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IgorMUD’s Approval Process
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For anyone interested in coming to Igor to eventually become a Wizard and coding in the IgorMUD world, here are the basics of the Approval Process for Areas, Items and all things code on Igor. Documents online will show more detail, but this presents a good overview.
The Approval Process
Approval is the process used to make sure the objects and areas in
Igor available for mortals to use and explore are up to certain standards.
Approval consists of two parts, Quality and Balance, which are managed by Arch
Wizard teams.
Quality is the department that checks a Wizard’s code not only for
techniques and efficiency to make sure you're doing things correctly, but also
for typos, descriptions, coherency, etc.
Their goal is not only to make sure your code doesn't break (or break
the game), but also to make sure it looks good to the players who adventure
here.
Balance is the department that checks to make sure that players
aren't going to get away with murder.
Not only will Balance check to determine if a monster is giving away too
much treasure and equipment for it's difficulty level, but they will also
inspect an entire area to check whether it's in line with other areas in the
game (including monster density, healing availability, amount of treasure,
etc..).
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To
see which Arches are part of the current Approval Team, just type 'help arch'
in Igor.
Approval Help Docs
Some documents are available for Wizards just starting out
creating new items or areas. They will give a great example of how IgorMUD’s
Approval System works. (Only Wizards have access to these documents on Igor).
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The
(/doc/build/) directory contains many helpful docs on the different aspects of
creating an area.
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Balance
has a subdirectory (/doc/build/balance) that has some information specific to
the Balance issues of Approval.
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For a
good overview of Approval information read approval.readme.1, approval.readme.2
and approval.oftenfoundbugs.
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For
good rules-of-thumb for Balance, try /doc/build/balance/quickchart.
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If after
looking at the docs, you still have questions, you can ask any Arch or
WizHelper.
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Other
Wizards who have already gone through the process of creating an area and
getting it approved might also be able to help. These Wizards are levels 105 and higher.
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Also,
keeping the wizh (wizhelp) line on and watching the help that goes on there
might prove helpful, as well as asking questions on there when necessary.
Quality Department's Guidelines
Quality’s
Code Guidelines
1)
All
code should be legible.
2)
Have a
sensible directory structure.
3)
Have
a sensible naming scheme for functions and variable.
4)
Have
comments in the code.
5)
Long
descriptions should be checked for grammar.
6)
Every
noun in the long description of a room should have an add_item so the player can
look more closely at it. This is a
MINIMUM.
7)
All
text that a mortal will see should be checked for typos and grammar.
8)
Everything
you code, test it for bugs!
9)
Make
a list of all autoloaders in your code submission.
10) Get a WizHelper, or someone to
check over things before you submit to Approval.
Try
to be Original
It's natural
that people get influenced and inspired by the work of others. To a certain
extent it's also good. Just don't forget that it's usually better to come up with
an original idea than copying or improving someone else's. Spend time
developing your idea, adding and polishing details and concepts.
Think through your idea BEFORE you start coding, and make it fun!
Areas containing 100 rooms with LOTS of monsters and nothing else are not good
areas; simple hack'n'slash is not what Igor needs. And think twice before you
code things that might offend people... A monster shouting every minute that X
is an asshole IS offensive!
IgorMUD prides itself on its originality. We don’t want areas that can be found on every other MUD in cyberspace; after all, do you find it fun to enter a brand new mud, just to find identical areas? Igor is unique, and will stay that way.
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Last Updated: March 2003
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