[MUD-Dev] Re: PDMud thread summary

[Chris Gray]

[Steve Sparks:]

 >My MUD design knowledge is pretty limited. I've at least played a few and
 >worked on some adventure systems. I'm interested to know a couple of items
 >to help clarify what might be planned. These might be much too complex to
 >answer on this list, so if that is the case I'll ask them of others here
 >locally and in person.

Some folks may look like experts, but most people, even really good ones,
often have big gaps in their "expertise". I know I sure do! Anyway, all
we can do here is give our own opinions.

 >What platform will be used for the Mud?
 >
 >	Linux
 >	General UNIX running GNU?
 >	BSD

Yes. Unless you use some very system specific stuff, there is no reason
the server can't run on those and more. My 'ToyMUD' runs without change
(some conditional compilation of course) on SunOS4, Solaris, AIX,
HP-UX and Windows NT. I *think* I compiled it on Linux, but can't
quite remember - it likely took no changes at all.

 >What kind of database is usually used?

It varies a lot. Some people have experimented with available database
packages. My impression is that most MUD servers that actually use an
on-disk database (not all do), have created their own, which is custom
built to do what the MUD needs. Those aren't likely to be relational
databases in the traditional sense. That type of structure isn't really
appropriate. In mine, what is stored on disk is just a whole mess of
varying length entities, which are accessed directly by their ID. Most
such entities contain lots of IDs in them, by which they make reference
to other entities (e.g. for room connections).

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