The other "Scripting" post.

[Bong]

So, I'm going to put it out there right now so I know in the beginning, and can make future posts knowing the answer.

Is Gmud going to be scriptable?

I know that the "working" project as it stands works with megamud. I realize the artistic content is going to be completely different, but is it going to be feasible to import everything, or allow people to clear the old gamedata and start fresh again? Is scripting via other terminal programs (Z.O.C., Zmud come to mind) going to be "allowed", or is it going to be a strict hand-played game?

This brings a possible commercial twist to the equation. Will there be a proprietary program, much like megamud, built by the staff and sold on a per-player basis? Allow telnet, other scripting programs, but offer the terminal for a nominal fee...and of course, if they're connected to your server you'll know if they're a liscensed user.

I'm sure other people can expound upon this further.....I just smoked my first bowl of the night (morning) and kind of forgot where I was going with this. I just think this needs to be discussed so people can know what aspects of realism can be inserted, without messing up people's scripting capabilities. It will also affect balance, as character balance does not equal scripting balance...some concessions would likely have to be made, as I believe they were in the past with mmud to quell some of the bitching from less-scriptable char/classes.

[Vitoc]

This is a tough question.

On one hand, we want the majority of the Major Mudders (who probably script 24/7 about 99% of the time) to feel right at home in this realm.? Unfortunately, for this to occur we'd have to basically release all the stats for every mob and item, since that's what these people are used to, and that's how Mega knows what's going on.

On the other hand, I believe the best part about RPGs is not knowing what lies ahead (ie: finding new items with unknown stats, taking on bosses you know nothing about, working your way through a maze full of riddles, etc.).

IMO, the whole point of a propietary client would be to offer the end user something they otherwise probably wouldn't have.? What kinds of things would you like to see in such a client (graphics? hehe), or is this pretty much just to keep their data files up to date and providing them with a stable scripting environment?

Before sitting down to create GMUD, I tried my hand at creating a scripting client such as MegaMUD to work with Major MUD.? I can honestly say it was harder to do that than it was to sit down and create this game itself.? However, if I knew exactly what the server was doing behind the scenes, and could even modify the server to communicate with a "smart" client this would be relatively easy to do.? Hmm... will have to think on this some more.

[DeathCow]

Wait...no this is a simple question.  Yes it going to be scriptable.

[Vitoc]

Wait...no this is a simple question.? Yes it going to be scriptable.

Always taking the easy way out...  ;)

[ZLemur]

Do you have to make it all common knowledge?

Why not have all the items in the realm have an 'examine <item>' as well as the standard 'look <item>' that would tell you specifics about the weapon that the user could then share with the community and/or add to the MMud database? Same with paths/maps.

Make us work for it (a little)!

AND

Make it so it doesn't HAVE to be script based, but ABLE to be so. I like to play by hand some times, but by lv 20 I've got carple tunnel syndrome and will take me a week of hardcore playing to get my next level.

Would encourage community participation and would be great fun. For a while, anyway. Till everyone catches up.

[DeathCow]

How about just us making a megamud database file to start with then see what happens from there.  The megamud databases aren't complicated..that could be made quite easily.

[Relorian]

What kinds of things would you like to see in such a client (graphics? hehe)

This actualy got me thinkin. I seem to remember loving Wizardy for NES... perhaps some simple graphics in an 8 or 16 bit setting wouldnt be too far out of the line... maybe for some quests (Sunstone) the appearence of a book could be given or somethign like that.

Other than that the only thing id like to see from a client is intellegence. Mega is pretty stupid and prone to failure given certin events. Maybe something that could actualy learn a path correctly or accept a path while following someone else would be useful.

[The Crazy Animal]

I think if there was a new GMUD client made it should be something that lets us break away from some of the limitations that megamud puts on the game engine. Secondly having a little AI in its scripting abilities wouldn't hurt though.

TCA

[Bong]

Wait...no this is a simple question.  Yes it going to be scriptable.

Thanks for the simple response. (Quoting you, because Vitoc got long-winded :P J/K!!)

I just wanted to get clarification on this so A) We know what amount of realism we can put in that will still allow scripting and B) I was thinking along the same lines of Vitoc: If you know everything the server's doing, then I'm sure it'd be a bit easier to write a term program then otherwise (not that it'd be EASY by any stretch of the imagination, just easier).

Vitoc: If you'd like more input on a terminal program, I'm sure there's plenty of opinions out there. Just start up a thread for it, and I'll get to posting (after TCA, of course :P).

[The Crazy Animal]

MegaMud and realism:

MegaMud is fairly, versatile and is able to cope with situations as long as you know what changes are going to happen from realism: on the way, with in, and on the way back from your script location. As long as MegaMud recognizes a room, it will not get lost and when it does get lost, it starts looking for a room it knows. So basically, what this means is things will be need to be adjusted with in MegaMud?s path/room files to help it along a little more than when used in majormud otherwise shouldn?t be much of a problem for scripting.

TCA

[DeathCow]

Right, I rally havent seen alot the would argue with megamud.  Or if it 'could' argue with mega obviously I'd go the other way.

[The Crazy Animal]

Right, To be exact about it any of the things that would make MegaMud not function at all, would be in the category of making the game not feel like majormud.

TCA

[The Crazy Animal]

Very true... Though I actually wonder how much scripting people will be doing till they get settled in to the new realm. Think about it there will be a whole lot of exploring to do.

TCA

[DeathCow]

Right, people will want to play by hand if there is something to do.  Its like that on fresh resets..lots of live people.  But they want to be able to script while they are away.  Scripting is fun.