[Coders] Open Meridian Project - Meridian 59 - Legacy MMO Thread

Intro:

We are The Open Meridian Project, a loose knit group of people working on a new expansion, and a new 3d client for the legacy MMO, Meridian 59. We are seeking programmers to help in tools and server/database programming.

Meridian 59 was first launched in December 1995, making it the first commercial 3d MUD. It is a skill based game, there are no levels in the traditional sense, and is known for an excellent PvP experience. It was open-sourced in February 2010 under the GPLv2. The artwork and some 3rd party licensed tools were not included.

Our homepage:
Openmeridian.org

Forums (new):
Openmeridian.org

IRC:
irc.esper.net #Meridian59
or
Openmeridian.org

Our long-term goals:

• Write one or many new expansion(s) to Meridian 59
• Write tools that make administering meridian server easier
• Write a login server that supports multiple servers
• Fix or replace the antiquated room editor
• Make the game as user friendly as possibile (Tutorials, etc.)

Our current focus:

• Tools and Systems - Room editor, Database connectivity, Login server, etc.
• New content - Monsters, NPCs, Rooms, Lore, Items, Quests.

Our server/tools project:
Github.com

Our client project:
Code.google.com

OLD Client (in server project), currently 100% used among player base:

New client (in client project) not currently playable, but almost:

More Info:

The maps are a proprietary format .roo files. They strongly resemble the Doom map structure; and the only working editor for the format is a heavily modified version of WinDEU 5.x (roomedit), written in Turbo C 4.5. We intend to replace this program with a fork of something like GTKRadiant if possible.

The server (blakod) and client(client3d) are written in C, and compile with Visual Studio 2008+. One module (keybind) will not build with the Express version. There is a Visual Studio project that has been started, but production (and most development) compilation occurs with nmake.exe from the command line. More detailed build instructions are available.

The game logic is all written in a proprietary format, called Kod. It is compiled into byte code by one of the modules (bc), and then interpreted by the server.

The game was designed in, and for, the dial-up era, which makes it very efficient, but also very complicated when compared to a modern game engine. Though it is complex, it is very well designed, and very extensible. Also, due to its modular nature, we see a future in which we can possibly slowly replace the components with modern code.

The new client project is written in mostly C#, with the 3d engine implementation being Ogre3d, in C++.

We are currently a team of about 10-20 people of varying availability from the US, Germany, Australia, etc. and are all volunteers.

We envision a counter-strike like system, where the "game" is really just a launcher, which would then list all the available servers (which would be run by any independent operator who would wish to do so with their configured options).

If you are interested, or know someone who might be, come see us!

-Daenks