[Fiendish]

I post here very infrequently. I think the last time was in 2008. Here's where I get all cranky and tell you why your great ideas aren't happening in a lot of words because I need to make up for the absence...

Hey that looks really nice. Want to code it up and add in hooks for Aardwolf's GMCP messages and stuff? I know a guy who knows a guy who can get you an in with the developer there.

Here's the thing, though. Aardwolf is Lasher's hobby, not his business, just like nobody pays me in any currency that I can use to buy food or clothing or shelter for client scripting work ( I do this, btw -> ). We do these things in our spare time, when we have spare time, because that's how we like spending spare time. And I guarantee you that almost every single MUD ever created falls into that category. The ones that don't are called businesses. On a side note, name five MUD businesses that I have heard of.

So the first thing you have to realize is that you're really not talking about MUD development here when you wax poetic about developing a whole new interface paradigm. For a lot of people you're talking about starting something closer to a business venture. And as Kimberly "Sweet Brown" Wilkins will tell you, ain't nobody got time for that.

Ok, it's a rough idea. But, and let's say that we've solved the problem of time and desire and money, it's a really really good idea. Except there are details. Like, It's cool that you took some existing ideas from Aardwolf and figured "Hey wouldn't it be neat if they had a paper doll equipment manager and box-style inventory too! Diablo does it, so it must be good!". This is a fantastic idea if your game has players carrying very few items, but it's hard to see how that could work on Aardwolf. We have players carrying hundreds or even thousands of items at a time. Inventory management is like a full time job for some people. And we get groups of more than 30 players at a time (that's more than a lot of entire playerbases out there) fighting just as many enemies. Where does that fit into your Buttles VS Furious Giant box? Game design issue? I don't care to speculate, but the players we have seem to like it. It's just really really hard to sufficiently represent any significant level of scale and detail in little cartoon boxes that still need to leave room for a big box of scrolling text on the side without getting...well...a lot less pretty.
And scale is ultimately what you're talking about as a goal, isn't it? Isn't it?

So now it's not just about making things pretty. It's about making this pretty while still making sense! And I think that that is pretty hard. Can it be solved? Sure, probably. But now you're talking about programmers AND designers. That's called a team, and making teams for projects like this is hard. But maybe you're a one-man-show, otherwise jobless guru designer&programmer in one neat little package. Bully for you; I'm not that flexible.

Hey, I've been saying that for years! I'm getting old, and new material is difficult, so I'm going to start quoting myself from elsewhere now...

It's all true. Widgets and boxes and whatnot are wonderful things. And anyone who says otherwise can have their 10 players on at a time ghost town. But you've just doodled a thing without having to actually worry about how to make it work or build it.

Solve the making it work problem first and add the colors later.