Some mainstream MUDs have a crazy amount of detailed areas where you're walking along a corridor that makes a circle with slices through the middle. You can run across areas that have wings that are mirrored, but otherwise look identical, such as in a starship.
I've thought of ways to do this. I could use Excel or a similar variant, but I'm going to be stuck against the top and left edges unless I start way down. Then coming back to it, I'd have to remember where I started. If I did nit an edge, I could insert more rows and columns, but that's a pain. I thought about using Brushtone, and while that would definitely work, it's not optimal either.
SO here's what I'm after. I would like a tool that allows you to start with a blank canvas, and add rooms to it. This could be done either adding one room at a time, or by using a shape tool.
I would like to see shapes such as circles, squares, rectangles, and trapezoids. The shape tool should allow you to place a marker in the center and expand from there, then a confirm step to actually place the shape.
There should be a sound every time you move the cursor while setting the dimensions of your shape, and another if the shape would overlap into rooms that already exist.
The shapes should say how many rooms it would take if you filled in the middle, and they always should start as an outline rather than filled in. When you build something you're happy with, you should be able to select around it, then copy it, paste and rotate.
It should work in all 16 directions. To handle 3D, each flor should be on it's own and you can go to the next and previous floor with a command. There should be two modes of navigation, free build and walk mode. The difference being that free build lets you go into empty spaces where walk mode ensures you can't by assuming that anywhere off the map is a wall you can't cross. There should be a sound for when this occurs.
You should be able to set an offset for building, and have it remembered across sessions. This is for MUDs that have a coordinate system and your new area will go somewhere in the game world. This will help ensure that your map coordinates line up with the in game coordinates. You should also be able to set a border you must stay in. This would ensure that nothing you build will overlap anything in game when you decide to commit by building in the MUD what you've just mapped out.
This is something I've been pondering on for a while now, and I think it could benefit not just me, but anyone who does building work on MUDs, but also wants a better way to place detailed structures in game.
I can't pay going rates for software dev work. I don't think many people who frequent this place can, but I'd be happy to slide something to anyone who completes this project. I would also be happy to contribute to the sound design effort.
If you think you want to undertake this, and then decide it's worth selling, I'd be glad to buy the first copy. Either way, I do hope that someone may take up the challenge, because I've been wanting to map out my areas better now for a while.