The Sandbox Globals Project is a softcode package that will run on PennMUSH, TinyMUSH 2.2, MUX, and RhostMUSH platforms. It is an effort supported by developers, numerous softcoders, and players to create a flexible, cross-platform softcode base for people to use as the building blocks for their MUSH-style games.
SGP was conceived as a means to make a quickly installed globals package for personal use, but quickly started to mutate as a need to overcome some problems in the MUSH community related to softcode. Unfortunately, a lot of people jealously guard softcode like it's the gold in Fort Knox. This simply doesn't make a huge amount of sense when dealing in the basic, standard sort of globals that everyone winds up coding. Certainly, having to gather pieces for your globals from all over the internet is a pain in the butt, and since most of the 'package' code out there is either piecemeal or totally ties you to a particular server, it isn't a happy business to locate and load up that first set of globals.
Some of the on going effort with SGP is intended to address issues like poor/inefficient softcoding practices, master rooms that look like a bomb hit them, platform exclusive softcode, genre exclusive softcode, modernizing and updating classic softcode systems, making available some general globals systems that aid in the running of roleplaying games. An FAQ is avialable.
The approach of our project is to collect together code from many different contributors and make a package of installers that let gods and coders pick the systems they want. A social MUSH obviously has different needs than a RP MUSH, so SGP is modular. You can then edit, remove, and customize the look and feel to meet your game's needs.
As of August 2000, v1.0 of the Base Globals, RPPack, and Places passed the debugging phase were released as complete systems. SGP is very much a work in progess, with things being added on a somewhat regular basis, so things will change, patches will be posted, and suggestions on making the system better for everyone will be entertained.
SGP is now available as a preloaded minimal database for both MUX 2.0 and PennMUSH. A minimal for U1 is available here. RhostMUSH intends to add an SGP preload to its distribution in the near future.
We will not be supporting any effort to certify SGP on the TinyMUSH 3.0 platform. Differences in the server make the cross-platform goals of the project impossible. If you get SGP to work on this server, that's great. However, we will not be supporting the platform as part of SGP development.
The current version of the code is 1.0 and is dated 1 August 00(updated 111000). Check the version dates on your files to make sure that your code is current. For customized SGP installs, check the bug tracking page for the current list of fixes.
Version 1.0 is a starting point. It will give you basic globals and basic functionality. The code we currently have installs and runs cleanly on all target platforms. The following list is our current list of target and/or completed installers:
Simply put, we leave these choices to the individual games to decide. SGP will likely never include these types of code, since they exist in better, more functional, and better maintained forms than we could make them ourselves. Plus, we feel that familiar and common globals systems are probably better for everyone, since it gives a feeling to new players that they will be able to find things sooner and with less frustration.
In the case of +mail, Fluff's Mailer and Brandy Mail will more than meet the needs of games that don't have or don't want hardcoded mailers. Myrddin's Global BBS is an old favorite and many players will already be familiar with it.
All such systems have their drawbacks and limitations. They may also require tweaks and a clueful coder to install properly.
Everyone is going to ask if this code is 'supported' or not. The answer is a qualified 'yes'. Support, for the purposes of this project, means that we will make sure that we fix our bugs in the softcode and release fixes as soon as possible. Since all the code in this distribution works on Penn, TinyMUSH 2.2.x, MUX, and RhostMUSH, all changes to the code must test out and work cleanly on all the target platforms before we release a fix for them.
However, consider the code 'as is'. Following the installation instructions posted to the website, as well as in the README, should let just about anyone succeed. The SGP system requirements installation instructions are found here.
What we will do:
Provide documentation in the form of README, webpage, and installers.
Include extra documentation in the internal +help files on configuring SGP inside your game. More will be coming in the future.
Fix our own bugs and get patches out as soon as possible after a bug report is made. We don't want to leave the users hanging.
Make feature changes to the code that will be of broad use and benefit.
We will not:
Write custom code for your game.
Debug changes users make to the code. SGP is built the way it is so that it can be usable in the widest possible number of games. If you don't like the organization, then either don't use it or accept responsibility for the changes you make.
Make feature changes to the code that we don't feel are in the best interests of the overall project. We will consider submissions and ideas, but promise nothing.
SGP is supported primarily to deal with bug fixes in the code. We will take feature requests, but those are not considered a priority at this time. The difference between a 'bug' and a 'feature' is that a bug simply causes the code not to work, where a feature issue is something about look, feel, or user interface that is more an issue of preference than function.
Helpfile problems should also be considered bug. If a particular file doesn't effectively explain how the code works, then we treat it with the same importance as non-functioning code.
Please be sure to make clear explanations of the problem, so that SGP can improve.
Report bugs via web reply form.
Track the progress of open bugs, as well as closed bugs.
SGP is meant to be a community effort. There is a lot to be done and a lot that we can add. The main devteam primarily exists to collect code, document, and test additions to the code. Softcode submissions are welcome.
These are some other projects that we will be adding to the package as we get time to complete them/find contributors.
We are always looking for compatible softcoded commands to fill out the base globals objects.
To be included, softcode must pass several criteria: