End users
JabaMud is directed at two types of end user: players, and world implementers. A player is anyone who logs onto the MUD who is there to
have fun and play the game. Players will not receive access to administrative commands within the world. World implementors
receive access to administrative commands that allow modification to the world. World imps can add rooms, change descriptions,
kick players off, etc.
Player goals
The goals of each individual player will vary. The first time a player logs on to the game he will go through a character
creation process. In this process he will give the character a name, race, class, sex, and some basic stat modifications. According
to the race and class the player chooses the character will have different strengths and weaknesses within the game. For example
if a player chooses a Magic user this character will be physically weak, but have great magic powers at his disposal. A warrior on the
other hand has great physical power, but his magic is weak. The basic goal of the game is to become a stronger character through gaining
experience and subsequently gaining levels, modifying character statistics, locating and/or buying equipment that modifies character
statistics, finding powerfull allys, and destroying enemies.
Races
A player will be asked to choose a race on the initial character creation process. The race will affect how the player is rendered
in the virtual world, the race also affects various character attributes. Players will want to pick a race according to their desired
class. For example: a player that wants to become a magic user will want to pick a race with strong magical abilities, such as elves
and fairies. Certain equipment in the game will be race specific, that is only certain races will be able to wear certain equipment.
Classes
A player will choose a class on the initial character creation process. Classes affect how the player is rendered. A player
will probably choose a class based on what role he wants to play in this virtual world. Someone who wants to follow a stronger player
around and heal him will choose a cleric, someone who wants to brutalize their opponents mercilessly will choose a barbarian, and so on.
Depending on the class you choose the player will have a different set of skills to practice. Not all skills will come at first though,
they must be gained through acheiving experience and levels in the game. A thief will start out with skills steal, and sneak. A
warrior will start out with skills like kick, and parry. Different classes will also have different magic ability. Some classes
will have no magic ability whatsoever. A magic user will enter the world with spells like fireball and create light.
Skills and spells
Skills and spells are class specific actions within the game. Skills may include things such as tripping an opponent, picking a lock,
foraging for food, creating certain pieces of equipment. Spells may include fireballs, healing an ally, fly, invisible, etc...
Skills and spells will drain certain stat points that can be regenerated through rest and medication. For example: a spell will drain mana points,
and a skill will drain move points.
Statistics
Each character will have his own set of statistics. These may include hit points, intelligence points, move points, mana points,
Strength, dexterity, height, level, age. The race will affect these statitistics initially. The equipment the player
wears will also affect statistics, so will spells, time of day, and many other enviromental factors. Overall stats are statistics
that the player will have when all the equipment and other modifiers are taken into account. Base stats are the statistics of a character
naked, and unaffected by any enviromental statistics. Base stats can be modified, but this will probably only be done by more
experienced players.
Levels
Upon entering the world the character will want to gain levels. Gaining levels will allow the player to use more skills and/or spells,
it will also improve stats such as hit points, mana points, and moves. The level system for players will be 50 levels.
Social interaction
Above all else JabaMud will be a very social place. Not only is it a game, but it's also a great place to chat with interesting people.
At no point will we sacrifice chatability! JabaMud will include many many social actions that have no
point other than to amuse, incite, or charm.
World Implementors
World implementers will build areas, monitor for cheaters, help new players, implement new actions, and various other administrative
things. A world implementor will actually receive a character in the game, but he will not participate in game play because
his character will be made immortal once he has been given god status. There we be various levels of virtual gods responsible for different
things.
Interface
The user will interface his virtual enviroment largely through the act of typing commands into a prompt in the client program. Later
on in development we will add more GUI.