DeviousMUD



DeviousMUD was a game that eventually became RuneScape. It was created in 1998 by Andrew Gower.

History
DeviousMUD started out in 1998 as a game written solely by Andrew Gower in his home in Cambridge in the United Kingdom. "MUD" stands for multi-user dungeon. The game had isometric graphics.

A new version of DeviousMUD was released in 1999. Although it was completely rewritten, it kept the same name and remained similar to the original. It was released as a public beta for 1 week. Because of the limited time, screenshots were minimally taken.

In October of 1999, he started another rewrite, this time with his brothers Paul and Ian. A number of changes were made, and the game was renamed to RuneScape, the version that would now be referred to as RuneScape Classic.

Most of the places on the maps are currently on the real Runescape map.

Updates in the second period
Andrew Gower listed updates that he had made :


 * 12th March, Fixed some nasty duplicate login bugs, and various other bugs...
 * 13th March, Started work on a player-2-npc multiple choice style conversation system.
 * 14th March, Continue work on conversation system
 * 15th March, Finished player-2-npc conversation system.
 * 15th March, Important background scenary can now be named, and manipulated by the player!
 * 16th March, Improved player-2-player conversation system.
 * 16th March, Started writing quest compiler. This is amazing, it runs everything from magic, to professions, to quests!
 * 17th March, Finished quest compiler! Although it doesn't support many commands yet.
 * 18th March, Spent ages debugging game - Fixed 11 (fairly minor) bugs!
 * 18th March, Wrote auto bug reporting system for client
 * 19th March, Started updating player 'Identikit' system.
 * 22th March, Finish identikit system. You can now choose your player's appearance! System can also be used for human NPCs
 * 25th March, Finished designing a wood/forest to the left of the starting zone
 * 28th March, Fixed some more bugs. I've not got as much done as I would have liked but I'm putting it online anyway...

Game Mechanics
The information below is original site material (word for word), but has since been removed :


 * 1) The whole game is written in java, which means no waiting for downloads or installing software. You'll be able to just go straight to the webpage and play!
 * 2) Multiplayer! - You will be automatically connected to the main server, and your charactor will appear in the multiplayer game world, and vanish when you leave.
 * 3) Superfast isometric style engine, very optimised code with smooth 8 way scrolling.
 * 4) Detailed 3-dimensional map with hills, valleys, multi-levelled buildings, underground cellars and lots of variety.
 * 5) Efficient network code using lots of cool tricks to increase performance, and decrease lag. Only requires a bandwidth of 0.3k/sec for very smooth gameplay!
 * 6) Your game is automatically saved when you quit, so when you come back you can just resume where you left off, even if you are playing from a completely different computer!
 * 7) Minimal load times. I'm keeping the program as small as possible without decreasing the quality. Additional graphics and information are loaded as needed for plenty of variety.
 * 8) Graphical adventure style quest system gives you lots to do, and should ensure quests are easy to find and understand.
 * 9) A whole range of skills your charactor can try, which will improve with practice.
 * 10) Lots of different monsters and charactors with different attributes.
 * 11) A variety of objects and weapons. What you are holding changes your appearance!
 * 12) Communciate with other players! Organise parties of charactors with a range of skills to explore the dangerous areas. etc...
 * 13) Trading system, used to buy objects in shops, or trade with other charactors.
 * 14) I'm writing the game in a very expandable way using script files, so once I've got the basic work finished I'll be able to make it huge very quickly.
 * 15) Multiple choice conversation system for talking to computer controlled charactors
 * 16) Loads and loads of other cool features, far too many to list!