Creation RulesLaws of the Realm
- First Area
- Descriptions
- Spelling
- Blanklines
- Sentences
- Indentation
- Linelength
- Titles
- Extra Descriptions
- Exit Descriptions
- Short Descriptions
- Death Traps
- Style
- Completeness
- Quality
- Object Stock
- Interoperating Areas
- Linking Areas
- Stringing
First Area
Making your first area
When creating your first area you should temporarily pause the creation process when 20 rooms have been completed, an seek out an authorized room checker for your first pre-check. A pre-check will ensure you are creating according to the guidelines, it will also allow the checker to offer any guidance or insights that may assist you in further creation.
Descriptions
Doing basic descriptions
Do not describe the presence of objects and mobiles in descriptions because they may have been removed or destroyed thus making the description non-sensical. If an object is flagged as TAKE, and has the HIDDEN flag set, it is safe to describe that object because it cannot be removed.
Spelling
Spelling Notes
- Keep all names within the fantasy atmosphere.
- Should be correct.
Blanklines
Use of lines
- Avoid them whenever possible.
Sentences
Sentence structure
- Should be grammatically correct.
- Should be separated by 2 spaces.
- Should be easy to follow, and not be run-ons.
- Standard rules of capitalization are required.
Indentation
Use of Space
- All paragraphs are to be indented 3 spaces. Use the autoformatter whenever possible.
- A 5 space indentation can also be used to set quotes apart from normal text in a room description.
Linelength
Length of Lines
- All full lines should be 70 to 75 characters long. Use the autoformatter whenever possible.
- Exception, quoted segments of a description can be shorter.
Titles
Title Specifications
- Text should begin at the left margin with no preceeding spaces.
- Words should be capitalized,
Example : Lair of Fog Demon
Bad Example : Lair of fog demon ("fog demon" needs to be capitalized)
Bad Example : Lair Of Fog Demon ("of" is an article, needing no caps) - Titles should be a two to four word description of the room.
Extra Descriptions
Extra Description Specifications
- Should exist where appropriate. If an object is described and you think someone in the room would look at it use and extra.
- Should be used to describe objects in more detail.
Exit Descriptions
Exit Description Specifications
- Should exist on all exits without fail.
- Should not be the title of the adjacent room and should be descriptive of what can be seen at a distance.
Short Descriptions
Short Description Specifications
All short descriptions should use proper semantics and capitalization.
Examples:
| a short sword | Good |
| A short sword | Bad - "A" shouldn't be capitalized |
| a Short Sword | Bad - "Short Sword" is generic, should be lowercase |
| a Holy Avenger | Okay - "Holy Avenger" is fairly specific |
Death Traps
Death Trap Suggestions
Death traps should be reasonably documented on the way to it and a careful player of average intelligence should almost never hit one. If we catch a builder putting in an unforeseeable death trap, we may just stick his or her mortal in it to remind them how annoying an unfair DT is. Death traps should never exist in newbie areas.
Style
Style Guidelines
Each creator should have his or her own style but the other creation guidelines must be followed when creating.
Completeness
Checking Rules
The descriptions should average about 5 lines per room. Also exit descriptions, extras, and all strings should be complete of the object will not pass being checked.
Quality
Quality Rules
We always prefer good rooms over more rooms. Quality areas are exciting and interesting to read, and should contain a proper amount of extra descriptions, and behaviors.
Object Stock
Stock Object Information
The object stock is a collection of "common" objects and mobiles in the first 10000 object virtual numbers. The object stock exists for the following reasons:
- Reduction of Redundancy. Every world file doesn't need 5 different short swords which are basically all identical except that they are in different areas. Builders "share" the common objects with each other.
- Consistency. Since all objects are usually derived from objects in the stock, it is more likely that objects will be uniform and consistent from one zone to another.
If you are building a generic object which you feel may be useful in other areas, coordinate with a higher level builder to ensure that it gets added to the object stock.
Interoperating Areas
Area Intelligence and Design
Areas created should coexist with other closely linked areas, and should also know of surrounding areas by content or description. For example a small village you create should know of the large trading city to the north. On the same note, things not in the database should not be referred to as existing, for example if there is no Sauron on the mud, the halflings had better not talk about, be afraid of, or even know about him.
Linking Areas
Area to Area Flow
When areas are linked to other areas, you should have known from the day you had your range assigned where you were linking yours to, and should have prepared "flow" rooms. Flow rooms are those that help blend the linking point rooms to your own to have a smooth flowing transition between areas. Suddenly going from arctic to tropical settings in the scope of 2 rooms is not acceptable.
Stringing
Stringing Guidelines
Stringing should be used only in a few select occurances.
- Awarding objects won in a quest.
- Personalizing your own immortal equipment.
Rules
- Restringing mortal equipment for the sake of it is not acceptable.
- No object or mobile should be restrung to resemble another object or mobile.
- Never alter the name string only the short.
- All strings must contain one of the listed name strings.
- All restrings should begin with "*"
Example: a sharp dagger to *Tasala's rubber dagger. - It is illegal to string players long string.
- Players should never be restrung.