Enter the Matrix

[sircuri]

The Matrix scene/movie has always amazed me. I had the idea to turn this story into a mud.

My initial idea was to have the mud start at the moment that a handfull of people have escaped the matrix and joined the people in Zion. I like the idea of allowing players to escape the matrix the same way (blue pill red pill thing) and join the people in zion and participate in the resistance against the machine world.

The main questions i asked myself about this is whether i can keep it an interesting mud to play (even if you found your way into Zion). Can it be made interesting by introducing the possibility to alter the environment once you become skilled enough (how far do you allow players to alter the environment?)

Do I introduce a Neo-skilled level you can reach? (although i don't like the idea of having a super powerfull entity in the mud).

Another idea might be to start at the moment of the animatrix (2nd part) that a girl founds a "bug" in the world and that it allows you to fly and stuff. But there is not much information about this time.

A skilled mud writer (Alexander i think) thought about the time before the matrix started to exist. I thought about that but cannot come up with any aspects that could make that time interesting for a mud (the only thing i came up with were the endless battles against zero-1's machine empire).

Does any of you have an idea where to start in the timeline and what aspects of that time would make a mud interesting to play? I'm very curious what others have to say about it.

Thanks!

[alexander_tau]

In thinking about it a bit further, I realized that the cycles of the Matrix that proceed the Movie time period would be rather handy.



Say you start with the second version of the Matrix. You allow players to access pieces of Neo's power, slowly.



The Players will naturally lead the charge to free others from the Matrix, and eventually begin to really dominate things. But when they grow too powerful, when they bring out too many people...



The Matrix is 'rebooted'.



In an RP game each cycle could takes years to play out, so you would have plenty of time before you reached the Neo time period to decide if you ever wish to go there or not.



Of course not all Players wish to play on the side of good, so they might help to keep the current version of the Matrix up and running my inhibiting the actions of those from Zion.



If, rather than fighting the System directly, a player were to use their powers to gain strength and position inside the Matrix they would meet much less resistance.



Just some other ideas to toss into the mix.







A.T

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The Ultimate Galaxy I

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[sircuri]

I have put together a quick document describing my first rough ideas. Perhaps somebody can look into it and would like to make a comment on it (can it be done? have questions that need answering?)

Thanks

url PDF: http://members.home.nl/arjenvanefferen/Never_Ending_Matrix-Design_and_Implementation.pdf">http://members.home.nl/arjenvanefferen/Never_Ending_Matrix-Design_and_Implementation.pdf

[alexander_tau]

First let me say you show the kind of obsession that makes for a good Mud Admin.



In reading through your doc a few things struck me, in no particular order.



1) When you use copyrighted material what you need to do is use it as the setting, but generally avoid the main characters.



Because of the nature of the Matrix I think the only person who really matters is Neo.  Without him you can say 'inspired by...', with him you are somewhere else entirely.



2) There was a Guy who was like Neo who rescued the first people from the Matrix. Did you intentionally change that or just not want to include him?



3) To make this your own you need to create at least twice as many character as you are using from the source material.



I realize the ones you create will not initally have the 'power' of the ones from from Movies, but they are the characters you can use to create your version of the Matrix.



4) What would be helpful would be if you could envision layers of the Matrix that are not in the source at all. Then you would be free to create and explore.



Mostly we are talking about other programs but in this they can be characters too.







A.T

(-)

The Ultimate Galaxy I

Telnet 69.25.180.47:6666

Status: Alpha, playtesters welcome

TUG Forum: http://www.crazybri.com/crazyforums/viewforum.php?f=55

[saquivor]

Hi Sircuri,

I have had a quick look at your documents, and the the first thing I have to say is that I commend your for documenting first then coding later! I should follow that principle myself on a more regular basis.

Most people who are into PC's are gonna dig the Matrix so you have picked a good theme. They will probably have high expectations as they will expect the game to conform to parts of the flim. So NPC, rooms and objects will need to give an impression of scenes that are similar to the film.

I agree with a point that Alex's makes regarding balance you have written the storyline from the perspective of a human, and that is only half the story, as it is the machines that are in charge not the humans. Initially it will be tough to make progress as a human, and I am sure there will be many people that will want to play as andriods/machines in attempt to stop the human making progress. NPC representing both sides that fight and interact with each other would really help set the tone for what the world is about.

I like the idea for the instructor for a human player. That could be a key part of the gameplay for humans.

Sorry for the brief review but if you flesh out the document some more I would be happy to review it again. Perhaps you could add some technical elelemts to the next version of the document relating to the sort of functions the instructor would perfrom.

ie the mainframe may change/extend the use of the weather system system from the stock DS2 mudlib to make announcements to all players.

You could also maybe code an introduction/training element to the game to immerse the players in the world before enetering it for real.

Hope my comments help.

Saquivor

[sircuri]

Alexander,

You have a point about using copyrighted material. It would be better to create it based on the Matrix and not make it as the Matrix is in the movie.

The storyline only describes the moment in time the Mud starts. This means that Neo is the last one rescued from the Matrix. I did this on purpose to be sure that a normal mud player will never become a Neo-like guy. I do not want to allow a player to become a superman character.

Also the characters named in the document are meant to be NPC's and not real players. I'm afraid that when i introduce these kind of characters as real players they will spoil the game and could make it too easy for players to progress through the mud (does this make sense?).

I realy appriciate the comments you make. Thanks

[sircuri]

Saquivor,

well, yes, i have this all in mind from a human perspective. I'm currently unsure how to introduce the machine side into this mud. The point is that the machine controlled characters in the Matrix are too powerfull. Every player that enters this mud is sooner or later going to be unplugged. If you have a human play a machine role in this mud, they will have the (human) advantage of knowing the movie this mud is about and will attack any player in the mud to prevent them ever reach the goal of getting rescued from the Matrix.

A trainer might be something to add in the future. Will probably not be my first goal in making this mud.

Thanks for your comments. Next document versions will definitly have more technial details (also more detailed information about the mud environments, players, rooms a.o.).

[j_rathjens]

Well, I'm sure you've got enough to think about, but maybe I could throw one more log on the fire?

I think my favorite part of the first movie (probably the whole trilogy) was the Load Room. All that stuff at your fingertips, you know?

(I was amazed when I first started playing with LP how closely it resembled that scene, if you take 'clone' and 'goto' in that sort of context. I was grinning like an idiot for weeks. So DS I'm sure is already pretty well-disposed to a Matrix-themed mud.)

I'm interested to see how you'll implement that sort of scope for your players, or what limitations you might put on it. I think it would be worth your time though, to get a staff member (maybe a whole team) dedicated to cataloging and creating all the weapons, vehicles (they did vehicles, right?), and training/simulation areas your players could handle.

Good luck, it sounds neat.

P.S. Oh, and lots of trenchcoats and sunglasses. An absolute must for the Matrix experience.