Article on Scripting

[Sanvean]

I did a piece on scripting which references Armageddon for MUDWorld, if people are interested. It's at http://www.mudworld.org/articles/articles.php3 .  I apologize for the bad formatting.  My name is also not Sanvean Francis, oddly enough.

[__Torax__]

Very nicely done.. Even for someone who is not an implementor of a MUD nor even a coder, I found that very interesting to read.

[sacac]

SAnvean.. have you been holding out on us?

Weapons: Brixius's bottle_buster script allows a PC to break a bottle and create a crude knife, while another script by Dyrinis lets a PC flip a bladed staff in order to use it as a bludgeoning or slashing weapon according to their preference.

I love you..

[Zacharai]

I love the coding additions.  I know that there will be more to come, of a wild and eclectic nature, whatever the coding imm feels on the spur of the moment.  They really do add, and since they don't interfere with the basic commands you need to know for a newbie to navigate Zalanthas, it's a welcome added complexity.  I believe (and I'm sure that many of you agree) that increased complexity only adds to the possibilities, so long as it doesn't interfere with a player's ability to interact with the world.

Truth be told, it isn't the coding changes that make Zalanthas such an escapist world.  It's the history, the plots, the characters and imms.  When you add stories, background, songs, items... they're what make Armageddon come alive.  The coding is the icing on the cake, but it's the really sugary kind that makes you want more when you recover after a night of endless fidgeting.

Extra props to Gesht for developing a useful system for the immortals, especially being a relatively new storyteller himself.  I have an affinity towards coders, since my imagination was stunted at a young age.

--Zach

[Twilight]

What prompted the move to java scripting?  Is it possible for non-coders to do scripts (ie no coding)?  And by that I don't mean copying what has been done before, but getting something new, or combining several old scripts in new ways to create something new.

The system I was familiar with had hard coded "specials", basically special processes that worked off of edescs on the room, npc or object.  There were a whole bunch of them, and they could all be linked, so you would have one that determined the trigger word, and other that would extract an object, and another that would load an object, then you linked them all together in an activation special to make them work together.  In the end, it didn't require coding on the part of the creators to work.  As new needs arose for specific new special processes, they were coded, added, and then any creator could use them.

I am guessing that scripts on Arm are done on a more code based level?  Just wondering what the reasoning was for that, because I am biased in that I consider having creators have to do any sort of code to be a bad thing.

[Sanvean]

I believe Tenebrius chose javascript to replace DMPL because it could be re-compiled easily, is object-oriented, is something a number of people already knew, and because he enjoyed the challenge.  He's been terrific about adding things as people have requested them, and I'm not sure he anticipated how wildly popular it's been among the staff.

I haven't encountered a "specials" system like the one you mention, which sounds nifty. As far as Armageddon goes, there's a number of people who are skilled scripters, and they're quite willing to write scripts as requested. I mentioned in the article that people have worked on making scripts generic - i.e. instead of a script for each separate cook NPC that differs according to what the produce or say, there's a single script and the information is stored on the NPC in the form of an edesc. In looking at the scripts for the article, I realized that we need to be documenting all the things one can put on a room/NPC/object better, since there are some cool scripts, like Xygax's junker program, that people haven't been using much because they're not aware of them. That's a project I've added to my list.

I'm a mediocre scripter at best, but I've been really impressed by what even I can do with them. Being able to use soap to clean items is a script - so are all the room echoes along Caravan Way. The Tek's Tower game, similarly, is an experiment in trying to script a jenga type game. When the halfling area is done, there's a plethora of cool little scripts in there that I'm really! excited! about seeing in action. Other people have done things I wouldn't have thought possible, such as scripts that control the wildlife in a region, simulating life cycles.

One of the things I really like about it is that it's also teaching the people who learn our scripting system something that they can use in RL as well. People couldn't put DMPL on a resume but they can list javascript. It also means new staff members who already know something about it can be off and running pretty fast.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I find the scripting possibilities to be absolutely astounding, and very intriguing. I look forward to more prevelant use of this technology. Of course it must not always be blatant, but the idea that a waiter comes and gets your mugs when you junk them in a certian tavern is absolutely breathtaking, and so much better than seeing the actual coded response. Additionally, it solves the need for any complex commands to fix a small problem...it is, really, an incredibly astute and suave manner in which to handle and introduce new material to the world at large.

Kudos.

[Kivan]

...while another script by Dyrinis lets a PC flip a bladed staff in order to use it as a bludgeoning or slashing weapon according to their preference.

I love you..

Sacac,

These are in game. I am pretty sure there is a northern clan that uses a staff with this functionality and there is a Allanaki noble house that uses them as their "signature" weapon.

Kivan

[Tlaloc]

I think what sacac is illustrating here, though, is one downside to the robustness of javascript, and something that Sanvean mentioned: we've seen a whole plethora of new commands, new abilities, and ways to interact with the world, thought the use of Javascript. Unfortunately, many cool abilities go unnoticed, because of lack of documentation on our part.

For example, there is no help topic on 'flip', nor on 'bottle breaking'. There aren't any helpfiles on the usage of generic cooks, etc. We should probably try to add these as we put them in, but...alas, we can't do everything. If you guys see anything that needs to be added as a helpfile, or documentation, please feel free to use this utility, and mail it to mud@ginka.armageddon.org.

People should feel encouraged to submit anything they feel might be a cool addition to the game - even things which might require javascripts, or further coding. The morning devotions Templar/group in Allanak was a script idea that was submitted by a player. The player proposed the idea, and did alot of the legwork (writing the NPCs, writing out what should happen, in detail, when). It may, or may not be coded, since we gennerally will test things to make sure they are ICly appropriate to the gameworld. However, don't let that stop you from getting creative.

[Cenghiz]

When I read the title I thought it was about a few idiots trying to use some scripted chars which all spar each other all the day or do such automatic thingies..
....
*shrug* We already know that ARM is one of the best -best I know of- MUD's... No need to say it again...

[amish overlord]

I remember in the clave encountering some neat scripts at one time. One for milking certain animals, and sometimes on accident trying to milk a male one. *snicker*
One where turned milk into cheese.
There was a third one I think but I never learned to do to make some alchol some powerful stuff too, forgot it name.
I applaud whichever imm did those scripts, Tlaloc I beleive, I had a great time doing chores and accidently pulling on the wrong animal.

Amish Overlord  

[Tamarin]

Can we submit scripts, or would the necessary stuff we need to know to write them be too sensitive?

[Sanvean]

You're welcome to submit ideas for scripts, and if you want to include pseudo-code for them to show how you think they would work, that's awesome.