A Platform For Experiments

MrMaker · May 6, 2015, 5:19 PM

So, I want to provide a user-friendly platform for experimental NWOD and GMC and OWOD games. because I have 80% set one up. The idea is a person with a game idea but little to no coding ability should be able to whip up a game. At this point, it needs lab rats, so what I want to do is host multiple games on the same database to hammer out specific needs and wants for spheres that I do not play and do not staff for and thus would otherwise not have an opportunity to learn about, so I can find out what options need to be in it. Once a few games have been set up and run on it for like a year or so, then I can safely say "Hey, you can plug and play your own game, have all this code."

WHAT THE HELL IS IT?
It's a game with a script on it that sorts players by &_game attribute so that commands like +sheet, +roll, +where, +who, and +jobs refer to information and options specific to their game. You share game space with other people. It's scripted because the end idea one day is to give people who are like "what is linux" a Game In A Box they can copy and paste into their MU* window and get going. All they have to do, code wise, is fill in some blanks. I understand that Mux In A Minute exists but I think it's ugly dog shit.

PROS AND CONS

PRO: Free MU* hosting.
CON: You're on your own for a Wiki.
PRO: Your game can be ready to play as soon as your grid and news files are ready (unless you require code that does not yet exist).
CON: This is scripted, not hard-coded, so that means that your game co-exists with other games. If you want to move your game to an independent solution you will be able to, just not instantly, because I'll need to make a copy of the original, make sure the other games are wiped off of that copy, and then send you THAT copy. I'd still do it, you'd just need to give me notice.
PRO: You do not have to touch anything server-side, ever.
CON: You CAN'T touch anything server-side. Since this is geared towards non-coders this shouldn't be a huge con, but you should be aware of it, and also that you can't log in to #1 to @admin things. It's not very often that you have to do that in the first place, but again, be aware.

WHAT ALREADY EXISTS?

ANY SYSTEM:
- A +Job system that lets you switch and flip between games.
- Game-sorted +Where and +Who
- A Character Generation system you can fill in the blanks for
- An Equipment system that lets you generate game-specific equipment lists. Equipment given to players can be concealed, stored, or equipped so that stuff like +glance will tell someone that so and so is armed. It probably has bugs in it since it's the newest thing.
- A pose XP system which you can customize the gain-rate and weekly cap of, a +vote system which you can customize the restrictions of X a day and blah blah, a +Rec system, what the fuck am I missing, Oh, also I am pretty sure there's an XP system that rewards you for signing in but I haven't used it in ever. But anyway, XP systems.
Old World Of Darkness 20th Anniversary Edition:
- Character generation, +sheets and dice rolling for Vampire, Demon, and Werewolf (+Fera); Mage and other spheres can be put in there real easy-like.
- Sphere commands for Vampire, Demon and Werewolf since those were the ones I got asked for first (by that I mean mechanics for the shit specific to them are laid out, werewolves can shapeshift and their stats get buffed, vampires can +pump their physicals, etc. etc.)
*New World Of Darkness and GMC:
- Character generation (GMC and NWOD) for Vampire, Werewolf, Geist, and Changeling with merit pre-requisite checking because I HATE CROSS-REFERENCING, and if someone explains to me how the FUCK Changing Breeds and Demon work I'll put them in, too.
- The sheet, dice rolling, etc. shit doesn't exist yet but it'll exist in a few weeks since I just have to bring the NWOD diceroller and sheets I already made back in the day.onto this game's dbase and make sure they're friendly to my little like, you know, mix-and-match structure.
- Sphere commands for Changeling lying around somewhere from when I did Keep Austin Wyrd which totally flopped because I was an idiot and didn't supply good story (I'd like to bring it back since I do have a story for it now) but the code is solid.

WHY THE HELL DOES THIS EXIST
Because I've coded for other people since like 2008 and I've kept everything and decided one day I'd make it relevant again by throwing it into a pot and make it hierarchal to a game-control object so I can make a Mux In A Box The Way You Like It system.

HOW THE HELL WOULD BBOARDS WORK
A shitload of BBs with locks, frankly, so it'll be horrifying to type +bbread on staff-side if you want to see all that shit, but I've logged on to games like The Screech and seen like "+BB 251" so I, mean, it won't kill you.

WHAT DO I DO TO GET A GAME?

I recommend you to plan out your grid first. I do require you to have your grid rooms named with a consistent prefix (or prefixes), like, you know, the name of the city or the name of the game. For immediate example all By Right Of Blood grid squares are prefixed MIAMI, MIAMI BEACH or EVERGLADES. So, if I wanted to extract my game's grid, then I could run a search for anything beginning with MIAMI, MIAMI BEACH, or EVERGLADES. That way, if you ever need to move, it won't be a GIGANTIC PAIN IN THE ASS. because you can get all your grid sorted out. Don't worry about characters, they will have a &_game attribute that says "This person is playing on this game" so they, too, can be sorted out if you need to move.
Tell me these things:

What game you're using (CWOD? NWOD? GMC?) and if your setting is historical such that you need shit like "Technology" and "Drive" replaced with Ride and ... Magic. Or something.
What spheres? And of those spheres, what do you want to allow or not allow? I had someone once ask me for Demon and Bastet and Vampire.
If there are limitations you want in CG like "nobody can have fight stats over X", tell me those too. It's a matter of setting up if statements.
Your desired XP system. Available options are pose xp,+vote, timed release, +rec, and I am working currently on a Beats system. You can mix and match and have more than one.
Your desired policies on character advancement. You can make it like BROB where you just walk up to an XP room and spend your shit without staff bothering with it, or you can make it a request system with staff aproval, or you can mix these options so long as you tell me what you want the XP commands to not auto-allow players to buy.

Pick a port number that isn't 7373, 1870, 8989, 1930 or 2015 since those are taken.
Entrust me with your email or phone number so that I can notify you personally about any possible downtime stuff, like server updates.

WHAT WOULD STAFFING BE LIKE?
Instead of being set "wizard" or "royalty," you'll be given an attribute that tells the Staff Commands what people you have permission to use its commands on. You'll be able to do All The Things, from sheet management and approvals to going (un)dark, you just won't be able to peek on other peoples' stuff.

The exception is if you need to find out if Jimbo is being an asshole on neighbor games. You can +alts/gamecheck Jimbo. = Reason. That'll open up a global +request that is CCed to all staff (ALL STAFF D:). The contents of the +Request will list Jimbo's alts on the other games and be accompanied with your comment. So, +alts/gamecheck Jimbo = Jimbo keeps throwing epic temper tantrums when he loses combat scenes, be warned, and it'll come out like JImbo (Jimbob on GeistMUX, Kayla and Jody on ChangelingMUX) keeps throwing epic temper tantrums when he loses combat scenes, be warned."

Coin · May 5, 2015, 5:03 PM

This is awesome. You should get with @Thenomain so you can see the chargen he's written for Eldritch, among other things he's done. Especially since he's already mostly (mostly) finished Werewolf and Vampire 2E and is doing Demon.

I love this. More small games, less big fishes.

Thenomain · May 5, 2015, 5:05 PM

(I will have a more coherent panic/response when I get home.)

MrMaker · May 5, 2015, 5:06 PM

Is that a bad or a good thing

Coin · May 5, 2015, 5:06 PM

@Thenomain said:

(I will have a more coherent panic/response when I get home.)

You big baby. What is there to panic about?

MrMaker · May 5, 2015, 5:20 PM

So for more info,

If you are a staffer, you aren't given game-wide permissions, you're given access to an object. What it does is gives you all the commands you need to perform your job (sheet setting, attribute setting, XP setting, blah blah) and it makes sure you're only doing that to people who are on the same game as you. You can't peek on other peoples' games. You can't fuck with other peoples' sheets unless you're staff for that game. RIGHT NOW the +game/switchto command isn't locked up, but there can be a lock put on its use so that you can't just switchto games you aren't on the staff roster for.

If you are a brand new player, when you sign on you'll see a generic connection screen which will list the name of all the games because I am a doodyhead who doesn't know how to make the connection screen report something different to you if you put in a different port.

So you sign in and it' slike WELCOME TO JD'S STEADY DESCENT INTO MADNESS PICK A GAME, Public is a shared-across-games channel and you can page people across games because this is all scripted in, i's not coded in. Shut up. I had a lot of free time.

Thenomain · May 5, 2015, 5:18 PM

@GentlemanJack said:

Is that a bad or a good thing

That depends. If Coin wants to volunteer me for new projects, maybe he doesn't want to open next weekend after all.

is "I have no mouth and I must scream". Mu* coding is leaving me a bit panicked right now, is all.

MrMaker · May 5, 2015, 5:19 PM

Oh, don't worry man, hahaha, I can do it myself. I don't want extra coders. I mean, if you want to help then sure I ain't gonna be like NOOOOO but

What I want is LABRATS.

Coin · May 5, 2015, 5:23 PM

@Thenomain said:

@GentlemanJack said:

Is that a bad or a good thing

That depends. If Coin wants to volunteer me for new projects, maybe he doesn't want to open next weekend after all.

is "I have no mouth and I must scream". Mu* coding is leaving me a bit panicked right now, is all.

I didn't volunteer you for anything! I said Jack should talk to you! I'd never volunteer you without your consent. I'm not a monster. I'm not @Eerie.

Thisnameistaken · May 5, 2015, 5:25 PM

I'll be a lab rat. I might actually learn something.

MrMaker · May 5, 2015, 5:46 PM

Sweeeet. I'm updating the first post with more information so if you have questions I'll also put the answers there.

Bennie · May 5, 2015, 6:10 PM

How will the Wiki work, if at all?

MrMaker · May 5, 2015, 6:14 PM

Well, I don't offer to host your wiki.

So, you go to MediaWiki or ShoutWiki or what is it, Wikia? If you want MediaWiki you're gonna have to pay for hosting somewhere,

If you need MediaWiki, then free isn't free, but, you still get the hardest part done for you.

Arkandel · May 5, 2015, 6:50 PM

@GentlemanJack It'd probably be a bad idea to give anyone access to stuff they can put on the web server. The last thing you need is iffy pornography served through machines traced to you.

MrMaker · May 5, 2015, 7:01 PM

@Arkandel Agreed. I don't offer to host Wikis, and I don't intend to let you actually access the server itself. Please let me know if there's some other factor I'm not considering w/r/t that kind of issue, but, I don't intend to give people their own free directory on my VPS, I intend to ask them to let me use them as lab rats for a Mux In A Box project.

Wizz · May 5, 2015, 9:46 PM

VIKING WEREWOLF 2.0
RENAISSANCE oMAGE
DEMON (DESCENT) NOIR
DEMON (FALLEN) ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE...(or just regular-type apocalypse?!)
CYBERPUNK REQUIEM

I want all the things

MrMaker · May 5, 2015, 9:57 PM

YES

GET STAFF
MAKE A GRID
HAVE SPACE VAMPIRES WITH LASER BEAMS SHOOTING OUT OF THEIR EYES

edit: LASER BEAMS SHOOTING OUT OF THEIR TITS

Miss Demeanor · May 5, 2015, 10:22 PM

LASERTITS... goddamn that takes me back. XD

Sunny · May 6, 2015, 12:57 AM

Dear god this is amazing. I have a site where a couple of my lovely friends that code (I am not outing you, y'all can do that) have put some stuff together to let us host a ton of different systems themselves on one site, but not like that. If you want to come poke around and take a look to see some of what they've done (I can't give anything away, but I can let you look!), you're more than welcome to. We are NOWHERE near as advanced as this, but the baby steps of different room parents / dice rollers / character sheets / etc are mostly in place.

This is an excellent idea and service for a million and one reasons that I do not quite have the time to squeal about, but you are amazing and wonderful and if I can help (I do not code well at all) please let me know.

I do have questions for consideration, though -- it's something we ran into on my site. What if I, as a staffer, feel a need to siteban someone? What if someone else does, but I like having that player in my game?

ETA: Do have makes way more sense than have do.

Bobotron · May 6, 2015, 12:58 AM

Hopefully you can make it work. You'll want to advertise other places than JUST WORA though to see how much you can stress test it. A friend of mine runs a game on a MU* very similar setup (though only TT OWoD) and it just seems... very dead, because of lack of people on board.

Awesome job though, integrating all that much stuff.