What is TinTin++? #
TinTin++ is a text-based MUD client, which means it doesn’t depend on a graphical system like Xorg or Wayland to display the interface. It works in basically every terminal I have used, and is my go-to MUD client.
TinTin++, aka tt++, is an extensible console MUD client.
Scripting Language #
The client uses its own scripting language, as opposed to a more standard scripting language like Lua, which Mudlet uses. It’s fairly simple to add simple triggers and aliases, but more complex logic can be difficult. However, you can basically do anything you’d ever need for a MUD. However, it can be easier to “break out” into an alternate language. Even though the developer is not interested in providing native support, it’s not too difficult to tie in an external script.
For those who have used zMUD or CMUD, proprietary MUD clients for Windows, the scripting is reminiscent, with commands beginning with a hash mark. A number of commands are not the same, of course. Regular expressions are a custom, simpler syntax, but embedding full PCRE regexps is possible if you need it. TinTin++ is a bit more flexible than zMUD, with far more options available.
MUD Features #
TinTin++ has a decent feature set, even though when it starts up it looks pretty barebones. Multiple panels, terminal multiplexing daemon, compression, FANSI characters, mapping, logging, and more. It lacks full featured MXP and sound support, however, at least for sound, it’s possible to integrate with an external program.
Of course, any MUD client must support macros. TinTin++ allows creating normal key macros, as well as defining regions of the screen as buttons that can be clicked.
Alternative Uses #
It’s not limited to being a MUD client. It does work best, as most of the users are MUDders and use it for such. However, it makes an impressive alternative to the “expect” utility. Any program can be launched with the #run command.
Difficulty Level #
TinTin++ is not particularly hard to learn, but a newbie to MUDding might be better off running a graphical client like MUDlet. Setting up a beautiful interface, that you might see in screenshots, is a bit more challenging. But it can actually be made to look pretty cool if you know what you’re doing.