[MUD-Dev] RE: [MUD DEV] Text editors in MUDs [was Structured Social Play]

[Derek Licciardi]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Daniel Bendiksen

> Sadly, I didn't save my code for input routines from my BBS days
> (although the fullscreen method was actually less complex than the
> line editor because I could ditch all the edit/search&replace
> commands). I do remember I had two input methods. A line entry
> method (for those without VT100 or ANSI support terms) and a full
> screen editor for those with.

When I was programming for MozartMUD back a couple years, we had
things like this implemented in ANSI.  We did not have the intro
text colored but once you were in the game, you could tell the
server that you play from an ANSI terminal and it would turn color
on for you.  For that matter you could tell it VT100 and it would
emulate that as well.  One of the things I liked as a player was
that if you had a good ANSI capable telnet application, you could
window your screen causing all of the commands to be entered at the
bottom of the screen just below your prompt.  In addition to this we
had a completely customizable color system for nearly 30 some odd
types of messages.  (Man EQ sounds more and more like a Diku every
time I think about it.  They have 30+ custom colors, but I digress.)

With the command and the prompt below the scrolling, the game became
much more readable.  The only minus I could see was that playing
from a Windows or a Mac telnet session absolutely sucked until
Windows2000.  I do not know about telnet emulation under OS X,
though I would suspect it has improved.  In retrospect it was nice
to have, but I bet we lost a few players here and there because our
emulation did not work on their Windows NT telnet applications or
didn't work right with IBM AIX.  I also know it had problems in any
of the Windows based X-Windows emulators.

In the end I would have to think that you need a baseline that is
minimalistic in its approach and then wait for the user to tell you
more about what they telnet with before enabling advanced
functionality that could potentially ruin their experience with your
MUD.

Derek

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