Help and Advertising

Two small and pretty unrelated subjects. Help is pretty simple. Basicly just a normal help keyword system like most muds. We deviate from the normal scheme with an in depth scripted tutorial teaching newbies all the basics including combat and world interaction. Not much more to say about that.

Advertising is just mention of how we will recruit players for the pre release versions and post release. We will use the TMC and TMS forums pre release to got testers. We will use these methods as well as mud listings, web and print advertising to drive players to our game when the game hits release phase.

I know pretty small post but I should get back to some studying or something. Not going to be working on this tomorrow, but should get a decent chunk done on thursday, and expecting completion of the first draft sometime next week.

Later,
-Toraux

Busy As Ever

School has taken a turn for the worse. Lose 5 points.

School is busy this week, tests to be taken, big presentation on wednesday and lots of homework. Finally got a bit of stuff written up today, namely the rules and media sections. These sections include basic game rules(DUH!) and stuff on the website, generated maps, merchandise, and the cool plan to sell some books based on in game happenings. Other then that not much to report in. Think ill be able to catch up to the homework and get back on schedule but who knows.

Currently most of the way through my 54th page. Ill get back to trying to finish homework and if im lucky ill have another section or two done tomorrow night. Laters.

-Toraux

Items and Resources

Ok so I wrote up Items and Resources finally. Im onto my 51st page now.

Basicly Items and Resources are the same type thing, but resources are generated by the wilderness and items are made by players using skills and requiring resources. Players will be able to harvest resources from the world and its creatures and put them to use to make items and buildings etc. Items will be everything else like weapons, armor, etc. Players will create items using skills and also be able to repair them. The weather and other effects will deteriorate items and resources and can potentially destroy them. When their durability hits zero the item is destroyed. Players will be able to repair items at a cost of max durability, making all but magic user imbued items relatively short lived.

Not expecting to write up much over the Thanksgiving break.

Got this left to do:
Rules,
Media,
Advertisement,
Constructables,
Help,
Player Interface,
Effects,
Planned Events,
Logging

Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving, c-ya later.

-Toraux

Combat Completed

Ok so combat is now complete, added sections on Adrenaline/Battle Calm, Hiding, NPC control in combat, Magic in combat, and a small section on localized damage.

Adrenaline will benefit players who are outnumbered, giving them a bit of a combat advantage but even more importantly giving them speed and stamina bonuses. This is the fight or flight response of an unseasoned newbie.

Battle Calm is for the experienced player, giving them accuracy and defensive bonuses for being battle hardned. An experienced warrior wont have the adrenaline overload that a newbie would have and thus would be more effective in combat.

Hiding allows players to hide and not appear on the map. A player using hide will be able to do it better at night, and it will work well for ambushing players. Players will also be able to sneak into rooms, this will work with unarmed combat for sneaking up on people.

Magic will be a part of combat, look back at the magic section and youll see we got a bunch of magic abilities directly or indirectly based on combat.

Localized Damage will allow for some areas on a target to be more vulnerable. Im considering allowing the damage or destruction of limbs etc on a permenant basis.

In larger conflicts when players are controling large groups of NPCs they will be able to order them around by shouting commands. They will be able to give various orders including formation and tactics. NPCs attached to a player will follow his movements when in formation.

Im now got 47 full pages of text. Im planning on writing up the items and resources sections tonight, ill probably post again then.

-Toraux

Ranged and Heavy Weapons

Ok so finished up and wrote in the melee stuff, heres a basic list of melee weapons I wrote up:
- Short Swords
- Swords
- Long Swords
- Daggers
- Axes
- Spears
- Shields
- Clubs
- Maces
- Hammers

I also wrote up a small section on hand to hand combat allowing players to sneak up and attack players unarmed.

Ranged weapons will play an important part of dynamic's wars. Players will be able to fire their weapons both directly and indirectly at other players and mobs. Direct fire will allow players to hunt and try to snipe other players, but this will require much skill and will tend to not be an effective battle tool. Indirect volley is the use of volleys to saturate a target with arrows to weaken an opponent. Wind and weather will impact the accuracy of these weapons.

Heavy weapons will include catapults, cannons, and battering rams. These will see use in defending and attacking defensive positions like villages, and will also be useful for ships when they are added in the future. These weapon systems will be very slow to move and require large awkward ammo.

I also updated the ranks list and added a small new section to humanoid entities on titles.

Tommorrow I hope to complete:
Magic
Adrenaline/Battle Calm
Localized Damage
Force Control

Those four sections will round out the combat section. I am now onto my 46th page and still going strong. Hope to hear from some of you soon.

-Toraux

Melee Overview

The first part of combat will probably be the hardest to define. There will be many factors influencing melee combat. I havent yet written this part up, it could take me the rest of the week and beyond to complete. What I do know is this: weapons will have an impact. Quality weapons will do more damage, be less likely to break etc. Different weapon types will also impact combat. Spears will give a defensive advantage for example but suffering penalties indoors. I would like combat to be an unlocked system. Most muds ive played force you to use a flee command to leave the fight rather then just walking away. I hope to implement a system where the way you posture your weapon, your orientation to your target, and your opponent's posture and orientation will be the basis for combat. I want something that will be more of a thinking man's game when it comes to fighting, well mostly thinking, but a bit of fast reaction speeds. I might end up writting something on this level tomorrow about melee or I might try and think it through to a more in depth level. I have ideas on how orientation will play into fights but I have a lot of thinking to do. And remember with a system like this I intend to have it in such a way that in many cases if your armor or blocking skills arent adequate you might be dead when you get hit, looking for more realism and trying to balance abilities not stats. Anyways hopefully more tomorrow night. Im out.

-Toraux

Solo Herbivores and Pack Hunters

The next and final two creatures are Solo Herbivores and Pack Hunters.

Solo Herbivores are large lumbering creatures. They will eat vegitation and wander from place to place. Occasionally when they have kids they will allow company but most times they will be solo. They even throw the kids out at a very young age(how many parents wish they could do that?).

Pack Hunters will be like dynamic's version of wolves. They will hunt and stalk prey and wander around. Every so often they will settle down into a base camp from which most members of the pack will go hunting while others protect the young at the camp. The hunters will bring back food from the kill etc. These creatures will be very smart and team based, working to divide and conquer their foes.

This wraps up creatures for now, im thinking next week ill try to start on combat, but this is a very complicated set of descriptions so it could take a while. I also think I will be reexamining time in the next week because it seems like it needs to be tweaked a bit. C-ya next time.

-Toraux

Steeds and Solo Hunters

So the two types of the day are: Steeds and Solo Hunters.

Steeds are your basic mount. They will be commandable using both verbal commands as well as other controls when your riding one. They will also be useable for hauling wagons etc. Not too much more to mention here.

Solo Hunters will be very independant territory based creatures. They will be aggressive, stalking and hunting prey in their territory. They will have longer lifespans and totally abandon their kids when they are born. They will be very fast and make use of scent to hunt their prey. Dont think theres anything left on those.

Sounds like people took my side on mudconnector, guess I posted in the correct place anymore woo! Also broke 1k hits on this site but I think google is triple counting each hit :/ Got a solid 41 pages of written material now and going strong, got a few more creatures ill write up and post about on thursday and then ill be onto something new next week. I appreciate you guys reading this, thanks. Until next time.

-Toraux

Pack Herbivores

So next create I wrote up today was pack herbivores. Theres creatures will live in packs and defend their young by surrounding them. Players will need to force weaklings from the pack if they plan on scoring some kills to get food without dying. These creatures will pack tusks and a spiky tail to defend themselves. These creatures will also feature a male and female feature. The eldest female of the pack will become the matriarch and will lead the pack. They also will be very mobile, not staying in a single place for more then a day or two of game time.

I finally got approved to post on TMS but based on a response I got on mudconnector today I might not be posting anymore until im closer to the testing phases. Not sure what people think about that.

More and more I wish I was coding this thing, instead of planning, guess I will in time. Anyways im kinda tired so ill stop rambling.

-Toraux

Dragons and Army Ants

Havent posted in a while, friday I put something on the Mudconnector mud promotion forum and got about 300 hits for the day. Site's total is now about 750 hits since I started. Today I added three things to the spec bring it up to about 38.5 pages or so.

First thing I added was a slight change to movement. I had movement through deeper water completely unallowed. Players could wade across rivers, but if you wanted to go more then waist deep in the ocean it would be impossible. Im planning a swimming skill that will allow players to travel through deeper water for a high cost of movement and breath. Potentially even allowing them to swim underwater. This will allow for a bit more mobility now, but will really shine when ships and boats are coded. Right now ships seem like theyll be a DynamicMUD II feature. Your ship gets sunk? Well not so bad, just tread water and hope to be picked up.

The two big additions of the day however are a pair of creature types. Dragons and Army Ants.

Dragons will be large badass creatures living many many years. They will inflict massive amounts of damage and require large armies to kill. They will be very territorial, claiming and defending the land around their lair and aggressively hunting those who come too close. They will also hunt players and NPCs for food and try to raise their young dragons who they will pass their characteristics on to etc. When the young dragons hit a certain age they will leave the lair and start their own etc.

Dragons will provide two very useful resources when killed. They will provide dragonhides of the color that they are. These hides will bestow special effects to the items made out of them. Other dragons parts like horns, teeth and bones will also provide special effects when used to make items. Dragons will also have the ability to breathe fire.

Army Ants will be a collection of mobs working together. There will be different classes of mobs within this colony that will perform different tasks. Warriors for example will defend the colony and hunt for food while the Queen will produce young. These ants will live in two phases, a defensive phase where they will reproduce and become very territorial, and an aggressive phase where they will move accross the landscape looking for a new place to settle down.

I also wrote up a small portion on fish. Players and NPCs will be able to try their hand at fishing. Fish species will probably be thought of as schools that can be depleted and wander around the various bodies of water.

I plan to post something on Topmudsites when they finally allow me access to their forum. I also think I might begin recruiting a webdeveloper soon, I think the template for this site needs revamping, and I wouldnt mind a regular website in the near future.

-Toraux

Creatures

I decided to start working on creatures today, or basicly all non NPC game entities. I started today with the general details for creatures. Over the next week or two I will be working on my list of individual creature types and brainstorming their features and writing each up. I expect each of my posts for the next week or two to each be a creature type.

Creatures will have their own needs and groups. They will require food and might hunt or be hunted by other creatures of the land. Some may be domesticated, and others will require many players to kill. Creatures will need to reproduce, and some might even be heavily territorial. Creatures will also have lifespans like players, but with a much broader range of maximum ages.

Im also quite suprised at the total impressions I have had on the site today, no idea where you guys are coming from but thanks for the support, Im hoping to post on Mudconnector and Top Mud Sites forums on friday and see how many people I can get viewing this work in progress. Anyways C-ya later.

-Toraux

Communication

I added the communication section today. There were basicly five different ways to communicate with other players: shout, say, emote/socials, telepathy, and written messages. Shout is basicly a medium distance means of communication, becoming more inaccurate as the range between players gets closer to the maxium range. Say allows direct in room communication. Socials allow players to show actions that their character are performing. Telepathy allows magic users and immortals to communicate at a great distance. Written messages will allow for long distance communication between various leaders, and message boards will allow better group communication. I am now onto a 35th page, this thing is getting damn long damn fast.

I am planning to post this board on the mudconnector and topmudsites forums on friday. Itll be a kind of 'spread the word' kind of deal and see if we can drum up a larger viewer base, from which we'll be able to draw alpha and beta testers as well as other staff members.

I was also thinking today about the mud in general and my plans for perma death playerkilling. The mere thought of the system makes me smile, lots of adrenaline, and lots of fun. Almost has moral factors to it with 'killing' another player. I know a lot of people dont think they would enjoy this kind of a system but I think itll be quite fun, even for the non pker types.

I hope my readers enjoy this blog, thanks for your support so far.

-Toraux

Immortals

So I decided to write up the "Immortal" Section last night. Mainly includes the basics for staff, as well as a peak into ghosts. Legendary players who die will have the option to become ghosts. Ghosts will only be able to interact with other ghosts for the most part, players wont be able to see or hear them. Ghosts will be able to fight against other ghosts like players do. Some magic users will have the ability to sense ghosts and communicate with them.

My plan is for ghosts to become another layer to the grand scheme of good vs evil. Good ghosts trying to help the forces of good to find and vanquish evil, and the evil ghosts trying to stop them and vice versa.

I also did some very early preliminary research into some server hardware this weekend. I found a 1U rackmount server for only 1200 dollars, including a 3.0gHz p4, 240GB HD and a gig of ram. This info here along drops my suspected startup cost, making this project all that more viable. But anyways I should get some homework done before class.

-Toraux

Magic Users

Got a suggestion tonight to write up the magic system so I did. Three full pages of magic user specifications and im up to a total of 31 pages.

Basicly magic-users are seperate from the tribes and nations of the game and fight their own special war of good vs evil. The two guilds, good and evil recruit players who have a chance of gaining magic abilities. These players have various magic skills, I will list them a bit later in the article. Magic Users will also be very rare. For every 50 players the game might have one magic user.

The following is a list of magical abilities:
Energy Sword
Energy Armor
Energy Blast
Attribute Booster

Passive Sense Magic
Active Hide Magic
Wizard’s Eye
Telepathy
Sense Ghost
Last Act Item Imbue

Basicly speaking the first grouping is a set of self explanatory combat abilities. Energy sword allows the user to create a sword from his mana energy. Energy armor allows the user to create a shielf of magic, blast allows the user to shoot energy and the attribute booster as a buff abilitiy.

The sense and hide abilities involve identifing who is and isnt a magic user. Hiding these abilities and finding them will be very important for this good vs evil war. Wizard's Eye allows for better ranged vision, Telepathy provides ranged communication, and Sense Ghost will allow magic users to see ghosts(Will be outlined later).

The coolest ability is the imbue ability. It will a magic user to give his soul to an item when he or she is on the brink of death. This will make the item indestructable, buff it up some, and give the item the additional name of the player.

I think im going to go to bed, getting late, let me know what you think.

-Toraux

Humanoid Entities Completed

Well just finished up the rest of humanoid entities bringing me to 28 pages. Probably have 60 or 70% left of on the spec at least, this sucker will be pretty long I think.

Basicly I added stuff on tribes, alliances and territory. This system I think will be pretty cool, bloodlines are the same as tribes. This is kind of like clans from other games, the people you play with day to day and who you share goals with etc. Tribes have leaders who can choose who is considered friend or foe etc. Leaders can select heirs to their throne but if they forget (or die too fast) it goes to the eldest tribe member. Leaders also can form alliances with other tribes.. even selecting a form of government etc. Basicly speaking it would be possible to stage a coup over a tribe or alliance if you really wanted to.

Territory is a pretty cool system too. Tribes have villages, each with a flag in the center. These flags will exert some form of ownership over the surrounding terrain within a radius of the flag. Players will be able to see this, so your prompt might show hostile, friendly, constested, etc. Contested land is where two clans have conflicting assertion over a location. Tribes can also capture villages and destroy them so it is possible to try to have possesion of part of the world. I think this is pretty cool, and as far as I know not seen anywhere else. This will allow for wars for domain to occur which will be quite cool.

I also added a new humanoid entity type besides players and NPCs. Special Characters will allow the staff to take part in the game and direct it in a way. A special character might be that Greater Demon some guy released while trying to show off to his pals. The demon brings with it hell hounds that it can control. The staff member behind the demon would be running the campaign as players try to set things right.

Also added notes about the outlaw system. Players who teamkill get marked as outlaws and ousted from their tribe. Players who kill outlaws get tags if they kill enough of them. Plenty of incentive to kill team killers and not to team kill. And btw think dragons and other nasty creatures will be a bit harsher on outlaws :D

Anyways this is whats up so far. Starting to look into the idea of getting a website design underway. If you have experience with html, css, php, or webdesign let me know and maybe we can talk. C-ya next time.

-Toraux