IF MMO?

It's not unlike "multiplayer" IF, I would say, which has been
discussed a few times in the past. I think the biggest problem is the
turn-based nature of IF mixing with the typically real-time nature of
multiplayer games, and I haven't heard too many convincing arguments.

That said, I've already adapted a text-parsing engine similar to
Inform (the older version, not 7) into a networked multiplayer 3D
engine, so all you'd really need to do is set up the main screen to be
a text GUI rather than a 3D worldspace, and you're basically good to
go. Of course, that seems like trying to kill a fly with a shotgun,
but hey, the multiplayer network code and the text parser are already
there, you'd just need to figure out how different clients would
interact with each other.



WiseManofthe....TakeThisOut@gmail.com wrote:
> So I've been browsing the web for awhile now and can't find any info
> on the possibility's of making an interactive fiction MMO or
> multiplayer game. I'm really new to IF and making IF so this might
> sound stupid. Right now I'm slowly learning Inform 7 and would like to
> make it using that system. Has it been done before and if not is it
> possible to do. Thanks.
 >> Stay informed about: IF MMO? 

<WiseManoftheSea DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote in message
news:cc4b9437-2cb9-46af-be84-a96d0ca44c84@d70g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
> So I've been browsing the web for awhile now and can't find any info
> on the possibility's of making an interactive fiction MMO or
> multiplayer game. I'm really new to IF and making IF so this might
> sound stupid. Right now I'm slowly learning Inform 7 and would like to
> make it using that system. Has it been done before and if not is it
> possible to do. Thanks.

It doesn't sound stupid at all. It sounds intriguing. It would require a
backbone coded to allow multiple people into the same worldspace, and I'm
sure plenty of special client/server code, but the theory is sound.

I work on MMOs for a living, so I know a bit about how they work. A shared
text environment isn't that much different than a shared 3D environment.

Man, this is an interesting project idea.

Imagine multiple people interacting with an object at the same time and the
possibilities that could bring. If I hit the barrel and you hit the barrel,
one of our commands would be interpreted first, and one of us would succeed,
while the other gets the "It's already broken" message. Who loots it? Heh.

Sounds like fun.

(I remember in the mid 80s at college a friend of mine trying to make a
Multi-Player version of Hack (or NetHack these days) so while each person
saw himself as the @ symbol, other players were represented by numerals. 1,
2, etc. He had the thing up and functioning as a shell, without a game
behind it, but it was fun even just to walk around the dungeons together.)

Sean.
 >> Stay informed about: IF MMO? 

WiseManoftheSea.TakeThisOut@gmail.com wrote:
> So I've been browsing the web for awhile now and can't find any info
> on the possibility's of making an interactive fiction MMO or
> multiplayer game. I'm really new to IF and making IF so this might
> sound stupid. Right now I'm slowly learning Inform 7 and would like to
> make it using that system. Has it been done before and if not is it
> possible to do. Thanks.

You would need to write such a system yourself, or adapt an existing
system. There's a IF framework written in Python called "PAWS"
(http://members.nuvox.net/~zt.wolf/PAWS.htm) and since Python is pretty
good for writing networking code, I would start with that.

If you aren't familiar with general purpose programming languages, then
you're out of luck; none of the existing IF systems can do that.
 >> Stay informed about: IF MMO? 

On Feb 7, 6:53 pm, goldf....RemoveThis@OCF.Berkeley.EDU (David Goldfarb) wrote:
> In article <cc4b9437-2cb9-46af-be84-a96d0ca44....RemoveThis@d70g2000hsb.googlegroups.com>,

> The first multiplayer fantasy games were text-based: the key word
> you want is "MUD", which initially stood for "Multi-User Dungeon".
> The first one I heard of (almost twenty years ago now) was called
> AberMUD; it had objects you could take, and monsters you could fight,
> and some puzzles to solve. Later on more social-based ones arose,
> which were to AberMUD sort of as "Second Life" is to "World of
> Warcraft". Also user programmability was introduced. Look up
> "TinyMUD" and "MUSH" and "MUCK" and "MOO", and "LPMUD".
>
> There's probably stuff there that I never knew or forgot about,
> but it's a place to start.


So I started looking at MUDs and what they are. I'm still a bit
confused about them. I also looked for a MUD creator for the Mac but
couldn't find anything. So is a MUD basically the same as IF just
multiplayer? If anyone is getting interested in the idea, I'm wanting
to make a Western one, either MUD now that it looks like the only one
I could do, or somehow get Inform to be able to make one. It seems
like Inform could with the right plug-ins but like I said I'm new to
it so I don't know.

Also, I don't do any coding as far as that goes. I guess I could learn.
 >> Stay informed about: IF MMO? 

WiseManoftheSea.RemoveThis@gmail.com wrote:

> So I've been browsing the web for awhile now and can't find any info
> on the possibility's of making an interactive fiction MMO or
> multiplayer game. I'm really new to IF and making IF so this might
> sound stupid. Right now I'm slowly learning Inform 7 and would like to
> make it using that system. Has it been done before and if not is it
> possible to do. Thanks.

Your message is better suited to rec.arts.int-fiction, which is a
newsgroup for creating IF, rather than playing. I have cross-posted and
set follow-ups to that group.




Brian
 >> Stay informed about: IF MMO? 

On Feb 7, 1:29 am, WiseManofthe....DeleteThis@gmail.com wrote:
> So I've been browsing the web for awhile now and can't find any info
> on the possibility's of making an interactive fiction MMO or
> multiplayer game. I'm really new to IF and making IF so this might
> sound stupid. Right now I'm slowly learning Inform 7 and would like to
> make it using that system. Has it been done before and if not is it
> possible to do. Thanks.

ifMUD has something like this set up. The bot "Floyd" runs IF games,
several players can access it at once, and by using multifloyd.h
(found in the if-archive at programming/inform6/library/
contributions), you can have the game distinguish between different
players. One example of using the library is Werewolf, found at
http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/source/inform/werewolf.inf.

I don't think it'd be too difficult to port multifloyd to Inform 7.
You'd need to write a new front end (the networking code and the
interface to the terp) if you want to use it outside of ifMUD, though.

vw
 >> Stay informed about: IF MMO? 

"Rubes" <SLCRubes.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:e5ed2714-b052-4339-b410-7cc65a9e8871@q39g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> It's not unlike "multiplayer" IF, I would say, which has been
> discussed a few times in the past. I think the biggest problem is the
> turn-based nature of IF mixing with the typically real-time nature of
> multiplayer games, and I haven't heard too many convincing arguments.

It only needs to be real-time if you want it to be - if that's your
game-design.

But multiplayer IF would simply take each subsequent input (no matter who
input it) as a turn, and turns happen in the order the server gets the
commands.

Of course all responses would be displayed before the next command executed,
so everyone playing sees the action.

What could really be cool is if depending on the characters playing, each
player might see different responses. Taking as an extreme example, the
robots in Suspended. If each player played a particular role, the seeing
robot would get a response about what he sees, a hearing robot what he
hears, and so on. Or stats on a player could allow him to see more detail
than someone who isn't as observant, stats-wise. Or if a person has a
particular item in his inventory, or has inserted a translator in his ear,
the players each might get a completely different response.

Sean.
 >> Stay informed about: IF MMO? 

In article <cc4b9437-2cb9-46af-be84-a96d0ca44c84.RemoveThis@d70g2000hsb.googlegroups.com>,
<WiseManoftheSea.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote:
>So I've been browsing the web for awhile now and can't find any info
>on the possibility's of making an interactive fiction MMO or
>multiplayer game.

The first multiplayer fantasy games were text-based: the key word
you want is "MUD", which initially stood for "Multi-User Dungeon".
The first one I heard of (almost twenty years ago now) was called
AberMUD; it had objects you could take, and monsters you could fight,
and some puzzles to solve. Later on more social-based ones arose,
which were to AberMUD sort of as "Second Life" is to "World of
Warcraft". Also user programmability was introduced. Look up
"TinyMUD" and "MUSH" and "MUCK" and "MOO", and "LPMUD".

There's probably stuff there that I never knew or forgot about,
but it's a place to start.

--
David Goldfarb |"I want instant gratification -- and I'm
goldfarb.RemoveThis@ocf.berkeley.edu | willing to wait for it."
goldfarb.RemoveThis@csua.berkeley.edu | -- Patrick Nielsen Hayden
 >> Stay informed about: IF MMO? 

Rubes wrote:
> It's not unlike "multiplayer" IF, I would say, which has been
> discussed a few times in the past. I think the biggest problem is the
> turn-based nature of IF mixing with the typically real-time nature of
> multiplayer games, and I haven't heard too many convincing arguments.

I've got a couple of convincing arguments.

Chess
Go
Checkers
Bridge
Hearts
....


Regards,
Victor
 >> Stay informed about: IF MMO? 

WiseManoftheSea.DeleteThis@gmail.com wrote:

> So I started looking at MUDs and what they are. I'm still a bit
> confused about them.

One way to get familiar is to find one and play a bit.

> So is a MUD basically the same as IF just multiplayer?

MUDs are roleplaying games for the most part. You perform tasks
(usually but not necessarily combat) to advance your character. As it
becomes more powerful, tougher challenges can be mastered.





Brian

--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)
 >> Stay informed about: IF MMO? 

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 >> Stay informed about: IF MMO? 

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 >> Stay informed about: IF MMO?