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There is the saying: "You never have a second chance to make a first impression." By this time, we had hoped to present a more attractive project. Maybe it should be called "Mini Mansion" for we have just lay down the foundations. The UI and functionality of this initial version are minimal.

Mansion.js is an open source project designed to help the creation of digital places where people can live as they do in the real world.

It was influenced by Muds, Mushes, and MOOs but it runs using node.js, socket.io, connect and express, while the client is just a web browser. So it's all Html/Css/Javascript.

Moreover, as opposed to Muds and the likes, we don't encourage medieval (or other similar imaginary) settings, nor do we want to support thousands of simultaneous users. While we can imagine throwing a party for a hundred persons, we normally, on our day to day dealings, seldom interact with more than a dozen or twenty people. Because of this, the default settings for the maximum number of users is 128.

The default digital estate created with mansion.js has seven rooms: a library, a laboratory, a conference room, an office, a living room, a (bed)room and a chapel. Moreover, for the public, there is the garden, the main entrance, and the mansion basement (TBD).

You need to have node installed.

Then (git) clone this repository (grab the zip archive, if you don't have/want git). In your local project directory:

npm install 

After npm finished downloading its stuff, type:

node app

and open your browser at: http://localhost:3000.

If you run it on a network (instead of just testing it locally), you'll have to change the two references to "localhost", in the file mush_.html of the public directory, to the ip address of your server. You might also have to tweak your firewall/antivirus settings (for more info, see here)

A room (and most objects) in a mansion is just a Javascript object with special keys: name, desc, part, use, and url. The desc(ription) key is the string that is displayed when the users look at the object; part and use are collections (ie arrays).

There is more than a dozen commands that users can use to interact in the environment: /g(o), /l(ook), /s(ay), /h(elp), /m(ove), /p(ick), /d(rop), /n(ames), /w(ho), /r(ecord), /roff (recording off), /c(lear), /b(uild), /u(sers) (some of these are not functional yet, you'll get a notice when used).

Mansion.js is designed as a thin server/rich client application. For a traditional MUD, it would be a dubious decision. But Mansion.js is not a MUD, it was influenced by MUDs: "It's not a game, it's a place."

Some code was taken, inspired, and/or modified from the socket.io and express projects. The same can be said about the code from the books JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by Flanagan and Professional Node.js by Teixeira.

Apache License 2.0