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Japheth · 06-22-2008, 03:37 AM

A fair few muds out there use maps to display information about the local area to players, three that I can think of that do it well are Achaea, Evarayn and LowMUD, and each of these three does it in completely different ways.

Now, this thread is not so much about talking about Maps in MUDs as it is about an idea of mine which I'm looking for some feedback on. Essentially, what I am looking to do is make some sort of MUD system based around a map and clickable MXP links.

For instance, every "Character" in the ASCII map that was sent to the character's client would be a clickable MXP link that would display a list of options for that location, such as looking at it to get more detail, or if there was a person there, looking at them, targetting them with a weapon, etc.

The reason I was thinking about this was that I personally am a big fan of Science Fiction and / or "Modern" (in the sense of the word as used by Reneissance scholars) roleplaying environments, and one thing that has always bothered me about the (very few) good non-medieval MUDs on offer is that the whole system always feels like some kind of "Hack" of the old medieval system - essentially I feel more like I'm playing a "skinned" game rather than a game designed to take advantage of a modern setting.

So I wanted to do something that would perhaps be very different from other MUDs out there and go for something new. This would essentially do away with the idea of "Rooms" as such, and simply have people on a grid (perhaps multiple grids for different areas), and they would instead see / hear things from the local area on the grid, rather than their room or whatnot.

Basically I'm looking for feedback on the idea - are there, for instance, any examples of other MUDs that have tried to do this and succeeded / failed? Are there any particular features that should / shouldn't go with it? Do people think it would be a playable environment to be in?

I would actually be approaching it losely with the intention of making it an RPI Mud, though not necessarily very strictly to that genre.

A few other random notes:

* The direction you were facing would be important. You would have a field of vision, and you would only see things in front of you

* I would approach the display of the map much like a graphical application, and use virtual rays to determine what to display based on which direction you are facing. The map would always be drawn in the same shape (seen below), but would display dynamically what you could see. Essentially it would be like a very low resolution graphical display.

* Objects would obscure things behind them potentially. No more magical hiding, you actually have to use your terrain.

Comments?

Some examples of early design mud output (keeping in mind that each and every character would be a clickable link):

06-22-2008, 03:37 AM	#1
Japheth New Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Wollongong, Australia Home MUD: Shadows of Isildur Posts: 5	MXP + Map A fair few muds out there use maps to display information about the local area to players, three that I can think of that do it well are Achaea, Evarayn and LowMUD, and each of these three does it in completely different ways. Now, this thread is not so much about talking about Maps in MUDs as it is about an idea of mine which I'm looking for some feedback on. Essentially, what I am looking to do is make some sort of MUD system based around a map and clickable MXP links. For instance, every "Character" in the ASCII map that was sent to the character's client would be a clickable MXP link that would display a list of options for that location, such as looking at it to get more detail, or if there was a person there, looking at them, targetting them with a weapon, etc. The reason I was thinking about this was that I personally am a big fan of Science Fiction and / or "Modern" (in the sense of the word as used by Reneissance scholars) roleplaying environments, and one thing that has always bothered me about the (very few) good non-medieval MUDs on offer is that the whole system always feels like some kind of "Hack" of the old medieval system - essentially I feel more like I'm playing a "skinned" game rather than a game designed to take advantage of a modern setting. So I wanted to do something that would perhaps be very different from other MUDs out there and go for something new. This would essentially do away with the idea of "Rooms" as such, and simply have people on a grid (perhaps multiple grids for different areas), and they would instead see / hear things from the local area on the grid, rather than their room or whatnot. Basically I'm looking for feedback on the idea - are there, for instance, any examples of other MUDs that have tried to do this and succeeded / failed? Are there any particular features that should / shouldn't go with it? Do people think it would be a playable environment to be in? I would actually be approaching it losely with the intention of making it an RPI Mud, though not necessarily very strictly to that genre. A few other random notes: * The direction you were facing would be important. You would have a field of vision, and you would only see things in front of you * I would approach the display of the map much like a graphical application, and use virtual rays to determine what to display based on which direction you are facing. The map would always be drawn in the same shape (seen below), but would display dynamically what you could see. Essentially it would be like a very low resolution graphical display. * Objects would obscure things behind them potentially. No more magical hiding, you actually have to use your terrain. Comments? Some examples of early design mud output (keeping in mind that each and every character would be a clickable link):