an update from me

OK, for any that are interested in my ongoing project, I thought I would post an update...

I have been able to add a custom remort/tier system.

I have added tier restrictions along with level restrictions for EQ.

I have COMPLETELY overhauled the stats and the fight/magic/skills.c files. No longer is this FUSS a d20 system.. I have put in a full-on JRPG system. att/def/mag. def/etc which governs both players and MOBs.

I have added the ability to level up your magic

Stats increase on a allocation point system

Luck has a hand in most EVERYTHING

Added ability to level your weapon types for more damage.

Skills are now obtainable from special mob-programmed trainers, or by wearing special EQ.

No class - Character development is 100% user driven based on allocation points and Equipment worn. (dressing as a mage will grant more mage abilities than dressing as a warrior)

I have removed pointless additions (for my purpose anyway) such as polymorph/chess/etc

UPCOMING-----------------------------

Weapon/armor bonus's such as % more exp or multi strikes, %more gold, (think FFX)




So... out of curiosity.. How much of the original code would I have to change for it to be considered it's own codebase?

by the way... when I say full on RPG system..

99 on stats 999 att, 999 def, 999 m def possible


The way I have it set up is actually pretty awesome, simple and effective..

990 is really what the code will recognize max..

take def/1000 that gives you your % of damage to block.. for a MAX of 99% ... now, if your def is 999 and your Mdef is 0, then expect spells to hit for 100% of their awesome power.

Sounds good.



I'm no lawyer, however I do know that when Aardwolf rewrote its code base they rewrote everything and then got one of the Diku-MUD people to agree that it was fresh code.

This may help: When is your code a “Derivative work”?

Maybe also: Derivative Works: Statute and Case Law

Plus, search for: derivative code copyright

From what I can gather from the above, if "major" parts of the original code appear in the copy then it is a derivative work. However the ideas themselves cannot be copyrighted (eg. the concept of a class).

It sounds like you are rewriting combat, so that part is probably OK. I know that the original SMAUG used fairly hard-to-use area file formats, which the SMAUGfuss people improved on. So if you use the newer area files it wouldn't be derivative of SMAUG (but would be of SMAUGfuss).

You could conceivably switch to your own format for data files (eg. JSON, XML, Lua) and then demonstrate that your data on disk is stored in a different way to the original work (whether or not that would make a difference I'm not sure).

I doubt if the Diku people would sue you anyway, if you are making a not-for-profit MUD which has snippets of their code in it. It just wouldn't be worth the effort. I would be inclined to acknowledge somewhere that you got "inspiration" or something like that from the earlier MUD games.

I think the important thing is: To not pretend that some extensive piece of code, which does something really cool, was written by you when it wasn't.

Don't get me wrong, I am not looking to steal any credit by ANY means. I am a firm believer in giving credit where credit is due.

There's just a sense of pride when you do something yourself and I was just curious as to how far I would have to go to call this "mine" lol.

I'm a ways off from going public anyway.

I started this project with a goal, and those goals quickly grew into new, bigger goals as the old goals got accomplished... I am finding it easier to REMOVE anything that I will not be specifically using... REWRITING functions to work how *I* want them to, and likewise deleting the old ones.

But again, as stated, I am all about giving credit. I just didn't want to piss someone off by saying "this is my codebase" (loose, informal wording) when it's technically "This is what i developed based on smaugfuss and inspired by god of war, final fantasy, alice, etc. etc. etc."

I have probably deleted about 10% of what was there that I have no use for, and probably rewrote about another 10% of it.... and with these new goals, that puts me probably about 10% done with what I want to do lol!

As far as being not-for-profit. Absolutely. In fact.. If there is an interest, When I FINALLY get done with this project (I am no coder and this is a solo project) then I plan on happily releasing it to everyone who wants to add/build/improve upon it (as I did with the soulfeed snip). But again, I don't want any backlash from Samson lol.

I will put the area file formats on my "to-look-at" list. I have quite a few things on the to-do plate. COMPLETELY rewriting the magic.c and skills.c for example... and While I did go in and completely modify the fight.c system... there are still remnants of old code that serve no point anymore... so I will probably rewrite another fight.c file. (that way it's clean)

I would say the most MAJOR thing that has changed is the fact it is no longer on a diceroll system. That changes the fundamental way the original code worked. (aside from personal functions/skills/etc).

Don't worry... I don't plan on claiming it as 100% mine anyway... The framework came from others... You, nick, gave me insights and suggestion on the soulfeed code (which i did credit you for in the code comments)....

I'd just eventually like to have my name mean something, and an interest in something that I'm doing has it's own sense of fulfillment.

"what are you using as a codebase?"
"oh, I'm using that fuss derivative by alyce"

that would be awesome.