Jmurph's BYOND Realms

.plan 6/19/08

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:31:36 GMT

Now that the major bugs seem to be squashed, I will be turning back to development. Here are areas that are slated for immediate work:

Help files- Currently help files are minimal and need expansion. Anyone who would like to help is welcome to submit help file entries in xml. The format is simple:

< help name="HELP KEYWORD(s)" desc="HELP INFO HERE">
</help>

Skill development- Currently skills cannot be advanced or trained. The model I have in mind is that characters acquire points simply by existing. These points may be spent to develop skills. Skills that are used are easier to develop than those that are not. Additionally, training with someone knowledgeable in the area speeds development. However, development slows as a skill becomes more advanced and as overall skill totals advance imposing a soft cap. Attributes will work similarly to skills.

Stamina- Currently fatigue is not implemented. Fatigue will make resting and eating/drinking more useful.

Craft Support- A number of items to facilitate crafting need to be more widely available. Patterns will now be carried by guildmasters, not general shopkeepers. Eventually, guilds will be more active and limit access to patterns based on reputation.

Further down the road:
Reputation- Both a general and faction specific rating.
Morale- High morale results in greater effectiveness. Lower morale results in reduced performance and a likelihood of fleeing from combat. Things that increase morale: good music, being well fed and rested, inspirational leaders, etc. Things that decrease morale: hunger, pain, fatigue, particularly frightening opponents (undead, supernatural, etc.).

Also, always looking for new areas. No particular format is necessary, but the following template is basically how rooms are stored:

type = /room
name = "Temple of Light"
desc = "A large atrium opens up around you. The air is tinged with the odor of incense. Above is a large domed ceiling and small alcoves line the walls. At one end of the atrium a stone altar rises, stained glass windows behind it. Stone benches rest on the stone pavers before it. Opposite the altar is the entry way to the temple, a large arched portal with massive oaken doors ringed in wrought iron."
sector = 0
luminosity = 1
flags = 2
south = 2

Anyone who would like more information on building should just drop me a note.

Update 6/17/08

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:50:57 GMT

Fixed: OOC now displays properly.
Fixed: Blood can no longer be picked up.
Fixed: Doors should now work properly (open, close, lock, unlock).
Fixed: Priest should now heal injured mobs and be unkillable.
Changed: New players now start in the Academy, which should provide a useful introduction to the MUD. Players who wish to try it out should head south from Temple Lane.
Changed: Zealot's Assassination quest now gives a reward.

It seems like the number of bugs is down to almost nothing. Hopefully they are all almost ironed out so I can get to adding new stuff.

Update 6/14/08

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:56:01 GMT

Fixed: Shopkeepers no longer give you all their money when you sell a worthless item (Flick).
Fixed: Consumable light sources no longer are on by default. This prevents them from burning out before you buy them (how would a shopkeeper hold a bunch of lit torches anyway?) (Flick).
Fixed: Stackable objects should now work right in containers (Flick).
Fixed: Players should no longer be kicked to the void if an error occurs and their location gets nulled out (Flick). Bad locs should now take you back to the initial start location.
Fixed: Socials to NPCs will no longer trip the spam filter (Flick).
Changed: Weather will now display differently if you are indoors or out.

Test Server Up

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:06:07 GMT

I decided to put up a test server so that people could at least try logging in, creating a character, and messing around a bit. Hopefully, any obvious problems will crop up early. You can login to the game from any telnet compatible client at 209.20.74.135 port 7000.

As always bug reports and suggestions go to destinyproject@yahoo.com. Feel free to post on the forums as well.

Fixed:
Room exit messages should display properly.
Extraneous prompt refreshes removed.
Changed:
Players now start with clothes and torches. Combat classes start with weapons. Delete and recreate to get in on the fun!

MMORPG Tycoon

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:43:14 GMT

http://www.mmorpg-tycoon.com/

Got this off Raph Koster's site. Apparently it was designed for a game contest. Very clever.

Countdown to Test Launch

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:51:30 GMT

Thanks to the helpful responses from AndroidData, Cinnom, Flick, and Volte I have gotten around my ineptitude and Myth is up and running on my slice. Everything seems to work and external connections seem to be doing okay. Currently, I just have the IP address for connections, but as soon as I figure out how to turn that into something with words (ie myth.slicehost.net {port}) I will post the address. I also can't seem to figure out a way to put the connection address on the hub entry....

Update 6/5/08

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:28:33 GMT

Slow between updates thanks to a combination of excessive work and tinkering with another project involving zombies....

Fixed: Bug in item display names with shopkeeper confirmation messages.
Changed: Prospecting now requires the prospector to specify a mineral type to prospect for a new mine. Currently supported minerals include caopper, iron, tin, silver, gold, and mithril.
Changed: Cleaned up action delays generally.
Added: Weather is now semi-functional and should update and adjust based on season. The "weather" command shows current conditions. Currently purely cosmetic.
Added: Miners may now occasionally find random gem clusters.
Added: Cityguards will send players on retrieval quests with small amounts of money as a reward. Retrieval items are tied, so no harassing by picking up someone else's retrieval items.
Added: Minor update in lumbering allowing for different types of wood.

Soliciting Features Players Look For

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:10:46 GMT

What are some features that BYOND players would like to see in a MUD? How important are things like craft systems, automated combat, automated questing, custom quests, etc. in relation to one another? What do you like to spend your MUD time doing (making things, fighting things, looking for things, socializing, etc.)?

Pac-Txt- Pac Man Meets Zork

Tue, 13 May 2008 12:45:26 GMT

http://pac-txt.com/

Ultra nerdy.

Minor Fixes

Tue, 13 May 2008 09:42:08 GMT

Fixed: Bug involving wound healing messages.
Fixed: Bug in combat where combat would continue after a combatant was disabled making all combats to the death.
Fixed: Display bug in skill command.
Fixed: Bug in rat killing quest caused townspeople to tell quester to go kill more rats.
Added: Basic character sheet now show base abilities
Changed: Cleaned up some of the displays.
Changed: Save file size for spawns greatly reduced.