MUD client

A mud client is a piece of software used to connect to a MUD. Generally a mud client is a very basic telnet client that lacks VT100 terminal emulation and the capability to perform telnet negotiations. On the other hand they are enhanced with features designed to specifically work well with mudding.

Standard features seen in most mud clients include ANSI color support, aliases, triggers and scripting. The client can often be extended almost indefinitely with its built-in scripting language. Most muds restrict the usage of scripts because it gives an unfair advantage, as well as the fear that the game will end up being played by fully automated clients instead of human beings.

History

The first mud client with any significant number of features was Tinytalk by Anton Rang in 1990, for Unix-like systems. This was followed in the same year by TinyFugue, originally by Greg Hudson and taken over by Ken Keys in 1991. TinyFugue has continued to evolve and remains one of the most popular clients today for Unix-like systems.

Another early client was TinTin++ by Bill Reiss in 1993, which in turn was based on TINTIN, written by Peter Unold in 1992. The client gained popularity quickly because of its easy to use scripting language and the popularity of DIKU muds which it was designed for. Being open source with originally no license restrictions, many current clients like GGMud, MudMaster, and Pueblo are based on TinTin++.

Until 1994 the only Mud Client available for Windows was basic Telnet. In November 1994 VWMUD Master was released by Vaughan Wynne-Jones which supported tintin style triggers.

Also following on from Tintin's success, Mike Potter (better known as Zugg) was keen to produce a Windows port of the client. In 1995, zMUD reached v1.0 and began to be distributed. Initially, it was licensed as freeware, but Zugg realised that he could make a living from sales of the client, and thus Zugg Software was formed, selling zMUD v4.0 as shareware.

Mud Client Support Table

The MUD client support table gives an overview of various mud clients and their capabilities. A larger but no longer maintained support table is available at the Cryosphere homepage.

Telnet extensions

Some MUD clients and servers have augmented basic TELNET / VT100 with a variety of new higher-level protocols and features.

A widespread feature is MCCP, which specifies a method for compressing the data streams. A proxy can be used for any client which does not support MCCP directly. Another, less used, extension is MXP, first developed by the Pueblo client but was then taken and extended by zMUD. Several of the more advanced clients are capable of handling MXP, which adds an HTML-like structure to a server's output, providing additional formatting capabilities among other things. Some other occasionally used protocols are MUD Sound Protocol, a means of playing sounds in MUDs, and the MUD Client Protocol, a framework for new client - server protocols.

List of clients

Free Software clients

Multiplatform or platform independent clients

• ALClient: A MUD client for Microsoft Windows and Linux. Has a moderate scripting language.
• JamochaMUD: An open source client written in Java and available under the GNU General Public License. Platform independent.
• KildClient: Free (GPLed) client for UNIX and Windows systems. Supports Perl scripting.
• Lyntin: A client written in Python and open-source. Platform independent.
• MMC: Free MUD client for UNIX and Win32. Supports Perl scripting.
• MudMagic Client: Free and OpenSource desktop mud client written for Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Written using GTK+.
• TinTin++: A console client that runs under the Unix family, Mac OS X, and Windows.
• Xpertmud: Supports Python and Perl, and 'plugins' are also writeable. Runs on KDE. Ruby is available but not functional and not supported.
• muby: GPLed MUD client created using Ruby. Uses Ncurses for presentation and supports powerful and straightforward scripting in Ruby (of course).
• Tinyfugue: TinyFugue, aka "TF", is a flexible, screen-oriented MUD client. It has an advanced scripting language.
• MUSHClient: Client for Windows, also runs under WINE. Has support for several programming languages.

Windows clients

• DF Client: A free compact MUD client for Windows, fully featured with support for aliases, hotkeys, timers, triggers, and more. DF Client is highly customizable and also features SSH for server administration.
• DoNClient: A Free to use MUD client for Windows. Fully featured with triggers/aliases, and can be programmed in C#.
• DracMUD: Freeware MUD Client that supports customized colors, macros, and hotkeys for movement.
• Dragonsong Mud Client: Free (GPLed), client for Windows written in C#. Features ANSI color, macros, aliases, logging and multiple connections in one window.
• GMUD: a simple, full featured Windows based client.
• Mithryl A Free to use Windows client written for Arkadia. Fully featured with triggers/aliases/macros/mapper as well as many more.
• Mud Master 2000
• VWMUD Master for Windows XP: MUD client for Windows XP. TinTin style Triggers, aliases, mapping, plus extensive mouse support.
• Pueblo/EU: is a FREE Windows client. It supports tintin aliases/triggers, simple HTML, pictures (gif, jpg) sounds (wav, midi).
• WinTin.Net: a FREE Windows client based on PuTTY and the scripting engine of TinTin++, C# and VB.NET. This client features such things as MXP(Mud Extension Protocol), MCCP(Mud Client Compression Protocol), multiple sessions, Wintin Chat Facility, as well as many more.

*nix clients

• Gnome-Mud: A client for the GNOME desktop environment, once named amcl. Features include Python scripting and C modules.
• KBtin: a major fork of TinTin++. Unix/Mac OS X only.
• Kmud: a mud client for the KDE desktop environment. It hasn't been updated since 2002-09-29.
• Kmuddy: an up-to-date feature-full client for the KDE desktop environment.
• KMush: a native KDE application written in Java using the koala/qtjava bindings, particularly suited for MUSH softcoding.
• mcl: a fast, console client with alias support as well as perl and python plugins.
• Powwow: a Unix-based client based on Cancan with powerful alias and trigger capabilities.
• Rapscallion: an advanced client for the Mac OS. Although the program was formerly shareware, the author later made it open source and free. The website is no longer available, however.

Proprietary Clients

• SimpleMU: Client for Windows.
• Portal: Portal Mud Client for Windows
• Atlantis: A new, popular MacOS client.
• Savitar: A MacOS client with a fair amount of features.
• zMUD/CMUD: Versatile MUD/Telnet client for PC/Windows; supports VT100 (rare among MUD clients).