Builder:Start
From Wormhole Sci-Fi MUD Homepage
Getting Started
So, you want to build a Wormhole MUD area, do you? Great. Come and join the fun!
The immortals of Wormhole hear a lot of people declare that they're going to build something. Please excuse them if they don't immediately leap onboard your project. Remember, they've got development projects of their own... plus bug fixes, balancing and so on. It's not quite true to say that you're on your own... but the Gods help those who help themselves. This page is meant to give you the best possible chance of successfully completing a high-quality area build.
The advice presented is based upon the recommendations and recollections from Artoo, the droid formerly known as Rachel. Of course, this is a wiki and it is to be hoped hope that other people will add their own comments. As a veteran of a decade of Wormhole area authoring, Artoo aims to explain what constitutes a 'success formula' in the dificult business of MUD world building.
Contents |
Choice of area theme
An area needs a single, simple theme that's supported by a catchy title. Your area might be based upon a well-known film or book, etc. We all conjure up a picture in our minds' eye when somebody says 'Bartertown' for example. This isn't to say that a zone should be based upon a famous work... but it needs to be comprehensible to the poor mortal who can't see the 'big picture' and is being shot at as he wades through it.
Areas that don't have a science-fiction theme... you're welcome to write them, and these builder documents will still be of some help... but they won't end up as a part of Wormhole MUD. Think carefully before you write a 700-room Harry Potter zone, because we won't upload it. (Yes, Harry Potty was suggested.)
Lists, lists, lists
Okay, you've chosen your theme. Suppose it's going to be an area modelled on the 'Big Brother' house, but where the household appliances have all gone berzerk and started attacking the contestants... In the manner of that dreadful story by schlock horror author Stephen King. Strange but true... simple concepts such as childrens' films and gore flicks tend to work best. Subtle stuff like Gattaca won't make an interesting zone.
Now, to start writing our lists. In some cases this will involve our imagination; in others it'll call for extensive background research. (If you were making a Naboo Palace area, you'd better start by finding our who's who in The Phantom Menace, from Captain Tanaka to Padme Naberrie, etc.)
For our Big Brother / Maximum Overdrive area, background research yields the names of the first crop of contestants; Craig, Anna, Darren, Melanie, Claire, Tom, Nichola, Nick, Caroline, Andrew, Sada. A Channel 4 website gives a short biography of each, plus photos. This'll be useful when writing their long descriptions, giving them some equipment and maybe some mannerisms. Another list to make is the rooms within the area. This is more arbitrary... we get to decide how many rooms we want. Some places such as 'the diary room' are obvious. Others need a little imagination, such as the kitchen. It's going to be a damn small house if we make the kitchen a single room. By listing places such as 'by the sink' and 'by the window' we can spin the house out to a decent 30 or 40 locations. List as many as possible; anything that comes to mind. Remembering when Jack Dee climbed out onto the roof in an effort to escape gives me an additional location... and perhaps an extra mobile.
Now we need to think up some items that will be found in the zone. Nothing too detailed as yet. Surprise, surprise; another list! Some are obvious, like the key to the back door. We can also list the clothing that we want the contestants to be wearing. Don't be boring! Never add an item if it isn't useful, valuable, scary or funny. Nobody wants to find "a teeshirt", which logic dictates would probably be less useful as protective clothing than regular armour... but remember the theme of the area. The machines have run amok! So we list items such as "blood-spattered shorts." At this point, I have the idea that one poor unfortunate should have been attacked by a table lamp. He's wearing "some lamp flex" around his neck. I also note that it reduces your hitroll (it's a distraction) and you can't remove it (hex flag). Throw in a few Mickey Mouse wrist watches and thew like, and arm the contestants with cutlery, chair legs etc., and we're almost ready to rumble.
So far we have started lists for people, places and objects... but what about the bad guys? Like the contestants, these must be mobiles, so they get added to the 'mobs' list. I briefly ponder what kind of machines might pose a threat; a microwave oven that uses the 'radiation' psi as an attack... a (stationary) waste-disposal unit in the kitchen, that bites... a few belligerent cameras... a toaster that blasts you with slices of bread... an electric carving knife...
Hey, this is starting to look promising! I'd even watch 'Big Brother' if I thought the contestants stood a chance of being mutilated, wouldn't you? At this stage, we're all enthusiastic, but it's going to be really important to keep that enthusiasm going throughout the build. Few area authoring projects ever get finished!
Sincere advice: KEEP YOUR NOTES. ALWAYS. Even if they're rougher than a buzzard's crotch, keep them forever. You never know when you might want to consult them. Do not attempt to create these lists on a computer. It'll only inhibit your creativity. Use good, old-fashioned paper. It makes annotation so much easier!
Obtaining an area number
You'll soon be starting to identify things by their unique reference numbers, so it's time to contact the game administrators and get allocated an 'area number'. Areas typically consist of 100 rooms, objects and mobiles, each numbered xxx00 to xxx99. The immortals will tell you what number to put in place of 'xxx'. It's possible to build large zones, spanning multiples of 100 rooms. For now, I strongly recommend that you forget any such schemes. We've seen few enough finished zones of any size, and we'd rather have a good 60-room area than a 180-room area that never got balanced and therefore couldn't be opened.
It's at this point, effectively, where you will learn if your area theme is of interest to your hosts. They may also be able to suggest ideas that you might consider adding to your lists. Or not - it's your project.
One final thing that begins to be discussed here... the level range for your area. You can let this slide a little if you want, but ultimately you're going to need to agree it with the immortals. Nobody wants the toughest mobiles in Wormhole MUD to be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; equally, nobody wants the Covenant from Halo to be beaten up by newbies.
Sincere advice: Avoid the temptation to make your first area build a top-level one. The immortals will assume that you are a 'munchkin' if you propse a zone "With really really awesome mobs and great equip in it..." The term 'munchkin' comes from roleplaying's early days, when juvenile AD&D players thought 'more powerful' must mean 'more fun'. It actually means the opposite in many cases. High-level areas are a bitch to balance. Make your first area more mainstream, please.
Layout
It's graph paper time! Actually, I print out a special blank template... but graph paper works fine as long as you make each box big enough. At this stage, you'll be mapping out your rooms, and then filling them with stuff. Your 'places' list pays off now, reminding you of all your ideas while you draw the layout. I write the short description (room name) in each box, and use thick lines to denote walls. Lines with gaps denote doorways, and a rectangle drawn in the gap represents a locked door. This can be annotated with the password, or the vnum of the key. Each room should also have a vnum. You can put just the last two digits, of course. Leave room '00' out, for use as an 'immroom' - a room that mortals will never see, that reveals any secrets or quest uses for the zone.
Also in each box on the map, write in the starting location of the mobiles, and which items go to which mobiles. Refer to your lists to make sure you don't miss anything out. Also note the starting location of any item that is loaded straight to the room, such as notice boards, furniture or piles of rubble. In fact, make a note of where everything starts on your map. If you're one of those people who is blessed (and cursed) with the use of OLC, you're going to actually find it even more important to be organised. Why? Because if you want to make a change such as giving an extra piece of equipment to a mobile, you need to be in the right room (the one where the mobile loads) when you type ZEDIT. You can either chase all over your area trying a 'zedit' until you find the room that the mobile starts in... or you can make a simple note on your map. Do it.
Draw your map BIG. You're going to need to note the short name for the room, it's vnum, any major room flags such as 'dark', 'death trap' or whatever, the mobiles who load there, the items they get, the items that load on the floor... and perhaps a reminder about the extra descriptions you're intending to write. Expect to get the map wrong the first time you try, so draw it rough, and produce a tidier one later.
Remember: time spent making a good map will pay dividends later... but don't spend hours making something gorgeous. It's only a reference document for your own use.
Going into detail
With the room layout more-or-less done now, it's time to get technical with the people and the things that'll go into it.
Against your list of mobiles, assign each one a vnum. It might also be a good idea to start thinking about the flags that they'll get. Which ones are aggressive? Which are hidden? Lying down when found? Any such details can be noted.
Against the list of objects, assign each a vnum. Start thinking about what each item should do. For example, suppose we had decided there should be a fire extinguisher in the Big Brother kitchen. What would it do? We could make it a simple clubbing weapon, or perhaps a staff that casts 'chill touch'? Or 'ice breath' Or if that's too powerful, how about making it a wand? Or we could decide that you use it as a shield, and it improves your save vs. fire... each item, unless it is just 'eye candy' will need to be thought about in terms of how its function can be represented within the limitations of the game engine.
It's a good idea to start thinking about issues of balance at this point, such as the damage a weapon will do, the number of charges in a magic item, and the minimum level of many items. (You'll be doing the same for mobiles, if they're 'complex' ones where you get to specify armour class, attacks, etc.) It's almost certain that you won't be able to get all the stats right first time, but your experience as a player in the level range of your area should allow you to make some guesses as to the values your items should have.
Beginning to Write
To recap, we now have a map of rooms, also showing who and what goes where. We also have a dossier of mobiles, and a dossier of items. Here, the area author's options bifurcate; there are two ways forward. Some people make use of OLC - online creation, while others use an off-line approach such as a stand-alone editor, or simply writing using the formated text files described elsewhere in these builder documents. Whichever way you edit your world together, it ends up as a formatted text file, deep inside the MUD.
Some people love OLC. Personally, I find it very useful... but only when it's used sparingly. Whether because of all the options it provides, or the constant distraction of being in-game, or the user interface... I don't know why, but using OLC is SLOW! It's a painful way to create an area.
Even if you're an OLC advocate, it's useful to be able to understand the underlying text files, so you can make quick changes. OLC slows you down, and it can make you lazy. For example, suppose you want nine stormtroopers wandering around in a cargo bay, each wearing a helmet, a chest plate, leggings, gloves, boots... in OLC, equipping a single item to a single mobile requires about six entries. This is achieved using the OLC command 'ZEDIT', but like all OLC work, it's slow. By the time you've given your stormtrooper his clothing and weapon, you're exhausted. The idea of doing the exact same thing eight times over does not appeal! At this point, the lazy OLC'er simply leaves the stormtroopers to load at a rate of one per zone reset. To a person who is able to edit the .zon file, it's a simple matter of copy and paste, to get the whole thing working as it should.
Thus, the best possible approach to area authoring is a hybrid. Use off-line editing for the 'big' stuff, and use OLC for the little tweaks when you realise "Ack! I've created a pair of socks, and I've completely forgotten to give them a 'feet' wear location!" Then again, you can use your knowledge of the MUD file structure to go bug hunting, or to quickly edit some work you did earlier.
If you're not quite ready to take the plunge just yet, you can begin with a word processor that is familiar to you, writing the descriptions for each room. This - and any 'long' job - is best done offline. Don't let the need to conform to the game mechanics stifle your creativity just yet; let's keep things free and easy for as long as possible. (If you're using a word processor to write your long descriptions, don't use 'smart quotes', accented characters or any other high ASCII characters. They won't appear on many peoples' clients. Also avoid tildes, no matter what. The tilde is an important markup character, referenced within the game engine. Never include one within a description.)
Learn from my mistake: never write a mass of room descriptions before you've drawn a layout. While it's possible to write the rooms' descriptions, stringing them all together is much harder than beginning with the map, and writing descriptions to suit.
One final tip at this point: make life easier for yourself where you can. For example, if you're going to build a shop, use the same vnum for the shop, the shopkeeper, the room used, and the first product. That way, you won't have to puzzle your way through your notes quite so much.
