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7:57am on Wednesday, 7th August, 2024:

MUD Rooms

Anecdote

Being written as it was in 1978, MUD is textual and doesn't have any pictures except those conjured up in the mind.

Or ... those conjured up by AI diffusion models?

Here are Midjourney's renditions of six rooms from MUD1 (which is MUD version 3 and from 1981). They're the first six I tried, and the first results from those six. The prompt was "style photorealistic." followed by the room descriptions.



Top row left:
You are stood on a narrow road between The Land and whence you came. To the north and south are the small foothills of a pair of majestic mountains, with a large wall running round. To the west the road continues, where in the distance you can see a thatched cottage opposite an ancient cemetery. The way out is to the east, where a shroud of mist covers the secret pass by which you entered The Land.

Top row middle:
You are in comparatively pleasant pasture. To the south is a river, to the north a track. Eastwards the pasture is seen to continue, while to the northeast is the flower garden of a strange cottage. To the south flows a river.

Top row right:
You are standing on the edge of a cliff surrounded by forest to the north and a river to the south. A chill wind blows up the unclimbable and unscaled heights. At the base of the cliff you can just make out the shapes of jagged rocks.

Bottom row left:
This is the lounge. Around you are some pieces of elegant troll-hide furniture, although all the portable ones have long been stolen so there's no point in getting any... Ahead of you to the south is the dining area, and to the west is the hall. An archway to the east leads to the study.

Bottom row middle:
You look around you in disbelief at the exotic room which you have discovered. It seems to be a room used by some sorcerer, wherein he bound his spells and worked his magic. The room is lit by an illusory red light, and many of the strange objects you see defy description. To the north is a door inscribed with strange runic symbols, but there is no other exit.

Bottom row right:
You find yourself overawed by the huge ring of stones which encircle this, the highest part of the island rock. As the wind sweeps over from the rugged cliffs to the east and north, the whistling is broken only by the lonely cries of the ravens which hover above. To the south and west are steep slopes downwards. Far, far away in the distance on the southeast horizon can be glimpsed the sail of a wrecked ship. In the centre of the ring of stones is a large, heavy, bloodstained, slate, sacrificial slab. Many people have been killed here.

Hmm. The lounge is completely inappropriate (what Midjourney doesn't know but the player does is that this is a gravedigger's cottage), and the ring of stones is more of a ring made of stone, but the others include images that are serviceable.

No, I shan't be putting these in MUD2. I'd need to write client software for it if I wanted to do that.




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