[xanes]

Well, first of all I'd like to welome myself to the boards (j/k)

I've been mucking around with a new game idea that lead me to screen control for multiple clients. Anyhow, the discussion has surfaced on MUD-Dev a few times over the years, and since I don't plan to release this code, I wrote a little memo about how to actually do screen control on a MUD.

The possibilities are pretty mind-boggling. Luckily I'm not a designer.

Anyhow, here's the link:
Ncurses on a MUD

Let me know what you think.

Hold all flames regarding rhetoric, grammer, spelling, etc. I'm a coder not a tech. writer.

-X

Actually it's been done. I rack my brain trying to remember the name of the mud, but I cannot. Anyway, it basically had a status bar at the bottom with your vital stats, and this was protected from screen scroll. Anyone know what mud im referring to? this is not some new thing-- the mud in question was around like three quarters of a decade ago (was diku derived)

Presageful, have I gazed upon the bars,
To watch that fluttering stranger ! and as oft
With unclosed lids, already had I dreamt
Of my sweet birth-place, and the old church-tower,
Whose bells, the poor man's only music, rang
From morn to evening, all the hot Fair-day,
So sweetly, that they stirred and haunted me
With a wild pleasure, falling on mine ear
Most like articulate sounds of things to come !

[xanes]

That's interesting. I didn't know that. I do want to point out however, that I never said this was a new thing, only that no one has ever answered a question in this regard.

I didn't claim to invent anything, just that I had spent time and effort figuring something out and I am offering it to the community.

-X

[Shanks]

Originally Posted by (xanes @ Feb. 13 2004,12:14) I've been mucking around with a new game idea that lead me to screen control for multiple clients. Anyhow, the discussion has surfaced on MUD-Dev a few times over the years, and since I don't plan to release this code, I wrote a little memo about how to actually do screen control on a MUD.

I just now saw this post and it got me wondering. Perhaps it is a good idea to leave most of the presentation work to the MUD client. A stream of output from the MUD that includes a lot of terminal control codes for cursor positioning etc would probably be harder to parse for highlighting or trigger purposes. You don't specify what presentation features you wish to add to a MUD server using curses. I am well familiar with the zMUD client which manages to have a status line, a fixed input area below the MUD output window, lets you conveniently read text that has scrolled off the top of your window, etc. The MUD I play and code for will send colour codes in a non-terminal dependent way.

What extra presentation features are you after?

[xanes]

Well, I am, philosophically, opposed to triggers in general.  You do raise an interesting point by mentioning zMUD.  

As far as I know zMUD won't support screen control.  It's already written in curses.  

I'm not looking for anything.  As stated, I did this research for a non-MUD game I'm working on.  To give you an idea, if you've seen BattleTech MUX, it's something similar to that but with more fast-paced and complex combat.  The game requires screen control, so I just accept that people won't have triggers or curses-based clients.  It's just something I have to accept.

I was just putting that research out there for anyone interested.  I like to imagine how a game could do more than just augment scrolling text.  If you open your mind, it's conceivable, however unfeasible(sp) to do anything.  *shrug*

Thanks for the feedback

-X

[xanes]

Double-post somehow, sorry.
-X