[Hephos]

Btw, a feature I haven't mentioned in ScapeFX is the log "recording" and "playback" tool.

Instead of just logging the text you can choose to log it as a timeline and replay it realtime with the playback tool. You will then watch the log as it took place. It will update your client UI accordingly so you see things like health meters, group displays etc getting updated as well.

So you can record a nice log and put it on your website for others to download and watch. Make your own "in-mud" storytelling, theatre, standup comedy or whatever :P

[tommi]

It does not make good business sense to call all of your potential customers who read this thread INBREEDS, it shows a clear lack of interpersonal and dispute resolution skills. While i might have been asking tough questions of you, your customers are going to be much asking a hell of a lot more when bugs show up and they want them rectified yesterday. Calling them a bunch of INBREEDS, and being all smug is certainly not the way to get repeat customers. When your potential customer base is already very small and your selling a boutique product, being professional is everything.

[Hephos]

I said people that are "inbreed on mushclient" is not going to be using another client whatsoever. They are already settled in. The same goes for any client. These are not our customers primarily. Nor did i call ALL of our "potential customers inbreed". There is a difference. You took the word out of its full sentence.

I'm not gonna respond to any of your post from now on tommi as you have no intention whatsoever to discuss something without turning the whole issue around as a flame against our product.

Since you have no interest in our client, I'm gonna respectively aks you to quit posting in this thread. Thank you very much.

[tommi]

No, what you said was,

Which says you consider all MUSHclient users to be inbreeds. Maybe you would like to retract the derogatory statement?

Interesting you should bring that up, sure my own research showed that 12 year olds do not understand enough about the telnet protocol to be able to use MUSHclient to connect to a mud, this is primarily due to them not ever having exposure to the protocol. What they did understand however were the mechanics associated with MMO's download client, install client, click icon to start client and then be in chargen. When presented with client mechanics they understand, even 12 year olds can connect to a mud, progress through chargen and play the game.

At the time i did not know that MUSHclient could be redistributed and configured in such a manner as i was not a user of that client, i had been a Portal GT user for many years and was going to license that client for my game as i liked the simplicity of and used extensively within my code the MIP protocol. which dealt with routing of data to separate windows, the displaying of status bars and gauges, the displaying of images and the playing of sounds. These things should be bog standard features of any client that is offering a rich client experience.

So far you have not shown that you're offering US $350 per year worth of additional functionality over the products you're competing against.

There are not a lot of mud owners who do any actual outreach and promotion in ways to grow new players that are not current mudders, there is IRE and a few others, but other than that, the vast majority of them work by word of mouth or promotion within the existing mud community. Existing mudders are rather precious when it comes to the client they use and are reluctant to change, so the real worth of Scrape is with targetting non mudders. This leaves you in a real predicament, because you have a potentially great product that has no real market. Unless you can convince mud owners to try and tap into the vast amount of casual gamers, like the 500,000 players of Farmville on Facebook for example, converting 1% of those would amount to a huge influx of mudders.

[Hephos]

You can now sign up for a free 20-day trial to test the ScapeFX API and build your own client before you make a purchase. With the trial you will receive the SampleSFX project from which you can build a client that you can deploy for your own game.

ScapeFX 20-day trial signup:

SampleSFX project info at wiki:

ScapeFX licensing info:

ScapeFX screenshots:

Click to play the Firebolt ScapeFX implementation:

[Saffire]

Tommi, why are you so intent on trolling this thread into oblivion? You made your points a long time ago. Now it just seems like you're trying to flame the OP for no apparent reason, and you're making yoursef look really silly and chidlish in the process. Perhaps you could take your discussion with Hephos to PMs or e-mails.

[Lasher]

Seconded. Asking tough questions about the client itself is fair enough but now it's getting personal.

I don't believe Hephos' intent was to refer to regular Mushclient users as "inbreeds". Please keep in mind there is a language barrier here too and give him the benefit of the doubt.

Anyway, personally a big fan of Mushclient but also very interested to see how ScapeFX turns out and learning more about what it does (and doesn't) offer compared to traditional MUD clients.

[Newworlds]

I have spoken in emails and pm's with Hephos and he is very respectful and excited about his client. NWA has been seeking a better Java client than what we currently have and I really enjoyed looking at his system.

Before you scoff at someone trying to earn some money for their hard work and system, perhaps try it out and give it a chance. No one is forcing you to use it or pay for it. I appreciate innovative people trying to make our MUD community better.

I feel sad that everytime it seems someone wants a little compensation for hard, quality work, everyone is so up in arms about it. As if our community should pay you to be part of it.

Good Job Hephos. I for one applaud your hard work.

[Mabus]

I am in complete agreement with this.

Looking forward to further updates, Hephos.

[Lanthum]

I agree with Lasher, Newworlds, and Mabus. I spoke with Hephos over email maybe 18 months ago looking for a price quote for a custom client, and my experience with him was very positive! Difference in geography, and therefore language, is something we need to keep in mind on the internet.

It looks good so far Hephos and I wish you success with your client. I do wish there was more support of commonly accepted MUD protocols built in. I also hope you will finish the sample plugins section soon! I think this could go a long way to helping hobbiest mud admins so they can focus more on the game and less on the client.

But I am excited so far, and I know I will be looking into it more when the time comes.

[Delerak]

I feel warm and cuddly inside after all of this..

[Feodrith]

I must say, I can vouch whole-heartedly for Hephos' work. This client is a fantastic piece of work, and the gaming experience can be vastly improved for players.

I have been involved in Sharune MUD (Hephos' own MUD, using Firebolt client which uses ScapeFX) for many years now, and Hephos' work is sound and professional. He is regularly adding new features, updating current features, and if any issues do arise he is quick to fix them.

Firebolt client is brilliant! Give it a try if you don't believe me.

[SlothMUD]

We think this looks rather promising and are going to give the free trial a try.

I'm still not sure if we could afford it since we already pay close to $1100 per year out of own pockets in support of the game...

SlothMUD

[gth]

Actually, I read Hephos' statement as a common approach that all admins take in not trying to screw their existing players around - e.g. don't force your entire existing playerbase to use a new client, just keep them happy and work on getting new players instead. Perhaps the word 'incestuous' would have been a better choice? Best to at least ask what the poster meant than assume their intent and go full thottle on the flamethrower. :\

I'm glad the cost has come down. I guess my own preference would be some kind of cross-promotion deal rather than money, but everyone has to pay the bills somehow so I don't begrudge someone running their business the way they see fit.

Are all plugins developed by any MUD sharable with anyone else? Between each other and/or via ScapeFX as a repository? If a MUD's plugins are normally their own and a closed development, would a MUD that donated all their plugins back into the ScapeFX repository be of interest? I guess I see it as 'if there's a MUD you'd never make a sale with under your current model, what do you lose if you let them contribute to the resources that all your other clients would then get to enjoy?'... I gues the answer is EU$249/year, huh? The $1100 figure mentioned earlier is a very clear explanation of why the whole "get a few players to donate $10 a year and you're sorted" doesn't work. MUDs are very rarely a profitable enterprise, period.

Alas, it's a pity everyone is busy building their own empires and protecting their own 'turf'. I believe web-based click-to-play clients will soon be a necessary (if not the only) method to expose MUDs to a huge, new audience - installed clients will only be a preferred stepping stone for players that stick around (assuming they are technically capable). Over time, simple platform diversity will inhibit installed clients too... e.g. how many MUD websites have preferred client statements for Windows 7?

[Hephos]

I'm sure we could arrange some promotion deals to get away from the license fee for muds. We've offered free clients (that we could get promotion with) to both TMC and TMS (customized for their game lists, graphics etc) but haven't heard from any of them. (Click on the link in their mudlisting and open the game in a customized scapefx).

We've also contacted a few muds to give them opportunity to get the client for free so that we could use it as demo on our site, and are working to get some of them ready.

We will have a page with sample plugins on the wiki. Currently there is only a sample of a portal MIP reader there. But we plan to expand it to include more plugins in the future. If some mud would contribute with plugins that are of value to other games, I'm sure we can make a deal so they get their license for free, as you say.
The plugins are shareable, as long as they do not use any particular code that is not inside the plugins or any jar files that are shipped along with it.

We'll see in the future. Perhaps we'll simply allow free muds to use scapefx under a free license... Just to make the use of it more spread and get more plugins available.