Greetings & an idea...

[Xenolith]

SERVER DOWN FOR MAJOR CHANGES

BE BACK SOON!

Hiya folks,

My name is Chris, aka Xenolith, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and tell you about a little project I'm working on that some here might enjoy.

I've been reading Subjugation, and previously some of the other stories.

I'm currently learning a bit of programming and web development skills using an interesting combination of software that has inspired a rather nifty idea.

I days past I had been a big fan of MUDs/MUSHs/MOOs and the like so I decided to use a nifty MU* server called Evennia, which utilizes Python, Twisted, and Django, to learn some programming and web development.

When searching my superfluous fatty blob (brain) for something to "make" inside my shiny new MUD server, I decided that I'd give the Subjugation world a try.

Due to the nature of the server software, it will be possible to implement fairly comprehensive AI, large fleet battles, recreation of historical battles from the stories, and many of the other aspects of a MMORPG. In addition, within the same game server there could be multiple user experiences, from a social "talker" type all the way through the spectrum up to a hardcore PvP battle simulator. Economy and resources could conceivable play a major role too.

With the dual nature of this particular server being both telnet (or MUD client) and web based there will be many ways for the guests/players to interact with the server and each other. Including the ability to communicate directly with other virtual worlds via an inter-mud communications network, and a connection between the MUD and an IRC channel giving players within the environment the ability to communicate with those on IRC and the other way around.

Would anyone be interested in playing/helping with a game/project of this nature?

The first step of course is getting permission from the author for the use of his IP in this manner.

So...let me know what you think. And feel free to ask any questions.

Later,
Chris

[dellstart]

well its up to fel but if he gives his blessings...

[Xenolith]

I've popped a message off to Fel asking for permission to use the IP.

Hopefully he will grant it.

In the mean time, I'm constructing some of the basic elements of the server, such as the web presence and basic virtual world infrastructure.

I'm a little disappointed that there has only been on response to this topic so far, and a dubiously positive one at that.

Later,
Chris

[DigitalMaestro]

I'm interested by the concept. Regrettably, I've had to pull out of the gaming world mostly as I have been too busy with work to maintain active characters. Maybe I'll be able to imagine the time to play with this!
-DM

[Xenolith]

I have received permission to use the Imperium series intellectual property in the game.

I have a few more things to flesh out on the web site and code-base before I make the address public. I'll build bit of the TES so we can all hang and discuss where to go next.

Also, please note that this is a test implementation of the game, and should be considered the alpha phase of development.
This alpha will be used as a proof of concept for a more robust implementation at a later date.
If you decide to participate anything you contribute should be backed up on your own computer for safety and re-use later.

In addition, the server that this is hosted on is my play server in Toronto. As more users start using the services on it, there will be instances where I will need to tune everything to work correctly within the limited resources available.

If, when we get to the beta stage of development, the resource requirements exceed what is available on this server I will begin soliciting donations to help purchase a semi-dedicated VPS with greater resources for this endeavor. This will not be so expensive as I have a massive discount with my provider due to the sheer volume of servers I have for my customers.

While you wait for me to get this sucker ready for flight, please peruse these resources to familiarize yourself with MUDs.

The MUDs did what now? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu*
How to connect: http://www.mudconnect.com/mud_connect.html

Recommended Windows client: http://www.mushclient.com/downloads/dlmushclient.htm
Can be run on Mac and in Linux, see this wiki page for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUSHclient

MAC client: http://www.riverdark.net/atlantis/
Linux console client: http://tinyfugue.sourceforge.net/
Linux Gnome/GTK client: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/gnome-mud/0.11/
Linux KDE client: http://www.kmud.de/


Evennia specific:
http://code.google.com/p/evennia/wiki/E ... troduction
http://code.google.com/p/evennia/wiki/U ... sAStandard
http://code.google.com/p/evennia/wiki/SoftCode
http://code.google.com/p/evennia/wiki/B ... Quickstart
http://code.google.com/p/evennia/wiki/Colours

Later,
Chris

[Xenolith]

I'm interested by the concept. Regrettably, I've had to pull out of the gaming world mostly as I have been too busy with work to maintain active characters. Maybe I'll be able to imagine the time to play with this!
-DM

Luckily with this platform you can determine what is the right amount of immersion you wanna deal with. If you wish you can just come buy to socialize.
There are no requirements for the level of participation. Perhaps you can just pop in now and again to look at the progress and give suggestions based on your exp. and familiarity with gaming.

Regardless, you are welcome to join, and all ya really need is a simple telnet client.

[Xenolith]

OK, I have some basics in there now.

There are a couple rooms. I didn't want to build too much without discussing it with other builders.

First, the website can be accessed here: http://ted.threefingers.ca

Second, the MU* can be accessed here: telnet://ted.threefingers.ca:4242
This is for a basic telnet client. A dedicated MUD client is HIGHLY recommended, and I'd like to suggest MUSHclient for windows users.

Those of you who are wanting to become builders, should send me a private message on here with your characters name and the email address you signed up with.

In your message please also include a general outline on what you would like to start building (ie, the Academy, Draconis, etc). Also, be aware that there are some bugs in the building code that make is the preferred course of action to dig rooms and then create the exits one at a time. This will be fixed in the future.
If you want to get a little help with building let me know and we can go over it in-game.

The creation of ship classes and combat and such will require Python experience and a shell account on my server. These shell accounts will be given to those that can demonstrate ability with basic python programming. If you can learn enough to make some simple scripts that instance and extend classes, then you should be ready to start with the in depth world creation stuff. Linux command line experience is required for shell accounts.

If you would like to work on extending the web site, please become familiar with creating and extending Django apps. This will also require a shell account and Linux experience.

Anyone can contribute basic text. For instance some of the builders might need descriptions written for various objects and locations. These can be written is a simple text editor and then imported by a builder. The color codes for text are here: http://code.google.com/p/evennia/wiki/Colours

I'd like to request of the forum administrators that should more than say 10 members start responding to this thread, or creating new ones regarding the game, that a new sub-forum be created in Subjugation Universe.

I think that pretty much covers everything for now.

If I'm forgetting something let me know.

Later,
Chris

P.S. As i mentioned before this exists on a small play server I have. There is limited ram and at times the combination of the webserver, mudserver, and system scripts running make for a slow or non-responsive server. I'm still tweaking how much resources everything should get based on what they need. Please report any errors or lack or response along with the time and timezone on your clock.

[dellstart]

well this looks to be good , so sign me up!!

I means endless grinding gets to u after a while.

[Xenolith]

well this looks to be good , so sign me up!!

I means endless grinding gets to u after a while.

What aspect would you like to sign up for?

If you would like to build, what area would you like to cover?

The first step would be getting a mud client for your OS. MUSHclient, linked above, is recommended for windows.

Once ya do that, connect using the information above and get yourself to the login screen.

Once there use the following command to create a character:

create "Character Name" my_valid@email.address <password>

When you login it will be in the form of:

connect my_valid@email.address <password>

Note, the quotes around your character name are not needed to single word names...I THINK! you'll be able to figure it out. Please make sure you choose a valid email address. It is not exposed to the public or any kind of web bot. Anonymizers are OK as long as the mails i might send actually get to you. Please make sure to use a password that is not used for anything else. I will not be able to decrypt it, but still, it's just dumb using the same password for a bunch of stuff.

Once you are inside execute the command "help start".

Please note that some commands are not fully functional or are missing from Player permissions group for the time being.

Later,
Chris

[afrigeek]

hmm, interesting idea. I suspect that at this time of year most of us here are drowning in RL issues at our work places as financial years close and project need to be completed, budgets used up, and of course striving to complete some things in order to get some free time during the holiday season etc which probably explains the slow response to this At least that is what is happening on my end.

Anyway hopefully I will be able to squeeze some time out of my crazy schedule for this because it does sound very interesting.

[Xenolith]

K, I'm gonna make some changes on the server.
Gonna replace Apache with lighttpd, so...the web interface will be more traditional but SO much faster and lighter.
Found another Pythonic mud server that IS way more mature, stable and feature rich than Evennia.

Wish me luck, when I am done I will post relevant info in another thread.