> Has the MUD wheel been perfected to the point where it's only a matter of > tweaking aesthetic items that makes a game "unique"? I mean, in all > honesty, how much farther can the text-based gaming community go with the > development of M**'s? What is there that's left to do?
I think there's a lot left to do. It does, as you suggest, take some imagination... it also takes understanding the game. I've been working on my DeepMUD codebase since the only ROM derivative was ROT. I saw a progression from Merc to ROM to ROT, and decided to go the other way. That is, rather than give players more of this and that and make things easier, I took things away, and made things more... interesting. :) Here's a short list of things I've changed: There is no 'nanny' - you create your character in the game. Gain replaces selecting skills in the nanny. There are no groups, you can select spells individually. There are 30 levels rather than 50. (You can still go to Hell, though :) Experience To Level is the same for all, not based on race or skills. The amount of XP needed to level increases with each level. Alignment is set by your Guild (class), and may not be changed. Races have Guild aptitudes rather than XPL penalties. Each skill has a Guild based aptitude factor. The game engine runs faster - ticks, repops, rounds, all happen faster. In addition, Mana users get more mana faster. Regen is increased - you sleep less. Food has nutritional values, you need to eat a balanced diet. The number of things you can carry is limited - better get a bag. You level by command at the King, not automatically while fighting. After leveling, you will dream of a grail to quest for. You can offer grails to High Druids for higher stats (there are no 'trains'). You can use BONUS instead of LEVEL to get more practices (Guild Coins). Stats can go as high as 28. (really higher - not just spread out) You can drop a light and see in the room. There are only 14 wear positions. Choose your EQ carefully. Damage messages are based on the current % of the mob's HP. The races use code extensions and each is truly unique. I changed the races first (to avoid pwipes, and so as not to be limited by balance issues later on), but I still have the "stock" areas, skills, spells and classes. These seem to be the things most coders concentrate on, but they are, in fact, rather superficial. You might say I changed the world, rather than the society that lives there. Or, since my intention from the beginning was to create a derivative, you could say I left the "fun stuff" for others. :) Yes, I'm bragging perhaps, but my intention is to offer my slightly different view as an inspiration. I owe a lot to this list: it's been much more helpful than any of the "boards" and many of the folks here get personal mention in my credits file. Another low noise source of ideas is the newly formed MudLab forum. And this isn't meant to be an ad, but since I announced 'beta' yesterday, you're all welcome to drop by and see how the game actually plays. This is the Solstice, my plan is to have a full release by Samhain (that's Halloween to most of you). Oh, yes, since it's not listed anywhere: MUD: tirnanog.wolfpaw.net 2442 WWW: http://tirnanog.wolfpaw.net (the "changes" file on the web page goes into much more detail) Cheers, Sandi PS: I mentioned 'understanding the game'. I strongly urge any coder to build a few areas. It is the areas that contain the mobs we kill, the equipment we use, the rooms we explore... it is the areas that make the world we mud in. If you don't have a deep understanding of how the areas work, your code will just be new pictures in a history book. A great reference for ROM building is here: http://www.dizzymud.com/BuildingGuide/ab.htm
