Thread: Builders
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Old 05-31-2006, 10:21 AM   #9
Ide
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Seattle
Posts: 361
Ide will become famous soon enoughIde will become famous soon enough
As an aside, I second the idea to use less-developed filler areas for alpha and closed beta testing. There's nothing like the stress of heavy play to show you what to tweak and improve in the code.

Back to the question: Baram (and Hephos for that matter), I considered putting my hat in the ring for a builder spot at your respective muds, but decided not to, even though in Hephos' case AF uses a really slick IDE, and both AF and Illyrias promise some cool features in development. The sticking points for me were:

1) Copyright: I admit I didn't look into it at Illyrias, but AF assumes CR and right to derivative works. Understandable, but not where I want to go.

2) Theme: Frankly I wasn't too sure if these are muds I would want to play, and that's a critical element of what makes building fun. The IRE games don't serve my cup of tea, and they are my best comparison.

3) Compensation: For commercial work with a commercial schedule, I 'm looking for something more than game scrip as compensation. As you mentioned, start-up muds can't afford it, that's just how it works.

4) Building guidelines: I admit I have a somewhat idiosyncratic idea of what good building is that differs from the RPI standard; not that I don't understand the standard, because I've spent the majority of my mudding life in RPIs, mushes and muxes. But strangely (to me) I'm drifting back to adventure style games lately, albeit with a few twists.

If I'm not satisfied with at least two out of four issues, it's best to stay away. For me the most important part of building is not the design, the descriptions, the stats or the scripts, but the passion to build, so if that's not there at the start, it's like pushing a boulder up a hill. Over and over.

Anyway, as usual this post looks more like an opportunity to just blather on for a few minutes. HTH.
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