AREA WRITER GENERAL INFO FILE
                        Last update: April 1999


Introduction

This file is meant for people that want to write areas for Hesperia.
In it you will find a guide to our extensive arsenal of help files
available for area writers. 

Hesperia in brief is a medieval fantasy mud, based on an ENVY 2.0
source code which has been extensively modified to suit our own
vision. We allow multi-play up to 4 characters, are not a PK-mud,
nor a family mud. We, the Hesperian Staff, have worked on Hesperia
for 2 years already. We are still full of new ideas to implement
and the future looks bright.

We advise every new area writer to first play for some time on
Hesperia and get a grasp of the atmosphere and world. Only then
decide whether or not you want to work on our world.


So what do you want from me?

Hesperia is constantly changing. We do not seek much changes in
the basic game principle. I mean we are not devoting much time to
changing the technical protocol of how the mud is interacting
with telnet blah blah blah. We far more seek our challenge in
creating a complete new, fully integrated world. This means we
only want to include new areas, written by our own area writers.
Rather ambitious eh? And this is exactly the point where you can
jump in! We are always recruiting new area writers, those who want
to help us build up our mud. Preferably you had quite some experience
with muds/role-playing games already. You don't have to be an
experienced area writer already, but if you are that is of course
nice. Again, it is not a prerequisite. Our help files and format
of area coding can be understood and learned by everybody. The
most important quality you should have is creativity. Creativity
and enthusiasm, the willingness to build a mud together. I can
assure you building a mud with a nice team is alot of fun. Be
aware it takes time though. You don't have to put in as much time
as any Staff member (though you are free to do so if you like!),
but we do expect you to do some work. Of course being an area
writer is being a free-lance worker. You can determine your own
pace, nobody is going to rush you. But again, there are responsi
bilities. If you say you will do an area, we count on you not
letting us down. Another important thing is that you have to work
within our guidelines. You will have all the artistic freedom you
want, as long as the guidelines are respected. We want to create
an integrated world, and the background files will make it clear
to you what this world looks like.


Fine, but are you going to help me understand it all?

Yes we are. We are well-prepared actually. First of all, Randall
and I are always available for questions, as will any other
future staff member. Second and most important, a bunch of files
will help you on your way. These files are all available easily,
and very detailed, complete with examples. The core files you
need for areawriting are the following:

Technical Core:
AREAFILE
MUDPROGS
SPECIALS

General:
RACES
AREAHELP
PROCEDURE

Obligatory Background:
OUTLINE
GEOGRAPHY
WORLDMAP 
BALANCE  

DOSmud HESPERIA

Randall also made available a neat DOSmud, for area writers to walk
through their own areas. This is by no means the final version of
Hesperia, and it will not work 100% bug free. However it is ideal
to use at home, to take a walk through an area you just wrote and
see what it's like. Or to see if your mudprogs work. The DOSmud
of Hesperia can be downloaded as well from our homepage. With the
DOSmud comes a sample area: LUFTER.


What's in it for me?

Naturally you wonder what your position in the mud will be. Well,
anybody who helps building the mud, thinking along with us and
puts alot of work in it, will not be left unrewarded. Let me
assure you that. A reward in itself is the fact that other people
enjoy your areas, which really is nice. You, and only you will
get all the credit for a self-written area. Don't become an area
writer if you don't think that to be fun. Since we are a new mud,
we also still have some Immortal spots left. A good way to apply
for an Immortal rank is to write a bunch of neat areas. I am most
personally coming over to promote you then :P. But seriously, of
course we like to pick our Immortals from trusted ranks. Since
those who do a lot of work for Hesperia get to know the mud and
other Immortals well, such people are of course good candidates. 

Keep in mind however that writing one nice area does not mean you
are entitled to Immortality. Immortality is bestowed, it is a
gift, not a right. There's also more to Immortality than being a
good area writer.

Another gain I would like to bring under attention is the fact
that you will probably improve your social abilities. Working
together closely together to build our mud is a good experience.
I personally learned alot already last half year, and my span of
control will most probably start to reach it's maximum somewhere
in the future. I don't plan maintaining control on every creative
process in the mud myself. As soon as things are on the right
track, the track the Staff wants, I will select ambitious,
talented people to hand over responsibilities to. For example
area writing is now under my control, but in the future we will
probably give the main area development responsibility to a
Development Imm. A person we shares our ideas, and is able to
carry out the task. If you are ambitious, there is a lot to do
in our team.


Information

Files can be downloaded from our homepage:
http://www.casema.net/~hesperia

There you can find a macro file containing all the information an
area writer needs to get started. The DOSmud is also available from
there, as well as a map of the world. Separate updates are very easy
to acquire in the future, for all files are listed separately as
well. So whenever something vital changes in a file, we will let
you know about it and you can update it by only downloading that
file, instead of the whole collection.


Files Available From Our Homepage

OUTLINE         Describes the outline of the world, contains      
                a brief history of the world. It is the same
                history you find on-line, only put in a file
                so you can download it easily.

RACES           Describes mob races, needed for areawriting.

WRITINFO        Just this file, info for area writers.
                
PROCEDURE       Small file that gives the procedure for turning
                in areas. Read it well to avoid doing work for    
                nothing!

AREAFILE        Explains the technical format for an area.        
                Included are lists of all flags, possible features
                etc.

AREAHELP        File taken from the homepage of a few experienced
                merc-diku writers. It contains a lot of useful
                hints you will probably overlook yourself when
                you start as a writer.

SPECIALS        A bit more information on how to include things
                as Coaching Inns, River Barges, Docks, Pet Shops  
                etc in areas.

MUDPROGS        How to create the special effects and include     
                them in your area.

GEOGRAPHY       Contains a lot of background information on the    
                world. About 50 area ideas are explained, and     
                discussed briefly. This is to convey our vision   
                of the world. You can pick an area idea from      
                here, or think of one of you own, consistent with 
                our idea.

BALANCE         The file is to help area writers with balancing    
                their areas. It gives ranges for item modifiers,     
                money you should give your mobs, level ranges     
                etc. 

DOSMUD          Rough test version of Hesperia. Intended for
                areawriters, to walk through their own areas.     
                Very powerful and nice tool to test a new
                area with.

WORLDMAP        Just that, a picture of Hesperia. Together
                with the GEO.ASC file you will be able to form a  
                very good vision of what the world looks like.     


                       (c) April 1997, by Fletchez
                     Comments to: panic.et.tudelft.nl