[MUD-Dev] [DGN] Creating a MUD

[Acius]

Richard Krush wrote:

> This is my first post to the mailing list, so I will briefly
> introduce myself.  My name is Richard Krushelnitskiy, I'm 18 years
> old, and as the majority of the computer users live in the USA. My
> exposure to MUDs as a player is very limited (more on that later)
> and I have no exposure as a developer whatsoever. In addition to
> that, I am only a beginning programmer without any experience with
> medium-to-large size programs.
 
> I played only one MUD for about two months, then got bored of it
> (it was a hack'n'slash MUD) and tried to find other more
> role-playing MUDs to play, but was unable to do find any that
> interested me. However, I liked the idea of the MUD and eventually
> wanted to write one myself, which would be interesting for me to
> play in. Right now I am about to finish High School and will have
> more time on my hands, so I thought that this might be a perfect
> time to at least start writing my own MUD. I also tend to believe
> that working on a big programming project that I am interested in
> will improve my programming skills. On the other hand, I still
> have doubts whether such a big project would be possible for me to
> complete without considerable programming experience and other
> people to help me.
 
> Considering the above, I would like to ask people who have a lot
> of experience with MUD development or general programming whether
> I should do what I planned or postpone it until I get a degree in
> CS.

Hmm ... I started working on a MUD coming out of high school (and it
was just a lib for an LPMud driver!). I'm still working on it, six
years later, and it's not open yet ;-).

Starting from nothing and trying to make a MUD when you are a
beginning programer is very difficult. You'll probably work it out
eventually, but it takes a few false starts and a lot of
frustration. The "usual" technique for learning to program on MUDs
is to first find a staff position on a well-established MUD. There
is an enormous, never-ending demand for coders, and many MUDs are
even willing to train you in return for your coding time. Just make
sure to sign up with a MUD that already has at least one guy who
knows what he's doing -- there are a lot of MUDs around with only
one player who barely knew enough to get it set up, and they will be
happy to take you on as a coder, but you are unlikely to get the
support you'll need.

One way to find staff positions is to post "I want to code, who
wants me" type messages on alt.mud.programming. Another good place
to look for coding jobs is www.mudconnector.com, although you must
sign up for the members-only forums first. Either read through the
"Help wanted pLLLZZZZZ come c0d3 4 ME!" posts, or put up a "I want a
coding position" post and wait for someone to mail you.

-- Acius
Acius at Walraven

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