[MUD-Dev] Persistant worlds, Dan

[Huibai]

This post is a heads-up for those with interest in coordinate-
 based muds, as well as bait to get Dan to stop lurking and
 post about his Coors Mud.

I posted to rgma asking about finished-product coordinate-
 based muds.  I got only one reply, who seemed earnest in
 telling me the mud was completely xyz-based.  However,
 the first thing I saw when I logged on was: The obvious exits
 are north, east, south, and west.

I consider that to still be room-based.  His building docs tell
 about making sure you 'connect the room' before you build
 it so that the 'numbers' stay spatially consistent.  Possibly
 he just attaches the xyz numbers so that NPCs can travel
 intelligently.  Perhaps the rooms are actually databased on
 their coords, and query for adjoining 'rooms' before determining
 what are valid exits.

It just wasn't what I was looking for.  I was looking for a totally
 coordinate-based experience.  Turn east, run forward, stop,
 turn 135 degrees to the left, walk to the tree.  I forget who
 here might have been working on that notion.  If you're still
 banging away at it, spam Dan with design questions.

I'll spill some beans, and leave Dan to mop them up.  He's
 going completely coordinate-based, with no concept of a
 room.  He's ripped the RoomGuts out of the java mud on
 my D drive and started this version on the C drive.
He's using a data structure similar to but simpler than an
 R-tree.  Basically the MBRs are fixed.  The world map at
 any location has a Ground-Type.  With 'changing environment'
 in mind, Ground-Types can change/be changed.  Grass will
 grow from rain into brush, then trees, which will burn down.
 Beaches can advance or recede; walls can be chiseled; 
 and of course any mud can get dried up ;).  Trees can also
 be harvested for lumber, mountains mined - lotty dotty.
Which leads to player building - houses, for example
 (once you've cleared a site and brought lumber and tools).
The world map can change easily.  What was a plain in
 January 98 might be a forest by February, while island has
 since been swallowed by the sea and the forest leveled to
 make room for a new town (since Goodtown got dested by
 those friggin population-rampant goblin tribes that Chatterley
 let loose in the UO thread).
The world can be saved, of course, but as a backup, not an
 intended point to 'reboot' from.  

By making the world persistant and subject to some simulation
 of natural tendencies, as well as making civilization-building a
 player option limited by the ever-replenishing natural resources,
 I too hope that this will make an attractive environment, even
 before any history/story/plot/character is injected.

Please pester with questions and requests for details :)
-John G.