------------------
#include <spazz.h>
int name()
{
char name['B','u','d','d','B','o''y']
}
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MMMM... I love pi!!

Wow -- for a second I thought I was reading an old post. You match up almost exactly with what Riflefire (another user on here) is hoping to do with a Christian-based sci-fi MUD.

As Buddboy already referenced, it just so happens that for the past year and a half I've been working on a flexible bare-bones MUD engine for the explicit purpose of enabling MUD designers to create non-fantasy-encumbered MUDs. As you've seen, so many MUD code-bases out there are so entrenched in the fantasy D&D genre that it's nearly impossible to divorce the core of the MUD engine from fantasy and spells and other such things. So I set out to write a MUD engine that is completely game-type agnostic. I've tried to make it just as catered to writing a coordinate-based space-ship game as much as a standard room-based hack'n'slash type of MUD. It's not perfect, but some people like it, and I think it's got some potential. Because it's not built for one specific type of genre, it needs a little more work to get a MUD up and running (much like an LPMud), but I've done my best to make it simple for people to use.

So basically, the engine is called MITE, which stands for "MUD In The Eyes" (a reference to Jesus opening the eyes of a blind man). A "mite" is also a very small insect, and my code base intends to be as small and concise as possible. It's also a homonym with (sounds like) "might", which is a reference to how powerful the engine is designed to be.

It is written entirely in C#, and it is very similar to LPMud in that everything is scripted in the game. Everything that defines gameplay (such as what verbs do or how movement works) is implemented with dynamically-compiled scripts that can be changed, added or removed while the server is still running (so that users don't need to disconnect for you to fix a bug or add a new feature). It comes with its own administrative GUI program that connects to a MITE server and lets you browse all of the in-game verbs, scripts and objects and modify everything inside a Windows point-and-click environment. This administrator GUI even works remotely so that any admins you want to give access can connect to your server (it is password protected as well for extra security).

I'm currently typing this from an internet cafe in Accra, Ghana (a country in West Africa) where my wife and I are visiting to do some computer work as a sort of short-term missions project. I don't have my laptop with me at the moment, and I don't have my bookmarks or my source code information or other such things. I'd love to talk with you about this some more -- in the meanwhile, here are some links I was able to dig up.

An old post of mine where I explain some of how Mite works. Some of it may be a little outdated, but it should help give you an idea of how the engine has progressed.

Here is a Yahoo! Group for the project. It's not terribly active, but I try to post relevant upgrades, features and bug fixes still. Perhaps more interestingly, there is a lot of content to read on there if you get interested/bored.

Here's a screenshot of the IDE that shows how you edit scripts and stuff.

You mentioned Mudconnect, so here's my thread on there where I posted about MITE. I got a *lot* of good comments and criticism about the project, and I've already implemented many of the suggestions I received on there regarding shortcomings that were in MITE's design. I think there are also screenshots in there to more of the MITE gui.

As a side-note, it's a hope of mine that this engine be used to make games that are Christian-based (not necessarily overly labeled as "Christian", but at least games that are driven by a Christian worldview). Out of curiosity, are you a Christian? It's certainly not a necessity for you to be in order to work with Mite -- it's just a question. I'm certainly more willing to give away licenses to Christian game developers, but as the engine is still in alpha (very close to beta), for people who are alpha/beta testers I generally offer them a pretty free license package that will let them use the engine even after it goes gold. If you got such a license, you would be free to use it in a pay-for-play system if you want to go that way with no royalties owed whatsoever.

And again, welcome to CCN -- we're very happy to have you here! As Buddboy said, you are more than welcome to e-mail me at hanclinto at gmail dot com.

Thanks!

--clint

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited August 27, 2006).]

quote:

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Originally posted by phasematt:
Hello,
I am currently looking for a good text (MUD) engine that i can use to make a good science fiction game with. The problem with EVERY single one I have tried is that its hardcoded in with fantasy themes. I want to make a exclusively science fiction game. I don't care to make another fantasy game cause there are literally 100's of them. Anyone know of such a engine? I know a bit about c++, perl, visual basic, and c#. Not enough to write my own engine yet but still learning. I asked on mudconnecter.com about getting someone to write me a science fiction codebase but nobody was interested. Anyone here interested? If not, at least let me know if there is a engine that i can easily pull out the fantasy elements (magic/dragons/necromancers/etc) and put in the science fiction components. I tried SMAUG but it was a bit too difficult to understand how to pull the fantasy out. I even tried renaming the spells and all but it really still forced me to have a strange fantasy/science fiction mixture which i really don't want to have. Exclusively science fiction is what i am after. Why you may ask? Cause the market is full to the top with fantasy muds. I want a different tyep game and I happen to love science fiction. Why not graphic games you may ask? Well i just happen to love retro-games. I grew up on graphic games but hey when i found text games and muds in particular, they make me think and stimulate me a lot more. Having the pictures already done for me makes it less stimulating i think. Oh yeah, also, LPMud's look cool but thats another language to learn and i rather just stick to what I know a bit about. So, if there is any engine with a blank slate (like LPMud's) but in basic or c++ or c#, i guess I rather try my hand at that than have to learn lpcode. Still, IS there already any science fiction Only codebase out there? Oh yeah, I have tried SWR but it makes me vomit too. Oh yeah, is anyone interested in helping with creating such a mud with me? OR is anyone out there interested in Science Fiction and wanting to make a mud? Maybe i will join you or you can join me. Whatever. Plus it would be great to have the mud be a pay for play type setup. You can get in contact with me at Phasematt@gmail.com or reply here.

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Hey Phasematt,
WOW, you and I need to get together. How did you find out about our neck of the woods? I just read your post on Mudconnect.com and you need to know that the majority of those people are not interested in coding a completely new code base. They have used the "Stock" code bases for so long that they are not really that open to creating a new code base. Especially one that isn't open for magic usage. Another fact of the matter is that creating a new code base takes an extremely large amount of time and effort. MITE has taken a year to its current state. Hanclinto maybe able to tell you how many hours it has taken him. And with MITE, you still do not have a runnable mud. It is indeed the blank slate type Mud Engine you requested.
Its so good to see someone with a love for scifi. I hope that we can get together and work on a scifi mud. I have sent you a letter to your gmail account. One thing, the mud I am working on has Christian aspects to it. I hope your not adverse to such things.
On MITE, HanClinto has done a fantastic job on it. It currently runs on Windows XP. At least, the GUI is tied to XP exclusively right now. The server may or may not run on other platforms. I am so glad to see you mention knowing some C#. Because it is a requirement for creating your mud with the MITE engine. IF you do not know C#, then its going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to create a mud with MITE.
The GUI part of MITE is a great piece of work. It is now seperated from the server and connects via the internet to the server. It is password protectable too so that nobody can easily break into your server. The GUI allows basic object manipulation. Everything in MITE is an object. The rooms, players, etc. All the objects have attributes. For example: A ship object has an attribute of say IS_SHIP and you set it to whatever, be it true/false or text or just a number. (IE: bool, text, integer, etc). But i digress, the GUI allows object creation, deletion and associated attribute manipulation. It also has sections for script writing and then a section for associating those scripts with the verbs (like GET or DROP). Its really a fantastic system. Also, on the script writing, it has a script compiler and the text in the compiler is highlighted as to different parts like text strings and keywords and etc. Also, the script compiler displays error messages (sometimes a bit cryptic though) but if you click on the error message, a lot of times, it will take you right to the offending line with the error.
You connect to the server and play the game via Telnet. Like Telnet Riflefire.net 4000 or Telnet 123.123.123.123 4000. I think either method would work. An the glory of the system is that any change you make in the gui, is immediately felt in the running game. No need to shut it down usually.
Anyway, you can join the MITE Forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MITE_engine (least I think thats the link!)
HanClinto (Clint) runs that forum and you can ask questions and get usually prompt answers. Right now though, clint is in africa on a mission trip so if the reply is a bit delayed, thats why.
Please check your email.
RifleFire@AOL.COM