View Single Post
Old 05-07-2013, 10:32 PM   #142
ArchPrime
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Home MUD: Archons of Avenshar
Posts: 72
ArchPrime is on a distinguished road
Re: Do MUDs need to be "brought into the 21st century"


To me, the best possible UI for a MUD is one that provides needed information to the player without compromising the spirit of text based game play. Minimaps, health-bars and other indicators are sure bets. Quite frankly, if a MUD developer has attempted to try and make some sort of ascii representation of something, then that something may be a great candidate for a graphical representation. Graphical representations, though, are meant to augment the text based play experience and not replace it.

Also, any task that isn't directly related to playing should be turned in to a specialized UI 'piece' that people are used to. For example, writing MUD mail could be done with a GUI similar to any given email client vs. employing a command line editor where the intended "mail input" is mixed with the rest of the game output. Granted, people write a mail in some other software (notepad?), then cut/paste that mail into the command line. But, that's really not 'user friendly'. That is people adjusting to and working around limitations that don't define game-play and are nothing short of annoying. Posting messages, selecting skills, shopping, logging in, selecting characters, etc -- all those activities are easily and better handled through a GUI without compromising the general text-based game play. For the most part, the ultimate UI is not just about a bunch of graphics --- it is about proper segregation of information and interaction. Without a doubt, the main game play would still happen through scrolling text and command input. Command line input could be augmented with certain UI elements though -- like the minimap could be clickable to move --- and I am sure there are plenty of ideas on other input handling mechanism.

Finally, the best possible UI would be one that visually brands the game. When I look at your client, the window borders, scroll bars, buttons, background and all the 'dressings' would immediately stick in my head as something that identifies *your game*. In terms of look and feel, the UI should also leverage today's advancements in typography, fonts, colors and layout options. Heck, where the 'telnet client' was the king of yesteryear, the web browser is just about to the point where it should be *the* client layer/container.
ArchPrime is offline   Reply With Quote