Preserved Topic: *ozonia* ad astra, home made (Page 1 of 1)

Hey guys,
I saw some of you were quite interested it that starship traders thingy...
so I had an idea...

I feel my skills are up to coding a simple networked space shooter (like 2d) now... I'v done some work on it a few months ago, but nothing really to show to the public. (especially because of my crappy graphics)

So I'm thinking about how cool a asylum game would be... We have some amazing artists around here... this could become very fun to play and watch.
But of course, it would need some work....

Well, I'll outline my game idea...

Basics: Player controls a little, fast, ship. Kill space monsters together with the other players to gain experience & loot. Weapons and the like come from loot, can be put into one of your two weapons slots (back and front).
You fly around with the keyboard, but target and fire weapons with your two mouse buttons (front and back seperate)...
If that reads a bit like diablo in space, jup, that's about what it is. Without the 'sell loot for money to gamble' part, though.

Architecture: A windows client displaying what it's being told, sending out the user actions to teh platform independant server which is doing the simulation. -> Cheating would be hard. Maybe 8-16 players per server. Webinterface to find servers...

Possible areas of work:
-Graphics - menu, on screen graphics (like life bar, energy bar...)
-Animation - Yeah, the ships and monsters and planets and the like need to be coded
-Special Effects - 2D DirectX Special effects. Nothing for the weakharded
-Leveldesign - once we got a level editor thrown up, we'll need to click some planets & stuff together... but then this is a space game, so most of it is open space ;-), but the monster generators need to be placed ;-).
-Story - We ain't got any yet, do we need one? ;-)
-Codetakeover - once i grew bored of the project (and I eventually will.... but it might take monts), someone else to maintain the code would be nice.
-oh, I forgot Sound!
-Music - I think everyone's supposed to have his own mp3 player in the background.
-Testplayer...


comment people, comment ;-)

so long,

Tyberius Prime

I would be down for this project as long as the code base would work on all platforms. Linux/Unix/FreeBSD/Windows.

What languages are you looking to use for this?


Me

well, the server would be done in python, so no problems with the platform there.

As for the client side... I toyed with pyGame which is pretty much platform independant (available everywhere where SDL is availabel... that's at least win/linux (and bsd, I believe). But it's not really fast. Actually, it's kind of slow. worked fine for 800x600 in my tests. Maybe, if we didn't really use a scrolling background, but a scrolling-looking one (ie. animated starfield).
I had thought about doing the client with delphi and directX, but directX is pretty focused on windows.

OpenGL isn't 2d, and I don't feel up to 3d, yet.

I'm open to all suggestions.

Sounds like a great idea

The client side could be made with Java. If we are going for full screen it might be a problem since java's full screen functions doesn't seem to work on Linux. But except from that Java should be able to do the work...

_________________________
"There are 10 kinds of people; those who know binary, those who don't and those who start counting at zero"

That's sounds like it could be a lot of fun. I'd love to be able to help out too, but my graphics skills are close to nonexistent, and my coding is only slightly better. But if there's anything I could contribute, let me know

With any worthwhile project there is a whole lot of stuff to do.

Coding and graphics are a very important part, but so is documentation as well as ideas.

If we are going to go forward with this I we will need to do some heavy brainstorming, any and al ideas would be important.


Me

I'd love to help with this, I can help with making sprites, and animating them. But I'm not much help with code.

I'd help with graphics and animations. I'm at your service.

cool!

Now, let's take a step back from the technical (coding/platform) part from a bit and talk about the game itself...

so, we're flying around with our little ships, fighting space monstrosities.
Are there 'levels' like the floors in diablo? or is it one big space where we're flying around?
How would our inventory look?
What attributes should our 'ship characters' have (think engine, sleekness, intelligence... a ship computer could be one of the properties, and you'd need a certain size computer to use some weapons).
What about weapons?

TP: Sounds like good stuff - I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with

I had been pondering ways of improving on the SST type theme as things are a little basic (the really addictive bit is the playing against and with other people) and it would be really good with a lot more depth to the story and the flexibility but that is another story............

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

Lots and lots of weapons

Attributes for the ship could include:
- speed (max speed, acceleration, turning speed)
- size of fuel tank and how much fuel it uses per something
- intelligence/computer (upgrade it to gain better radar, better homing devices...)
- armor and health
- max carrying capacity (both volume and weight)

We could divide the gaming area into galaxies and planets. When flying in the galaxies you have the 'standard' starfield background and fight UFO's and meteors etc. But when/if you fly low over a planet you also have to think about ground defences etc. In space, or the planets, we could also include space stations where you can land to repair and upgrade your space ship. This would cost money, which you get from selling the loot you gather from dead enemies.

Dividing the whole thing into smaller parts might be a good idea anyway since the user won't have to load the whole map when he is playing. But that could be avoided anyway by just sending the information about the area just around him...

I'm thinking of the inventory almost like the one in diablo. You got an image of the space ship with two slots where you can put your weapons, and then you have a bigger area where your cargo is displayed.

_________________________
"There are 10 kinds of people; those who know binary, those who don't and those who start counting at zero"

Sounds a lot like a multiplayer Escape Velocity.

I would rather instead of galaxies like the idea of small sectors. A sector could be empty, it could contain a single planet or it could have a half dozen planets.

You should be able to get a couple of different types of ships. You should be able to trade goods for money. You should be able to loot ships, steal ships, completely destroy ships. Maybe even destroy galaxies.

It should have missions, it should have some preexisting form of control, or even a couple. Say "Trader's Guild" and the "Space Police" (you need something to get missions from).

The game should be designed with the idea of easy expandability. You can easily add on to the universe, add ship types add all sorts of thing. Add functionality, create custom senarios, or events, just to keep it fresh and clean at all times.

There should be some form of rating to control the reputation of a captain, good or bad. The evil space pirate who destroys galaxies to the paladin of the stars who protects the trade routes for the good of space kind.

You should be given the chance to control the galaxy, and you should also have the chance to make it from the start. It would be no fun to start the game, and be killed by the first pirate that comes through a sector you are in.


Me

Ooh, sounds like a great idea. Personally, while I enjoy SST, I would like to see a bit more complexity in the economics. I think politics would also be a nice addition--we could have alliances (teams) that have to deal with each other. Actually, I'd probably have more fun in a less combat-oriented game (ie, not just a simple shoot 'em up), one that focuses more on interaction and politics, but obviously you would need the war element in there somewhere. Just some sketchy ideas, probably not much help.

I'd be willing to lend a hand as a testplayer. I wouldn't be much help in the other areas (unless maybe you needed a storyteller...)

[Edit: typos...]



www.liminality.org

About not being able to be killed as a new player: We could have X number of sectors that you cannot kill anyone in, however, you can only stay in these sectors for Y amount of time, unless your ship is below level Z.
So as long as your ship is below level 5 (or some other rating), you can stay in sectors 1-10 (maybe 1% of the universe?). However, if you are over level 5 (or whatever), you automatically get 'bumped' into a different sector after 15 minutes (or something).
And we can make it so there isn't a whole lot of stuff in these first few sectors, to "encourage" people to move around elsewhere.

How do we move through the sectors? Simply have links to the next (and previous) consecutively numbered sectors? Set it up like a cube and have links to adjacent sectors? Randomly linked sectors?
Or it can be like Blacknova Traders, where you have two methods about moving... 1) Use the links, which use X amount of fuel, no matter how far it links to (either the next consecutive sector, or the other side of the galaxy), and 2) Use your engines to move to any sector you want, and as you upgrade your engines, it takes less and less fuel to move a set distance. We could work out the ratios however we want, so that as a new player, it is wise to use the warp links, but when you become more advanced and have a bigger/better ship, your engines are more efficient.

Also, will there be a set number of planets that players can/cannot move around? (Same with ports).
Or can players create planets? (This again is from BNT). Maybe also create ports/depots somehow...

Sounds like fun.

However, before you do any coding or graphics work, you need a full fledged design document. This document should lay out the specifics of the game mechanics as well all features and lay out everything before any bit of code is written. At least, ideally that's how things should work.

Then, be prepared to throw out 80% of the features written in the design document as feature creep starts to become a problem and the code starts getting bloated.

That's basically the game development process in a nutshell. It's frustrating, stressful, and prematurely ages you a hundred years but I love it.

Backstabbing, that should definately be an option.

Who will own it or does that matter?

Yup, silence has a very good point... and when it comes to ideas and such I'm fairly handy to have around. I'll think up outlandish stuff so you'll plenty to cut.

Seriously, though, I'd be willing to help in that area, but I think organization is the first step here.

Yup. Does indeed sound like fun.

Game goal should be Ruling The Universe. Or Owning it.
Build forces, intelligent ships, own planets, control sectors, galaxies...By treaty, force, purchase, whatever.

Weapons are easy. Electronic weapons, lasers, neutrino cannon, planet busters...
Other tools, might include GPS (Galactic Positioning System) Radar, Long range scanners, *loot* detectors, babel fish, shields, all of whose working stats are directly related to the amount of money spent updating them.

Missions are good ,too. They give an authority to rebel against. Also, they are good story line builders, and can work for the people that want to Rule, and those that just like to blow shit up.



<edit>That`s it, fingers. You`re fired</edit>

[This message has been edited by docilebob (edited 03-22-2003).]

These are just some improvements we can make over the current starship traders game, if they make no sense with the understanding you have of this particular idea, either disregard them, or purposely misinterpret them.

I think fighting/moving should be easier than in the starship trader game, moves should be close to unlimited, but make less of a benefit for moving around (so the time you played for has less baring on the amount of stuff you can have, instead of balancing the time everyone can play). The easiest way to accomplish this would be too make evolving, non-map-able galaxies, so that people can easily hide when they need to log off, and resources cant be hogged by people who have played longer. I'm not sure what extent the graphical elements will be able to play, but if its possible to have live unit on unit combat (bare in mind, I have no idea of the complexity of the coding involved) I think it would add an amazing element to all combat - quick hands. It?s the best way to ensure that skilled players (whose skill isn't knowing more of the rules and technicalities) win in combat. There should also be a penalty to you, and your team if your ship is destroyed. Being able to quickly locate the nearest planet is a good thing, but not enemy players, or trading posts (make trading posts, and resource mines part of the evolving galaxy - to help balance the game). I think there should be a limit of once per day, of how many times you can trade on each planet (if we add the ability to scoop planets, then same goes, once per day), and planets should re-gain their resources way faster then they do in starship traders (I'm thinking like one hour, instead of seven days). There should be multiple types of fighters you can buy, and they should be upgradeable. Instead of building 20000 fighters to attack, you have 6 or 7, like everyone else, but have them 5 or 6 levels higher, making them much more powerful and in combat, if everything?s dead even, its all about the quick hands (it makes me nostalgic for Starcraft).

I'll come back with more thoughts as this thing progresses.

merde, it just ate my reply!#@$@#$

anyhow, I thought about a shooter, not a economic simulation.

Property rigths: I want a written statment from each person providing 'hard-stuff' (graphics/docs/code/audio/etc) that he/she aggrees that all income will either go to the game (think hosting) or to the asylum.

I think the game itself should probably be free?

yours,
TP,
who now after loosing a page worth of post has really to run to get to Ikea

TP: Thats what I thought you were getting at which is why I didn't throw in ideas for an Asylum version of SST. As there seems to be a lot of interest in both ideas how about creating another thread to discuss our ideas for our own version of SST, the strategy version, (if we get 20-30 people playing from here then it would work really well) and leave this thread for the arcade version?

Here is a thought - how about using a Perl or Java server so we can interact with each other in realtime and we could use a Flash or Java front to it. Piper has got a Perl server working

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

ok, I'm dog tired, Ikea stole my soul... but now I'm proud owner of a new dinning table... hope my euros bought me at least half a year of my gf not mentioning that place again ;-).

Anyhow, I'll sog a bit a tub tonight, and start a section in the faq for the arcade game project... (Name suggestions welcome). I'll type in my view of the design document, then we all can chime in and see what can be done.

I'll probably also start coding a bit tomorrow, basic networking and things we can use whatever details the design will entail.

so long,

Tyberius Prime

Righto we are spinning this off into two different threads to try and separate the discussion here into 2 themes (as we appear to be talking about 2 different games):

Arcade - like a "networked asteroids".

Strategy - like SST but with more depth.

I'll shut this one down but feel free to grab out the relevant posts and add them to the relevant threads

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor