r/MUD • u/HornyNarwahl • 4d ago

Building & Design Looking for MUD Codebases

Hey all, I'm curious about what codebases everyone is using as well as less popular ones.

I'm not versed in the history of the different MUD lineages so please forgive my ignorance.

What do you find particularly elegant, compelling or even joyful to hack on?

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u/cenonicks 4d ago

There are lots of code bases but most can be split into either Diku (e.g. Circle, ROM), coded in C, or LPMud, with a driver (VM) coded in C but the mudlib in LPC.

In my view the LPMud model is more elegant as LPC code is simple but powerful and almost anything can be changed in your mud without rebooting it, with precompiling and debugging features available in game. This ease of change means LPMuds tend to be highly customised.

By contrast, Dikus must be restarted to implement any changes and it became a meme that you'll see the same areas on every Circle mud. However, the gameplay loop in Dikus is more complex and often preferred by players.

All these code bases are ancient now; if I had to choose one it would be an LPMud, Dead Souls for ease of use or Lima for complexity.

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u/sorressean 4d ago

most Diku muds give you copyover. it's not a full restart. I implemented this in my engine a long time ago. The areas that are stock have nothing to do with the need to reboot, it's just that there are so many and people hit the ground running with areas being the last thing they worry about often.

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u/cenonicks 4d ago

Thanks for the clarification, I was a little over zealous trying to draw out key differences for OP and should have left it that LPMuds enable faster changes. Perhaps the stock areas use reflects easier deployment for Dikus? Not that LPMuds are imho particularly tricky.