Crat clearly can't help himself either.

It's sort of catch-22. I never figured out what to make of what Locke posted about himself.

Locke:



Al Gore style :lol:


I call it all bullshit. His whole life sounds too much like a 1998 drama.

My idea of his profile: He (like quite a lot of kids) thought he could have better parents, so he invented those "schizophrenic geniuses". However, different to all those other kids, he didn't let go the idea and still sticks to it.

He is just a jackass, caught in some hefty delusions of grandeur. No need to feel sorry for that asshat.

So sorry, I didn't know. The Diku authors may be the least of your problems then.

Wow, I didn't realize it had got to that point. Props to Kayle for manning up and doing
the responsible thing and speaking openly about it.

I'd dispute the allegations from The_Fury against me on that blog…but somehow I
suspect my presence on Samson's territory would provoke an overreaction, as usual.
Assuming I'm not still banned, that is!

Back on point specific to Blintz's codebase choice, it seems to me that the graphical
interface part of the graphical mud is probably the most labor intensive part of
the plan, if the idea is bolting it onto an existing non-graphical codebase.

Rather than leap onto codebase X just to "get going", it really might be worth
reconsidering your approach. This very moment, where you choose to jump
onto a codebase out of a restless need to do something, this moment
is the one that in 5 years you're liable to look back on with regret…wishing
you'd had the patience to think this through rather than spend the next years
toiling over something you'd wind up ditching for a more suitable framework.

MUD's aren't going anywhere. There's no fire. Slow down and make a conscious,
deliberate choice.

-Crat
http://lpmuds.net

So when did I apply for this solicitor/lawyer position, again?

Sorry. That's all too much for me. As much as I loved fiddling with SmaugFuss, it would be against my inner beliefs to use "gray market" resources and see myself restricted in such an outmost manner.

Good bye, Smaug. Hello, Ffnir (my own, old codebase)

To think that I could've finished the first 1000 lines by this time. I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

You're probably right, Crat.

I should take my time and reconsider some things.

In the mean time, I will revert to graphical design/digital painting. I'm pretty much a beginner in that department and am jealously watching all those pros @TwistedBrush

My best painting (still lacking a lot of the detail, I see with all those TwistedBrush arts) showing of the style I was going for that graphical MUD




MB are my initials. Mark Bauermeister

I had a brief look there last time Kayle linked to it, but it was mostly just a bunch of strawman arguments and anonymous posters patting Samson on the back. Looks like I didn't miss much since then. The_Fury had a bit of a rant about how all of our muds are failures, so I thought I'd see how his Oriental Dojo mud was doing, but the site seems to have vanished - any idea what happened to his mud?

And what's with the TMS recommendations? That place is primarily a voting site and mud list, and most of the decent posters left ages ago because of the misleading advertising used by its sponsors. I still check their forums and post occasionally, but the discussions are mostly just flames, promotions and newbie questions - even most of the "design" posts seem to be little more than flamebait or thinly veiled advertising these days (which is why I rarely bother trying to discuss design ideas there any more).


Most of the work would be client-side anyway, so I don't think it would matter too much if he started out with an existing codebase.


Smaug itself doesn't have a history of being revoked, only SmaugFUSS. However if you wish to eventually profit from the mud, you're better off avoiding Diku entirely.

Truer words never spoken.

The client side was actually the thing I tinkered with the most.

Mushclient was my client of choice. However, I found a problem with it. All graphical data would've been stored on the user's PC in plain, unencrypted bitmap format. I don't know how hard it would've been or if Nick agreed to such changes, but now that I revived my own code-base+client combo, I can pretty much stick to my own proprietary formats*.

I got rid of most headaches. One major headache remains, though: My code-base is written in Dark Basic Pro (DirectX 9.0c) so I don't have a choice but to use Windows :cyclops:

*Updating those 6 year old formats will require a hell lot of ale :lol:


EDIT: Curious. How do you guys handle your databases? Do you prefer the chronological or the reverse-chronological attempt?

Mine was written chronological (i. e. newest entries on the bottom), but I might change that. I was a young teenager 4 or 5 years ago, so a clean, time saving base wasn't specifically one of my strengths.

Why are you using proprietary formats for bitmaps? Is it just that using a different format would require a "lot of ale"?

Well, in any case, MUSHclient is open source now, so you (or somebody you know) can modify it to handle whatever format you like.

Nice painting, by the way.

The encryption isn't really a big deal IMO - if the information is worth knowing, the players will unencrypt it.

Hehe. Ya. That's what my brother told me, as well.

Still better to have an inaccessible, proprietary format, only a few might attempt to hack. At least that would keep some of those youngsters from stealing my pictures and posting them on cheap, porn-ad driven wallpaper sites.

I'm quite paranoid, as far as graphic and sound files are concerned. I can't really say why, but I would have less problems with the idea of someone stealing text or parts of my code-base from me.


PS: Edited my last post with a database related question.


@David Haley

I use proprietary formats because (of):

1. It's necessary to protect my IP
2. It looks a lot cleaner than having common file formats
3. Performance/space reasons

I'm really not sure that's too reasonable, but, well, it's your thing I suppose. :tongue:


Easier to make a new post if others have responded, otherwise things get lost.

I don't relate with this. I also don't know what you mean.

If something is displayed on my screen I can capture it. If something crosses my sound board I can capture it. It's no more safe in any event if you're concerned with someone stealing art and compositions.

Of course you could capture it. But only in a sub-resolution. Most of my works are created in 720p and resized in-game.

You know, I had a feeling Tyche was going to dredge up that whole ordeal, which I already publicly apologized for, rescinded, and continue to work towards corrective measures for. I guess my request to put that entire bit of nonsense behind us was too much to ask of him.

Tyche is within his rights to state this. Despite you being apologetic for this incident, your other half is not.

I'm not unsympathetic to your situation. Issues with Samson using code as a weapon go all the way back to 2003.
Ask him about the Iceman, and then ask him if he's going to revoke the rights to IMC clients and server software.
This ain't about Kayle or Tyche or Davion or The_Fury or Kyndig or Kris. This is all about Samson.
Then again maybe he'll figure it out. You did and I applaud you for it.

When he was kicked off the MudBytes staff he ranted about how the site would fail without him. But MudBytes hasn't just survived, it's thrived, enjoying more activity and quality posting than ever before. So I can sort of understand his anger and jealousy in that respect. But sour grapes and a bruised ego is no excuse for using the code to try and hurt MudBytes, and IMO its the other SmaugFUSS developers who are the real victims.

Does he have any more ammunition left to throw? If so it might be worth preparing for the worst, as MudBytes is still growing in popularity and continues to draw in new developers.