MajorMUD Complete

[Torque]

  Hey folks, I've got a question for you all. Here are the things I want:
-a way for this community to move forward, with majormud as the basis
a. including popularity with the game (grow the user base)
b. ability to implement mods easily (more user base interaction)
c. a way to balance the combat system
d. my concurrent gaming idea
e. a way for people to create content to add to the game without undermining the creator(s)
f. major/greatermud to be complete

Here is what I have:
-money
-years of unhealthy dedicated
-MONEY

Maybe it's possible to get coders from other muds to come over and help port. Does anyone know of people who might be interested?

[twogirlz]

There are a lot of potential players out there, its doubtful that greatermud will become open source thought.  Round based combat systems will always have massive flaws, the only way we can begin to balance it is by removing rounds and changing the game to a realtime system, which would be breaking a fundamental of the game and a very difficult feat.

What i would like is a third realm where development content is available, such as mod 10 and progressive (beta) changes to the game are implemented for player testing.  T

BTW. There is a donate button in the menu bar in this forum, if you donate enough vitoc will have more motivation to develop!

[kalus]

From what I understand, without any first hand knowledge of the situation, Vitoc not having enough time to spend on GreaterMud is the biggest roadblock to moving this thing forward... given that he is the only guy that can work on it, started it, owns it and is not likely to open source it any time soon.

If you are serious about throwing money at it, talk to Vitoc before you do anything.

Your goals sound pretty damn good to me. I'd love to see GMUD in CryENGINE3

[Thesifer]

Vitoc has known for a long time that he won't have any time to work on GreaterMUD in a meaningful sense for years to come.  I'm not entirely sure why he doesn't just set a "Donate" limit that he will open source the code after that limit.   

He knows he won't re-coupe the time spent, as no one will ever donate that much, and definitely no one will be buying enough copies if he ever does finish it in 2016 or so to make the time spent worthwhile. 

Should probably offer up a limit of $1,000 or $2,000.. And open the source for whomever wants to take up the project if he hits that target.

[twogirlz]

It is hard to sell something you have committed so much time to, rebuilding majormud is an epic achievement. GNU is open source but has a massive committee to govern its development.  GMUD cannot hope for this, without an owner/directive, giving it away will probably lead to its demise, it is quite a conundrum.

[Torque]

I agree, undermining what Vitoc has done so far is not something I want to do. I do however want this project done so we can move forward. I've talked to a few coders and it's realistic; I just know that bringing in a non mudder would create a money sink as far as time needed for communicating the intricacies of this lovely realistic game we have. I have talked to a few, and I'm getting better at relaying the project to an outsider, but I'd really rather get someone like Vitoc -- or at least guys from DikuMUD or *something* so they have the slightly clue what's going on. Most of the people who are familiar are older gents, and while that's not a problem, that's like hiring a 75 year old doctor to fix your broken knee. I'd just rather have a doc fresh out of med school with all the new tech in mind.

[Thesifer]

It is hard to sell something you have committed so much time to, rebuilding majormud is an epic achievement. GNU is open source but has a massive committee to govern its development.  GMUD cannot hope for this, without an owner/directive, giving it away will probably lead to its demise, it is quite a conundrum.

The problem being, Vitoc has said he doesn't have time or the ability to work on GreaterMUD.  He has an eye condition that prevents him from working on the game after he is off work.   And unless he's thinking about retiring from work soon, I don't see that changing anytime soon.  I was originally all for the GreaterMUD project,  I even set up the forums, and originally hosted them on my server.  Also originally owned the GreaterMUD.com domain, and gave that to Vitoc with the forums, once he had a server of his own to host it on.

  I just believe the game needs to be moved on to someone else if we're going to see it ever get finished.

[Torque]

Okay, I think it's safe to say that something needs to be done. Let me lay down a few options and anyone amend or agree with any of the options until we can figure out the most realistic angle.

1. Start from scratch. The way that I would do this is to segment the hell out of everything. Phase I: The Log in portion (network issues, etc). Phase II: Character select. Phase II: Assimilating pre-existing data from MME files into a database. Phase IV: Replicate a simple MUD interface -- hell we can even steal opensource mud code to just get the ball rolling. Recreate Newhaven and not much else. That phase will be a lot of testing and the bulk of the problems, and will probably be segmented further. Phase V: Revamp vocabulary and timings to be compatible with MegaMUD. Phase VI: Create new phases to implement modern ideas, such as mods.
-This is obviously a cumbersome option. Finding coders will be huge, but I think getting the ball rolling will generate enough popularity for at least minimal public support. We will need advice from people like DC, Gardner, Vitoc, and of course all of us mortals for specifics and ad hoc input. I think it will eventually generate a buzz big enough for the ability to start assigning roles that people can fill. In my opinion, the userbase is key.
Im creating a new post because the editing window in this forum is garbage

[Torque]

2. Work with Vitoc to find some kind of avenue. This option is the most realistic because it's the most simple, but also very difficult. To paraphrase, "If there had been a way... I would have done it". One thing that I think might have some pull -- although unlikely -- is to enter into business with Vitoc. What I mean by that is get some kind of contract going, or some legal thing so he's more comfortable with allowing us to grow the tree. The biggest selling point here is that if he does nothing, GreaterMUD will get recoded. If he does something, but demands an unreasonable amount, GreaterMUD will get recoded. If he does agree and it looks pretty good, GreaterMUD will get finished.

3. Port another MUD source and start from there. This has to do with hiring/finding coders still, but it has a different commitment. If I do this avenue, I'm not going to want to start from scratch and vice versa. I almost typed vice versus. This option has some different realities: There are others like me who have limited (but functional) knowledge of code, so therefore would be more "open source" friendly. Less of a marble team and more of an eclectic plaster. You can infer the pros and cons from that. Of course, this would be almost purely a sourceforge type project and people will have roles and it's easy[er] to get into it regardless of experience.

Those are my three quick synopses, what are your questions/answers? Which option do you think will gain the most ground the fastest? Do you have a better idea? Which option will be the MOST definite way to finish it? Let me remind everyone the absolute BEST option would be to support Vitoc and allow him to finish the project. That's what we all want, but we can't have.