From: riethoven@rulcri.leidenuniv.nl
Subject: The Amiga DikuMUD Editor
Organization: Leiden University Computer Centre
Date: 22 Jul 92 02:14:56 +0100

In about a couple of weeks (never specify real release time ;)
we are ready with an Amiga DikuMUD editor. 
 
 A bit of history 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About a year back my brother (Tasslehoff) wanted to create an Amiga 
 dikumud editor, we (me and my two other brothers) had much discussions
 about what the editor must do. Tasslehoff started with a little
 room editor which never finished because he hadn't much time, so
 I (Fizban) started about 8 weeks ago to program my own dikumud
 editor. It went a bit slow because I didn't had enough information, so
 I programmed only some main functions for the editor. After getting enough 
 information from friends (who will be greatly thanked in the documentation
 ;) it really started. I learned my other brother (Powerlord) 680x0 machine
 code so he could help programming with me, so it went faster. A week
 ago we finished all the routines so we began programming the GUI (graphical
 user interface), Tasslehoff made some awesome drawings how it should
 look when it is finished. As of today, we still have alot to do and
 it was slowing abit because we had only one computer to program, so
 the other not behind the computer had to enjoy himself with other stuff
 (video/TV/drinks/snacks etc). Today we received another computer so
 we expect it will be finished in a couple of weeks.
 
 What is the Amiga DikuMUD Editor like?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Diku MUDs are mostly played on terminals with a char dimension of
 80x25. The Amiga DikuMUD Editor will open upon a custom screen a window
 with that dimensions, on the screen are 11 main buttons with different
 functions. 
As of now the editor supports .wld/.mob/.obj/.zon files and flags
 which are used on Davis Diku (fajita.ucdavis.edu/128.120.61.203 3000/imps: 
 Impy, Skippy and Nerak), this is done because I only have information about
 that particular DikuMUD. 
You can walk through the rooms as if you are on a real mud, with all the
 object/mobiles in the room. Even when a mobile is invisible or
 has sanctuary etc. it will show _exactly_ the same on the MUD.
 Also when a room is dark it is dark, ofcourse with a button press you
 just can make light in the room. Adding/creating mobiles/rooms/zones/object
 is very easy. For example you stand in a room, and say 'Hee! this room
 needs a beastly fido! Yeah, that will teach those newbies!'. Just with
 a simply button press you can browse through all the mobiles and pick
 the fido out, and placing it in the room. Then you can equip it, let it
 sit, add an extern file description (which contains for example information
 about a special procedure) etc etc. Ofcourse _all_ is done by pressing
 some buttons. The DikuMUD editor launches an extern editor (at your choice)
 for typing descriptions etc. When you have placed that beastly Fido in the
 room  the editor will creates _all_ the zone commando's for it, ofcourse you
 can edit/delete it, add some comments etc. As you read, this editor will
 do about everything with simple presses on the mouse button (working via
 the menubar/hotkeys is also possible). 
 
 Release?
~~~~~~~~~~
Well, as I said in a couple of weeks, first there will be a beta version
which will be tested by Raslyph (other beta-testers not needed yet), this
version will do .wld/.zon/.mob and .obj files. Raslyph and Backfire asked
me too put .shp files in it too, this will be ready in the first official
release (ofcourse first beta-tested). When we are ready with the .shp file
and some changes and bugs are fixed, the editor will become configurable.
So users can add/delete flags, for example create a new sector type flag 
called SECT_SPACE with the value 9, or create a new possible exit northeast.
Also formats of the dikufiles will be configurable, for example you want
an field in the mobile file where the color or skin type of a monster is
placed, no problem. This will make this editor compatible with all 
DikuMUDs that are changed by the implementors. 
 
 Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This Editor will _not_ be a commercial product. It will _only_
run on Amiga with an operating system 2.04 or higher, I'm certainly
NOT planning to rewrite pieces to make it 1.2/1.3 compatible, the
new OS is worth buying! When the Amiga DikuMUD Editor is ready,
we are going to rewrite it in ANSI C so it can be used on many systems.
This will take a while, and it will only be a text based editor (no mouse
support). The release version will be put on a FTP-site, which I will
announce.
 
The Amiga DikuMUD Editor is programmed by;
 
HypnoDrome Software Development (C)
 
Machine code;
  A.R.J.Riethoven (Alias Fizban/On DikuMUD known as Lovidamo)
  J.J.M.Riethoven (Alias PowerLord)
Gfx/Layout/UI;
  P.R.S.Riethoven (Alias Tasslehoff/On MUDS mainly Randy/Tasslehoff ;)
                  (too many names to type ;)
 
 Suggestions/questions etc
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
e-mail: Riethoven@RULCRI.LEIDENUNIV.NL
FIDONET: Pablo Riethoven 2:281/519
 
Oh yeah, my english is not that well, so there could be some minor
bugs in this text ;)
 
Love,
 
        Lovidamo

Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.diku