[MUD-Dev] Re: Modular MUD [Was:Finer points of Telnet programming ...]

[Jynx {Wyrm / Tygr / Myth} Ryn]

Caliban Tiresias Darklock wrote:
> 
> On 04:51 PM 8/24/98 -0700, I personally witnessed Jynx (Wyrm / Tygr / Myth)
> Ryn jumping up to say:
> 
> >Well ... having the capability to add plug-in-races/classes/clans/etc.
> >would make MUD development much easier, just like adding
> >scripting into a MUD does. I wonder ....
> 
> Ideally, and if I can manage to come up with something powerful enough (and
> *fast* enough) I may do this, the modules which make up the actual MUD
> activity would be scripted and not compiled. I may even use some sort of
> object interface compatible with JavaScript, since I would hazard the guess
> that there are no other scripting languages which approach that level of
> power and flexibility with even *half* the user recognition. There are
> certainly more robust and less buggy options, but I keep asking myself --
> is it worth giving up the advantage of a huge existing userbase? Thus far,
> I don't think so. On the other hand, I'm not convinced that a scripted
> solution will have the appropriate speed to handle large numbers of
> players, and I also think requiring compilation has a tendency to weed out
> some of the more clueless implementations.

Hmmm ... my personal solution would be to WRITE a scripting language especialy
for this purpose. Perl has a lot of great uses, and JavaScript is just great for
HTML pages, but neither is incredibly appropriate for handling a MUD. The
closest thing I have personally seen to a good scripting language for a MUD is
DGScripts, but after about two weeks of having them on a MUD, my builders
started to complain that it couldn't do enough. I tried to expand it, but I
eventualy broke down and just wrote a few spec_procs.

My new MUD platform is based on a "theatrical" view point, with the main
database being devided up into scripts, puppets (mobiles), props (objects), and
scenes (rooms). I am trying to develop scripts as a good, solid method to handle
just about everything, from the mundane loading of props and puppets to complex
manipulation like a quizical sphinx or a complex puzzle. My skill system will
probably be done using the same scripting language, just setting up the scripts
to handle actors (players) rather than puppets, props or scenes. The challenge
is to make the scripting language simple to begin with, so that any one of my
builders can pick up the basics within 10 minutes, and then giving it more
complex ways of dealing with everything else. One of the cooler things about my
new design in scripts so far is that it uses a dynamic file system. I don't plan
on coding a Mail Service in C, but instead using my scripts to operate it.

- Jynx Ryn
- The Complex Man with the Simple Signature

--
MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.