Review Submitted By: Stefan Cole
Author Status: Player and staff member
Started on The Builder Academy: 2004
Submission Date: Jun 2, 2008
TMC Listing: The Builder Academy
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Stefan Cole]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
A revolutionary idea for a new type of MUD school breathed life into
the tbaMUD project. Designed as a training MUD for new MUD owners
and builders, it's a fabulously well thought-out and well supported
school.
If you are new to MUD admin, then try TBA, where you can learn the
basics by creating your own zone, supported by experienced builders
and coders, who are always on hand to answer even the most
complicated questions.
MUD owners may also wish to send their builders here for a course of
intensive training in best building practises, before letting them
loose on your own MUD.
tbaMUD is not just the perfect place to send your builders for
training, it is also an increasingly popular downloadable codebase.
I have used a few different MUD codebases over the years, and tbaMUD
is my favourite, for the following reasons:
* OasisOLC - the best OLC I've ever seen, is pre-installed.
* DG-Scripts - an incredibly powerful builder's scripting
language is pre-installed.
* Virtually bug-free. Compiles error-free in Unix, Mac OS X and
Windows.
* Constantly evolving, due to two active forums for ideas and
bug-fixes. New update release every few months.
* Well supported by both the tbaMUD and CWG forums.
* Comes with a HUGE stock world of 183 zones (over 12,000 rooms),
including a builder school.
* Has extensive help pages for newbies and new builders/scripters,
and a help editor for Imms.
* Has an internal configuration editor to make your MUD how you
want it to be.
* ASCII (XAP) pfiles for easy management.
* Easy to understand source-code, written in C.
* Hundreds of updates and bug fixes since the old CircleMUD
* Cool features include automap, autoquests, buildwalk, copyover,
player-owned 'houses', and much more...
* Loads of patches are available for adding other cool features.
