Well, hello friends! I apologize for taking so long to update; It has been a hectic period in my life. Not hectic in a bad way, just very busy! Despite all the crazy life activities going on, I have actually managed to make a lot of progress on some exciting things.
Soundtrack of My Life (SOML)
One of the greatest successes during this time of busyness has been the birthing of “The Soundtrack of My Life.” A game that I did not even know I wanted to make, but can now no longer imagine not creating. I have always loved to tell stories. I have written a fair number of short stories and even a few books (though none have been released to the public). I have a somewhat prolific career of playing in and running a wide variety of tabletop RPGs (TTRPGs), but where many of my friends’ games focused on combat or puzzles, mine always focused on telling a story. So I wanted to make a game that tells a story, but which one?
I finally settled on the story of Reuben Sterling. He is a character that I created many years ago during my gaming days on Gaia Online. Though he did have magical powers and a penchant for getting into trouble, he was more of a struggling musician trying to write music that he loved, finding his muse, and trying to run a tavern and inn (often serving as the place’s sole entertainer) in the middle of nowhere. I played him for enough years that he had an entire backstory and various friends that interacted with him (some real and some imagined).
So, I stripped out the magical aspect and the tavern/inn (still an idea I may one day revisit) and decided to drop him into a modern world. He is now a struggling musician with a variety of friends and a few girls who are interested in him. He has to balance making money, practicing his instrument, visiting friends, and considering romantic interests.
If this idea sounds appealing to you, check out the publicly available Alpha: http://darkseas.net/soml.
OrionMUCK
Another love of mine has always been multi-user dungeons (MUDs). They had quite an impact on my formative years before online chat rooms became a common occurrence. Yet, these were dated systems that required the user to use a Telnet client and the host to use a Telnet server, allowing users to interact with each other. Obviously, in the years since, the technology evolved. So why couldn’t a MUCK system?
That is the guiding point of OrionMUCK. I am developing a fully web-based application that will offer all the features of traditional MUD/MUCKs with modern technology. Once I have it ready, I intend to provide it as a free and open-source application that anyone who desires to host one of these games and is willing to do so on their own infrastructure can use. I may eventually offer a paid version with support and/or hosting. For now, it is just a work in progress.