MUDmaking blog #1 - an intro to what I've got in the works

This will be the first of hopefully many posts about the development of the game I’m working on!

The working title is Pilgrim Online and will likely be changed closer to when it’s open. It’s a high fantasy roleplaying game in a less than common medium to what a lot of people are used to seeing nowadays; it’s text-based, sort of like a roleplaying chatroom with game mechanics!

The idea is to create an open world rife with conflict with a collection of large, player-led factions vying for power, in which you progress your character purely by playstyle preferences instead of a strict class-based system. People will be encouraged to join guilds and cities and form cliques and clans with friends to work together in influencing organisational politics, scheming scandalous plots and gathering military strength to dominate rewarding world events. From time to time, we might also throw something apocalyptic at the players and see how (and if!) they work together to survive.

I’m aiming to make it a persistent world, where actions have consequences and anyone’s character can have the opportunity to be the star hero or villain in main event stories. Eventually I aim to have staff writers that invent scenarios and news announcements highlighting the best of the community events. Roleplay will be as much a deciding factor in outcomes as PVP skill, so players will be encouraged to develop interesting and influential characters. People will also have opportunities to lead and shape organisations to their liking, if they have the charisma and savvy to sway other characters into electing them.

It’s a project that’ll need eventual staffing and maintenance but for now, it’s a baby. I’m working foremost on future-proofing the server for performance and building features that will help expand the game later on - like builder tools for room, NPC and area construction.

So, why am I making a text-based game in this day and age?

These kinds of games are a passion of mine! Plus, I just graduated from my diploma of Software Development and I want something I can work on mostly alone. I’ve about fifteen years of experience in playing MUDs, and in that time I've talked a whole lot of, “You know, if I made a MUD I’d-…“ It's about time I followed through. :)

I envy games with great graphics, but I know they impose a lot of project restraints. And costs. My budget is practically non-existent. But costs aside, I’m mainly keen to work on this because I feel that there’s a special appeal about narrative experiences which you just can’t get from visual projects. In text, characters aren’t limited by model and animation restraints. There’s an immersive quality that’s lost when you post a well thought-out emote and your model stands there picking its nose.

VR gets you a lot closer to that immersive experience, but narration grants more control by letting you do anything you can think of the words to describe, and when there’s chances for your character to play a lead role in determining the fate of the world (so to speak), it feels a lot more like you’re the protagonist of a story.

Or the antagonist!

(don't kick puppies, that's super evil)

I'll post more as things develop, though I will say I'm not the quickest of creators. This is mostly a hobbyist endeavor I intend to work on for years to come. :)