DikuMUD II

DikuMUD II

---

While the official development of DikuMUD stopped in 1990, a couple of the developers went on to expand the original codebase referring to it as Diku II or DikuMUD II/2 to distinguish it from its predecessor.

This version would eventually be accessible by the public, where the authors decided to run it as Valhalla MUD.

As stated on the Valhalla MUD website the MUD touted 50 mortal levels, an automated Newbie Guide, the same popular areas from Diku (including new ones), and even claiming to be the "most advanced MUD on the net".

From dikumud.org:

After 1991 Hans Henrik Stærfeldt and Michael Seifert hereafter continued with the development of Diku II and were joined first by Lars Balker and later by Ken Perry and Tim Perry.  Among major components Hans Henrik added a compiler that would parse world files as well as a “DIL” coding language allowing world-builders to script their zones . Michael added a DIL byte code interpreter as well as a Dijkstra shortest path algorithm to allow NPCs moving around and Eliza the MUD therapist. Diku II also features significantly enhanced game system (inspired also by RMSS), guilds, a mail system, smart NPCs, and quests.

In 1996 Michael Seifert moved to California, USA and setup DikuMUD II as Valhalla.com running on a local Internet server with the intent to try to further commercialize the game. The first such attempts included a small monthly fee from users. But that strategy was quickly scrapped because it essentially moved the player base to other free (Diku) MUDs. After a few other attempts a workable model was found whereby players could buy virtual items, such as e.g. equipment or homes. The setup however never generated enough revenue to become a commercial success of scale.

Diku II has continued to run since 1994 under the name of Valhalla MUD and has been operated by Ken Perry since 1998. December 1997 was the last time Michael Seifert worked on the code (until 2020).

The Valhalla MUD logo was chosen from a competition among MUD players and Hans-Henrik Stærfeldt designed the artwork inside the logo.  The Danish consultancy Pentia which was founded by Michael Seifert uses the base Valhalla MUD logo without the artwork.  The logo with the artwork was also coincidentally “borrowed” by the Royal Danish Theater for their outdoor play “Thor” which was setup in Dyrehavsbakken in 2006.

On March 4th, 2020 the DikuMUD II from December 1997 was released as LGPL on GitHub.

In the README.md for DikuMUD II, Michael Seifert refers to the later/latest iterations of Valhalla MUD (now apparently run by the Perry brothers, Ken & Tim) as Diku III implying that the DikuMUD 2 source that he has released (and since updated) does not reflect the current state of the still-running Valhalla MUD.

Download latest build