WorldForge::Mason 0.3

WorldForge::Mason is the second game system being developed by WorldForge. The primary focus for Mason is to enable players to build a persistent world in-game. Players will be able to manipulate items by creating new items from raw materials, attaching existing items together or splitting items into component parts.
Complicated structures such as houses can be designed on paper as a blueprint and then built with suitable building blocks and skills.
Reaching this milestone will require expanding not only our existing server and client code, but also refining the Atlas protocal that connects them.
The expansion will cover item creation (using a recipe system), construction of houses and other large structures (attaching items together), creating complex machines (combining simple machine parts), simulating organic reactions (festering wounds, adrenaline rush) with a detailed body system, editing text and other information objects in-game, and running an economy that changes with the world.
To demonstrate these techniques we will create a competitive and cooperative game centering about settling the uninhabited lands in the north-western corner of Moraf in our Dural world.
The players can play either human settlers attracted by the rumors of gold or promises of free land, or orcs, driven down to the plains from the overpopulated dens of the orc tribes of Sarnak.
Game
This section contains things related to the Mason Game in general, such as background story, game objectives, and planned features for version 1.0 of the game. It will also contain an installation guide, a players guide, and a game administrators guide. Theres also a page of links to screenshots and downloads.
If you are a potential future player and would like to know what the game will be like, or a creative writer interested in making the game interesting and fun to play, or if you want to write or translate documentation for end users, then this is the place for you.
Technology
This section contains the design of the various abstract systems that will implement all the central features of Mason. The systems include: the Item System, the Mechanical System, the Information Object System, the Body System, the Mind System, and others.
If you are a developer or game designer, interested in how all the revolutionary features supported by Mason are going to be implemented, then this section is for you.
Content
This section deals with all the general data needed for the Mason Game: item and creature descriptions and stats, maps of the Moraf area in the Dural world, and media for items and terrain. This data can be directly reused in later games.
If you are a world designer, artist, musician, or a MU* wizard who loves creating cool new items, then this section is for you.
Enhancements:
- Mason is now supported in two major 3D clients, Ember and Sear.
- An advanced terrain system has been implemented, including procedural texturing, paths, modified areas, and swimming in water.
- Building materials and resources can be gathered from the world using tools.
- Work has started on a new combat system.