mudpy

The mudpy project aims to create a simple, generic, cross-platform, freely-redistributable MUD core engine which can be easily understood and extended. It is written in pure Python 3 and has only pure Python dependencies. All configuration and data are stored in consistently-formatted plain text (YAML 1.1) files for ease of administration. The core engine is unicode-clean internally and supports UTF-8 encoding for input and output of extended text characters.

The mudpy program and sample content are released under a free and open license, and any bug reports, criticisms, ideas, patches, content submissions or other offers of collaboration are wholeheartedly welcome.

what’s missing

This project is still very much a work in progress, and is unlikely to be suitable for anyone who isn’t willing to put in a bunch of work (help implementing features upstream is welcome, of course!). Here’s a non-comprehensive list of missing things most folks are likely to expect in a MUD:

• interactive objects/props

• inventory/equipment management

• non-player characters

• a default combat system

• sample races/classes and spells/skills

• example implementation of character stats/progression

• closeable/lockable portals

• ability to change randomly-generated avatar names

• pagination of the output stream

what’s included

The fundamentals of a multi-user service are in place, and foundations are laid on which the missing features above can be built. Here are some highlights of what’s been implemented so far:

• the beginnings of a MUD framework

  • account creation, authentication and lobby menus

  • movement between rooms/locations with inferred portals

  • in-room communication between users

  • setting and viewing user preferences

  • an integrated command help system

  • world creation and introspection commands for admins

  • live reloading of configuration and source code

• a full-featured Telnet service with a focus on IETF RFC compliance

  • RFC 854 Telnet protocol

  • RFC 856 binary mode

  • RFC 857 echo control

  • RFC 858 go-ahead suppression

  • RFC 885 end-of-record transmission

  • RFC 1091 terminal type

  • RFC 1073 window size negotiation

  • RFC 1184 line-at-a-time input mode

  • RFC 1143 “Q method” negotiation state engine

• mature development practices

  • traditional Python distutils/setuptools/pip packaging

  • comprehensive regression and style testing

  • minimal runtime dependencies

  • extensive logging

  • flexible, generalized data model

  • in-repository documentation