More news about Armageddon
Danny Brumleve
This is a repost of a doc I posted with information on Armageddon
DikuMUD... We'll be open for playtesting by the end of this weekend
if all goes well, and the address will be posted then.
(1) Room creation:
I've completely finished with code for online room editing, which
includes creating rooms from in the game (most online diku editors
don't have that). You can basically do anything: extra descs, doors
locked and unlocked, direction descs, etc. All the code for creation
of rooms, objects. mobiles, and zone files is available from
ucbvax.berkeley.edu.
(2) Object creation:
I'm done with this, too. You can edit and create objects of any kind,
even set affects, types, and flags by referring to the name, like this:
"otype sword weapon," "owflags hat head," "oaffect1 ring mana 10."
(3) New areas:
Hell, we're even doing new KINDS of areas... The MUD has an
apocalyptic setting, much like Dark Sun. We aren't imitating the
areas on Athas, but we're making areas with similar themes. So far
we have over 3000 rooms in creation, but I imagine only 2000 or so
will be open when the MUD is public.
(4) Roleplaying:
Yes, we're actually encouraging players to role-play (perish the
thought!) So therefore player killing laws are identical to those
governing NPC killing, and you will receive a criminal flag for doing
any malicious deed to anyone in the city if you are caught. This is
not a 'flag' system, it's merely a realistic roleplaying system. NPCs
can also get criminal flags, ya know. ;-)
(5) New guilds:
We have 12 guild planned, and almost all of them are completed,
titles and all. They are mostly combinations of existing guilds, but
all of them have at least one or two unique talents. There are also
a few special guilds that offer completely original skills and spells
to the players. Heres a summary of what we have done so far:
Warrior: Kick, Bash, Rescue, Dodge, Disarm, Parry, Dual Wield.
Mage: All the old Mage spells, including over 20 new ones.
Priest: All the old Cleric spells, including over 30 new ones.
Thief: Backstab, Sneak, Hide, Steal, Pick, Climb, Listen, Trap, Haggle.
Ranger: Bandage, Trap, Dual Wield, Lower level Priest spells, Hunt, Listen.
Assassin: Disarm, Dodge, Backstab, Sneak, Dual Wield, Listen, Trap, Throw.
Dawnmagus: Passive, lower level Priest and Mage spells.
Illusionist: Backstab, Sneak, Hide, Mimic, Clone, Ventrioquate, and many other illusion spells
Druid: Many nature-oriented Priest spells at low levels, Calm, Creeping Doom, Listen, Hunt
Warlock: Dodge, Disarm, Parry, Dual Wield, Offensive Mage spells.
Shadowdancer: Sneak, Hide, Pick, Send Shadow, Mostly Priest spells, and many new ones.
Necromancer: Aura Drain, Finger of Death, Animate Dead, Demonfire, Resurrect, and many others.
(6) New spells/skills:
We're up to 97 (original code has 53) so far... We hope to add lots
of variety to this MUD, and make it one of the best around.
(7) Special procedures:
We're getting a shitload of these done... I just finished an elite guard
that hunts down criminals, charms them, blinds them, strips their equipment,
leads them out into the desert and sells them to a wandering slave trader.
I've also added a magical sword that can be enchanted by putting a special
gem inside it, and another sword that energy drains with a command word.
Also a staff that will turn into a snake at a command word, and turn
back into a staff with another.
As you can see, I want to make more adventures and quests to the game.
I will also allow things like immortals switching to NPCs, provided they
correctly role-play and not use their immortal at all to interfere. (Role-
playing insane cityguards with strange brain diseases would be out of the
question).
(8) New room flags:
We've added "fall" rooms, where all players and objects fall down to
the room below. Also things like sandstorms will add flavor to the MUD.
(9) Completely new combat system:
We've made combat much more realistic than it is in AD&D and other
MUDs. For instance, armor actually absorbs damage. If the dragon you
are fighting has a 50 armor, that means that the dragon will absorb
50/10=5 hit points of damage every time you hit it. Thus it is possible
for blows to bounce off the other guy's armor and stuff. There are
also random hit locations for worn armor, so t matters whether you are
hit on the head or the body. There are many changes, but it won't
be very hard to get used to.
(10) Smart mobiles.... Very smart:
The following is an actual screen capture of part of a fight between
some test mobiles I created (in-game, of course) and a huge desert lizard
(also done in-game):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A thief from team A plants an obsidian dirk in the back of The huge desert lizard, resulting in a scream and a shower of blood.
>
A thief from team A misses The huge desert lizard with its pierce.
The huge desert lizard hit A thief from team A extremely hard on its body.
>
A mage from team A utters the words, 'yufzbarr'
A mage from team A smirks as its fireball explodes into the face of The huge desert lizard
A cleric from team A's blow bounces off The huge desert lizard's tough skin.
A warrior from team A grazes The huge desert lizard on its body with its slash.
A warrior from team A misses The huge desert lizard with its slash.
A warrior from team A's blow bounces off The huge desert lizard's tough skin.
A warrior from team A misses The huge desert lizard with its slash.
A cleric from team A barely slash The huge desert lizard on its leg.
A mage from team A misses The huge desert lizard with its slash.
A thief from team A's blow bounces off The huge desert lizard's tough skin.
The huge desert lizard misses A thief from team A with its hit.
>
A warrior from team A misses The huge desert lizard with its slash.
A warrior from team A misses The huge desert lizard with its slash.
A cleric from team A's blow bounces off The huge desert lizard's tough skin.
A mage from team A slashes The huge desert lizard hard on its body.
A thief from team A pierces The huge desert lizard on its hand.
The huge desert lizard hit A thief from team A extremely hard on its leg.
>
A warrior from team A's blow bounces off The huge desert lizard's tough skin.
A warrior from team A misses The huge desert lizard with its slash.
A cleric from team A barely slash The huge desert lizard on its body.
A mage from team A slashes The huge desert lizard on its body.
A thief from team A pierces The huge desert lizard on its neck.
The huge desert lizard misses A thief from team A with its hit.
>
A warrior from team A barely slash The huge desert lizard on its body.
A warrior from team A misses The huge desert lizard with its slash.
A cleric from team A's blow bounces off The huge desert lizard's tough skin.
A mage from team A barely slash The huge desert lizard on its waist.
A thief from team A barely pierce The huge desert lizard on its body.
The huge desert lizard hit A thief from team A extremely hard on its body.
>
A mage from team A utters the words, 'yufzbarr'
A mage from team A smirks as its fireball explodes into the face of The huge desert lizard
The huge desert lizard avoids being bashed by A warrior from team A who loses its balance and falls
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notice that they sometimes fail when using their skills, just like PCs
do. This is because we actually give them skill percentages when they
are loaded, based on class and level. They also use the same skill functions
that PCs do, which means that they can't do anything that players can't
(like backstabbing while asleep). They have a variable called "tribe" that
determines which mobiles will help them and which will not. All the
above mobiles (on "team A") are in tribe #1000. Any other mobiles from
tribe #1000 would also exhibit the same behavior. Aggressive mobiles in
different tribes will also behave just as aggressvely toward each other
as they would to players.
(11) More user-friendly features:
We have many features, like the word "self" can be used to refer to
your own character ("follow self"), and we have echos on all the communication
commands ("You say 'Hi.'"). We also have other things, like prompts that
display hits, mana, and moves, and level and class (as well as a pause
if it's over one screen) on the "who" list.
(12) DikuNet:
DikuNet is a network of DikuMUDs, currently only consisting of 3 (Dark
Shadow, Arctic, and Armageddon). It supports things like remote who, remote
tell, and a chat room that is 'shared' by all the MUDs on the network.
Dark Shadow is open right now (address is 128.146.37.87 6666), and if
anyone would like to check this out, go north and east of the room
you start in and say something... Who knows, maybe someone will say
something back. ;-)
We will be open for playtesting soon, and everyone can try all this out. ;)
--------------------------------------
A M G D O Jhalavar -> brum...@iboga.stat.uiuc.edu
R A E D N Yxya -> free...@vmdfs.cso.uiuc.edu
--------------------------------------