Member Discussions

I'm sure this has been done before somewhere, by someone, but I've not seen it in my limited experience.

My idea is pretty simple, I think. I would like to include graphics in my MUD. The basics being like when you fight something, it's picture appears in a certain place on the client (a proprietary one, obviously). Or if you examine someone, their picture appears. This being done with the idea that eventually, perhaps some animation will be added (gifs maybe?).

I guess I'm asking if this would be a fairly easy thing to do? Would it be something you include on the client's side that is added to with updates for new monsters and players?

Anyway ... my main goal was to give players the opportunity (if they wanted) to present a picture of their character the way they wanted to be portrayed. There are probably thousands of "A rough looking man with dangerous eyes peering out of a shrouded cloak." The rest of the things (adding monster pictures, room pictures, groups, etc) would be fairly easy to add after that.

There's a protocol you can use to do this. I believe MXP does it.

I do not have answer for what you are asking, but the point of my reply is just an opinion I would like to give: a MUD is wonderfull to play right because it's written. Adding pictures to it will limit the imagination of persons, and or you add great quality in pictures and animations, or you turn your very good mud into a bad on-line game (hey, you just need to remember how bad a movie based on a book is... Can you point me a movie based on a book that is better than the book itself?).

My two cents. Nothing against your option at all, but as this is a discussion forum, just wanted to give my opinion :)

Maybe in the future I change my idea, but I truly dunno.

Viriato:
> Can you point me a movie based on a book that is better
> than the book itself?).

Anything based on an Alistair McLean novel. The original version of Day of the Jackal. In my opinion some of John Le Carré's work, although I know I may be in the minority there. And arguably also The Godfather parts 1 and 2.

However, the more general point is a good one. By adding limited graphics to a MUD, I think what one will end up with is not something that feels like an enhanced MUD but something that feels like a severely crippled graphical MMORPG.

I've thought about the idea before, but... you'd end up doing a lot of work that wouldn't have any real impact on the game itself.

This is really easy; when you examine someone, the server will just send a command that your client can recognise, followed by the number of the picture.

If you check the graphical MUD listing on this website, you can find quite a few MUD's that are using this idea.

http://www.aluraonline.com/upload/anew.JPG
http://www.nightmist-online.co.uk/nmsite/nmscreen.php

I take the other POV: Adding limited graphics is good. It does change the MUD from a text-only book to a graphic novel.

I'm working on a toolkit that's gone a few steps further than you've described. http://www.CircumReality.com .

Unless the words are somehow integrated with the graphics, you'd be better off calling it a book with pictures.

Hi,

A number of MUDs have graphical clients -- all the Iron Realms games and the Skotos games (www.ironrealms.com and www.skotos.net).

The Skotos games typically provide a 2d map as you move around, and provide functionality to show an image when a player looks at a picture or other objects that support it.

If you want to implement something like that yourself, I think you'd provide the player with a client, and then send a command from the MUD to the client that the client recognises so it can show the relevant picture. :)

- Thomas.

I meant drawing a bunch of object, characters, etc.

As much as I hate to give them credit for anything the Evil -M- as done this
through having special fonts. (http://www.medievia.com/fonts.html)

I came across this yesterday while searching for muds and mapping
techniques (anyone have any hints for mapping resources, am using Os X).
Anyway the pics look nicer than some ascii maps I've seen... of course other
fonts look uglier.

Hmm, I have to wonder if a custom font might be something work tinkering around with myself...

Ahoy.

I guess that appart from the chances already posted here, and without creating your own client, you can only make a graphical mud by sending ASCII images.

There are some programs around that change pictures to ASCI (the ones I have reference of were got from TMC foruns, if I am not wrong) - check JAVE5, for example.