The Raven MUD Driver

            ~~~===~~~ nijakow proudly presents ~~~===~~~

        A
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        A   G a m e   o f   T e x t   a n d   F a n t a s y

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What is Raven?

Raven is a game engine for Multi User Dungeons. It was created by nijakow as a lightweight alternative to existing MUD drivers such as LDMUD, DGD and others.

It is written in pure C (no dependencies, but assuming a POSIX-style environment), and is considered to be a successor to the Four project.

Raven is licensed under the GNU GPL v2.

What is the current state of the project?

Raven already successfully compiles and runs a sophisticated programming language similar to LDMUD's LPC. It is possible to build rooms with it, log in with multiple users at the same time, and experience a full text-based game.

However, things like a persistent database are still (actively) being worked on.

Quickstart Info

Getting the MUD to run is relatively simple:

git clone https://github.com/nijakow/raven.git
cd raven/src
make run

Alternatively, you can use Docker:

docker build -t raven https://github.com/nijakow/raven.git
docker run -e RAVEN_MUDLIB=/var/raven -v /path/to/your/mudlib/src:/var/raven -p 4242:4242 -it raven

This of course assumes that you have set the $RAVEN_MUDLIB environment variable to point to a valid Raven Mudlib.

What is a mudlib and how do I add one?

A typical MUD server acts like a virtual UNIX computer. A mudlib represents the file system that the server starts out with.

To set up a mudlib for Raven, create this directory structure:

  + mudlib/
     |
     +- secure/
         |
         +- master.lpc
         |
         +- base.lpc

Then set the variable $RAVEN_MUDLIB to point to your mudlib/ directory. If you now start the server, it will try to run the main() function inside of mudlib/secure/master.lpc.

In order to set up a minimal server, configure your files like this:

/* mudlib/secure/master.lpc */

void main() {
  /*
   * This function is called on startup.
   */
  $print("The server is now running!\n");
  $open_port(4242);
}

/* mudlib/secure/base.lpc */

/*
 * This is the file that every object automatically inherits from.
 */

inherit;   /* This statement is important! */

void create() {
  /*
   * The default constructor. Can be left empty.
   */
}