Due to life.. in general the activity on this project has died down significantly. I have future plans to spin this back up again but .. well two kids later .. any sort of free time is quite precious. This is still a project I really am interested in doing and most of the work from here will be design concepts before really any implementation is done. Rust has come a long way since I first started up this project, which may require to revisit the code.
For the folks who have contributed, I thank you deep from the bottom of my heart, and I urge anyone to continue to help out. I will be working on a roadmap and a list of features for anyone to take up if they feel like it. My programming skill and project management skills have also significantly changed since I started this. Keep tuned, this isn't making progress as much as I'd like, but we'll get there. If someone hasn't done this effort already.
MuOxi is a modern library for creating online multiplayer text games (MU* family) using the powerful features offered by Rust; backed by Tokio and Diesel,. It allows developers and coders to design and flesh out their worlds in a fast, safe, and reliable language. Explore MuOxi API the rustacean way Join us on discord.
For Nightly Builds an update on Rust nightly seems to have broken something with the diesel crate.
The codebase is currently in alpha stage . Majority of development is done on the master
branch. There is a working TCP server that allows
for multiple connections and handles them accordingly. Effort is focused at the moment in
designing the database architecture utilizing Diesel with PostgreSQL backend.
Please submit PR's for approval and discussions.
No matter your skill level any sort of effort into this project is extremely welcomed. For those wanting to contribute, checkout the master branch
and submit PR's. Any questions or information, we welcome you at our discord server. Come on by.
The bare minimum TODO features that must be implemented before I would consider releasing v0.1.1
- Allows for multiple communication protocols (telnet, MCCP, websocket, etc)
- Allows for new player creation
- Asks for a name and password
- saves player info (etc. name, password)
- Implements some basic commands: quit, say, tell, shutdown
Handles players disconnecting or quitting- Implements a periodic message every n seconds
- Implements some rudimentary admin control (eg. muting another player)
- Basic cardinal movement
Implements a backend database, with friendly API tailored to MuOxi- Simple game showcasing features of MuOxi
In order for MuOxi applications to work as expected, it is necessary to have a fully working PostgreSQL and Redis server running.
You can change it in the code to what user postgres should be using, but the default is muoxi with password muoxi. Redis server
should be running as well, if you have successfully installed in on your OS, you can start it from the terminal using redis-server.
In the future I will add scripts that will do this for you, upon initiliazing MuOxi. For now, you must unfortuantly do everything by hand.
Hopefully the following steps will guide you through the process to set up your environment for working on the code base.
The following does assume you are working on Linux based OS. If you are using Windows >=10, use WSL as a linux sub and for everything else: Cygwin. However, I haven't tested this on a pure Windows environment..
sudo apt update && upgradesudo apt install libpq-dev- Attempt
cargo build, everything should build fine now..
First you must install redis:
sudo apt install redis-server -ysudo service redis-server start# enable on startup- To enable to make sure it is running you can manually start it with
redis-server
To check if redis has installed and is running successfully run: redis-cli in the cli you should be greeted with `<127.0.0.1:6379>
- sudo apt install postgresql
- sudo service postgresql start
- sudo su - postgres
- createuser --superuser muoxi
- psql
- \password muoxi (muoxi for password)
- \q (to exit)
- createdb muoxi
- exit and now everything should be set up
Diesel is the Rust go-to solution for abstraction over database manipulation. It allows Rust code to be natively wrapped around the drivers for different SQL-based databases. This is equivalent to something like Django or Twistd for the python lovers.
- cargo install diesel_cli --no-default-features --features postgres
- diesel migration run
That should be the end of basic setup - you can test the connection by running cargo run --bin muoxi\_staging and pointing any telnet client to: 127.0.0.1:8000. You should be greeted by the MuOxi logo.
Have fun :)
If you happen to use Docker for your projects, MuOxi has the necessary configuration to start hacking right away. Just type:
$ docker-compose up serverAfter a few minutes, you will have postgres, redis and MuOxi itself running. Happy Hacking!
The project contains multiple bins that can be evoked from the command line:
-
(Not working as intended at the moment) cargo run --bin muoxi_web
- Starts the websocket server listening for incoming webclients, default 8001
-
cargo run --bin muoxi_staging
- starts the main Proxy Staging server where all clients will live, this area is where clients will communicate to the game engine. Direct telnet clients can connect this is server via port 8000
-
cargo run --bin muoxi_watchdog
- starts the external process that monitors changes to configuration json files. Once a change has been detected it triggers an update protocol to update MongoDB
-
cargo run --bin muoxi_engine
- Starts the main game engine running in it's own seperate process. The whole game is contained within a TCP listening server that exchanges information back and forth between to the Proxy Server. Right now it is just an echo server
The database design is seperated into four different layers, with different levels of abstraction. MuOxi utilizes a PostgreSQL backend for its storage needs and Redis for its caching and fast retrieval needs. A unique design approach has been taken that allows information to be kept safe from database corruption, brownouts, or blackouts. The ideology is as follows:
Layer 1: JSON Files <--------
| |
\ / |
Layer 2: Postgres ------ |
| |
| |
----------------------- | |
|Layer 3: Cache/Memory| | |
----------------------- | |
| / \ | |
\ / | \ / |
Layer 4: MuOxi Applications--
The entire database actually lives in JSON files from accounts, mobs, players, equipment, spells, skills, etc...
JSON files where chosen because of the hyper-fast libraries available for manipulating json files in Rust and its friendly human readability.
A seperate process called the watchdog monitors custom defined .json files in the
/config directory for any changes to contents themselves. Upon a detected change it triggers an upload piece of logic
that updates postgreSQL database using Diesel, which leads us to layer 2 of the design.
This is where all persistent data will live throughout, and past, the life-span of MuOxi. Powered by an ORM management system, Diesel with
postgreSQL backend. The database should always be a reflection of what is stored in the .json files. MuOxi applications
queries straight from the database.
This is a helper layer that is dominated by Redis, for quick retrieval of information and adding ad-hoc non-persistent data such as combat, triggers, and other various information that would not be detrimental if a shutdown occured for whatever reason. This layer is meant to be used on a use-if-needed basis.
This is the layer where MuOxi will actually use all persistent and non-persistent data to drive the actual engine itself. Whether it be handling different states of connected clients, combat data, player information, and any-and-all other memory will be read from the cached database to keep the engine running. Upon an action within MuOxi that would causes a change to the Database, MuOxi will actually write to the flat-files instead of directly to PostgreSQL. This was a throughouly thought out process to keep PostgreSQL a read-only database, from the perspective of the engine itself. When a change occurs and MuOxi writes to the flat files we began again at layer 1 of the design. It is the responsibility of the WatchDog to monitor changes to the json files and update PostgresSQL. PostgresSQL and the JSON files should always be a reflection of each other.
The prototype idea of how the core design is laid out into three seperate objects.
- Staging/Proxy Server (Clients will connect to this server and essentially communicate with the engine via this stage)
- Game Engine (all the game logic lies here and reacts to input from connected clients)
- Database (stores information about entities, objects, and game data)
- Communication ( Each supported comm client (MCCP, telnet, websocket) will act as a full-duplex proxy that communicates with the Staging Server)
The idea is that players will connect via one of the supported communication protocols to the proxy server. In this server, clients are not actually connected to the game, unless they explicity enter. The staging area holds all connected client information such as player accounts, different characters for each player, and general settings. When a client acutally connects to the game itself the server acts as a proxy that relays information from players to the game engine, where the engine will then react to the players input. The engine and staging area will be seperated and communicate via a standard TCP server. The reason for this seperation, is to protect players from completely disconnecting from the game if changes to the game engine is made.
The support for multiple type of connections is a must. Therefore the following shows an example design layout that has the ability to handle multiple communication protocols. Each comm type will have a unique port that must be addressed and acts like a proxy to the main Staging Area.
------------
| Websocket | <---------------- \
------------ \
---------- --------------------- ---------------
| Telnet | ---------------------->|Proxy/Staging Area | <-- TCP --> | Game Engine |
---------- --------------------- ---------------
/
-------- /
| MCCP | <----------------------
--------
This design is still in prototype phase.
The MuOxi library is aimed at creating a very simplistic and robust library for developers to experiment and create online text adventure games. As it stands the engine has the following capabilities:
- Accepts multiple connections from players
- Maintains a list of connected players
- Hold shared states between connected clients
- Removes clients upon disconnection
The concept around MuOxi is not just to recreate an existing MUD game engine in Rust, but rather to utilize the performance and safety that Rust has to offer. That being said, this future vision for MuOxi will change over time, but it needs to fulfill some features that I think will make this an outstanding project.
- The Core of MuOxi will be written in Rust, expanding the core will need Rust code
- The game logic, that handles how Mobs interact, experimental mob AI integration, etc.. will be handled in Python.
- add more here