How soundpacks elevate the MUD experience

If you’re here, you’re probably already familiar with the text-based worlds unique to MUDs.

But did you know that your MUD experience can be enhanced with sound? This beginner’s guide will take you through the ins and outs of MUD soundpacks, a feature that can add a whole new layer of immersion to your virtual adventures.

Because soundpacks can be a community-driven effort, this guide is written for both game creators and players. It’s for curious readers who might be thinking of creating or using a soundpack but aren’t sure where to start or what to expect.

Enhanced immersion

By introducing audio cues and ambient sounds, soundpacks allow players to imagine and experience the game’s virtual world in a more dynamic and immersive manner.

For example, imagine walking through a virtual forest and actually hearing the rustle of leaves, or engaging in a battle and hearing the clash of swords. These audio snippets can add a new layer of realism to the game and make it feel more interactive.

Accessibility

Auditory cues can help screen reader users navigate the game world, interact with objects, and engage in combat more effectively.

For example, combat spam can be particularly frustrating for players. By disabling spammy or repetitive combat text and enabling audio cues for important events, a blind player can more easily keep up with a hectic battle.

For tips on how to build a less spammy MUD, check out my interview with Niamh.

Types of sounds used

Soundpacks can include a variety of sounds that serve different purposes.

For example:

• Ambient or environmental sounds: Background noises like wind, rain, rustling leaves, running water, or the chatter of a busy marketplace. These sounds help players feel immersed in the virtual world.
• Action sound effects: Clashing swords, arrows whizzing by, magical explosions, mystical energy charging, etc. These sounds are triggered by specific actions like swinging a sword, opening a door, or casting a spell.
• Event sounds: A hearty cheer or sad trombone, booing, applause, or victorious trumpet. These are special sounds for in-game events like completing a quest, defeating an opponent, losing a PvP battle, or discovering a hidden treasure.
• Character sounds: Spoken dialogue, greetings, grunts, villainous laughter, and other sounds tied to NPCs.
• Background music: Music specific to certain areas, designed to support that zone’s specific ambiance.

As you can see, there are a lot of ways that sound can be incorporated into a text-based game!

How soundpacks work

At this point, you might be wondering how it all works. How does the MUD client know when to play a specific audio file? How does it know which file to play?

Well, there are a couple of ways it can happen:

• client-side triggers
• MUD protocols

Let’s look at each of these in a little more detail.

Using client-side triggers

A sound trigger is a specific audio cue that is set to play in response to a particular event or input. Sound triggers are usually created and configured by the player within their MUD client.

For example, a player may set up a sound trigger to play a sound effect when they receive a private message from another player or when their character’s health drops below a certain threshold.

The advantage of sound triggers is that they’re highly customizable and allow players to create personalized audio alerts for events they consider important or noteworthy.

Modern MUD clients such as Mudlet and MUSHClient both support sound triggers.

Using MUD protocols

MUD protocols are sets of rules or guidelines that MUD servers and clients follow to communicate in the background about things like sound.

The MUD Sound Protocol (MSP) and MUD Client Media Protocol (MCMP) are the main protocols that allow a MUD server to instruct the client to play specific sounds at specific times, based on in-game events or actions.

How do MUD protocols work?

When you’re playing a MUD that supports MSP or MCMP, the server sends special commands embedded within the game’s text output. These commands are invisible to you but are recognized by the MUD client.

When the client detects a protocol command for sound, it looks up the corresponding sound file in the installed soundpack and plays it.

For example, let’s say you’re in a battle and you land a critical hit. The MUD server might send an MSP command like !!SOUND(sword_clash.mp3)!! along with the text description of your action. Your MUD client, recognizing the MSP command, would then play the sword_clash.mp3 sound from your soundpack.

Differences between protocols

Without getting too technical:

• MSP is older and more focused, designed specifically for sound. It’s widely supported but limited to audio.
• MCMP is newer and more versatile, designed to handle a variety of media types. It’s not as universally supported but offers more advanced features.

Clients that support MSP include:

• Mudlet (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• TinTin++ (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• MUSHclient (Windows)
• ZMUD (Windows)
• CMUD (Windows)

Mudlet also supports MCMP.

If you’re interested in the technical side of MCMP and how to implement it with Mudlet, I recommend this article on the Mudlet wiki. For more resources related to MUD protocols, check out my MUD Resources page.

Popular games with sound

And if you’re curious, some long-running MUDs that offer soundpacks include:

• Alter Aeon
• Aardwolf
• BatMUD
• Discworld MUD
• Legends of the Jedi (LOTJ)

It’s important to note that MUDs offer varying degrees of soundpack support, and the availability and quality of soundpacks will vary from game to game.

Often, a game’s soundpack is a community-driven effort rather than something “official” from the game’s creators.

How to tell if a MUD offers a soundpack

To find out if a MUD already has a soundpack available, you can follow these steps.

Step 1 is the easiest and will usually yield results if the game has a soundpack, but you can keep going down the list until you get an answer.

1. Visit the MUD’s website: Start by visiting the official website or forum of the MUD you are interested in. Look for any information or announcements related to soundpacks or audio enhancements.
2. Check the wiki or other documentation: Many MUDs provide documentation or user guides that detail the features and supported functionalities of the game. Look for sections or references to soundpacks, audio, or accessibility options. For example, Alter Aeon has an area of the website dedicated to “Blind Support.”
3. Browse the community forums: Browse through the game’s community forums or discussion boards. Often, players share information about available soundpacks or may have discussions regarding audio enhancements.
4. Join the Discord server: If the game has a Discord server, pop in and check for an #accessibility channel or ask other players on the server if there’s a soundpack.
5. Log into the game: If the game doesn’t have a Discord server or a lot of documentation on the website, you can try creating a character and logging in. They may have a newbie channel or OOC channel in the game where you can ask about soundpacks.
6. Contact the MUD admins: If you’re unable to find information about soundpacks through the above methods, you can try contacting the game’s staff using in-game or out-of-game methods.

Remember that not all MUDs support soundpacks, and even if a soundpack is available, it may not be exactly what you want or need.

If you’re really enjoying a game and it doesn’t have a soundpack, you could potentially create your own or with help from the community.

Additional considerations

Speaking of preferences, it’s important to remember that soundpacks may be designed to serve different purposes. A soundpack created by blind players for blind players may be very different from a soundpack created by players with sight, for example.

While drafting this blog post, I asked bscross, a screen reader user and fellow MUD enthusiast, for his take on soundpacks.

(You may remember bscross from my interview with Vadi, the creator of Mudlet; bscross was involved in the testing of Mudlet’s accessibility updates.)

He admitted that he rarely, if ever, uses sounds provided through MSP because:

1. the sounds are usually just for flavor and aren’t that helpful for navigating the game as a blind player, and
2. they’re usually low-quality stock sounds.

He added, “Sound packs can be a personal experience. That’s why I would prefer to make my own or tailor one that has been made so that it suits me. If I go to a MUD developer and ask them to change a sound, maybe they will do it. If I ask them to add a sound for this specific condition, maybe they will do that, too. They do have to consider all their users though, and not just me.

Plus, I’m not going to go to them and ask them to use better sounds. I’m picky and I know that, so I take it upon myself to make sounds that I’m good with hearing 30-50 times in a fight.”

The takeaway?

MUD sounds are a great way to elevate the text-based gaming experience, but there’s no one-size-fits-all approach that will work perfectly for all players.

That’s it for today’s blog post, but in the future, I’ll be working on a guide to help you create your own soundpack step-by-step.

Frequently Asked Questions