| Furcadia | |
|---|---|
 Login screen for Furcadia | |
| Developer(s) | Dragon's Eye Productions, Inc. Catnip Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Dragon's Eye Productions, Inc. Catnip Studios |
| Designer(s) | Dr. Cat 'Manda Ben Jans |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and others) |
| Release | December 16, 1996 (1996-12-16) |
| Genre(s) | Massively multiplayer online game |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Furcadia is a free-to-playMMOSG/MMORPG orgraphical MUD,[1][2] set in afantasy world inhabited by magical creatures. The game is based onuser-created content with emphasis on world building tools, exploring,socializing, and free-formroleplaying.Furcadia hosts a largevolunteer program called the Beekin Helpers,[3] allowing players to help withcommunity moderation, welcoming new players, handling in-gametechnical support, running in gameevents, creating art for the game itself, accessing and updating the game'swebsite, andbug hunting.[4]Furcadia holds theGuinness World Records title for the longest continuously running socialMMORPG and, in addition to being one of the first games to heavily encourage modding and let users build virtual worlds for themselves,[5][6][7][8] it was also one of the first freemium online games.[9] In 2008,Furcadia was reported as having over 60,000 players.[10]
The character, oravatar onFurcadia can be set to one of 11 free species, including both humans, insects, andanthropomorphic animals.[11] Players can choose between one of three genders: male, female, and unspecified. These genders modify the default portrait, butler (the large character art), and specitags, icons seen to the left of players' names in chat.
Players can customize their avatars by choosing colors from a palette. These colors are shown on the butler, walkabout, and portrait. The walkabout has a walking animation with the ability to stand, sit, or lie down. There are default portraits for each avatar, however, players may upload a 95x95 custom portrait for a small fee.[12] 22 Custom avatars (non-gendered) may be added and used inside private dreams, for free.[13]
Each character can also have a written description, which can include character details, external links to websites, or internal links to private dreams. Some players choose to link to third-party websites to extend their descriptions beyond the character-limit the standard Furcadia description allows.
The primary focus ofFurcadia isuser-generated content. To this end, theFurcadia game download includes an art editor, a map creating program, a skin editor, and a script editor. Users are encouraged to create their ownvirtual worlds, called Dreams, using these free tools.[14] These worlds can be uploaded to theFurcadia server for free and used for a variety of purposes, examples being text basedrole playing, a place to hang out with friends, or playingmultiplayer games and quests with other users, etc. Dreams remain open to the public area in which they are uploaded, so long as it is inhabited, and, if unoccupied, it is eventually unloaded automatically.
While there are several types of dreams that are popular, users continue to create new things with the tools they are given.Furcadia hosts a variety of roleplaying dreams, ranging from strict-continuity roleplay (in which the dream is its own independent world) topersona play.[15] Roleplaying dreams also come in a number of different forms, ranging fromferal (wild animal) to furre (anthropomorphic animal) tohuman. Many dreams revolve aroundfantasy plots and themes, based onpopular books,television programs, ancientmythology, or original creations ofFurcadia players.
Furcadia itself is basically made up of several dreams, the ones made by its users and the main maps.
Almost all of the 6,000+ default art files shown inFurcadia can bepatched over and displayed in a Dream, including theskin, buttons, avatars, items, walls, effects, lighting, ambience, portals, and floors.[11][16] Additional art may be added to a Dream in file types ending with 'e', such as iteme, floore, etc., which does not overwrite the default art. Much user created patch art is available for download via third party websites.[17][18] Dreams can also include the use of audio files in theWMA,Ogg,MOD,S3M,WAV andMIDI (.mid) formats.
Players may add interactivity to dreams chiefly through acustom scripting language known as DragonSpeak, or "DS". DragonSpeak commands may betriggered by in-game actions or by custom buttons displayed over thegame interface.[19] Other custom scripting tools include PhoenixSpeak, which is used to store information to a permanentdatabase,[20] and ananimation scripting language called KitterSpeak.[21]
These scripting languages enable players to script actions ranging from the simple, like opening a door, to the more complex, such as a complete game ofchess orlaser-tag.
Dream owners are allowed to make and usebots to accomplish things that DragonSpeak cannot, but these are not officially supported byFurcadia.
AlthoughFurcadia itself is unrated, individual dreams may specify a standard which details what kind of behavior, language, and content may be allowed. Before March 2007,Furcadia used a rating system akin to theMPAA film rating system. Since March 2007,Furcadia uses its own Dreamstandards system which allows users to define exactly what kind of behavior should be allowed on a per-dream basis. The Dream standards are based on age groups, ranging from Everyone8+ to Adult Only, with specific behavior, language, and content restrictions. Some main maps—FurN and Hawthorn (previously Haven/New Haven)—immediately block the user from entering the main map if they are not within the specified age group and parental controls are enabled.[22][23]
David Shapiro (AKA Dr. Cat), a former employee ofOrigin Systems, launchedDragonSpires as one of the Internet's first graphics-basedmulti-user dungeons (MUDs) in 1994.[24][25] Unlike other graphical video games,DragonSpires focused on social relationships and peaceable community-building over combat and violence. The game was free to access.[26] The novelty of the game interested multiple venture capital firms as well as Origin. The developers remade the title asFurcadia.[27]
First opened to the public on December 16, 1996,Furcadia is developed by Dragon's Eye Productions, Inc (DEP) and later, Catnip Studios. At its public release,Furcadia featured a graphical improvement: art with a 256 colorVGA palette. At the time,Furcadia was never intended to be an exclusively 'furry' game.[28][29]
New support for24-bit non-remappable portraits (the first art to extend beyond 256 colors), andWindows Vista support were implemented in the April 6, 2007 "Kitterwing Edition." On December 16, 2006,Furcadia became the first-ever MMORPG to celebrate ten years of continual service.[7][8]
Furcadia was originally designed and programmed by David Shapiro (also known asDr. Cat, orFelorin in-game) and 'Manda (known asTalzhemir in-game). Additional people have since been included as part owners for their work: gameexecutive producer Emerald Kaiten Catz (known asEmerald Flame), who coordinates new development on the game, as well as who developed (and still coordinates) the Beekin volunteers project, Aleksi Asikainen (known asFox, orsanctimonious), who created the game's editors and was involved in coding the client / server, though he no longer works forFurcadia,[30] Ben Jans (known asGar), the game'sdesign director, and Michael Vondung (known asCironir), who manages the community. The other DEP staff are involved with the game's art and programming development, as well as community affairs.[31][32]
The iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch client was released on July 19, 2010, though it is no longer available for download.[33]
In 2012Furcadia launched a Kickstarter campaign to renovate the entire game in a series of updates called The Second Dreaming. This campaign was successful, and raised more than $100,000.[34]
In 2016,Furcadia released "The Second Dreaming Part 1", which added new 32bit world building tools, character enhancements, a web based character creator and editor, and other massive updates to the graphics engine.[11]
Also, I have to say that I think Furcadia is probably the most successful non-gaming, socially oriented graphical mud I've seen.
Their game DragonSpires was one of the first graphic multiplayer RPGs on the Internet.
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