Greetings Realmers,
It's our newsletter anniversary! This time last year, we sent our first issue, and have kept with the pace of one per quarter. In that time the list has grown 13x in size, so thank you for subscribing! If you want more frequent updates, be sure to follow us on Twitter, and join our growing community on Discord.
We've been focusing on developing our flagship multiplayer world, Edeus, formerly known as The Unbroken World. The features we've implemented over the last couple of months are mostly those we found ourselves needing along the way. And although there is plenty more to build, we're excited to share the newly available tools. Here's what's new this quarter, starting with new content.
Up for a challenge? A new dungeon has been added to Edeus, full of peril and excitement. You'll want to bring a friend or two with you.
Grim news travels from Lutess, where a Renisian Army scout reports that the dark priest in the crypt has managed to conjure a set of mysterious glyphs in his cavernous hall. The glyphs glow an ominous purple hue, and after giving their initial report, the scout set back out to further investigate and was never heard from again.
https://writtenrealms.com/worlds/1/edeus
Also from Edeus, we've started publishing a short story taking place in that world, to expose some of the lore and world building behind it. It is called The Forbidden Spark, and three chapters in addition to the Prologue have been released so far. The remaining four chapters will be released weekly, from now until mid June.
https://blog.writtenrealms.com/spark
A long overdue world building feature, it is now possible to add doors in between rooms, which can be open, closed or locked.
More information is available in the Doors & Keys documentation page, and a post going more deeply into the design is available on our blog.
Room Actions are custom commands that can be defined per-room by a builder. They can be configured to show an action in the UI as well, and to only be available if certain conditions are met by the player.
Practically speaking, they are able to achieve much of the functionality of the oft-used "quest with invisible mob and custom action" trick.
For more information, refer to the Room Actions documentation page.
By enabling the 'is_crafter' flag on a mob, players can use the 'craft' command in their room to purchase an item for a specified equipment slot, with stats randomized based on their archetype. This "selective randomness" now also applies to random item profiles that are used in quest rewards. It translates to players having an easier time rolling items that they'll want to use.
If you want to try it out, a crafter has been added to Alendel's workshop in Edeus.
What we're working on next is Player vs Player, and by the time the next newsletter rolls around, we should have a lot of exciting features in place. Have you Player Killed on a MUD before? Ever felt the PK shakes? Do you hate it or love it? If you'd like to share or offer input as we implement this, please drop by Discord and let us know!
Enjoy your summer,
Thibaud & Pat