| Simple Ada MUD version Alpha-Six (2002/05/19) |
For more information, follow the Simple Ada MUD link.
The visit counter on this page shows an unexpected number of hits. Are any of you folks really looking for Ada related MUD information? Contact Information
Why Ada? Simple; i think that Ada is the best compiled programming language ever developed. Ada 95 (ISO/IEC 8652:1995) is an object oriented general purpose programming language with strong and robust data typing. Ada was developed to be easily read, and therefore does not have tricky constructs like C's pre and post decrement and increment operators. Ada was also developed to let the compiler help the programmer insure code correctness. This means you can spend less time debugging.
| 16K MUD Competition (many moons ago) |
I entered a very tiny Ada MUD into Erwin S. Andreasen's 16K MUD Competition. The tar-gz file can be downloaded from here:
ftp://members.aol.com/drveg/mud/tinyadamud.tgz
I was 14th out of 18 entries, but at least i received "Best Ada MUD". :-)
Due to my using an old version of AdaSockets , my extension of the Sockets package did not compile with the latest version. Fortunately, the fix to this problem is trivial.
| MUD ramblings (from the dark ages) |
(6/6/99) In a fit of insanity, i have started on a path to develop a new MUD from scratch. Whether or not i find my way to the end of this path, only time will tell. This idea has passed through my thoughts in the past, but this time it came a little differently. I run a tabletop roleplaying game (Selan-Zahn) that was threatening to break up as people started to move to various corners of the world. Fortunately, the game has not broken up, and all of us are still here. Still, the idea of moving the game on-line came to mind. Play by email games have a different feel from tabletop games. I wanted something closer to a face to face game, even if we could not actually be around the same game table. WebRPG offers one alternative. However, other ideas also came together and the idea of a MUD started to look the best.
The other ideas that added to this came from some on-line roleplaying that takes place in AOL chat rooms. These chat rooms provide a dice roller, but little else is set up to support formal roleplaying. Again, a MUD would be more interesting. These roleplaying sessions are very character driven. Most of what takes place is conversations, what is known as emotes in the MUD world, and minor actions. However, every once in a while, actions do become important in the play. Combat sometimes breaks out.
And when actions start to get interesting, the lack of controls in a chat room become a problem. Orders of events start to get muddled, impossible things occur because someone does something to an object that has already been manipulated, etc.
A MUD seemed like a good solution to these problems. So, out of these, some requirements started to form. The available MUDs that i have seen do not meet some of the critical requirements. So what is there to do other then make my own?
--djk
| A statement of requirements |
My MUD needs to work both as a GMing platform for a controlled game, and as a GMless platform for more freeform play. As a GMing platform, i see people meeting at a designated time to play for a known length of time just as a tabletop game is played. The GM is in control of NPCs, game events, etc. The speed of the game is set by the GM. The idea of "slow time" will be used for combat, allowing players to keep up with the quick action of melee.
The chat room roleplaying sessions have a number of unique characters and abilities that i also want to be able to model in a MUD. For instance, a number of characters have power over time. I have been working on a concept of real time (chronons), and the false time that lets some operate when time is stopped (pseudochronons). There may need to be a third type of time. Game related events occur on these time ticks (not a unique concept in MUDs). Maybe something like the impulse technique can be used to correlate which chronons characters get to act on (based on their speed attribute).
Alive/dead/undead/oblivion/transcended (ala Wraith and Vampire)
Flying characters (we want Phyr Owl!)
Magic, of course.
Game mechanics, skill based, S-curve or something that produces a similar result for skill advancement (Thinking of Call of Cthulhu kind of system with weighted skills).
Grid areas and rooms, perhaps the rooms are grids too.
Semi-intelligent command parser to do things like "go to bar" (move the character to a place near the bar, stopping where appropriate).
Detailed combat system with weapon characteristics and armor characteristics. A multitude of relevant skills. Hit locations and non-hit point damage system. Remember, this is not a tabletop game, the system does not need to be limited to simple calculations.
...
| Design |
First 20 classes (GIF) Until my registration number arrives, the shareware UML tool (ObjectPlant) will only allow 20 classes.
