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Old 08-05-2010, 09:17 AM   #45
KaVir
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Join Date: Apr 2002
Name: Richard
Home MUD: God Wars II
Posts: 2,052
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Re: Developing from scratch

"Basic" is a relative term. This thread start out discussing muds comparable to Diku derivatives in terms of gameplay - that means a fully playable game. Producing a fully playable game is not a short-term project.

There was also some discussion about not wanting to be tied to pre-existing features. Producing a generic underlying codebase or driver for a mud is obviously less work than creating a full game, but there are already numerous options available that don't impose restrictive licences, don't force specific features on you, and which could save you months or even years of work.

And as I pointed out before, the first few months are crucial, particularly for a hobby mud. That's your honeymoon phase, when it's all new and exciting, and motivation is high. What happens when the honeymoon phase is over, and you've still got nothing operational?

I'm not saying you shouldn't start from scratch - that would be hypocritical. All I am saying is that it will take more time and effort than creating a mud using an existing codebase, and based on my past observations there will be a much greater chance of your mud failing.

No. You can create any mud you wish, from any codebase you wish - you are only limited by your time and skill, and starting from scratch requires more of both. Obviously it's far better to pick a codebase that meshes well with your vision of the mud, and in some cases that may mean going for something fairly barebones. But the only real reason to create a mud from scratch is because you want to. It can be kind of fun, after all! But recognise that it will not make your game better, or more original - all it will do is increase your workload.


Yeah, my management skills suck though. My staff tend to disappear.

I'm trying to push more in the direction of player-generated content, hopefully that'll speed up progress somewhat.
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