[MUD-Dev] DESIGN: Online adventure games

[Malcolm W. Tester II]

Mike Rozak wrote:

> Mud connector lists 201 lpmuds. Most of the descriptions that I
> have looked through imply a combat focus with quests,
> socialization, and some RP. All of them seem to have some sort of
> combat.  (The descriptions are not so different from Diku or other
> MUD bases, so it's not obvious to me which ones emphasize the
> adventure game experience.) Do you know of any particular ones
> that are adventure oriented?

I've been working on a mudlib for the past year or two in my
ever-decreasing spare time.  This lib is from scratch, and is based
off the Ldmud driver (it's lpmud).  In my design, I wanted to
achieve a myriad of things, some of which would be considered too
ambitious by certain people.  I've played on lpmuds for about 12-13
years, and coded on them for most of that time as well.  I'm one of
those people who are addicted to CRPGS like Final Fantasy < 7 and
Dragon Warrior and Ultima, etc.  I'm also addicted to games like
Hitchhiker and Zork.  It must run in the family too, because one of
my daughters is hung up on Harvest Moon.  Anyway, my design
philosophy:

There are things I like on certain muds that don't exist on other
muds.  And vice versa.  Things that I consider important, or
trivial, or just FUN.  I wanted to create a mud where I could bring
some of these ideas together in my own unique twist.  Rather that go
into all the details about it, I'm just going to mention the core of
the game here, which is relevant to this adventurer vs. CRPG
experience.  When you begin the game, you are thrown into a scenario
which shows a scene, asks some questions.  Based on your answers,
you go to a new scene with new questions.  After a bit of data
gathering, (and yes, lots of games have done this), the computer
tells you what it thinks you are most suited for, but leaves the
final choice up to you.  This choice isn't about race (elf, orc,
human), but rather about the type of player you are.  In my mud, you
can choose one of three different types of gaming experience.  You
can choose the combat route, where you explore, kill, loot (limited
PK), etc.  You advance in the game by killing for experience,
similar to the classic Lpmud.  The second method is by questing,
exploring, solving the various puzzles.  You advance only by doing
these things.  Killing is still an option, but you don't gain any
experience for it.  The third method of play is the economic route.
You can join a guild that manufactures items, you get a store and
try to build it up and buy more stores, etc.  The better business
person you are, the better you'll advance.

So, how are these implemented?  Through great write and re-write,
let me say.  Killing and questing is easy enough, though you do have
to make sure there are enough quests for the player to succeed.
Another problem is quest cheating, however, I am hoping that I will
eliminate a lot of that because those who don't like/want to quest
in the first place will choose the fighting mode.  I also have
designed a module implementation for quests.  It makes quests a lot
more work to write, but much more interesting.  Each quest is made
up of interchangeable modules.  A random combination of these
modules create the quest.  When a player starts a quest for the
first time, they are assigned one of these random combinations,
which they keep forever.  So the best of friends may end up with 2
quests with the same goal, but different methods of solution.  You
also gain experience by exploring.  You can easily gain a few levels
just by exploring the whole mud.  Economy/Business is probably the
most difficult thing for me to balance and provide a fair and equal
way to advance.  Lower levels advance simply by the volume of what
they sell.  I try to provide defence against abuse by limiting the
amount of transactions within a certain period, as well as
safeguarding the same items sold over and over.  I.e., you can sell
10 orc swords if you want, but you only get credit for 1 or 2.  They
cannot sell themselves items, etc.  There are other things as well.
Later, for higher levels, it becomes more difficult (for the player
and for me :) The gross profits of the store are measured against
its costs (to gain net profits) and you must maintain positive net
profits above defined amounts in order for the World Business
Council to consider you for expansion.  At this point, expansion is
the name of the game for advancement.  As you expand, you still must
maintain positive net profits.  If for some reason players stop
coming and there is basically not enough business in the world for
you to do well, then that's a problem I haven't solved yet.  In
reality, I think that this may not work as well as I would like.
Have to see.

My original goal was simply questors vs. killers.  I don't mind
killing, but I hate to mindlessly kill hundreds of monster just to
get the next level.  Throw a quest at me instead.  But I've seen
people who were just -stuck- at level 18 with millions of experience
because they kill very well, but just cannot get past the required
quest.

Anyway.  It's a work in progress, and took me quite a while to get
to the point where I am with it.  I thought that when a player
maxxed out in one field, I'd allow them to switch to another.  I.e.
A questor solves all quests, now they become a killer.  For those
people (achievers) who need the max in everything, those will be the
ones who do it.

Oh yes, measurement.  Each type of play has its own method of
measuring levels so players in that mode can tell how they rate
against others in that mode.  I also have a way to measure against
ALL players, regardless of mode, but it's not fully developed and
working properly yet.  It's rather tough to find a decent way to
measure against such different things.

-Malc
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