The RPIMUD Network News

February 9th, 2007 Work on the new version of the RPIMUD Network website has resumed! Most of the pages have been converted over to the new frameless version of the site. Valarauka has split our affiliate game list into two categories, "Playable Member Games" and "Member Games Currently In Development". Along with this change comes the ability to cast two votes per week; one for each list. Games in the 'open' or 'beta' status are automatically populated to the playable games database, while all others will fall into the developmental games category until their status changes. Only games that are listed as playable are eligible for the Role-Play MUD of the Year contest. The content of our 'About' and 'Policy' pages have changed in accordance to our new look and new features. January 1st, 2007 Accursed Lands is the winner of the RPIMUD Network's first annual Role-Play MUD of the Year contest! Work is currently underway to have their trophy, a wooden shield, airbrushed to comemorate the event. July 3rd, 2006 Happy 19th birthday Matthew!!! Your mom and I are very excited about your upcoming visit. We can't wait to see you! Even though we all can't be together today, we are thinking of you and hope that you have a great birthday. We'll celebrate when you get here! July 1st, 2006 So I haven't been keeping up on the news... Anyway, we now have two new fields showing up on the rankings pages to track the current ranking in the RPIMUD of the Year contest. When the votes are reset on Sundays, the weekly votes will be added to the tally. The total number of votes will determine the winner when the contest ends on December 31st, 2006. The winning RPIMUD gets a customized shield (yes, a real one) painted with the winning design. Feel free to submit your designs to me by email. You don't have to be a great artist, just get the basic idea down as I'll be hiring a professional airbrush artist to paint the shield. 2nd and 3rd runners up will get a prize, but what exactly that will be has yet to be determined. The winning RPIMUD will also get a graphic of the winning shield that they can proudly display on their site, and will be able to brag all year long that they were the winner's of the RPIMUD Network's first annual RPIMUD of the Year contest. Now isn't that just too cool? June 9th, 2006 Links for frameless navigation have been added to a few pages as per member requests, and this may become more widespread in the days to come. The remainder of Pana Stamos' artwork from The Inquisition has been added to the gallery, as well as a new desktop from Subterranea. The broken links in the library have been fixed, so you should now be able to visit the contributions that are found there. Sadly, Syrian Sands has been removed from out database due to a change of format in the game's design that takes it away from being an RPI. The new design does seem intriguing, so none-the-less, we'll be looking forward to seeing what comes of the project in the future. May 29th, 2006 At long last, I've made an effort to appease those who've called for lesser resolutions and a way to escape the framed design of the site. New links now appear at the top of the rankings page, and one of these will reload the site outside of the frame. As the site is still benefiting from regular updates to the content and code, I can't justify creating a complete and asthetically pleasing frameless page at this time, though I will do this once the site is 100% complete and no longer seeing frequent updates on the basic foundation and feature list. For the time being, the frameless version is ugly, but functional. I hope that it is of some use to you, and meets the needs of those who've asked for it. May 26th, 2006 I haven't had time to update the site much lately, but none-the-less, work has continued on the RPIMUD Trivia system making it 'almost' ready to be unveiled. Valarauka has also fixed several bugs. We're now able to add moderators to the forums again so please let me know via e-mail if you would like to be set as a moderator for your game's forum or any others. I've still got a few contributions that I need to make available as well, so Jason and Pana, please be patient, they are coming. In an effort to make "In Shadow They Slumber" more readable for all of you I've replaced the link on the library index page so that it now loads the story as a user-friendly PDF. The conversion didn't come out perfectly (I don't own Acrobat or a new version of Word), but it is much easier on the eye. I hope that more of you are able to invest the time into reading the story now. There are 13 chapters available, comprised of about 130 pages. In tribute of this moment, I've also put up a new Subterranea website and added the Subterranea RPIMUD to the affiliates. I'm working on it slowly, but surely, so feel free to drop by. Be warned, however, that it is running stock Argila code meaning that all races, languages, et cetera are stock and not relevant to the Subterranea game world. May 3rd, 2006 Tinkerbell is dead... again. I've removed the cursor script from the pages that I'd inadvertantly returned it to during the last update. As such, 'About', 'Policies', and 'Gallery' should all be working normally and not pose a problem for you FireFox people. While on the subject of the gallery, I've finally had time to put Pana Stamos' descriptions beside the images, and I've added links to that page for all of the artwork to the corresponding games. Our RPIMUD Trivia system has proceeded through phase two, and we have recently reviewed all of the questions that had been submitted to the database by our members. I'd particularly like to thank Falco, Virthe, and Drew as they have all submitted numerous questions to the database. Great job, guys! And of course, to Valarauka for the excellent work he's done. No more days off though, if I can't have any, you can't have any... well, nevermind, I've been offline since April 26th by the look of it. April 26th, 2006 The staff section has been modified to include new contributors to the site, and at long last, Valarauka has revealed his true name. As with all demons, by knowing his true name we now have even greater power over him and have forced him into mandatory overtime. The policy section has been ammended to include our new restrictions on outside graphics such as forum avatars and signature banners. In addition, a list of available signature banners has been made available in that section. Currently, only my projects have signature banners, but I will add more as our members create them to promote their favorite games. April 23rd, 2006 RPIMUD Trivia is now partially in place and you'll notice a new button in the bottom row of the site. At this time you may begin submitting your own trivia questions to the database. Your questions will be reviewed by Network staff, and if found appropriate, will become a part of the trivia system. Before long you'll be able to test your knowledge of RPIMUDs and compete against other members. Remember, we have no way of knowing the answer to every question you might come up with, so we're on the honor system here; when you submit a question, submit the correct answer. Also, keep your questions related to MUDding, RPIMUDs, and the history of, and in-game history of our affiliate RPIMUDs. April 22nd, 2006 Phase one of the new RPIMUD Trivia system is about to go into place. In addition, two images have finally been added to our gallery section. These images relate to my writing for the World of Subterranea and can be downloaded and used as desktops. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope that having the gallery section open at last will inspire some of you to submit your own artwork to the site! April 21th, 2006 The yellow tinkerbell fairy cursor is gone at last! I hope that this resolves the problems that some of our members using Firefox were having. For those who want to see the cursor when they are viewing the site, this option has been left in place and can be accessed by the appropriate links at the bottom of the main rankings page; the same place you can toggle music and make donations to the site. Please let me know if you see any pages of the internal content that I may have missed. Valarauka also fixed a problem with the new staff forums so they should now only be visible to members of the staff. Those of you who saw them, pretend that you didn't! :) April 16th, 2006 There have been some changes to the staff forum structure that will be invisible to most of our users, but you will notice that the MUD Review system has been updated yet again. The number of reviews that each game has received is now reflected in the link below the game's MUD Icon making it easier to identify if there have been any new reviews. Now it's up to you guys, our members, to be proactive about reviewing the RPIMUDs that you have had a chance to play! I've also updated the About page to bring us up to date. As we have grown substantially over the last several months, I'll be going through the site in its entirety to make sure that every page is up to date. We are also in the process of standardizing our live website with our test website to avoid the occasional backdating of data when tested files get moved over to the live site. April 12th, 2006 The banner ad rotation now has several of the newer affiliate banners running. I've also put Valarauka's most recent version of the MUD Review code in place that displays the game's average ranking in terms of fairies (sticking with the theme of the site). A game that has gotten a perfect ranking will be listed with five fairies, a game that has been given lesser reviews will have less. We've got a few more tweaks for the MUD Review system yet to come. With that said, what we really need now are some active members who have spent some time playing the various games to give reviews. If you've been around for awhile, go do some reviews and let us know what you think. April 9th, 2006 The last week has seen the addition of several new RPIMUDs as affiliates, and I am very pleased to have them. Only three months ago this site was little more than an unrealized idea with a cool look and little to no functionality. I would like to thank Valarauka again for his continuing effort to expand the usefulness of the site. The RPIMUD Network would not be what it is without his help. Thanks Val! We are close to having 200 members now! Who would have thought? I've moderated some of the forums and cleaned out old posts. Going through them has also reminded me of a few suggestions and requests that I had forgotten about, so rest assured, I'll be attending to anything that may have been skipped over shortly. April 8th, 2006 March has been a month of madness, in many ways. After being away for awhile do to illness, I have returned and am back at work on the RPIMUD Network website. There have been several requests for slight changes to the design (cursor option, resolution option, etc), and we have some new features in store for you in the coming months. Please bear with me while I get back into the swing of things. As of today, I have updated the library with a second draft of "In Shadow They Slumber". This new version has been largely rewritten to correct some pov issues, and several new chapters have been added to the story. If you have not read it yet, do so, I think you'll find it an enjoyable read. You can also post up your feedback about the story in the Literary Reviews forum. I've enjoyed writing the new chapters and feel that the story is really coming together now. Many of you are aware that I had considered developing Subterranea as a RPIMUD prior to making the decision to pursue DEAD6 as a commercial RPIMUD - well I'm actually dabbling with building the places mentioned in the story in MUD form, and who knows, this may one day end up as a new free-play RPIMUD. Time will tell... March 7th, 2006 We've made a change to the MUD Review section of the rankings page so that now only games that are in 'Open' (and soon) 'Beta' status can be reviewed. You can, however, still vote for games that are in development to show your support for those projects! In addition, our RPIMUD Trivia system is now partially complete. Before long you'll be able to test your knowledge of the various RPIs and RPIMUDs in general. Remember, you'll be able to add your own questions to the database, so start thinking of ways to stump your peers. Three new books have been added to the library! These are courtesy of Jason Mount, and all pertain to the Harshlands RPIMUD. Great stuff, Jason, thank you for the contributions. March 3rd, 2006 Just a note that I am, at the moment, accepting no more pro bono work outside of the RPIMUD Network. What this means for all of you, is that I am still willing to do free web design for the primary websites for any of the RPIMUDs that are listed in our database. Samples and reviews of my work can be found in the design section of this website. If you are the director of one of our affiliate RPIMUDs and would like me to design/redesign your website, just toss me an e-mail. If you are an outsider, please note that I will probably not be accepting any non-commercial web work for the remainder of the year as my efforts are shifting toward writing for this site and development of the DEAD6 Project. March 1st, 2006 A new feature has been added to the primary rankings page allowing you to review each of the MUDs in our database. You must be logged in as a member in order to view the reviews or post your own review. What you type as your review will automatically be placed in quotes and italicized. Your member name and the date of the post will be automatically placed following the message - there are no anonymous reviews - you are accountable for your review. You will also be able to rank the MUD on a scale of one to five, with five being the best MUD you've ever played in your life and one being the worst MUD you've ever played in your life. An average rating would be three. Rather than stars, we are using fairies to fit into the theme of this website. Also, you have the option of reporting that a MUD that has been submitted to our database is clearly not a RPIMUD and should not be here. In the case of such complains, an e-mail message is automatically generated and sent to me so that I can take a look at the MUD in question. If I feel that the game does indeed violate the general window of RPI, then it will be removed from the database. As the term RPI is not clearly defined, a MUD that fits into that gray area may be permitted to remain in the database beyond a single complaint. A gray area MUD that receives numerous complains from multiple members may be removed. February 28th, 2006 A new feature has been added to the design section of the website allowing you post your comments about the various MUD-related websites that I've created. I'm fully open to positive and negative comments, but hope for the best as I'll be directing future employers here to see a porfolio of my web design work and what people (you all) have to say about the designs. This system is paving the way for a game review system, which will soon be in place. You'll then be able to post reviews about the various RPIMUDs listed in our database. I've received several large contributions from Jason Mount related to the Harshlands MUD, particularly the Tharda region. Due to the size of these, they'll take me a while to get converted into our format for addition to the library. Great stuff, though! February 19th, 2006 The background image in the library books has been removed on the pages with actual story copy to make reading a little easier. In addition, I've finally gotten around to putting up the beginnings of the first book in the DEAD6 series. I'm planning on updating both "Servitude" and "In Shadow They Slumber" on March 1st, and will then shoot for chapter updates to each on a monthly basis. My apologies for having gotten a bit behind on these this last month. I'm also very eagerly awaiting contributions from all of you. Please, send in your work, it doesn't have to be perfect and/or in final form. For the staff, please note that the problem we were having with access to the forum administrative panel has now been fixed. You should be able to access it directly from the main forum page. For future moderators, please note that I won't be assigning moderators to any of the forums until the forums are fully integrated into our member system. We don't yet have the forum traffic that leads me to think a few more days will be too much of a problem. February 16th, 2006 Due to popular demand, well, a few requests at any rate, I've reformatted the forums and included several more community oriented forums. A forum for Armageddon was also created. Over the next week or so I'd like to assign some of our members as moderators for the various forums. If you are interested in moderating, please let me know via e-mail. We've got some new features coming your way that I think you'll enjoy including being able to post reviews of the various affiliate RPIMUDs and RPIMUD Trivia where you'll test your knowledge of RPIMUDs and our affiliates against each other for the coveted spot of "Hey, you're the guy with the high score, aren't you?". More cool than that, the trivia system is being designed so that all of you can submit your own trivia questions to the database. Once again a special thanks goes out to Valarauka for all of his hard work. He's the true power behind the site's interactivity, so everyone give him a pat on the back! The non-functional placeholders on the bottom row of navigation buttons have been removed to make room for new features as the site grows. At this time, the only page still under construction is the gallery. We desperately need contributions of literature and artwork, so please send those in to me via e-mail and I'll add them to the appropriate page. Go ahead, be famous! February 13th, 2006 I've redone the design section of the website. As you know, this section doesn't pertain directly to the RPIMUD Network, but is rather a gratuitous plug for my web work. I've updated the sites that are currently listed there, and set up the layout so that members will soon be able to post their comments about the various projects. Hopefully, you'll all have good things to say about my work and when I send potential employers there in the future your testimonials will help me get real work so that I can pay my bills. I'll be trying to coerce Valarauka into programming the PHP involved with the idea. With a little luck, your member accounts will become even more valuable as you get a chance to praise, or flame me, right in front of everyone. February 12th, 2006 Some changes have been made to the member account login system allowing you to change your password and have it reset and e-mailed to you in case you forget it. As a result of this new code going in, all passwords were reset. To be able to log back in you'll need to go to the login screen and select the option to reset your password. A new password will then be generated and e-mailed to you. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it's all in the name of progress! You won't have to do this a second time. As a reminder, the game rankings are reset every Sunday, giving you one vote each week to cast for your favorite RPIMUD. You can vote on games that are open, or show your support for games that are under development by voting for them. Lastly, I would like to thank those of you that voted for my bookcover designs that I entered into Tess Gerritsen's bookcover design contest. The contest is now over and I took second place with the 'white design' (featured below under the January 31st news update). Tess will be submitting the design to her publisher's art department along with the other winners. One of the three of us who placed may then be chosen for the cover of the actual book. Or, none of us may be chosen. That's the way it goes in the publishing industry. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to stop by Tess' website and vote on my bookcover designs. February 2nd, 2006 The RPIMUD Network Member Account system is now operational! Thanks go out to Valarauka for all his hard work in the development of the system. Currently, you'll need to create a member account in order to cast your weekly vote, submit a new game to the database, and if you are the director of a game you'll also be able to modify it via your account. To create a new account click the 'login' button and follow the process. All that is required is a valid e-mail address. If you are the director of a game that is already in the database you'll need to email wade@rpimud.net and tell me your member name so that I can assign editing power to you for your game. The member account system and the forum system are currently two seperate beasts, but we plan on combining these in the future. For now though, you'll have to create accounts in each system seperately. We are, however, making progress! January 31th, 2006 Content development for this site continues. Two new panes have been completed. You can now follow the in-house games list of the RPIMUD Network by clicking the 'games' button, and see the web design projects that I have completed and have scheduled by clicking the 'design' button. Work also continues on the test site with regard to the PHP Member Login system. It's been tested and is working great. We're adding a few more features and then will be bringing the system to the live site. When that's done you'll be able to create a RPIMUD Network account and have access to the game submission system and voting systems. Unfortunately, the site accounts and forum accounts will still be two seperate beasts for awhile so you'll have to log into each independently. As a side note, voting for the bookcover contest ends in ten days (supposedly). If you haven't, please head over to http://www.tessgerritsen.com and vote for my cover designs. Remember, the winner's design will be printed on her next book along with a few other perks. Namely, I could really use this notch on my resume! January 28th, 2006 The DEAD6 website is now back online at www.rpimud.net/dead6, and I've returned to the robo-design that was being used previously, however I've converted it from Flash to HTML. Worry not, the big mean stomping robot will return as a Flash intro after I've had time to tweak it and catch up on the content of the site. The site will remain under construction and subject to change until such a time as the content is 100% complete and the game is open for play. We're looking at 2007 for that. But, in the interim, feel free to follow the creation of the game. The site features a progress report of our notable accomplishments and all the documents that will eventually be woven into the Player Guides will remain listed in order of completion in that section of the site until the content is all there. At that time, we may even make printed copies of the guides available. We'll see... In other news, the voting system for the RPIMUD Network is now fully operational, as is the ability for anyone to add their own game to our database. We are currently working on a member sign-up and login system that will be integrated with the voting system and submission process. In the mean time, please remember that we cater to games that emphasize role-playing, not twinkism. If you submit a game to our database, please make sure that you fall into the scope of being an RPI or your game will ultimately be removed and banned when we've had time to review it. January 15th, 2006 The new version of the RPIMUD Network site is uploaded and has been made available to the public. All previous news has been removed and the forums have been redefined and wiped clean. We've got a clean slate, so we'll see where things take us from here. Hopefully 2006 will see continued growth in terms of the usefulness of the site, and the number of daily visitors to the site and our affiliate games.