Build a virtual steampunk world with us!

[Khem Caigan]

In its heyday, London By Gaslight MUSH offered its visitors
the option to travel by Hansom cab, Omnibus, Underground,
Steamship, Airship, and Train.

And, unofficially, one could also travel by Submarine,
Time Machine, Inter-Dimensional Portal, Teleportation and
Astral Projection.

Other lands and other times, planes and planets were built
in the same manner as one's townhouse, and with the same
attention to detail.

MUSH Code makes it possible to look out a window in a vehicle
and see the countryside <or the years> go by (for example).

It's quite powerful, and there are a lot of plug-ins that have
been made available over the years since that amplify it still
further.

[Maize]

I've been thinking similar things, though we should certainly be aiming to include our own style as well and not try to simply be a copy of a previous project. London as a steampunk location is rather overused it has to be said, throughout all forms of medium. But that doesn't mean the setting can't be replicated with some twists. I think providing many forms of travel, including time travel, have to be definates.

Hmm...just an idea off the top of my head here. What if Clock jumps around the multiverse cannibalising the locations it encounters. Ripping aspects of these realities off and merging them with itself in the Aetherspace. Maybe it does this perhaps as a form of powering up every few centuries, and Victorian London was its most recent meal. That way we get to put London IN Aetherspace.

[Augustus Longeye]

You could always change that idea a little, turn it from cannibalising and maybe look at this...

A system of power (government/monarchy whatever) who can control and move the city. It is taken through times and places, the best parts of the locations it visits are ripped out and added to it, the worst parts simply left... in this way a city built of parts and remnants emerges; things packed together that should never meet, places where time and space are converged in ways unthought of, and people from all manner of times and worlds placed there for no better reason that the aesthetic of their land.

Just a though, adds the interesting idea of not just randomness, but some control. You could play off the idea of who controls it, how, why... also you can then add literally anything to it.
~Longeye~

[Maize]

Okay. Still trying to refine the ideas floating around into something mergable. I present The Cog. You get London (replicated in many ways, with famous legends and Aetherspace). Updating and restarting the poll. Also if you vote No, please at least say what you would like to see

Cog

There is a place between the nothingness of space and time, known simply as the Aether. Legends tell that it is the home of the Gods, but there is only one God here. The Cog. This mechanical being lives outside of reality, eternal but silent. But now the Cog is awakening. It is beginning to tear through the barriers that separate space and time themselves.

When the Cog first encountered sentient lifeforms it began to reshape itself to accommodate them. It desired companionship. The Cog became a vast city over time. Now with holes throughout spacetime into the very heart of the Aether, creatures of all manner and kind are traveling to the great Cog in search of adventure and answers. Many of the multispace's most notable occultists, scientists, adventurers and legends have journeyed there to learn its secrets.

[Duellist]

Given that this kind of thing is my day-job (writer / designer for games), I think there are two important factors to remember.

• Games should really start with a solid design, not a finished story.  A spark or an idea for the setting is a great starting point, but the mechanics and design need fleshing out before you start hanging a story on it.
• MU* games are very hard to write from scratch.  Seriously, the text-parsing code will bring a coder to tears because you either inflict strict syntax on everything or have to let the parser understand different sentence constructions.

I spent time as a Story-Coder for Skotos (on Castle Marrach) and I saw just what a big job it is to keep a MUSH codebase working.  The smallest of added features involve so much more work than you would think, even as scripting-hacks.  My advice to you, just like the advice I would give to any newbie development team, is to use pre-existing code and not to reinvent the wheel...

[Khem Caigan]

My advice to you, just like the advice I would give to any newbie development team, is to use pre-existing code and not to reinvent the wheel...

I recommend PennMUSH, along with its
active and friendly community of coders.

[Maize]

PennMUSH is something we'll have to investigate for sure.

• Games should really start with a solid design, not a finished story.  A spark or an idea for the setting is a great starting point, but the mechanics and design need fleshing out before you start hanging a story on it.

Indeed, however we haven't settled on a concept yet. Once we've found something we like we can begin discussing the design. But the design does need a basic idea to build it around.

I spent time as a Story-Coder for Skotos (on Castle Marrach) and I saw just what a big job it is to keep a MUSH codebase working.  The smallest of added features involve so much more work than you would think, even as scripting-hacks.  My advice to you, just like the advice I would give to any newbie development team, is to use pre-existing code and not to reinvent the wheel...

Again very true that things would be much more complex if we did try to build from scratch. Once the concept premise has been chosen, and a list of basic features discussed we can look to see which pre-existing codebase would be a good fit or whether we would be better stripping one down or whether we should reinvent the wheel. Thankfully there's no 'right' answer. Just the answer that appeals to us the most.

[Miss Neecerie]

heh...

I played MUD's back in the dark ages....

That said...I grin when I see this in Aura-ocular....as MU*'s are pretty much the poster child for Textual.  Unless you want ascii art..(pardon me while i have a quick flashback to the early 90's)

[Khem Caigan]

I grin when I see this in Aura-ocular....as MU*'s are pretty much the poster child for Textual.

We did have a MU* thread over in Textual, back in
December of 2009 :

A Steampunk MUD

We also had some discussion on Steampunk-themed
Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games here in
Aural-Ocular, in March of 2008:

If there were a Steampunk MMORPG?

[Miss Tabitha]

While entirely useless on the coding front, I would be happy to help write quest scenarios or design settings/characters, if you're looking for a writer. I'd like to think my imagination is up to the task.

I would very much like to see different species, as in, not just humanoid (elven, fairy, gnome, etc.) Something a bit bizarre, like garuda, or insect based, that have developed their own tech and traditions.

I'm so bloody bored of just playing humanoid characters in games!

[cer0]

Miss Tabitha, have you encountered the Shadows of the Apt series?

[Miss Tabitha]

I have not, my dear cer0, but at your suggestion, I will look into it.

[Maize]

heh...

MU*'s are pretty much the poster child for Textual.

Yes I was torn on where to put it. I decided it is a game concept at the end of the day and people that perhaps it would generate more interest here. Hopefully I didn't make a mistake.

While entirely useless on the coding front, I would be happy to help write quest scenarios or design settings/characters, if you're looking for a writer. I'd like to think my imagination is up to the task.

I would very much like to see different species, as in, not just humanoid (elven, fairy, gnome, etc.) Something a bit bizarre, like garuda, or insect based, that have developed their own tech and traditions.

I'm so bloody bored of just playing humanoid characters in games!

Sounds great Tabitha. You're right about offering race variety. Perhaps even robots as a race could be considered. Any non-humanoid race would need to be well understood regarding its placement in the game world first though. I was thinking the door could be opened to furries as people from the island of Dr.Moreau. Would open the door to more players I imagine.

I've been writing out some basic skill list ideas.

Mounts - working on this skillset opens up access to more and more advanced mounts and customizing them. From Bicycles to Airships.

Gunsmithing - allows you to build and customise guns & ammunition.

Vision - a skillset that provides visual benefits in the game such as spotting hidden entrances or seeing great distances.

Athletics/Acrobatics - Offers a variety of benefits, increased in endurance etc.

Stealth - Skills such as pickpocketing and locksmithery.

Fighting - Not put much thought here yet.

People - Social skills, not put much thought here yet.

Telepathy - Telepathic abilities

Enchanting

Alchemy

Robotics Crafting - Build and sell robots.

Surgery - Follow in Dr. Frankenstein's footsteps and offer ligmentary upgrades to your fellow adventurers.

Magic

------------------
Just some thoughts so far. As you can see this is more of a MUD orientated skillset list. MUSH and MUD lines are blurred. At the end of the day you code as little or as much as you want for a game. I just have a preference for my actions being backed up by code.

[Willie Hawkes]

Great to have you onboard Willie.

I wasn't aware that I was signing up for anything. I wouldn't mind working on it, but I would be on board as a designer, not a programmer. My programming skills are amateurish at best. Right now I am a student in the art of Level Design, but I do have real life to contend with, such as getting a job and applying to college.

I see a lot of ideas floating around, but without a core team there is just no point - there are far too many ideas from a community of artisans to be productive. We need like 2-3 people on the design team, 4-5 on a programming team, a few artists, and a manager to maintain the whole thing.

This forum also seems to be a bit unorganized for a proper discussion on game development. A new website would need to be made, with a log in for team members only, or perhaps Skype.

I'm going to go play some MUDs to see how I could go about building one.

[xanthra]

It's been a while since I've coded for a MUD, but I'm game : )
What platform are we looking at?  Is PennMush the one?

[Khem Caigan]

To give you all some idea of what a typical
Code Repository looks like, along with a
look at some of the options and gizmos that
are already available, here is a link to
Gwen Morse's MU* Code Page.

There are links to still other Repositories
further down the page.

And here is an example of MU* Code, for
a psionic device that enhances a user's
telepathic skill:

Rina's Telepathy Device

[Augustus Longeye]

Holy crap on a stick... I thought it'd be complex, but dear lord... Count me out of any of the code I'm afraid... that's WAY beyond me...
~Longeye~

[Duellist]

Holy crap on a stick... I thought it'd be complex, but dear lord... Count me out of any of the code I'm afraid... that's WAY beyond me...
~Longeye~

I have only ever dabbled in MU* code once and I'll not do it again.  It is fun to play, but not so much fun to make unless you are more hardcore than I will ever be.

[Khem Caigan]

Count me out of any of the code I'm afraid... that's WAY beyond me...

I have only ever dabbled in MU* code once and I'll not do it again.

And that is why the Coders provide Templates - so
that everyone else can provide their floorplans and
zoneplans, &tc., along with textual descriptions that
are then plugged in to the MU*Code

[Willie Hawkes]

Hmm.... I'm not familiar with the language, but it appears to be a scripting language.

I wasn't aware that we had to have a specific programming language to make a MU*. Devious MUD, the direct predecessor to Runescape, was made in Java, I believe. Java is as user friendly as you can get, as far as programming languages are concerned.

Making the game won't be the hard part, it will be making the game that supports multiplayer. That's where things get really complicated. We could do solo adventures with an online forum, and perhaps support multiplayer PVP in the future. Sort of like the model in Dragonfable(Not a MUD, but similar concept nonetheless: http://www.dragonfable.com

[Maize]

Great to have you onboard Willie.

I wasn't aware that I was signing up for anything.

Sorry if I worried you, I just meant that it was nice to have you in the discussion. This isn't really a recruiting thread. Just a place to bring people together to discuss the idea of building a MU*.

I see a lot of ideas floating around, but without a core team there is just no point - there are far too many ideas from a community of artisans to be productive. We need like 2-3 people on the design team, 4-5 on a programming team, a few artists, and a manager to maintain the whole thing.

Too true, but again this is just a discussion thread to find some interesting ideas and people to discuss them.

It's been a while since I've coded for a MUD, but I'm game : )
What platform are we looking at?  Is PennMush the one?

Welcome to the discussion xanthra, we're open to any platform at the moment and yes PennMush is definately one of them.

To give you all some idea of what a typical
Code Repository looks like, along with a
look at some of the options and gizmos that
are already available, here is a link to
Gwen Morse's MU* Code Page.

Gwen's page gave me the shove I needed. She's a very interesting lady, I've wanted to get into programming for awhile. This week I bought Java for Dummies and I'm giving myself lessons. Who knows where this new adventure will take me. Maybe one day down the road I can help contribute code to whatever we set up. Till then I'm still on the other side of the fence.


Anyway have heart folks. Everyone's got different skills, right now let's keep the discussion focused on what we want to build, then we can decide how we want to build it.

[Lothar Erfinder]

I would love to do some writing for this project. I don't have the kind of programming skills to help on that end yet, but I'm starting a computer science degree in the fall, so as time goes I might be able to help more with that.

As for what we want to build, well. What all can we throw in?

I like the idea of the metropolis floating through the Aether, opening portals in time and space. I picture a vast mechanical city, gritty in places and shiny in others, but above all inscrutable. The city runs, it's enormous mechanisms moving with alien and portentious purpose. The brightest engineers have figured out how some of it works, but no one can tell why. But nevertheless, great toothed wheels turn slowly and giant arrays of crystals, like mad orreries or chandeliers designed by demons, spin with stately and terrifying precision, tearing holes in the air through which blow the chill winds of the stars or the raucus cries of jungle birds. Entire bouroughs shift overnight, ridding the back of the machinery that seems comprise everything here.

And amidst all of this there are peole. Natives of the city, familliar, as much as you can be, with its strange ways. Humans, and stranger things, torn from their old realities by the metropolis, or who found their way here by accident. Maybe they took a wrong turn in the streets of Vienna, or tore through the veil on their own with magic or science. Back alley sorcerors walk these streets, or stalk them. Scientists and engineers trying, desperately, to understand the workings of the place. Goblin tinkers and all manner of imigrants from Faerie, Insect-folk with chittering voices and curving bronze blades leading nomadic existences trading their wares wherever people gather. Golems and robots and strange, half-magical, half-mechanical combinations of the two. Alchemists who chip carefully at the crystal spires or trade with dryads and roof-top gardeners for regeants and catalysts to concoct their elixirs. Shipwrights and captians who design and pilot vessels out into the Aether itself.

I think you could fit anything into a setting like this, and I for one would love to try.

[Maize]

You just made me cry Lothar. What beautiful prose. Welcome to the discussion. Can I have your permission to copy that description under quotation for the first post when I update it to better reflect the thread?

[Lothar Erfinder]

Absolutely do you have my permission. I'm glad you liked it, and I hope it will help drum up interest.

[Maize]

Note: First post got updated.

Please take a moment out of your busy schedules when you can to answer these questions:

1) What kind of races would you like to see?

2) Would you like to see characters from the Public Domain as mobiles*?

3) What genre would you like to see the game? Obviously steampunk, but would you like to blend it with fantasy/comedy/horror? Would you go in the direction of the comedic Discworld series or dark and gritty like so many of the Victorian classics we love?

4) Do you want a game with classes? (generic examples: monk/thief/warrior/magician) Classes can give a game a more structured feeling and a sense of progression. They can also provide roleplaying boundaries.

5) Do you want magic in the gameplay?

----------------------

*A mobile is MU* terminology for a non-playable character, typically immortals^ can 'possess' these characters for roleplay purposes, the rest of the time they are scripted.

^An immortal is MU* terminology for a game administrator, they manage aspects of the game and often interact with players in a roleplay and technical capacity.