[MUD-Dev] User interface design [was: Where are we now?]

[Bryce Harrington]

On Wed, 9 May 2001, Greg Munt wrote:

> There seem to be little or no resources for free mud developers who
> don't want to develop a telnet-based user interface. I've commented
> previously on my thoughts on this subject. In summary, I think that
> a text interface weighs down a game with a high barrier to entry.
 
> So, let us say that a telnet interface is a Bad Thing. This is not
> to say that a text-oriented interface is a bad thing - just that a
> telnet-based one is.

> I consider the ideal interface to be one that can be accessed
> through any graphical web browser.

> So. Graphical interface. But what kind? This, iirc, has never really
> been discussed here. It's always focused on the server, not the
> client.

>   1. Java telnet
>   2. First-person 3D
>   3. Third-person 3D
>   4. Tiled 2D
>   5. Non-tiled 2D

Jeff mentioned WorldForge in a previous post on this thread...

Note that the whole project employs a single common network protocol
(i.e., not telnet), called "Atlas", that can be used by a variety of
different client types...  There are 2D tiled clients, a couple 3D
clients, and even a few text clients for those wanting something more
minimalistic.  And one of the developers just made a 3D skeletal
rendering open source app, well worth checking out...
ftp://ftp.seul.org/pub/worldforge/libs/TheCallyDemo.zip

The protocol allows for a few different transport/compression
schemes...  The one in use now is XML-based, but they're implementing a
compressed binary format and a "packed ASCII" format as well.
Very versatile.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bryce Harrington     bryce @ neptune.net    bryceharrington @ yahoo.com



_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev