The WorldForge Project is developing a complete, distributable framework for massively multiplayer online roleplaying games. The system will include a number of fully developed roleplaying worlds with unique maps, histories, creatures and legends. To run these worlds on the servers a balanced but highly customisable set of roleplaying rules is being developed. Provisions will be made to allow others the ability to recode the servers to use alternate rule sets. A standard protocol named Atlas is being developed to allow a common communication layer between clients, servers, and associated tools. For software packages that make up the system being developed by the WorldForge project, please see the dependencies for this record.
Acorn is the second in a series of games created as part of the WorldForge bootstrapping endeavour, aimed at creating an engine for massively multiplayer online games. The previous demo featured skeletons moving across crude maps. Acorn builds on this by incorporating a Python-scripted, event-driven rule system, a glient/server architecture using the Atlas Protocol System, goal-motivated artificial intelligence, herding behavior and nutrient-based growth simulation, sound detection and automated reaction, and a richer collection of artwork, sound effects, and music.
The Atlas protocol is intended for use in networked roleplaying games, and provides a flexible and extensible means of communicating between the components of a game system. The protocol is transport independent, encoding independent and portable. Atlas-C++ is the standard implementation of the protocol in C++ used by most WorldForge software, and is made available for use in any other system.
Mason is a 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.