and Dragons. :)
Apparently I liked Dragons so much I ended up becoming one. For a while :))
https://underhound.eu:8080/#lobby
And :
https://www.playbyweb.com/index.php
I did like Dungeon and Dragons. :)
Apparently I liked Dragons so much I ended up becoming one. For a while :))