07 Aug, 2007, Exodus wrote in the 1st comment:
Votes: 0
So in the interest of sparking a little discussion, what would you all say is your MUDs most prominent feature(s)? Anything you're particularly proud of?

For DRM, I'd have to say that the following are probably my favorites:
- Account system (Based on FEAR 2.0 by Xerves)
- Arena system (All custom, with Halflife-style game types - last man standing, king of the hill, capture the flag, ect.)
- Shop system (independent of area files, can be player owned, one data structure that handles all shop types - regular, pets, customization shops ect)
- Economy/Monetary system (Economic influence by zone, supports multiple coin types)
- Bug/Idea/Typo tracking system

Lots of others, but listing every feature of a codebase is not the purpose of this. It's merely to foster some discussion, maybe inspire a few ideas, hell, perhaps even get some collaboration going on.
07 Aug, 2007, Scandum wrote in the 2nd comment:
Votes: 0
- A tactical VT102 interface
- Local echo for win32 telnet clients
- Tokenized mobprog engine with support for complex quests
- A hyper linked help file system
- Ten game loops per second with an average cpu usage between 2 and 8 msec per loop. (many large merc muds manage to exceed 250 msec per loop)
07 Aug, 2007, Exodus wrote in the 3rd comment:
Votes: 0
Neat!
Mind elaborating on what you mean by "tactical" VT102 interface?

The game loop speed is impressive. Did you split it up into those ten loops to cut down on overhead, or just make the loops themselves more efficient - removing redundant checks and such?
07 Aug, 2007, Scandum wrote in the 4th comment:
Votes: 0
Exodus said:
Mind elaborating on what you mean by "tactical" VT102 interface?

Probably easier to see for yourself: telnet://sotmud.net:4321 You'll likely need to use telnet since most mud clients don't support VT102

Exodus said:
The game loop speed is impressive. Did you split it up into those ten loops to cut down on overhead, or just make the loops themselves more efficient - removing redundant checks and such?

I did both, I ended up with some pretty awkward looking loops, but all in all it works nicely.
07 Aug, 2007, syn wrote in the 5th comment:
Votes: 0
Wow that is quite impressive scandum. I like that very much. way beyond anything I could come up with hehe. Awesome job.

-Syn
07 Aug, 2007, Guest wrote in the 6th comment:
Votes: 0
For Alsherok and AFKMud:

* Custom written ANSI wilderness code. It may not be the greatest, but it's mine :)
* Random treasure drops, with rune sockets. Inspired by Diablo 2.
* Auction houses that go through an escrow type system.
* Enhanced boards that act much like web forums with topic/reply style discussion.
* Local channels which can be created online with no need for hardcoded support - except for logging calls.
* Our interactive character generation run by in-game mudprogs instead of the usual nanny process.

These may not seem like much to the more advanced people here, but we're proud of them anyway.
07 Aug, 2007, Vladaar wrote in the 7th comment:
Votes: 0
The best features of 6 Dragons include:


*Custom Quest code -> with a journal command that displays where you are at in your quest.
*Multiclass -> single, dual, and triple ability with a command to choose how much exp goes to which class, so you can level one class above the others.
*Very few stock areas
*Interactive Tutorial at beginning of mud that rocks.
*Multiple currencies copper, bronze, silver, gold
*Tradeskills ( Partially completed )
*Advanced Races - that have permadeath if you die before level 10.
*Dragon race that actually grows in size/power as you level.
*Custom Swim code -> can hold breath underwater as long as have some [|||||| ] bars left on meter.
*Double Experience hour that can be earned by players who earn points by length of time logged in mud, and is qualified by a cryptic solution they must enter.
* Many, many more features then I can possibly list here.

Heck it's the best mud I've played in years, hrm well its the only mud I've played in years :)


EDIT: Blue coloring removed for readability
07 Aug, 2007, Keberus wrote in the 8th comment:
Votes: 0
A few of my muds more interesting features.

-Dynamic color system, so we can add/remove new colors on the fly, it even fixes colors for char's who are online.
-Copyover system that saves world state exactly (Thanks to Samson/SWFOTE:FUSS)
-Player account system (loosly based on FEARs, mostly redone at this point)
-Mud does an emergency copyover for segmentation violations and doesn't segfault anymore on them (thanks for ecopyover idea SW Dev/Yoda)
-Automatic bounty system, that will generate a name (thanks Xerves) and then generate all the stats based upon the difficulty of the bounty, an also will place the mob on a random planet in a random starsystem.
-Onlne creation/editing of prototype ships (Big for FOTE style muds)
-A fairly-well intigrated mob-chat system (Thanks Chris Busche)
-A strong filehandling system (Thanks Darien)
-Useable furniture than can break if maxweight is exceeded (Thanks Xerves/FEAR)
-Dynamic Channels (thanks Samson/AFKmud)
-In-mud backtrace (thanks Darien/Kiasyn ) is called when a SegVio or SegFault happens, and then I added in some functions to clean up the backtrace output and append it to a different file, so I can view the "cleaned" version online.

I know most of what I mentioned were snippets, but getting a snippet and implementing a snippet can be two very different things. Anyways, most of the things mentioned have been modified in at least some way.

Later,
KeB

PS -If I forget to give someone credit let me know.


On a side note: That VT102 is pretty sweet Scandum.
08 Aug, 2007, Vladaar wrote in the 9th comment:
Votes: 0
Scandum,

I logged on to see what this VT102 was, and after reading help file still don't really get it.

First off, why name something that sounds like a coffee maker model number? Name it something that gives people an idea what it is. I did notice your prompt is different with a solid block of color code, is that VT102? It's a different look to be sure. You have alot of nice colors in your greeting screen and motd's as well.

Vladaar
08 Aug, 2007, Zeno wrote in the 10th comment:
Votes: 0
Hmm. Hard to mention my features without having to fully explain then. Besides, no features are fully finished yet. Anyway… Here are some prominent features I coded in:

-Shard system.
-Bug Tracker system (I just put this in).
-Extended OLC system; allows builders to create weapon attacks, custom quests, etc.
-Custom demon form (bleh, not proud of this until I finish redoing it).
-Knowledge system.
-Player shops (merchant carts).
-Custom & player created clan system.
-Element system.
08 Aug, 2007, syn wrote in the 11th comment:
Votes: 0
yah that prompt is a solid bar, but its auto updating, and independant of you doing a look every time you want to see healing and changes. From what i saw of how it reacts.
08 Aug, 2007, Exodus wrote in the 12th comment:
Votes: 0
More interesting is during character creation using normal telnet (not emulated through a client) are things like changing the color of the local echo, and text substitution, eg. typing in 12345 on the password prompt displays *****. Other such things to note are, of course, the auto-refreshing status bar and cursor repositioning.
08 Aug, 2007, Conner wrote in the 13th comment:
Votes: 0
I'll post my response to this topic eventually, but it's very late and been a really long day…

Vladaar said:
First off, why name something that sounds like a coffee maker model number? Name it something that gives people an idea what it is.


VT102 is a telnet terminal emulation standard that essentially simulates the DEC VT102 Terminal (check out http://vt100.net/docs/vt102-ug/ for the whole "book" on the subject, though I'm sure that google would turn up dozens of other sites that you could check out as well if you were that interested.), and it's been around for years, so rest assured that Scandum had nothing to do with its name. :wink:
08 Aug, 2007, Vladaar wrote in the 14th comment:
Votes: 0
Heh,

Thanks Conner. If VT102, is the desired name though, I would find a way to explain it better to new people.

Vladaar
08 Aug, 2007, Scandum wrote in the 15th comment:
Votes: 0
The same might be said about ANSI colors not being very descriptive. "VT100 interface" is actually the proper name, but since many people use VT100 and ANSI colors indiscriminately David Bills (who wrote the original interface code my mud uses) settled for "VT102 interface".

The bars also only updates the changes, so when the clock goes from 13:56 to 13:57 it only changes the 6 to a 7 which saves quite a bit of bandwidth, not to mention that often no updates are required at all while in classic mode each echo spawns a new prompt.
08 Aug, 2007, kiasyn wrote in the 16th comment:
Votes: 0
let me scan drazon files.. i dont even remember =o

in no particular order:

Player accounts with unlimited characters,
working playershop system
currency system with support for a lot of currencies (easily added/removed)
highscore
javascript scripting engine (half finished, still uber)
custom overland map
custom minimap (optimized)
mega crafting system complete with olc and stages… you have to see it to believe it
mega quest system complete with olc etc.. likewise with seeing it
pretty much everything overhauled in some way
integration with website via mysql (partially done)
custom guild/faction/clan system
virtualareas created on the fly based on a template, or loaded like a house, etc.
auctionhouse like wow, viewable on website, or ingame
uber pvp system… i don't remember how it works, hahaha
hostlock - apply an ip lock to your account, people with non matching ips cant get in
channel censor - disabled on or off, easy to add new entries
backtrace on demand code
bank system for storing money and items
materials sytem for items =o
mailboxes, sending items and money and notes etc via mail…

i know theres more, i just cant remember it all o.O

brings back memories.. kinda wanna start it up again =o… anyone want to host me free? ;)
09 Aug, 2007, Conner wrote in the 17th comment:
Votes: 0
Hmm, tough call. I've got a ton of snippets installed and a bunch of other changed/customized facets of my code, but which things do I consider the most prominent or am the most proud of? Well, I guess the quest code, buidity, and channel histories are the ones I've spent the most effort on, but here's a list of the snippets I've added (fairly complete list, I think):

AuricMUD's snippets: Area Pointers
Full Command Name
Transmission Speed
Racial Skills
Hanging Spells
Aurora's snippets: Classes Command
Races Command
Miscellaneous Utilities (<-well, parts of this one)
Ratings
Balsa's snippets: Create Food Spell Modification
Blueice/Gohan's snippets: Modified Last
Christian's snippets: Affects Replacement
Cronel's snippets: Renumber Command
Sharpen Skill
SSlist Command
Inferno Spell (by Rantic)
Listen Skill
Fear Spell
High Score Table System
Info Channel
Slotlist Command
Desden's snippets: Mana/Blood Requirements
Diablo's snippets: AFK Message
Exodus' snippets: Buidty (bug/typo/idea commands)
Gangian's snippets: Equipment Damage
Kratas' snippets: Sayto Command
LordElder's snippet: Marriage Code
Mirrodan & Harlaquin's snippets: Magical Tattoos
Nebseni's snippets: Star Map
Noplex's snippets: Backup command
Ntanel's code from ResortMUD 4.0 (with permission): Arena
Local Channel History
Grub Code Fixes
Kender, Minotaur, Immortal, & 9 Dragon Races
Taxation Code
Antipaladin, Dragon, Harper, & Psionicist classes
Various Other Things
Odis' snippets: Male-Female Player Counting
Orion Elder's snippets: Player Refresh v1.02a
News Command
Group Command Enhancement
Autoglance code
Rjael's snippets: Wizinduct Command
Remcon's snippets: Suggested Helpfiles
Battle Prompt
Checktransfer Command
Hotboot Stalling
Imbue, Carve, Concoct, Mix, & Brew skills
Suduko
KEY'd area file format
Far too many fixes to list
Far too many assorted snippets to list too
Sadiq's snippets: SmaugFUSS 1.4a
Wizhelp Replacement
Two Billion VNum Patch
Random
Sacrifice Gods
Notify
Death
Nohelps
Sneak Fight Fix
Multi-Scribe
Wait State Removal For Immortals
Samson's snippets: Name Authorization System (Auth Code by Eos)
Custom Slays v2.0
Immortal Area Info Flags
Aliases
Area Exit Listing
SmaugFUSS 1.6
Beep Command
SmaugWiz Loader
Clan Roster Command
Undertaker Code (written by Cyrus & Robcon)
Compass Code
Vassign Command
Sigterm Shutdown Code
Finger Command
Skandranom's snippets: Immortal Badges v1.00
Starmud's snippets: Weapon Identification v1.0
Surlaen's snippets: Travel Mage v0.2 for ROM
Taltos' snippets: Bank Code
Unknown/Anonymous snippets: Set Level code
Fear Spell
Channel Socials code
Vassago/Moongate/Vir's snippets: Automated Quest Code
Vladaar's snippets: Enchant Armor Spell

Of course, all the snippets that I've released here to mudbytes are also installed in my mud too, and most of the FUSS project bug fixes… and many of the snippets listed above have been significantly modified as well. Plus we're pretty pleased with ourselves for all the areas we've got too. Of course, there's always more in the works too. :wink:
09 Aug, 2007, Midboss wrote in the 18th comment:
Votes: 0
Since Diablos probably won't brag about End of Time's features, I'll do it for him!
  • Customizable Limit Breaks: As an alternative to class-based limit breaks or a generic level-based damage limit break you can restring, our players are able to (near) fully customize all of their limit breaks as they unlock them. You can specify the name and command syntax, choose from a decent assortment of limit break effects ranging from self-recovery to sending your victim soaring into another room and out of the battle. You also get to set any and all applicable messaging for when the break is used.

  • Chocobo Racing minigame: While not actually fully available to players yet, EoT has a fully functional Chocobo Racing minigame, which I've been forcefully demonstrating to everyone that'll humor me. At its highest level, it entails players purchasing their own chocobos to enter in the races and raising them as they see fit, feeding different ratios of greens for different results. The races themselves are automated, however they're not entirely random, with chocobos' stats influencing the race differently on different tracks, though currently only two tracks are available. You can even attain one of several different colored chocobos that each have a special ability to aid them during the races, and your chocobo can be used as a mount or to dig for treasures. The big downside is that the minigame is quite spammy to watch, but that goes hand-in-hand with being a horse race. As a side note, you haven't laughed until you've seen a neck and neck race between the Pope and a llama for fifth place.
    Note that this doesn't refer to the chococannons in the newbie zone.

  • Heavily expanded magic system: At first glance the magic system on EoT is pretty standard fare. You can still input "cast 'magic missile' darkness" and do just fine, but the first thing you'll notice is that the wait time associated with magic comes before, rather than after, the spell effect. Next up is the ability to adjust various aspects of your spell pattern as you cast; you can brighten or fade the pattern to increase or decrease power, expand or compress the stream of mana flowing between yourself and the pattern to decrease or increase casting time, change targets on a whim, widen the spell pattern to hit multiple targets (some spells can even spill into adjacent rooms), or drop your train of thought entirely. On top of the ability to modify spells, you can postpone a spell, preserving the pattern as you begin casting a new one, which, combined with our admittedly slim selection of counterspells could potentially enable Magic: The Gathering-esque counterspell bouts, though counterspells seem to be underappreciated. And last, but not least, the icing on the cake is the addition of combo spells. When you try postpone a spell in favor of another which is compatible with it to form a combo, both spells are removed from your list, and instead you will cast the new one, with your skill rating being treated as 100% even if you don't actually know the combo spell. Which is a good thing – some of the hidden combo spells can't be learned by any class, at any level, and only exist for those who can figure out the right combination of spells to cast them. Whew, that was a long ramble…

  • Retroactive HP & MP gains: In order to make the MUD more forgiving for new players, no longer must the applicable stats to increase HP and MP gains be trained first in order to have a decent build. While a somewhat noticeable increase can still be achieved by those who train their character the old fashioned way, those who wish to, you know, not suck while they're leveling up aren't completely doomed in the endgame.

  • Expanded and retouched combat engine: While still very true to its Diku roots, attack rounds on EoT come at an interval based on your speed. We've also recently scrapped damage dice on weapons, instead opting for more straightforward Attack Power and Hit Rate attributes. No longer do you have to worry about what exactly having 24 Hitroll means. The widely accepted "lag" like wait and daze states have also been changed to timers, and while a few have had complaints about not being able to stack commands during their cooldown time anymore, overall the reception has been good. Additionally, mobs will randomly choose who to attack each round, loosely based on how dangerous each character in a party seems to be at the time.

  • Well thought out (for the most part) races: Most of the races on EoT are fairly well fleshed out, though a couple, mostly Dwarves, could use a little more oomph. But unlike many other MUDs where your race is primarily a cosmetic option, racial skills make a large impact on your character. All races learn new abilities at 20 levels intervals, starting with level 1, with the exception of humans, whose level 1 ability grants them all of their other abilities. Their abilities are primarily geared towards faster leveling and learning, effectively rendering them an 'easy mode' in an effort to actually make humans the most populous race on the MUD, as they're claimed to be on every MUD. Other races particularly of note are Robots and Cetra – when a Robot dies, instead of leaving behind a corpse, he's greatly weakened on a temporary basis by a status affliction dubbed "win95", and Cetra have a customizable Esper form they can change in to, which, as an added perk, changes your race as displayed to other players to "Esper" while active. Also of note are special races such as Unsent, which aren't 'true' races, but rather permanent, irreversible affects which effectively change your race. If you become one of the special races, you'll typically gain the new race's level 1 ability, and will no longer learn new racial abilities from your original race, instead learning those from the new race that are gained at levels you have yet to attain.


I suppose a few of those aren't too impressive, but I like rambling about them anyway. Especially magic. Magic's my baby. There are also a good number of new features on the way, and probably a few I forgot about.
09 Aug, 2007, kiasyn wrote in the 19th comment:
Votes: 0
cast 'blue screen of death'

I WIN!!!
09 Aug, 2007, Guest wrote in the 20th comment:
Votes: 0
I am the blue screen of death. Noone can hear your screams.
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