Guides
Everything here is written to be followed. If a step does not work, that is a
bug in the guide and worth telling me about.
Getting in
| Guide | What it covers | How long |
|---|
| Using the client |
Installing the WorldsPlayer, running it on Linux under Wine, getting
in, moving, chatting, changing your avatar, travelling between worlds,
and what every confusing part of the interface is for. |
an evening |
| The modified client |
Building it from your own copy, the settings window tab by tab, the
server selector, chat encryption, the Tools tab, and how to turn all
of it off. |
an hour, plus the build |
| Running a server |
Compiling, configuring, making accounts, moderating, hosting your own
worlds and avatars, and opening it to the internet without regretting
it. |
an afternoon |
Making things
| Guide | What it covers | How long |
|---|
| Writing a mod in Lua |
A crash course in the language itself, then the whole interface:
commands, events, timers, web calls, and bots that log into a server
on their own and answer people on unmodified clients. |
start in ten minutes |
| The Shaper |
The world editor built into the client. Every panel, every menu entry,
every widget, what each one does, and how to save a world and host
it. |
an afternoon |
| RWX avatars |
3D model to OBJ to RWX, the texture formats that actually work, the
two lines you edit by hand, and a table of what each failure looks
like. |
an afternoon |
Understanding it
| Page | What it covers |
|---|
| The protocol |
How a packet is shaped, what the thirty-one commands are, what
happens between connecting and standing in a room, and the handful of
rules that will bite you if you write your own implementation. |
| Inside the client |
The WorldsPlayer's own code: the three layers, which classes matter,
how the state machine works, and where to look when something behaves
oddly. |
| Trust & safety |
What any server can do to you, what your password does, and how to
judge software you did not build. |
Reading order
If you are starting from nothing and want to end up running your own world
with your own avatar in it:
- Trust & safety — five minutes, and it
changes what you install.
- Using the client — get in
somewhere.
- Running a server — get in somewhere
that is yours.
- The Shaper — build the place.
- RWX avatars — be somebody in it.
- Writing a mod — make it do things.