[MUD-Dev] Software combinations

[J C Lawrence]

On Wed, 17 May 2000 10:01:20 +1000 
Ian C Smith <icsmi2 at student.monash.edu.au> wrote:

> I was just wondering what it takes to write a mudlib, and whether
> it is worth writing one from a really basic one
> (e.g. foundation). I'm completely new to all of this, so any
> information/links would be very much appreciated.

Are you defining "mudlib" as LPC-centric, or merely as the basic
library of functionality sufficient to implement the basic functions
of your game world?  

The value involved depends on several factors:

  -- What you are trying to do and how much it deviates, in basic
principles, basic assumptions, and basic mechanics from more
common/standard approaches.  If your basic intent is too different,
you have no choice but to build your own.  If it deviates little,
the value of doing yet-another is debatable.

  -- How much value you assign to the learning process implicit in
accomplishing such a task as its not a simple thing to do, or to get
"right" -- especially since your first couple attempts should
probably be thrown out as learning excercises.

  -- How likely you are to give up or be distracted away onto
something else in the course of such a task.  Again, there is a LOT
of work involved in building a reasonably seamless presentation from
scratch (or even basic foundation classes).  For the LPC side, check
the evolution of LIMA and Nightmare and just how long and how much
effort it took to get them where they are now (ie Nightmare still
"withdrawn"?).

> Oops, forgot point 2 - I was wondering which server/driver is the
> most suitable and (perhaps) easiest to use for someone like me (a
> fair amount of programming xp, but no experience with MUD
> development).

This is an actively religious topic.  Unfortunately it is often
discussed in terms of religion rather than that task at hand, its
features and needs, and what you actually want to create and how.

In the end it often comes down to preference.  Most any capable
server model can be made, with more or less pain and adaptation, to
do pretty well anything any other server can do.  I tend to go for
DB based runtime morphic (just means you can re-write the game world
from scratch without rebooting the server) servers with OO-ish
internal scripting languages.  They happen to suit the sorts of
things I like to do and the manner I like to approach them.  Others
vary.

--
J C Lawrence                                 Home: claw at kanga.nu
----------(*)                              Other: coder at kanga.nu
--=| A man is as sane as he is dangerous to his environment |=--


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