Member Discussions

Things have been moving along nicely and all of the new players we have gotten have been great additions.
Still working on building up the playerbase a bit and filling some of the important PC roles within the
game. Great time to stop by and get a jump on the game before we officially open!

http://www.eotmud.com
http://www.facebook.com/eotmud

eotmud.com:4000 (or 23)

TLDR Version: End of Time is a Final Fantasy based ROM MUD that doesn't require previous knowledge of Final
Fantasy to enjoy and understand. We boast numerous unique features including a deep magic and combat
system, team attacks, an ANSI world map, racial templates including Vampires and Werewolves, detailed
character creation and much more! The game has been in development for YEARS and is getting near to opening
and this is the perfect time to jump on board!



Full Version:
End of Time is a predominately Final Fantasy based MUD with heavy influence from the Chrono series. It was
built ontop of the ROM Codebase, but has progressed far beyond anything resembling stock.

While we are a 'themed' MUD, previous experience with Final Fantasy is NOT necessary to play, enjoy, and
understand the game. Our areas, races, and classes are based on the worlds in our theme, but woven together
for an original, if not "inspired" experience.

We boast numerous ORIGINAL features UNIQUE to our game, many of which written by a coder who has gone on to
release numerous snippets that can be seen in dozens of MUDs, including some of the most popular Final
Fantasy MUDs. Some of these include the ability to create custom skills known as "limit breaks" whose usage
bar increases under circumstances YOU decide, with affects and messaging decided by YOU. Our magic system
has seen a complete rewrite, with the ability to modify, retarget, cancel, combine and other things to
spells while they are being cast. Our combat system, while round based, has been broken out of the
traditional timed rounds and its timing is based on your stats.

Our game offers several other features, including random battles in the vein of console RPGs, team attacks
that groups can perform in the vein of the Chrono series, elemental alignments for players and rooms,
experience points for skill use, class promotion (nearly ready to be opened) that allows you to pick the
class direction your character will progress through, detailed character customization that allows you to
set what your character looks like in creation, racial templates that "overlay" your current race (includes
Vampires, Werewolves, and many more), and much more!

Numerous "annoying" aspects of stock ROM gameplay have also been elminated, such as the need for food/water
is gone, the need for lights has also met it's end, along with things like movement points and "lag" time
for skill use, which has been replaced with a much friendlier "wait time" that allows you to do most of your
normal commands within the MUD and just regulates (mostly) skill use and combat commands.

Our world has areas mostly based out of Final Fantasy, but are arranged and developed in a way that is
original to our game. Familiarity with the games is not necessary, or in some respects even helpful, so
there is NO entry level barrier to people not familiar with the theme. For those who aren't, you can expect
a predominately Fantasy setting, with elements of low technology, mythological elements, and political
intrigue all mixed together. Indeed, any "events" from any of the games comprising our history date back at
least 30 years prior to the current in-game timeline, and so most of the story and roleplay will have little
to do with events from the game, they are simply backstory. There are NO PC versions of characters from the
games to contend with, as we are driving for originality in our stories, just in the themed setting we have
crafted. At of this post, there are over 105 areas completed, most of which are currently accessible as
well. The world and clan systems are all setup for a large playerbase, which we hope to someday achieve.

We have been development for literally YEARS, with elements of the story and roleplay dating back two MUDs
and 12 years prior. The codebase itself, originally a side project for a friend of mine, myself, and
another friend, was transformed into a Final Fantasy based MUD after the one we had been playing for a while
was going to be shut down. This was the birth of Cleft of Dimension in 2001. A few years later, as one of
the original founders of CoD, me and a handful of other Admins split from CoD and converted the codebase
into End of Time, while CoD continued to run in its own, unaltered state. Development was spotty for a
couple of years with sporadic coders, but EoT has been up consistently and in development since I took over
as coder in 2005. A lot of time and work has gone into crafting a completely non-stock world, with tons of
things in the code re-written from scratch or very heavily modified. We are getting tantalizingly close to
finally opening and I am hoping to draw in some players to start filling in key immortal and player roles
alike. Leaders for 2 of the 3 major government clans have been filled, but otherwise many of the top
positions within them are open. There is a very small immortal staff now, with plenty of room for more.
This is a really well crafted game whose potential now rests in the hands of the players, and wish a solid
playerbase, I have little doubt it will soar to great heights. Things are pretty quiet at the moment, but
I'm hoping to start drumming up more of a public interest before listing the game and officially opening.
Consider giving End of Time a try!


---------------------------------------------

Since we aren't listed, I thought I would take a moment to clarify what would be on our listing in the stat
box to the right, and to clarify certain elements so that people who might be considering coming to play has
a better idea of some other things they can expect.

Location: USA
Primary Language: English
Minimum Players: Under 10
Multi-Play: No
Player-Kill: Restricted*1
Extended Race Selection*2
Extended Class Selection*3
Equipment Saved
Quests Available*4
Character Approval Unnecessary
Ansi Color
Roleplaying Is Encouraged
Skill & Level-Based Training System*5
Skill & Level-Based Equipment System
Clans Offered*6
World is all original
Large World (8,000+ rooms)*7
Non Adult-Oriented*8
Mud is fully operational

*1: Player Killing is generally an opt-in only system, as all players begin the game "PK Safe." At any
point, a player may "removepksafe <password>" in order to remove this protection, and only players who have
done this may kill one another. There is no level limitation on player killing, but roleplay justification
(along with a note written on the RP board about the altercation) is necessary. In the case of particularly
aggressive roleplay, another player may request the removal of another character's PK Safe, although this is
entirely up to the discretion of the staff.

*2: There are 9 basic races that may be selected at creation, each of which has different starting stats and
each have unique skills gained every 20 levels, starting at level 1.

1) Human: Most balanced, standard, and common race
2) Beast: A "Monster" race, any typical random monster
3) Cetra: Highly Magical beings, also known as Half Espers
4) Reptite: Bipedal reptilian race of high intellect
5) Dwarf: Short, stout, strong and intelligent
6) Guado: Agile and graceful creatues with elongated ears and fingers
7) Moogle: Small, white, and furry with wings and a unique language
8) Robot: Large, strong, and stocky machines
9) Ronso: A blue, sasquatch-like race with feline faces

There are also numerous "Racial Templates" that may be obtained as well. Humans, for example, each have a
racial template that may be selected at creation depending on their hometown. Racial templates apply ontop
of the already existing races to modify them, but some characteristics (and already gained racial skills) of
the original race remain as well. In addition to the Human templates of Mutate, Al-Bhed and Lunarian, there
are also Vampires, Lycanthropes, Unsent (our version of Undead) and Black Moogles (an aggressive, less
cuddly version of Moogles). There are also temporary racial templates brought on by spell affects, such as
Zombie and Imp. Once a player has contracted a racial template (the Human and Moogle templates aside, which
are created as such), any further skills gained from that point on are replaced by the template skills.

*3: Players begin the game with the options of Fighter, Thief, Knight and Mage. The four options are
generally what you would expect, although it is important to note that Fighters are almost exclusively NO
magic, while Thieves get minimal. Mages, obviously, are the primary magic users, with Knights combining a
lesser arsenal of magic usage with a balance of mostly defensive combat skills.

At level 50, however, each class may "promote" to an upgrades version of their class, with three options.
The options are broken down into "light, neutral & dark" options. Fighters may upgrade to Monks, Advanced
Fighters, or Samurai. Thieves may upgrade to Pirate, Advanced Thief, or Assassin. Knights may upgrade to
Paladin, Advanced Knight, or Dark Knight. Mages may upgrade to White Wizard, Advanced Mage, or Black
Wizard. At level 80, there will be another promotion, with each light and dark class having a further light
and dark option, while the "Advanced" version of a class may pass on to the "Master" version of their class.

*4: While lacking a "Questmaster" type of automated quests, there are numerous hand written quests scattered
throughout the game, along with Staff ran quest events as well. A playable "storyline" spanning the entire
game is also in the works.

*5: Most of the skills are learned by meeting the required level and finding the teacher for it, but many
skills are based on how well you know other skills. For example, in order to learn the 2nd tier red spell
combustion, you must max the 1st tier fireball to 100%, upon which combustion will automatically be learned
at 60% (and must be raised through use from this point). Learning both backstab and sneak to 100% will
allow you to automatically learn "shadow step" at 60%, a skill that will allow to begin a backstab attack
from an adjacent room. All of our elemental magic uses this system, and can go up to 4 tiers, while several
other skills employ this method of learning new skills as well.

*6: Clans are offered, and at start of game there are three big, player-ran Governments that are the major
powers of the world. Once these are filled out a bit, applications will be taken for new clans. Clans are
structured with a maximum possible of 5 divisions with 10 ranks each, with an unlimited number of people
that can fill any position. There are different classification of clans, which carry different benefits.


*7: All total (as of this writing) the MUD has a total of 22271 rooms, however, 13744 of those are
"wilderness" areas, so for the purposes of this stat, I included "described" rooms instead, which total over
8500 rooms in over 105 completed areas.

*8: The content within the game, while I wouldn't entirely call it "child friendly" is certainly not adult
oriented. We are striving for a PG-13 level experience with game content and staff supported roleplay and
events. We encourage the players to keep their content within such a PG-13 level, but generally don't
police it as such. Excessive cursing or otherwise "offensive" language or actions on public channels or in
heavily trafficked public areas is actively discouraged.

Maybe instead of saying "opening soon" you could be a little
more specific by saying "opening sometime in the future".

That's just as vague, really.

"Sometime in the next few months most likely" would be
probably a little more accurate. The exact time table is a
bit out of my hands as I can only build so much, so quickly,
so when exactly we reach that point is partially going to be
determined by when our builders finish up a couple more areas.

This seems really interesting.. promising even. Would you accept any ideas thrown your way if they are viable or fitting? My first being that the Materia system be recreated here. That one was always fun.

I'm always willing to consider any new ideas.

The materia system, however, has been thoroughly considered and debated. Our class system (specifically,
with a base of 4 classes with the promotion for each class at different points in a character's growth)
is a very core and essential part of the game structure. Additionally, our elemental system is a pretty
significant aspect of our game as well. Characters pick a primary and secondary elemental alignment at
creation, and magic users automatically gain the first spell of their primary alignment. They may choose
to learn the first spell of any other element as well, and upon mastering the first spell, the second
spell is automatically learned at 60%, and so on. Mastering two aligned, same-level spells automatically
teaches a new, combination spell that the player may use. It's also important to note that the Mage
class is the primary users of magic, while the Knight has access to the same elemental spells with only a
handful of additional spells. Thieves have maybe only a few spells available as magic use isn't much of
a part of the class, while Fighters pretty much swear off magic.

In my opinion, Materia would work best in a MUD that either had a classless system or whose class system
was very loose or flexible, that is, where a selection of class only affected some aspects of character
growth such as only a very basic handful of skills and maybe hp/mp gain at level up. In either instance,
the majority of a character's spells and skills could come from gaining and leveling up materia.

So between the way the bulk of our magic and class systems are structured and integrated as a fundamental
part of gameplay, we don't feel that materia would be a good fit. I've seen games try to implement an
"everything" approach to grabbing systems from Final Fantasy, including trying to have a rigid class
system along with Magicite and Materia, and when you try to combine too many elements like that, it tends
to both become a jumbled mess and not do justice to the systems that are being thrown together. We -
could- add materia, but due to what is already in place, it would have to be pretty limited in scope
which would not really do the system justice, nor would it be likely to please any fans of the system
coming in hoping to find a full materia system.

This has already been given careful consideration, and generally speaking ideas are not dismissed
lightly, as I like to give a fair chance to any suggestions people may have.

A thought has been bugging me for a couple days now, so I suppose I'll go ahead and throw this out there for you, Hades_Kane: I really think that you should consider fixing/prettying up your game's login sequence (and ideally some of the game's other interfaces as well, like the bulletin boards). While I overall dislike the diku-esqe create-a-character-immediately-on-login and all the pitfalls that presents, I realize that suggesting you deviate from that would be over the top; rather, my point is regarding how literally the clumpy, unformatted (except for the perk/flaws selection part) creation process has not changed hardly (if even) at all in several years now. I know this because I played and visited your mud for a while years ago, and after checking it again a couple days ago the login/creation process is still the same as it was; and I really don't think that's a good thing at all.

To give you a sense of what I mean regarding the formatting, I also recently had a look at another mud: Alter Aeon, to get a look at their channel system per a suggestion in another thread and to get an idea of how that was working out for them, etc. What initially struck me, though, about that mud compared to yours was the formatting of their login sequence. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but I suppose I'd call the difference a matter of their login feeling "cleaner". The sections were more clearly defined, better formatted, etc. I'd suggest having a look at their creation sequence yourself to get an idea of what I mean. Although to save yourself and others the effort, I'll post some excerpts from both creation processes:

End of Time:

o ______ __ _ ____
\ /|\ / | ___ ( | \ ) | | _ \
)\|/( | ( )/ | \ \ | | / \ (
- | | | - | /--\ | /) \/ | | \ | \
\\|// | \--/ || \ | | / | /
/ ) ( \ | (___)\ | \ ) | | \_/ (
\ / |______( |_( \_| |____/
| | ____
| | / __ (
| | ____ | |_ )/
| | / \ | _(
| | ) () ( | |
| | \____/ |_|
| | ________ _ _ _ ______
:::| |::: ) ___ | | \ | \ / | | ___ (
::::::| |:::::: \( ) ( |/) | \/ | | ( )/
:::::::/| |\::::::: \ | |\ | /) (\ | | /--\
o ::::::\---/:::::: / | |/ || \/ || | \--/
| | ::::::::::::: \ | |\) | \ / | | (___)\
|\| ::::::::: \| |_/ |_( )_| |______(
|/|\|
|\|/|\ o DikuMUD by Hans Staerfeldt, Katja Nyboe,
|<|\| |\| | Tom Madsen, Michael Seifert, and Sebastian Hammer
|/|>| | |\| |/MERC 2.1 code by Hatchet, Furey, and Kahn
\|/| | |/|\| |/|\| |ROM v2.4 copyright (c) Russ Taylor
\| | |\|/|\ o /|\Final Fantasy etc. is copyright (c) Square Enix
\| |<|\| |\| | |/| |/|>| |/
\|/|>| | |\|/| | |<|\|/
\|/| | |/|\| | |\|/ Please Enter Your Name: End of Time is based on Final Fantasy and a few other Square Soft/Enix games.
Do not create a name that is unfitting, vulgar, a common dictionary word, a
combination of names or words, or a name from pop culture, mythology, history,
or from a video game (especially Square Soft/Enix).
If you feel the need to play a character with an illegal name, create a
character with a valid name first then ask the immortals for permission to
play such a character.

Some examples of illegal names include:
JoeCool, LordZed, Osiris, Cloud, BeastRider, Killer etc.

Don't attempt a variation of a taken or illegal name, it will be considered
deliberate abuse. Example: Kain is illegal, don't try Kaine, Cain, Khane, etc.

The immortals reserve the right to deem ANY name illegal, change an illegal
name or to simply delete a character if the name is bad enough. Once in game,
see 'help name' for more details.

Does 'Mook' comply with all of the above mentioned guidelines? (Y/N)? Welcome to the End of Time, Mook!
Please enter a password:
Please confirm your password:
The following races are available:
Human Guado Cetra Moogle Robot Ronso Beast Reptite Dwarf
What is your race (help for more information)?
The following genders are available for your race:
Male
Female
What is your gender?
Select a class from the following:
Fighter Thief Knight Mage
What is your class (help for more information)? Please select 4 fighting styles from the following:
sword mace dagger
spear flail whip
staff bow hand to hand

You already know: axe
Your choice (<style>, list, or drop <style>)?>You've picked up sword.
You've picked up spear.
You've picked up mace.
You already know that fighting style.
You've picked up flail.

Alter Aeon:

DentinMud v2.20 - alter aeon
`.rL ` Alter Aeon ' oo,
/mdo-/-+ `/ \' `.+/yms`
.mMNy+/::+` `s. +\ `.+:/smMN+
:NMh. `-/o: /s s: `+o/"` `+NMh
-NMs `:` `s+ `. .' /+ :- -mMy
hMm- +s. 'o o` +/ oNN:
-dMh- `` s. .s '' `/mNo
.yNm+. .:+s+. ++. .++ :oo:. `-sNN+
'+dNmyo+++ooyhyo- `/yhyo+///+ohmNh-
`\ymNNNmNNmds:` `. .' .+hdmmmmNNNms:`
':oyhdmds/` +: :+ -odNNmdyo:`
```` \"'+. `` '' .+'"/ ``````
",0_\ /_0,"

(To log on an existing character, enter the name now.)
Would you like to create a new character?





Are you blind or visually impaired, and using a talker or
screen reader? (yes/no):





=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
In order to explore the world of Alter Aeon, you
need to create a character to represent you.

What general type of character would you like to play?

mage - Spellcasters, wizards, and mages
cleric - Priests with healing and protection spells
thief - Thieves, pickpockets, and mercenaries
warrior - Barbarians and melee fighters
necromancer - Necromancers, warlocks, and sorcerers

You can change your class later if you want.

Please enter the class of character you wish to play:
Mage class selected.





=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Would you like your character to be male or female? (m/f):
Your character is now male.





=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
If you want, you can customize your character's appearance.
This will only affect how other players see your character,
and you can change it later if you wish.

Would you like to change your character's appearance? (y/n):
Skipping customization.





=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
What would you like this character to be named?

Character names are only the first name, and must be one word with
no spaces, numbers or symbols in it. Some example names are:

Tanaran Brer Allakh Tartin Jadari Maugo
Curisir Ando Pielfhir Gremert Kenriery Williade

(Press 'return' for more examples.)

What would you like this character to be named?

While the blockquotes don't really do either process justice, particularly with regards to the lack of colors, I think the difference in formatting clarity should be fairly obvious nonetheless.

Anyhow, the point of my post is not to insult your mud (nor to advertise for the other), Hades_Kane, but to highlight what I feel is something of a problem for your mud; particularly now that you're looking to move towards "open" or otherwise "beta" status (I think you'd be better off making the alpha/beta distinction regarding your mud instead of closed/open, personally, but I digress). Essentially, I think you might be too focused on creating just the game's content while ignoring the quality of the game's interfaces in the process. Considering how your game's creation process is one of the first things a new player will see, you might be doing yourself a disservice in your efforts to attract new players by not putting much effort into the presentation of that process.

Just some thoughts, anyways.

Thanks for the shout out Lobotomy. That login stuff seems so bloody impossible to get right sometimes.

-dentin

Alter Aeon MUD
http://www.alteraeon.com

While we're promoting other muds in this topic, I'd like to
give a shout out to Aardwolf. It's a fun challenging mud that
DOES get the login sequence right, unlike those other 2.
Plus, it doesn't quite have enough players and could use a few
more.

Even with the block quotes, I can see what you mean, and I
don't mind the suggestions at all.

I'll take a look at both Alter Aeon and Aardwolf to see what
they are doing with their login sequences that makes them
appear cleaner.

To be perfectly honest, the nanny function in ROM is such a
convoluted mess, trying to get anything respectable out of
that takes some work, and I will probably eventually have to
rewrite most of that function.

Other than the mentioned Merit/Flaw table, not a whole lot
of work has gone into the visual presentation of the
character creation; I suppose I've just been holding the
status quo there, but considering that, indeed, that is a
big part of the first impression, it probably would serve us
well for me to tidy it all up a bit.

(Comment added by Hades_Kane on Sat Mar 31 19:00:51 2012)

And it doesn't bother me to mention other games (or as Jodah
did, outright advertise another). It's a bump for the thread
and I'm confident in what we have that our game stands apart
well enough that I'm not concerned the mere mention of another
game will drive people away from mine :p

Ok, I checked out both and I can definitely see what you mean
:p

I'll be sure to add cleaning that up to my todo list, thanks
for the suggestion :)

Hades,

It's not just the nanny function that's a mess; the AA version is a nightmare as well, and I think it's largely because no matter what you do, the whole setup is going to be a mass of event handlers and function pointers (or state tables if you're going that approach.) I've tried a handful of different reorgs and have yet to find anything that's really easy to work with.

-dentin

Alter Aeon MUD
http://www.alteraeon.com

dentin wrote:
Hades,

It's not just the nanny function that's a mess; the AA version is a nightmare as well, and I think it's largely because no matter what you do, the whole setup is going to be a mass of event handlers and function pointers (or state tables if you're going that approach.) I've tried a handful of different reorgs and have yet to find anything that's really easy to work with.

Eh, I wouldn't say there's no approach that isn't messy, but then again since it's C/C++ you're using that'll always complicate it.

If it helps, the gist of what I ended up using for my old C/C++ codebase account states/menus were functions set up like:

function( account or socket, text input )
{
  if input is empty
  {
    show the state's display here. E.g.,
    "Password:" if it was a password prompt.
  }
  otherwise handle the input to that state and state changes here
}

The basic bonus of doing it that way is that you wrap state display and state input handling up into the same function, using blank input as the signal to redisplay the state's prompt. As for storing the state, each account/socket would have its own function pointer variable that you would assign the actual state function's pointer to and then execute the state directly when you go to handle the account/socket state during the game loop. E.g., "(*state)( socket, the socket's next command );" If you combine dynamic function lookup with it you can then avoid needing to create and maintain a table of function names and their related function pointers. To me at least, it seemed like a fairly easy and straightforward approach; or at least, as easy as it was going to get in a language like C/C++.

Merging the display and handling routines like that is an interesting idea and might help in a few spots. I know we would have to rework some things where different entrances to a state have different display functions and where we use null input as a valid response, but the base idea seems sound.

We already do the dynamic/function pointer thing, and transitioning to that has helped quite a bit with readability. A lot of the current mess has to do with the display and parsing functions being split, which your suggestion may improve.

Thank you.

-dentin

Alter Aeon MUD
http://www.alteraeon.com