The end of July came with a super exciting update, which is that we got Mystavaria hosted on an actual, real live server. We spent quite a bit of time doing some boring stuff to prepare for allowing builders access to the world, but it has been so fun and rewarding to have other people in the world and seeing how the react to what little exists already. We’re really excited to have some wonderful builders in to help out with describing the world while we continue to tackle the backend code.
With that said, there’s still much work to be done and much work that got done during July – let’s dive in!
New Features:
- Crafting skill updates:
- Lapidary is rounded out with a few final abilities to STONECRAFT objects from natural stone, obsidian and marble resources, as well as METALSMITH a handful of objects from our various ores.
- The Tailoring skill received a huge overhaul to bring in much more customisation for clothing. Tailors can now SEW <article> <style> <material>, with both style and material being optional (defaulting to a basic style and cotton cloth if none are provided). Additionally, tailors can make alterations to specific parts of clothing, including options for FIT (tight, comfortable, loose), RISE (low, mid, high), LENGTH (options vary by article), POCKETS (options vary by article), PANT or SKIRT STYLE (for bottoms), NECKLINE and COLLAR STYLE (shirts, dresses), SLEEVE LENGTH and STYLE (anything that can have sleeves, including shirts, robes and dresses), BACK and TRAIN STYLE (for dresses). Honestly, this list could take an entire update on its own – needless to say, we’re super excited about exactly how much customisation is possible here. On top of all that, Tailors can also COBBLE SHOES and use FABRIC DYE and FABRIC PATTERNs to really make the clothes of their dreams.
- Before we go into Major skill updates, I want to branch out for a second and touch on Trees. This update might not sound like much, but beleaf me, it will grow on ya! (Commence groaning now!) Like much else in Mystavaria, trees are now insanely dynamic with pollination methods, flowering months, fruits and seeds that grow and can be harvested later, heights, spreads, trunk sizes, bark, leaf and flower colours and textures, seed and fruit colours, smells, edibility (and tastes), and so on and so forth. This update holds importance as we dive into some of the Sylvan skills.
- Major skill updates:
- Druids and Nemophilist skills have gained a few shared abilities including FOREST ID <natural object> to gain insights into trees, fruits, flowers, seeds and herbs, FOREST LOCATE FAUNA to discover where animals are in the forest zone, FOREST WHO to see all those within their forest zone or FOREST WHO ALL to see all those standing in any forest location across Mystavaria, FOREST INTONE <message> to broadcast a message heard by all within the forest, TREES to see info and status of trees in their current location, plus innate animal affinity which improves success rates when taming and training animals.
- Nemophilists have gained abilities a few additional abilities that allow them to tend to flora and fauna with FOREST ANIMALS and FOREST LOCATE FLORA. Also in this update are abilities for Nemos to manipulate trees, flowers and seeds, including SEEDBLOOM <seed> to turn seeds into flowers, FRUITSHIFT <seed> to turn a seed into an unripe fruit, EVOKE FLOWER <tree type> to cause a flower to blossom on a tree in their presence, EVOKE FRUIT <type> to cause a fruiting tree to grow a ripened fruit and RIPEN <fruit> to cause unripe fruits to immediately ripen.
- Vinedreamers now have a very unique ability which allows them to create custom seeds by dream entwining two seeds together. The first seed will absorb the second and inherit properties from both seeds, which can then be planted to grow into trees far beyond what we establish as the “founding” trees of Mystavaria. In order to gain insight into what their seeds might turn into, Vinedreams can also study GENETICS <flora/fauna> to gain detailed information about the dominant and recessive genes of trees, plants, seeds and animals.
- Druids also earn a few unique abilities dealing with the new trees, including FOREST MERGE <tree> to merge with a nearby tree. One merged, the Druid can view FOREST MERGE TREES to see trees of the same type and their whereabouts anywhere in the realm, which they can then FOREST STRIDE <tree> to, flowing through an intricate system of tree roots and arriving at the specified tree. They can then use FOREST UNMERGE to “exit” the tree. Some other new, less tree-specific abilities have also been added for Druids including: FOREST ENTANGLE <target> to trap entangle an enemy in vines and FOREST HEDGE <dir> to call a hedge to block an exit.
- The Elementalism skill has been brought up to speed with newer functionality and gained new abilities to open elemental wells in appropriate locations (like being near a water source to for the element of water) and harvest the elements from them. Additional new abilities include levitating with EL FLOAT, creating a protective whirlwind around themselves with EL WINDSHIELD, granting themselves with an EL BUBBLE that allows for underwater breathing, leaping into the sky momentarily with EL LEAP, and finally creating a catastrophic EL STORM which makes use of all the elements combined.
- Guild updates:
- Guild Leaders can now GUILD PROMOTE and GUILD DEMOTE <member>s.
- Guild Members of appropriate rank can now INVITE other players to join the guild and GUILD CHALLENGE <leader> to start an election for guild leadership.
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed a bug in the target checker that caused an error if the target was non-sentient or had no health.
- Made some minor fixes to the GET command to better handle dealing with seeds, not error when trying to get a non-existent object and to give improved messaging if a player attempts to get an object they’re already holding.
- Squashed a few bugs with accolades and quest completion not giving correct output or throwing errors.
Other Progress and Minor New Stuff:
- In order to give more importance to the Flying skill, it is now possible to fall from sky locations without the “flying” or “levitating” defenses. Falling from the sky can result in heavy damage, broken legs or even death depending on how high up in the sky you fall from.
- The core of the Healing minor skill is now complete and healers are able to use CURE <target/self> <affliction> provided they have learned the cure for the specified affliction.
- Edible objects can now have nutritional values which converts to a very small amount of healing when eaten. They can also have tastes.
- Objects and locations can now have scents and fragrances and can be SNIFFed/SMELLed.
- Fires have been reworked so that they appropriately consume fuel, with various fuel sources staying lit longer than others, and a chance to produce charcoal when the fire burns out.
- We have new quest functionality that supports more complex “multi-step” quests and Aion has started working on one of our first major questlines!
- Exploration accolades now exist, so finding new areas and discovering hidden locations now comes with rewards.
- Bodies of water now actively flow with directions and speeds, meaning characters and items can be carried away on strong enough currents.
- Players can now use SUGGEST to submit ideas or improvements and TYPO to notify us of typos in a location or object description.
As always, this is just a highlight of the monthly updates, so come join us in our Discord server to see more of our daily ongoings!
– Alora and Aion
Mystavaria MUD - Make Your Dreams Reality! 