The Dawn of Rebellion M.U.G.E.N.

Wikipedia wrote:M.U.G.E.N. is a freeware Two-Dimensional fighting game engine designed by Elecbyte, written in C which originally used the Allegro library.

The engine uses 7 buttons for gameplay along with the directional keys, in order to accommodate six-button fighters, which use three punches, three kicks, and a start button. However, characters do not necessarily use all seven buttons, nor need to follow a traditional six- or four-button format. At most, two human players can control characters, with others controlled by the engine's AI; including a demo mode where the computer controls all characters. In addition, several gameplay modes are available via the main menu.

The main mode of play is Arcade mode, where a character fights random characters as in other fighter games or use a coding to decide order. There are also three different kinds of team modes: Single, Simul, and Turns. A fourth mode, Tag, is listed in the EXE along with two related script controllers, but was never used. In team mode, either side can use any of the team modes. Single is identical to not having a team, Simul gives that side a computer-controlled partner who fights simultaneously, and Turns uses a different character for each round of play, varying from a set number usually from 2 to 4 different characters in a row. If set, the characters' starting life will be adjusted according to the number of players on each side. If one side has two characters and the other has only one in one of the Team modes, the side with two characters will each have half their respective normal maximum life values. Pre-WinM.U.G.E.N versions of the engine could have this feature adjusted or disabled via the options screen or the config file, but due to the nature of the hack, the option has not yet been reactivated. Team Co-op is similar to Simul, except both human players fight on the same side at the same time.

In Survival mode, there is an endless stream of opponents, fighting them either one by one or two in a simul match. The objective is to beat as many opponents as possible, with the game ending when the player's team is defeated. The player can choose to play alone or in Simul or Turns mode, though single player mode gives the highest life and life recovered at the end of each round won. Survival mode was the last addition done to the engine. As such, it is not present in any of the DOS versions of M.U.G.E.N.

The engine allows anyone to create characters, background stages and other game objects through interpreted text files, graphics, and sound compilations. It supports various types of audio formats such as MP3 and MIDI initially, although it can be configured to play various audio formats via Winamp plugins, such as ADX and OGG, as background music during gameplay or at other points such as an introduction or the select screen. The engine allows for most of the same type of functionality found in most any commercial 2D fighting games, up to and including close recreation of those games' characters and gameplay.

Before the existence of many development tools available today, Elecbyte provided DOS command-line utilities to assist in the development, as well as tutorials and documentation. Content produced by Elecbyte also included developer comments within the files to be used as guides. MUGEN's coding structure for content is text-based, and can be accessed and modified in any text editor, such as wordpad. The sprite format is in PCX 256-color 16-bit graphics files. Audio for screenpacks and characters use WAV. Both the PCX and WAV files are compiled in SFF and SND archives respectively, and require editing tools to modify the contents thereof.

With each revision of M.U.G.E.N there have been compatibility problems with changes and additions in state controllers, triggers, and with the latest Linux and Windows distributions, SFF's. During Elecbyte's disappearance, compatibility problems arising from new versions were nonexistent. Elecbyte never provided an automated updater, citing the impossibility of such a feat. However, they did provide a detailed change log for each version to facilitate updating to a new version of the engine. In response, a third-party tool called SFFextract was created to extract the pcx files of an SFF and produce a txt file to pipe into sprmaker. SFFextract when used properly is able to assist in modifying an SFF file so later M.U.G.E.N versions could handle.

Ceoltoir wrote:Perhaps we could create a separate OOC topic for such conversations about what should and shouldn't be done about the game. I'm certain we would all enjoy having input and helping where we can. Quick curiosity question, how would you format the story for the M.U.G.E.N.? Would it be more like a single continuous stream or more like select a character and play their individual story? Or perhaps some combination of the two?