[MUD-Dev] GRUMPS

[Chris Gray]

[maddog at best.com (frank):]
:>  That's a very large order. It essentially means that GRUMPS has to be 
:>  at least as powerful a system as any other system out there. That's 
:>  going to be very difficult to do. Keep in mind that lots of MUDs use 
:>  a lot of custom code, and allow players to create an almost unlimited 
:>  range of things, by allowing unlimited user programming. That means 
:>  you have to have a dynamic in-MUD language that can effectively emulate 
:>  the languages of all other MUDs. 
:
:Actually what I have in mind is more like VRML or HTML rather than Java.
:I would restrict it to characters, some NPCs, and simple objects.  
:Complex NPCs are fairly hard to move around from place to place if they 
:depend on the code of the server.  A better way to move complex NPCs is 
:to have them handle their own code--as remote bots. 
:{did I just hear an admin scream?}.  

So, only the most straightforward of equipment, objects and NPCs would
port over? That's certainly workable, but fairly restrictive. For example,
all of my "humanoid" monsters will examine any objects they encounter
(either lying around or after killing something), and will use them if
they are better than their current stuff. This is expressed as a couple
dozen lines of MUD code which is attached to the generic models for each
such monster. There can easily be a dozen or two of such monsters
wandering around if players are concentrating on exploring and not on
killing things. They would *all* require separate remote programs? Those
programs would also have to be able to examine the stats of objects, so
as to make the "better than" decisions.

--
Chris Gray   cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA