Legacy Codebase or New Codebase

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02 Jun 2015 18:49 #1 by Jeshin
Legacy Codebase or New Codebase was created by Jeshin
There is a fairly striking difference between a true game developer and an active game staff which is developing. In the first example you have someone who is not bound to an existing infrastructure, playerbase, or game experience. In the ladder example you have someone who is building on something that has likely existed for the better part of a decade and is more than likely running a legacy codebase that is derive from MUSH, Diku, tinymux, or moo softcode.

As a developer who is making a new game and a new experience the first choice you really have to make (aside from setting) is what codebase will you use and why? The new codebases like Evennia, FutureMUD, and CoffeeMUD (to name a few) are all fairly streamlined. They require a lot of upfront commitment and building to produce a playable product. They also have much more open license agreements in terms of monetizing the final product. Meanwhile the legacy codebases like RPI++, Diku, SmaugFUSS, Moo softcode, Tinymux, and so on so forth have familiarity. They have established interface methods and feels to them. It's something where people know exactly what they're getting into and you even get complete game systems in a lot of them. Now whether those are the way you want game systems to function is another story, but most of these are out of the box functional.

So you're a developer. Which do you choose and why?

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