Armageddon the web-browser game

[Sokotra]

Armageddon the Home Version!  A game the whole family can play!  (sorta)

But srsly... This is mainly about making the game more friendly toward casual players and noobs.  I'll just copy and paste what I wrote in another thread, since it was sort of off-topic and got lost in the shuffle... so forgive me if it is a bit jumbled:

Is there any way we could have the capability (or option, not required) to be more like a modern "web browser game" with a couple of different interfaces that could be chosen, depending on how you wanted to play?  Everything right there on the web page could be at the noobs fingertips, while they are playing, without having to navigate around through different pages and telnet and all that jazz.  I imagine something like this would draw tons more players and make it a lot easier for new players to get into the game and figure things out. 

Heck, if you wanted you could have some simple graphics also... just pictures of whatever location you are at and that sort of thing.  Like in a nice fantasy novel you might be reading, nothing too video-gamish.  I wouldn't mind seeing a nice detailed drawing of a view like you were walking the streets of Allanak when you were there, and then a picture of the desert when you left the gates... things like that.  We've got some pictures of certain areas drawn up by the players already.  I'm not talking every room or anything like that - still leaving most of the game left to the imagination of the player - like reading a book and just seeing a picture for every chapter or something.

As an example of one of the issues casual or new players face, the same thing came to mind when I thought about karma and special apps and all that stuff:

One of the turn-offs to the game for new or casual players is the complicated issues dealing with races available/karma/special applications.  They roll up a 45 year old veteran warrior and they are pretty weak, comparatively, to what they should be.  I know all the arguments for and against this, so no need to go there, but this is still an issue.  Try to keep your arguments within the "web-browser application realm" if you can.  To really get involved in the game and be somewhat successful it seems you have to be fully committed to logging in and spending hours every night or every other night advancing your goals, skills, etc.  As I said in the advertising thread, the game should be more friendly to noobs and casual players... which is why I suggested making an optional interface (not everyone has to use it if they don't want to) for noobs to get into the game just like it was a modern "web-browser game".  If you wanted to keep all the karma and everything the same, at least you would be able to have everything right there at the fingertips of the casual player so if they wanted they could have a link or something right there during character creation that would allow them to attach a "special application form" right there to their character creation. 

Just some thoughts and examples.  My main issue is just making the accessibility and playing of the game more user-friendly... so let's try not to argue about karma and stuff too much - that was just an example of how a web-browser form of the game might make things much more streamlined.

[Marauder Moe]

1) http://www.armageddon.org/client/

2) I think the "OMG I rolled up a 45 year old veteran but he sucks at combat, this game sucks!" fear is overstated.  Armageddon newbies are not likely to be MUD newbies, or at least are not likely to be RPG newbies.  They understand the concept that you don't start out being awesome, you have to grind your way to it.

The people making that complaint are probably ones who've played enough to grasp the idea that Armageddon has a stronger focus of roleplaying vs. coded leveling, but have come to realize some of the apparent contradictions that notion creates.

2.5) I'm not sure how a graphic-y web-base interface would solve the "dilemma" above.

3) With Arm 2.0 in development, I'm not sure why you think the immortals could dedicate the time and resources needed to do what you ask (which are probably much greater than you realize).

[Barzalene]

But worth looking at for Arm.2.

[Sokotra]

1) http://www.armageddon.org/client/

2) I think the "OMG I rolled up a 45 year old veteran but he sucks at combat, this game sucks!" fear is overstated.  Armageddon newbies are not likely to be MUD newbies, or at least are not likely to be RPG newbies.  They understand the concept that you don't start out being awesome, you have to grind your way to it.

The people making that complaint are probably ones who've played enough to grasp the idea that Armageddon has a stronger focus of roleplaying vs. coded leveling, but have come to realize some of the apparent contradictions that notion creates.

2.5) I'm not sure how a graphic-y web-base interface would solve the "dilemma" above.

3) With Arm 2.0 in development, I'm not sure why you think the immortals could dedicate the time and resources needed to do what you ask (which are probably much greater than you realize).

1)  Way outdated.  Not that it isn't helpful, but yeah...

2)  Keep casual players in mind that don't have time to do the "grind".  Contradictions... exactly.

2.5)  Not meant to really solve that particular "dilemma" but just to help make things more streamlined and easier for people to get into and play even somewhat regularly and still being able to understand how to play and make characters correctly.  A lot of players probably don't even know what a special-application is.  Really, every application should be "special" in a way... or at least they would be if everything was streamlined and combined together in one process - instead of several different processes.

3)  No, I realize the effort and resources would be significant.  But yeah, you are right... I am sure they are busy enough as it is.  Which is one reason I am bringing this up.  Also, there could be some players out there that have some experience in building this sort of thing and they could offer some help.  I don't know.  Just some thoughts...  Maybe a possibility for Arm 2?  *shrug*

I'm just afraid things might continue to stagnate a little bit at its current level... even when Arm 2 is completed.

[Marauder Moe]

Actually the Flash-based MUD client there is rather new.


As for not knowing what a special application is... so what?  Newbies shouldn't be making special applications.

[wizturbo]

While I 100% agree having some kind of graphical aspects to the game would be amazingly cool, it adds a lot of necessary work.  If the MUD had some funding I'd say it'd be well worth purusing it, but getting volunteers to do tons of artwork and graphical coding isn't going to be an easy process.

[brytta.leofa]

getting volunteers to do tons of artwork and graphical coding isn't going to be an easy process.

One way to start down this path would be to add artwork to the help files.

[Sokotra]

getting volunteers to do tons of artwork and graphical coding isn't going to be an easy process.

One way to start down this path would be to add artwork to the help files.

I would like to see some more detailed drawings, but just as a start we do have quite a bit artwork already submitted by the players.

[Wolfsong]

At the risk of making no sense at all because I'm a bit out there right now, look into MXP and MSP. With MXP you can add graphics, etc., clickable links within MUDs, all sorts of nifty cool stuff. MSP is noise.

[wizturbo]

The overwhelming majority of player submitted artwork are character portraits, which are the least important pieces of artwork for a MUD because character's die regularly.  Landscapes, items, buildings, in-game artwork or other long-lasting items are much more important, and much more difficult to motivate people to create for free.  You might find some talented artists in the playerbase who will illustrate their hot Salarri merchant, but good luck asking the same player to create a dozen swords, a tavern scene, a statue of Templar So-an-so outside the Templar District in Allanak and a barren landscape at various times of day or night.

Not to mention, having the desired effect of adding artwork to the game isn't as easy as you might think when you have many different artists contributing to the gamefiles.  Artists generally have significantly different styles, and it requires some talented art direction to actually manage to make things look even vaguely consistent.  If there isn't some consistency to the artwork, it will break the immersion of the world, in my opinion.  If you had one artist work on all of Allanak, and one on all of Tuluk, etc., it may end up looking okay and providing the desired depth that you're looking for...but good luck getting a quality artist to generate that much content as a volunteer.

[Reiloth]

I'd also point out that most people that would pick up the game by web engine search and not TMS or TMC probably haven't heard of MUDs. I think that generation of kids playing MUDs in the computer lab during lunch has since grown up.

[lordcooper]

I'd be more than willing to contribute some landscape renders.

I'm not exactly brilliant, but I can toss out images to this standard fairly quickly.