Possibly a lame idea.. but meh

Miscellaneous Topics
#1

So it’s now nearing crunch time; the time at which everyone in my class already has an idea for a senior project. As for myself… I’ve got nothing.

I decided to try my hand at picking up the Java language and, with ALOT of practice, eventually create something that generally mimics an MUD with an actual interface.

Not sure what I mean? I’m talking about making a stand-alone application that will connect to a text-based game server (run by myself, or, if possible, on a remote webhost). The interface of the client program would include buttons that execute commands sent into the server, which in turn would manipulate a database with the status of characters (basic elements of an RPG-type… Strength, Health, Endurance…).

I’ve taken my question of “Can it be done?” to numerous places; forums, chatrooms, Java-savy friends, and I’ve reached the conclusion that yes, it can be done. However, the question of how easy it will be for a person to “cheat” has come up quite often.

I have a few questions:

Where would be my best resources for this hybrid? Are there specific sites aimed at such experimental projects as this? Has this already been done in open-source format?

What would my set-up need to be? My current thinking is that the user will run the client, I will run the server, then my server will send data to the database, stored on some mysql host (or by myself again).

Will cheating be a problem?

Believe me, I know the extremely large task ahead of me is very unreasonable for a person new to Java. I know I won’t be able to sit down for 10 minutes, then whip this out with limited knowlege of the language. I’m prepared to take the time to learn on my own and from courses provided by my school (and from my mistakes, of course).

#2

hmmm, i agree that it is possible to do your task. non-graphical muds are a good point to start
if your keen on a multi-networking project and not a stranger to programming. but i really think
that you are taking much aspects into account which are not necessary at your point, especially
if you only plan to create something for hobby and interest (cheating etc).

the point is, create a mud or take an existing one, host a sql-server, write a remote network architecture
for acessing the db via gui client and look what has happened so far. that alone is a time consuming
task. up to that point you will have to answer many, many technical questions about architecture,
synchronization, network traffic and used techniques. e.g. the preferred network technique: own
protocol via sockets? rmi? xml-rpc? (…)?

#3

Sign up to the MUD-DEV mailing list…

#4

Java has nothing really to do with the cheating issue.

If important game logic is on the client, people can and will cheat.

if it is on the server then,a s long as your server is secure, you have a secure excution environment to work with.

#5

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it.

blahblahblahh, could you possibly give me a link to where I could find the MUD-DEV mailing list?

Also, just as a general question, would I have to run the server myself, or could I somehow get a website hosting company to do this for me?

Serethos, I don’t plan on having much synchronization for this, other than just seeing other people on the server… encounters would be random, and the actual human pc would never have to interact with each other… which reminds me…

Could I be able to set up an IRC connection in the client as well? This would eliminate have to scroll through the actual game text to view messages written by chatting players.

#6

Today, its pretty much up to you. The one exception might be if you tried to write it all with servlets and EJBs. A mud might actually be slow paced enough to make this make sense.,…

Again at risk of sounding like an advertisement, one of the goals of Darkstar is to change that for online games in general…

This is really an interface issue not a technology issue. Sure you could connect to IRC, but unless you ar planning on running a seperate IRC program next to your MUD there really isnty\ any interface difference between having an IRC window and having a chat text window.

#7

Hey, just checking in with you guys.

After the first few weeks of doing un-official java tutorials, I’m beginning to understand the idea behind object-oriented programming. Although I know there is still a long way to go, I’ve thought of something and would like to question that theory here.

In order to create my program (client), I’ll want to be able to set up a basic button, receiving text box, and input text boxes. Is this accomplished with a different programming language? Can this be done in Java?

I’m still waiting to find out where I can sign up for this ;).

Thanks.

#8

… yes :slight_smile:

check out the swing trail on the sun site. Starts off with the basics:

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/

Daire.

#9

Well. Mud-Dev was hosted at kanga.nu, but I just tried to go thre and got a “domain available for registration” screen so maybe they forgot to [ay their light bill.

Anyway googling mud-dev will give you teh page, id check it every few days to see if it comes back up