NiMUD OLC has been ported to the Envy release (a post-Merc release) 
by Jason Dinkel back during the release of Version 2-73.  It has 
shown up in a variety of ways on Rom, Godwars (Deluxe, Shadowgames
version and Rok2 version) and a few others, and is a continuing 
contribution to the Merc Industries group of derivatives, as its 
straightforward coding style and relative flexablity has made it
a popular feature of muds today.

The Merc v2.0/2.1 and 2.2 was the precursor to Envy; it existed 
in a time when Merc 2.2 was being released, and has only recently 
been the source of review for NiMUD and variants.

Previous versions of OLC existed in the form of other softwares; 
MUSH and MUCK, MOO all offered some sort of online coding,
online editor, or online creation. While Diku written for speed, 
and Merc followed suit.  OLC came as a later feature to these 
softwares and was not inherent to its design. In fact, out of
respect to Whistler and Dikumud][, it was the old style- write
and submit; where a "builder" would write a file in the correct
format and upload it to the gods for approval.

LP was already in an advanced state when NiMUD was released.


--- ftp.game.org


To set the record straight,

The Isles NIMUD OLC was written by Surreality and Locke
together.  We stole the ideas from Hidden Worlds MUD, 
who had the initial working concept of an OLC; a very
advanced feature at the time for a Diku/Merc 1.0; and
perhaps the only Merc 1.0 boasting an online zone
building system.

Surreality wrote the major framework.  It was designed
by both Surreality and Locke by stealing ideas from
Kalgen, who ran a mud called Zebesta with his friend
Zlixlt.  Kalgen (Alex Dzur of University of Washington,
Seattle, Washington) had designed an interesting
derivation of Merc after his time as an immortal on 
Hidden Worlds, where he was among the more prestigious 
immortals.  Kalgen's Mud Zebesta has disappeared; sad
but true it is lost to history.  One of the greatest
muds ever seen, which had many of the features and
careful considerations of a game worthy of being called
"great" --

The "Mozart" OLC software was not written at the time,
and has come later, perhaps developed simulteanously,
but most likely a "reinvented wheel" to avoid the NiMUD
OLC license, which of course has been ignored by a
great many MUD developers.  Thoric of Realms of Despair
lends this to the fact that much of the godwars variants,
pirate and deluxe for example, were "leaked" and being
that this is true, often MUD developers, often in their
secretive nature, have failed to follow Jason Dinkel's
license which stated that those using the EnvyOLC/ILAB
OLC ports must CONTACT LOCKE@MUGS.NET

Surreality and I worked previously on BBSes, circa 1991,
and he was a contributer to Telegard and Renegade softwares,
where he was added to the credits of Telegard.  (He
liked this and I was happy for him.)

He and I developed code for various purposes on the MUD, 
indeed the ideas for the OLC were not original and the 
versions of ROM (Rogue, specifically) which use the word 
"installed" does not adequately describe the development
process.  In fact, Alandar (Russ Taylor) and I never
got along, much the way Morg and I don't get along today.

Surreal's most interesting combat feature was the idea for
hit specific functions; which grew into an addition of the
vorpal weapon, a unique feature of NiMUD, I believe
revived from old Diku, implemented with a Merc twist
(a severed head).

We also brought ANSI color codes to muds, being the first
source code to include ANSI color.  Our source was so
useful, in fact, that it was taken by FreeBSD and used
in their linux shell (Thank you!).

This was the year we watched Peter Jackson's Bad Taste,
and began playing DOOM.

Chris and I worked together on this feature and the 
version that was ported from NiMUD contained many 
features not present in Surreality's initial version.

Current Version

This version, version 5.1a, is the most recent iteration
of the thoughts and ideas that Surreal and I had at
the inception of the Isles, and represents also a new
paradigm in Merc/Diku -- 

It also includes much of the conceptual work I have had
the pleasure of being a part of at Carnegie Mellon University,
one of the more prestigious schools of Computer Science and
related topics.  I have a Bachelor of Science in Interaction
Design, a science dedicated to the study of media and computer
related art.

(Please see related 'concepts.txt' for more information.)

Surreal's Vision

Surreal had a vision for a MUD that had multiple worlds,
and many times we thought of ways to devise strategies for
combining muds using RWHO like portals, where characters
would be transferred through some standard protocol from
one mud to another, changing stats and object specifications
between muds, filtering unused objects in special buffers
for reappearance in other muds.  This way we could "in
essence" become legendary among the people, provide immortals
with options for siphoning players, provide a unique MUD
experience and multiple themed genres, where each mud
would function like a single dimension in a multi-dimensoned
multiverse.  Later, the IMC grew from this idea.

This idea never came to fruition through NiMUD.

The idea would be to use NiMUD as this launch platform,
to create a NiMWHO service -- but then everyone would
have to go and make NiMUDs. :)  Later came IMC.

I did, however, complete the scripting language which was
our initial hope during the advent of the MobScripts
portion of Merc.  I will admit that the addition of the
scripting language occured after numerous episodes on
the original DuneMUSH, a PennMUSH. Where Chris hacked the
infamous "x-ray glasses" which became banned and lead
to our disinterest in the game (I later became an
established character on DuneMUSH while Surreal went
to college).

My goal was to combine a MUD and a MUSH, and Surreal
helped out.

Enjoy it, it is quite powerful and mesmerizing.

Regards, Locke of The Isles
theisles@mugs.net
----
