WOTAN Fornever

I have placed WOTAN on hiatus. Not permanent, but I would not feel uncomfortable calling it indefinite.

I reached an impasse where I just could not decide what exactly I wanted that would make WOTAN stand out. Inspired by Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress, I have kept to my original vision of WOTAN being not simply an online gamebook engine, but something where each user is able to create their own piece of the world.

The aesthetic is for it to presented in the style of a gamebook, a throw-back to the bygone 1980's. However, wiki-like, you have the ability to create new pages in the "story." Obviously, knowing me, the first thought was to be able to construct bases, fortresses, lairs, et cetera. The trick in designing it is that, while each is essentially just text written by the user, there are definite rules and boundaries to be followed in the creation.

For instance, you can't simple write that you have a chair in a room; the chair must be placed in the room, and the basic text for "chair" is inserted into the page. The user can enter adjectives to describe the chair, or even better that is done when the user is crafting the chair. The chair will also have default behaviors associated with it -- as an example, it can be sat upon by a user's character.

Part of why I waver between finding this incredibly interesting, and between being bored to death  is due to the fact that I always end up thinking, "this is just like a MUD." I'm not sure that I want to make a MUD, web-based or otherwise. I want to make something different. MUDs are just fine by me, but they have been done to death. If I want a MUD experience, I'd rather log into a pre-existing (and high quality) world like Lusternia.

Of course, a big difference between what I envision and a regular MUD is that users will be able to create new portions of the world much easier and without any scripting. Theoretically, a user will be able to create a dungeon room by room by using only web forms, which will appear differently according to some predetermined boundaries, such as character skills, the trust level of the user, game tokens, or a combination. This is basically how crafting would work als0.

So I keep WOTAN in the back of my head and hope for inspiration to strike. The funny thing about that is, I spend most of  my work time in Kana and my leisure time in Minecraft. Throw in a dash of Lone Wolf, and what kind of unholy abomination might that produce?

In the meantime, I have been examining PHP frameworks to see what I got right and what I got wrong in my own first steps at creating one. I got a lot wrong, to say the least. But I also got a surprising amount "right" (my opinion), so I feel confident that I will only continue to get better. WOTAN was also always meant to be a "framework" for text-based adventure and exploration games, after all.

I am currently working on a super-secret project at the moment that is gaming-related, but not an actual game. I don't want to say anymore because, hell, it may never see the light of day either. And I don't need this blog to brainstorm as it's a pretty simple idea, but one with potential.