Commercial Client for iPhone, Free Server
 

Hi,

We've created a graphical client for the iPhone which connects to a single MUD server. The server is free for all to play, in compliance with the circleMUD/Diku license, and is advertised on The MUD Connector. The iPhone app (currently under review by Apple) took hundreds of hours to develop and will be commercial.

It seems to us that our client is no different from other commercial clients out there. The question is, since at the moment we are managing both the free server and the app, are we in murky waters in terms of conflict of interest? We have already instituted a strict separation of the free server from the commercial app (for example, we won't be selling any virtual items or privileging iPhone users over telnet users, etc). We will never restrict access in any way and will be promoting the server and the app equally. Are there any other specific steps we need to take to ensure that there is no conflict of interest or indirect license violation? Is there some angle to this case we are not seeing?

Re: Commercial Client for iPhone, Free Server
 

The only thing you're charging for is the client, and people can still play your game with other clients? If that's the case then personally I don't see any problem at all, as you've said it's no different from any other commercial mud client.

Re: Commercial Client for iPhone, Free Server
 

Does this mean the client can only play on your server or that it can only connect to one MUD at the same time?

Re: Commercial Client for iPhone, Free Server
 

Yes, I'm curious if your client is a specific MUD client or an "any" MUD client?

Re: Commercial Client for iPhone, Free Server
 

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

Newworlds, yes, the client can only connect to one MUD server. Although it interprets human-readable text and can theoretically map to any MUD server, it also supports a number of features unique to this particular MUD universe. In order to make the experience user-friendly (an app demands that), I'm focused on customizing the client even more.

Some links:

Bedlam (graphic MUD):


Bedlam LT (free lite version):


MUDMaster (telnet client with ANSI colors, macros, soon triggers):



--plamzi
Bedlam Dev

Re: Commercial Client for iPhone, Free Server
 

Plamzi,

It sounds very exciting. I will look at all those links, but for the love of Pete, did you really have to post 4 times and 4 threads about the exact same thing? Come on man. Lame.

Re: Commercial Client for iPhone, Free Server
 

Hey,

I posted where I thought the links would fit as a response to different questions. Like 'Is there a MUD for iPhone' is a different thread than the one about forward-looking MUD concepts, etc. Anyway, sorry if I got carried away... ;)

plamzi

Re: Commercial Client for iPhone, Free Server
 

Are there any plans to make the app versatile enough to connect to any mud server? So it could be used as an actual iPhone client? That is what interests me, if that was available I might buy an iPhone just so I can build/play while I'm on the go. I think that would be a way better way to commercialize the application, versus making it just work for your MUD. If you could implement an option to connect to your mud or another mud of someone's choice that might be something worth really taking a look at. Overall though, excellent work, I can see this really taking off in the mudding community.

Re: Commercial Client for iPhone, Free Server
 

Hi Aermyn,

Theoretically, the app can be adapted to visualize any MUD. Realistically, it would take 6 months to configure it to work well with even a very similar CircleMUD codebase. MUD's are simply too different to be encompassed by anything other than telnet. Very early on in the process of building the app, I realized that I'd have to make either another bad gMUD client that works with multiple MUDs equally badly, or a client that works well with one server. I chose the latter and still believe it's the right choice. True, the audience is narrower, but I didn't do this to turn a profit.