BUILDING ON MUSHES
A primer and examples on MUSH building commands by Dee Dreslough. This document
is PUBLIC DOMAIN - feel free to reprint and distribute.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Using this Primer
The @Dig Command
Making Exits (The @link and @open commands)
Fleshing Out Your Rooms and Exits (@succ, @osucc, @desc)
SOME BASIC RULES OF BUILDING AND CONTROL
EXERCISE: Building theDream Kitchen
INTRODUCTION
Building allows you to create your own rooms (chatrooms/spaces) into the game with relative speed and ease.
I use the term 'relative' liberally here.
To the uninitiated, @dig, @open, @link and other MUSH Commands are convoluted -- like any new process. By using
this document, I hope I can make building as natural as any part of MUSHing.
Using this Primer
This primer assumes:
- That you have been on a MUSH.
- That you have moved from room to room and know how to use exits.
- That you have seen enough rooms and exits to want to make your own.
In this primer, you are 'Person'. Person is a fictional character on Living Fiction. If you find this confusing,
replace 'Person' in this primer with your own character name. Example: My name on Living Fiction is 'Kirra'. If
I wanted to customize this primer for myself, I'd change all 'Person' references to Kirra with a global search
and replace.
At the end of this primer there is a generic exercise to make a kitchen off your hotel room on Living Fiction.
Type in the example text exactly, and you can make this room yourself. You don't need to type any of the example
text before the exercise...it is there to show how various commands look when typed into the MUSH, and the result
messages they give.
Example Text
Things that you would type are in BOLD Pink.
Things that are on-the-MUSH results are Preformatted blue.
My commentary and explanations are in regular text.
A Small Glossary
Room Name is the title of the room you're making. It's found at the top
of the room description.
Exit Name is the name of the exit that will show at the bottom of the room
under 'obvious exits'
Exit Alias is an alternate form of the Exitname that will still cause a
player to go through the exit.
Example:
Out;o;leave;ou
In this case, 'Out' is the exit name. 'O', 'leave', and 'ou' are aliases. You create aliases by separating them
with ;'s.
Syntax is a tax put on tobacco and alcohol. No..wait. Syntax is the
general expression of the correct use of a command. Like, if you said 'Ran the boy did' in English, this would
be incorrect syntax. Things aren't in the right places in the sentence. 'The boy did run', or 'The boy ran' would
be correct syntax.
Now, let's get building!
THE @DIG COMMAND
Syntax:
@dig Roomname
@dig Roomname=Exitname;exit alias;exit alias
@dig Roomname=Exitname;exit alias;exit alias , Return Exitname;exit alias;exit alias
To make a room, you have to @dig the room, and open exits too and from it.
Let's say you're in your hotel room in Living Fiction. You own the room (naturally) so you can build whatever
you like and link it to this room with no problem..
First, let's take a peek at your room:
Persons's Place(#456R)
This is Person's room at the Alphabet Hotel to do with as he/she pleases!
Contents:
Person
Person's Friend
Obvious Exits:
OUT
We want to turn this hotel room into a luxury suite, so let's start by adding a kitchen. I'll show the command,
and then explain exactly what we did and why.
@dig Person's Kitchen = Kitchen ;k;kitchen;kitch;west , Living Room (out);out;o;lr;living room;east;e
You have created Person's Kitchen (#457) Opened. Linked. Opened. Linked.
Look
Persons's Place(#456R)
This is Person's room at the Alphabet Hotel to do with as he/she pleases!
Contents:
Person
Person's Friend
Obvious Exits:
OUT Kitchen
See! Now there's an exit from this room to the new Kitchen room.
Let's take a look at our new room.
go K
Person's Kitchen(#457R)
Contents:
Person
Obvious Exits:
Living Room (out)
It's even got an exit back out to the living room (Your original hotel room.) Let's return to the main room,
and then I'll explain exactly what we typed in to make the room and why.
go out
Persons's Place(#456R)
This is Person's room at the Alphabet Hotel to do with as he/she pleases!
Contents:
Person
Person's Friend
Obvious Exits:
OUT Kitchen
We typed in (without the linebreaks, all on one big line):
@dig Person's Kitchen = Kitchen ;k;kitchen;kitch;west;w ,
Living Room (out);out;o;lr;living room;east;e
The syntax is:
@dig roomname = exitname;exitalias;exitalias ,
return exitname;alias;alias
This is a one-step command. The name between @dig and the = will be the name of your new room. Each name separated
by ; between the = and , will be the various exitnames to get to the new room from your current room. Each name
separated by ; between the , and the end of the line will be the names of the exits to go from the new room to
the original room.
Simplified: @dig roomname
= exit to room,exit from room back to the room you're in
The @dig command has various options.
If you type @dig roomname, like
@dig Kitchen
but you omitted the = and the exit names, the MUSH would create a room 'floating' out in space somewhere. It
would still exist, and you could teleport to it, but there would be no exits to the room or out of it. MUSHes aren't
crazy about floating rooms, so the machine will send you a message about every ten minutes:
You own a floating room - Kitchen (#457)
It's best to link a room to something and then lock the exit to it if you don't want anyone going into it.
The command to lock and exit to yourself only is:
@lock <exitname>=me
Example:
@lock kitchen=me
Only you could go through that exit now.
If you typed @dig Person's Kitchen=kitchen <k>;k;kitchen but didn't include the comma and the return exit
names, it would open the room, and open the exit to the new room from the room you're in, but it wouldn't open
an exit from the new room back to you.
If you typed:
@dig Kitchen=Kitchen;kitch
and you went inside this room, you'd see:
Kitchen (#457)
instead of
Kitchen (#457)
Obvious Exits: Out
This means you'd have to teleport (@tele me=#456 or whatever number your home is) out of the kitchen to return
to your hotel room, or type 'home' to get out.
MAKING EXITS (@link and @open)
What if you're making a room, and you forget to create the return exit? Or, what if you've already created the
room, and you want to open a second exit in that room to another room in the MUSH?
For making exits - apart from making rooms - there are two commands:
@open and @link.
THE @OPEN COMMAND
@open creates an exit and can link it if you specify a room number it should link to:
Let's say you're in the kitchen and you forgot to make the 'Out' exit back to your hotel room.
@open Living Room (out);out;o;lr;living room=#456
Opened.
Linked.
look
Person's Kitchen (#457)
Obvious Exits:
Living Room (out)
Now, let's say just for fun, we wanted to make an exit that doesn't go anywhere. For this, we can also use open.
We just have to leave out the destination room number.
@open Trick Exit;trick
Opened.
look
Persons's Kitchen(#457)
Obvious Exits:
Living Room (out) Trick Exit
go Trick
You can't go that way.
If you owned another room, like a closet for instance, that you wanted to be able to reach from the Kitchen,
you'd use open.
@dig Closet
Closet created with number #458.
look
Person's Kitchen (#457)
Obvious Exits:
Living Room (out) Trick Exit
@open Closet;c;clos=#458
Opened.
Linked.
look
Person's Kitchen(#457)
Obvious Exits:
Living Room (out) Trick Exit Closet
THE @LINK COMMAND
What if, after a while you wanted to link that Trick Exit to something. This is where the @link command comes
in.
Link takes an unlinked exit and gives it a destination. For example, if you owned a room, 'Burmese Tiger Trap
(#569)' and you wanted to link the Trick Exit to it, you'd use:
@link Trick Exit=#569
Linked.
go Trick Exit
Burmese Tiger Trap(#569)
You are in a very small pit with a very large tiger.
Contents: Burmese Tiger (Hungry!)
Obvious Exits:
Up
up
You try to climb up the walls of the pit, but you slide back down.
(The up exit is a trick exit too, with a special message to let the person in the trap
know that it doesn't work. More on setting messages soon...)
FLESHING OUT YOUR ROOMS AND EXITS
The up exit is like Trick Exit, but it has a message on it...a 'Failure Message'. You can set a mindboggling
variety of messages on exits to make them make sense to people using them.
The Basic Messages for Exits:
@succ <- What the person using the exit sees
@osucc <- What the room the person is leaving sees. (Always preceeded
by the person's name)
@fail <- What the person trying to use the locked exit sees
@ofail <- What the people in the room the person was trying to leave
see (Always preceeded by the person's name)
@odrop <- What the room the person enters sees. (Always preceeded
by the person's name.)
@desc <- Descriptions on exits are VERY handy! Unfortunately, they're
often overlooked. When a person types 'look ', they'll see what you want them to know about the exit.
SETTING MESSAGES ON EXITS -- Syntax and Examples
@succ Exitname=Message
Example:
@succ Kitchen=You push open the heavy oak swinging door and head toward the smell
of wonderful food!
@osucc Exitname=Message
Remember, Osucc and any O-messages are always preceeded by the name of the person using the exit.
Example:
@osucc Kitchen=pushes open the swinging door and heads into the kitchen.
Fail and Ofail work in the same way.
@fail Exitname=Message
Example:
@fail Kitchen=You try to push open the swinging door, but Mom rushes out and whacks
you with a wooden spoon. "You can't come in here until the food's done!"
@ofail Exitname=Message
Example:
@ofail kitchen=tries to slip into the kitchen, but Mom catches him/her and whacks
him/herwith a wooden spoon. "You can't come in until the food's done!"
A better way to @ofail this exit is:
@ofail kitchen=tries to slip into the kitchen, but Mom catches %o and whacks %o with
a wooden spoon. "You can't come in until the food's done!"
(%o is short for 'object'...him or her.
The MUSH checks the sex of the person trying to use the exit and evaluates %o to the
object form(him, her, it). It can also substitute %s for subject (he, she, it)..and so on. More on this in Substitutions.)
@odrop is basically the same as an @osucc.
Syntax: @odrop Exitname=Message
(Like all O-messages, Odrop is preceeded by the name of the person using the exit.)
Example:
@odrop Kitchen=barges through the swinging door from the Living Room, looking for
the source of the wonderful smell in the kitchen.
And finally, there's @desc.
Syntax:
@desc Exitname=Message
Example:
@desc Kitchen=Looking to the west, you can see a large oak swinging door. Eminating
from the room beyond are the smells of chocolate brownies and roast beef!
With these messages set...if we use the Kitchen exit:
look Kitchen
Looking to the west, you can see a large oak swinging door. Eminating from the room
beyond are the smells of chocolate brownies and roast beef!
go Kitchen
You push open the heavy oak swinging door and head toward the smell of wonderful food!
Your friend who is sitting in the room you just left will see:
Person pushes open the swinging door and heads into the kitchen. Person has left.
People in the kitchen will see:
Person barges through the swinging door from the Living Room, looking for the source
of the wonderful smell in the kitchen.
Person has arrived.
(The 'Person has arrived.' message and 'Person has left.' message are automatic, and built into the MUSH. You
can't remove them or change them.)
These messages are only a few of the messages available for exits, but they are considered the most important.
Some mushes won't even let you link your buildings to the main MUSH areas until all the Succs/Osuccs/Fails/Ofails
and messages are set, so it's good to learn this skill early. Living Fiction, as a general policy, doesn't care
what or how you build and you're welcome to link anything to anything.
REMEMBERING @OSUCC,@SUCC,@ODROP,@FAIL, @OFAIL
Each of those names is shorthand. By having a way to thing about each name, it makes it easier to remember what
they do while you're building so you don't have to constantly review the help files.
Anything with an 'O' in the front of the name is an 'Outward' message. It means people in the room the person
is in, or in the room where they're going will see the message.
Succ is short for Success. If the person can use the exit, this message will play.
Fail is short for Failure. If the person can't use the exit, this message will play. This includes unlinked
exits. Trying to use an exit that goes nowhere results in an automatic failure, so the Ofail (Outward Fail) and
Fail (Failure) messages will play.
Drop is what the exit does with you when you use it. It 'drops' you into your destination room. So, the Odrop
message is an Outward Drop message -- sent to the room you're arriving in.
MAKING A ROOM SPECIAL -- The @desc command
Finally, after you've got your exits set up, and your success and fail messages done, you can describe your
room and complete the process.
Syntax:
@desc here= message
Example:
@desc Kitchen=You stand in the middle of a huge luxury kitchen. On the far wall, under
a wide window with a view of the Crystal River is the sink, complete with water filter and garbage disposal. Next
to it, a six burner gas rangetop sparkles with a recent cleaning. The oven light is on, and judging from the strong
smells of chocolate brownies and roast beef, something good is for dinner. The cabinets are a light wood, with
stained glass doorpanes depicting green and purple grapes. Behind the doors, an array of sparkling crystal and
good china dishes are displayed attractively. To the east, a dishwasher and trash compactor sit, waiting to clean
up your every mess. The massive fridge becons, sure to be filled with goodies.
(Okay..I wrote this while I was feeling a little down on my own kitchen at home. But hey...what are MUSHes for?)
look
Person's Kitchen(#457)
You stand in the middle of a huge luxury kitchen. On the far wall, under a wide window with a view of the Crystal
River, is the sink, complete with water filter and garbage disposal. Next to it, a six burner gas rangetop sparkles
with it's recent cleaning. The oven light is on, and judging from the strong smells of chocolate brownies and roast
beef, something good is for dinner. The cabinets are a light wood, with stained glass doorpanes depicting green
and purple grapes. Behind the doors, an array of sparkling crystal and good china dishes are displayed attractively.
To the east, a dishwasher and trash compactor sit, waiting to clean up your every mess. The massive fridge becons,
sure to be filled with goodies.
Obvious Exits:
Living Room (out) Trick Exit Closet
SOME BASIC RULES OF BUILDING AND CONTROL
1. You cannot open an exit in a room you don't own.
You cannot just build off any room in the MUSH. Rooms owned by other people need special settings for you to
link exits from your rooms to theirs. You cannot open an exit in a room that you don't own - the owners have to
open exits for you.
2. You cannot link one of your exits to a room you don't own - UNLESS It is set LINK_OK (has an L after the
Database number.)
Example:
Crossroads Clearing(#100RJL)
See the RJL at the end of the number? The 'R' stands for 'Room'; the object type
The 'J' stands for 'Jump_ok', which means you can teleport to it. The 'L' stands for 'Link_ok', which means you
can open an exit from a room you own to it (but not one back.) 3. An unlinked* unlocked exit can be linked BY ANYONE
to a room they own, or that is Link_ok. Remember to lock your trick exits or just link them back to the room that
they're in.
*Why is this useful? Imagine that you wanted to open a hotel. By making links on each floor that can be linked
by anyone. People could just walk in and take an exit, like 'Room 1' and link it to their own rooms. Voila! Instant
hotel. You don't have to be online to give each person a room.
EXERCISE: BUILDING THE DREAM KITCHEN
If you want, you can go to your hotel room now, and by typing in the examples (done in PINK)
exactly as they appear, you can make your own kitchen off your room.
@dig Person's Kitchen=Kitchen ;k;kitchen;kitch;west, Living Room (out);out;o;lr;living
room;east;e
The mush will return a number with a message like:
You have created Person's Kitchen #12345
Opened.
Linked.
Opened.
Linked.
This means you successfully made your room and its exits.
look
You should see the Kitchen exit in your current room.
go k
You should see:
Person's Kitchen (#12345R)
Obvious Exits:
Living Room (out)
To describe the room, type:
@desc Kitchen=You stand in the middle of a huge luxury kitchen.
(This message can be longer, and you can include any details you'd like.)
To put messages on the Out to Living Room Exit, type in the following:
@succ out=You head back out into the living room.
@osucc out=heads back out into the living room.
@odrop out=comes into the living room from the kitchen.
@desc out=To your east, you see a large door. It leads into the Living Room of Person's apartment.
go out
You head back out into the living room.
(Return to your hotel room, the living room of the apartment)
To put messages on the Kitchen exit, type in the following:
@succ k=You head into the kitchen to find out what smells so good.
@osucc k=heads into the kitchen.
@odrop k=comes into the kitchen from the living room.
@desc k=Looking west, you see a large doorway. The door is closed, but you can tell from the smell that the kitchen
is just beyond.
Now, walk in and out of the doorway to test your messages. Voila! You're done!
End Building Tutorial
|
