Member Discussions

Am curious to find out, since its been different everyplace I've worked... what is the job of a head builder? The one who checks the rooms for errors and okays them? The one who assigns zones? the taskmaster, making sure things get done? All of the above? None of the above? looking for your thoughts :-)

In my experiences, all of the above in addition to churning out your own areas at a reasonably fast rate.

You forgot "answering the questions of builders", so they don't come asking here =]

Aww, but isn't that what here is for? ;-)

Generally I've found the dead builder to be the person who assignes vnums, okays area ideas, spell and grammar checks areas (this is a rare one though), and tries to encourage people to get their areas done. In many cases they also teach people how to build. Sometimes the head builder is responsable for hiring and firing, although I find that's less common if they're not an imp.

Personally, as a head builder (and imp), I feel I'm responc
ible for all parts of the building. I hire and fire, read area ideas, assign vnums, help builders with ideas, spell and grammar check, prod builders to finish areas, and teach building or progs. I do other things as well, but that's what I associate with being the head builder. Also, as head builder I feel it's my responcibility to turn out as many or more areas than my most prolific builder (or builders). A head builder that doesn't actually build doesn't make sense to me.

Hey! I was wondering since your a head builder and all if you could give me a brief run through on how to do it.. im totally new at the expirience and would like some help

as head builder and owner, i currely have 3 newbies to olc on my rot...they are churning out their areas pretty quickly now...

generally i can churn out about two to three areas per week (thats in the summer though, when i had no job) but now with job/homework/current injury, its about an area a week...cities are much tougher though since they are complicated and large and sometimes reduntant with descriptions so i'd say about two weeks for a city
remember that building isnt just the rooms, its the objects and mobs and making sure they reset and reset properly and not cause any bugs when compiling.

id also say from my 2+ years of being head builder on my own muds and othrs, that...umm..BUILDING CAN GET BORING AT TIMES..but i find it strange somewhat, i always listen to music when i build (tv is too distracting at times) i find that when theres a good energetic song that i like, im in a rythmn that will last for a good 15-20 minute and in that time i am able to complete around 15-20 rooms with descriptions

i also find it easier to do object and mobiles compared to rooms because they are more complicated and require your attention

for the job of a head builder? id say churn out areas as fast as possible, overview all the areas, test them before you have players test them, save the world over and over and over and over and over, keep tabs on the area list, issue out vnums, etc etc...
granted this is all easy as an IMP, ive seen much lower head builders and you wonder why they complain: its because they dont have all the commands they need to complete their task.

First recommendation when building any area, is to figure out exactly what type of area it is, and the type of MUD (Fantasy, Sci-Fi, etc). Lets say I'm creating a desert in a Medieval Fantasy type MUD. In the building guidelines I've created for my builders, I provided resources to plant and animal life for different types of terrain. So I would refer to that and gather up how I want the area to look in my mind, what type of desert plant-life (as rare as it may be) and animals I'd want, and any special rooms in the area (such as an oasis).

Then I use graph paper to map it out, room by room. If it looks good after that, then I usually build the skeleton of all the rooms first, so now what was on my paper, is now on the MUD.

After that it's nothing but creative writing. Sometimes I do rooms first, sometimes I do rooms/mobs/objects all at once, doesn't matter really.

It really depends on how detailed you want the area or MUD in general to be. I don't think I've ever, even during the summer time, pushed out an area in a week. But mine are also generally large areas.

You really want to keep the areas consistent with each other. Transition rooms between each area (like if the desert led to a mountain terrain, you'd have a few rooms to describe the transition).

At least I hope this is the information you're looking for :P