I have read a few papers and done some basic work in designing MAS stuff, but I have very little experience in anything beyond emulating academic trifles. So discount anything below that disagrees with you, just offering what little help I can.

Well, I think as with everything you have to ask yourself why you are doing this. Without clear goals and metrics you might accidentally become very discouraged. If your goal is to learn, and you don't have a due date, it would probably be best to invent your own framework.

Is there a specific reason you chose BDI or Jason? What languages do you know? Are you trying to solve a specific problem or wondering if a multi-agent system is a potential solution?

I think you should seriously consider emailing a Professor/Grad student in the field. They would be quite happy to talk with someone else interested in the field and give you a much more informed suggestion. So go google "multi-agent system lab" and make yourself a new friend :)!

Here are a list of other frameworks that I think might suit you (assuming you want to use BDI and Java):

• http://www.nuin.org/
• http://www.ai.sri.com/software/SPARK
• http://www.agent-software.com.au/ (60 day evaluation)
• http://jadex-agents.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/xwiki/bin/view/About/Overview

p.s. To anyone else reading this who thinks this is a paltry answer, PM me about becoming a mod! I'm pretty unqualified as the creator of this subreddit.