DeviousMUD (Devious Multi-User Dungeon) was a game created in 1998 by Andrew Gower that eventually evolved into the current-day game of RuneScape. It featured on Cunning and Devious Games, although Andrew Gower spoke most about it on his personal site. Only about 20 people managed to play the game.[1]

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History

DeviousMUD started out in 1998 as a game written solely by Andrew Gower in his home in Cambridge. 'MUD' stands for multi-user dungeon. The game utilised oblique graphics. It was originally going to be text-based.[2]

A new version of DeviousMUD was released in 1999. Although it was completely rewritten, it kept the same name and remained rather similar to the original version. It was released to the public as a beta release for 1 week. Because of the limited release time, there are only a few screenshots in existence.

In October 1999, Gower started another rewrite, this time with his brothers Paul and Ian. A number of changes were made, and the game was renamed RuneScape, the version that is now referred to as RuneScape Classic. The map used for RuneScape Classic is similar to the one used today. Most of the places on the maps are still current.

The first period

DeviousMud had oblique graphics and was never shown to the public. Only Andrew played this version. According to some sources, the game was written at the University of Cambridge.

The second period

A newer version came out in 1999. However, this game was much more updated, but the name of the game was the same: DeviousMUD. The beta version was only released to the public for one week. Because this was such a short period, people did not take that many screenshots of it. However, it was a downloadable client.

Game mechanics

The information below is original site material verbatim, but has since been removed.:[4]

The whole game is written in Java, which means no waiting for downloads or installing software. You'll be able to just go straight to the webpage and play! Multiplayer! - You will be automatically connected to the main server, and your character will appear in the multiplayer game world, and vanish when you leave. Superfast oblique style engine, very optimised code with smooth 8 way scrolling. Detailed 3-dimensional map with hills, valleys, multi-levelled buildings, underground cellars and lots of variety. Efficient network code using lots of nice tricks to increase performance, and decrease lag. Only requires a bandwidth of 0.3k/sec for very smooth gameplay! Your game is automatically saved when you quit, so when you come back you can just resume where you left off, even if you are playing from a completely different computer! Minimal load times. I'm keeping the program as small as possible without decreasing the quality. Additional graphics and information are loaded as needed for plenty of variety. Graphical adventure style quest system gives you lots to do, and should ensure quests are easy to find and understand. A whole range of skills your character can try, which will improve with practice. Lots of different monsters and characters with different attributes. A variety of objects and weapons. What you are holding changes your appearance! Communicate with other players! Organise parties of characters with a range of skills to explore the dangerous areas. etc... Trading system, used to buy objects in shops, or trade with other characters. I'm writing the game in a very expandable way using script files, so once I've got the basic work finished I'll be able to make it huge very quickly. Multiple choice conversation system for talking to computer controlled characters Loads and loads of other cool features, far too many to list!

Andrew Gower listed updates that he had made:[5]

To do after the second period

Level/skill advancement. Player variables, so extra information about what the player has done can be saved Projectiles system Player-2-player trading Fix it so certain NPCs can cross zone boundaries. A really big map with lots of quests! Health regeneration Add lots and lots more features to quest system

The server

DeviousMUD's server could hold more people than the current servers in RuneScape. 2500 players could play on this server, but only 97 people played.

The bandwidth needed for playing DeviousMUD smoothly was 0.3k/sec.[6]

The skills

There is very little information about the skills in DeviousMUD. In the beginning of DeviousMUD, players could not get levels up, but this changed afterwards[7].

The skills known to be there, but not known to be implemented were:[8]

Attack (you started out with 10)

Defense (you started out with 10)

Strength (you started out with 10)

Hits (you started out with 10)

Ranged

Thieving

Hiding

Prayers-Good

Prayers-Evil

Sorcery-Defence

Sorcery-Offence

Cooking

Fishing

Woodcutting

Firemaking

Fletching

Smithing

Mining

The equipment stats

There were equipment stats but there is no information on how they would benefit or affect the player.[9]

Weight

Armour Class

Weapon Class

Weapon Power

Magic Class

Prayers Class

Hiding Class

Talk

On the screen were the following options: Examine, Take, Drop, Use, Trade, Attack, and "TalkTo". One could talk with the last option, just like current mode of communication, public chat.

Shops

Two shops and only about 10 objects existed.[10]

Quests

There was only one, not fully made quest: Sheep Shearer.[10]

Website

Trivia

DeviousMUD had a resizable game window, something RuneScape had to wait many years for.

The current RuneScape game has adopted various elements from DeviousMUD.