A game that I want..

from Stardock Forums
Well this is a thought and dream I have of my own..
As I am now finished with my studies in Archaelogy and Ancient History and now have set my eyes on C++ programming.
My hope is that I one day can make a game of my own and not just devlope other peoples ideas, this game is kind of complicated but I would find it immensly fun to play.
I know, if I am to one day make this game I am a fool to give out my idea at a forum, but I dont care.. (I have a hole bunch of ideas)
;)

Anyway, I will try to explain what kind of game it is...
The story is as follows, in some way or another, the earth has been destroyed or is about to be, and hence all the focus of earths research and production for the last 50 years have been set into constructing giant colony ships that will carry a fragment of the earths population out among the stars. (if someone has read Songs from a distant planet by Arthur C Clarke they get the idea).
Well the general idea of the game is that you have been appointed "captain" of one of these giant sleepers ships, heading for a distant star (this makes each game diffrent as every planet and solarsystem is randomly generated.)
Once the ship arrive the game will take on a look wich is familiar for most strategy gamers, the God Perspective.
The actual task of this game is to try to survive, there is no "build up a mighty empire and crush all others" and encounters with other races is rare.. VERY rare, maybe one game in a thousand. The game will be very detailed, the planet you arrive might not even be suitable for colonization, therefor you, as the player must make it habitable, if anyone has read Kim Stanley Robinsons trilogy of Mars (Red mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars) gets the idea of how HARD it will be to get the planet suitable. Its difficult to explain ALL the details of such a game. Lets make an example, to build up a colony you will need different minerals, there is no “flag” wich says MINERALS HERE!, you will have to find it by yourself my sending out a team of geologist who actively seraches for these deposits, another example, if the planets is frozen and you need to raise the temperature you might have to construct a solar mirror wich reflects sunlight onto the planet, if the planet have to small amounts of water you might have to either try to find hidden pockets under the surface or perhaps even find and asteroid of ice wich you will send into the planets atmosphere so it will incinerate and spread its precious cargo across the planet.
Well the “extitement” of this game will be to terraform a planet from scratch, and not the easy way as usual, by pressing the terraform button..
The planets is HUGE, and you MIGHT encounter other species, animal lifeforms and of course A LOT of random events… and when I say a lot.. I mean A LOT..

I know that this kind of strategy game might not appeal to many people, but to me it does, to take on such a massive project as to terraform a planet..
And by the way, if you havent read Kim Stanley Robinsons trilogy of Mars, then DO IT.. Its GREAT!

Just my thoughts, looking out my window at the snow and the neon lights of the hotel across the street…

Andreas
579 views 19 replies
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Sounds like a niche market? :)
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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
perhaps.. I for one, would LOVE to take on the challenge to create a working colony an let it evolve over the centuries to finally become a prospering planet, then in the future you could add an expansion where your planet builds its first starship and enters the stars once again..
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
It sounds interesting, but it seems to lack the conflict, or pressure to act in a timely fashion that other games have. Will the player be working against some kind of clock (you have x number of turns until your people all starve, etc.), or will this conflict be generated in another way.

The beginning is similar to the old beginning of GalCiv, where you were the first colony ship to leave Earth, only to find yourself sucked through a wormhole into some random part of the universe.

-Dave
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
The first and largest conflict will be against the environment on the planet you are colonizing, and the large amount of random events will make the game quite interesting, your colony might for example split into two different colonies where you only control one, invention of new sciences and skills will be done on the Need Basis.. for example, why would a civilization based entirely on the seas invent the wheel? So invention of new ideas and construction of new items will be done on the so called Need Basis.. If the planet you colonize have large amounts of radiation the research in this area will be more important.
The conflict or excitement of this game will be in mastering a planet, it is quite hard to explain the scoope of wich I would like the terraforming to take place, read the books about Mars I recommended in my first post here, then it might give you a better idea..
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Well I've always wanted to see a game that starts out as a FPS and builds itself up to a tactical game, and then further to a strategic scope... not gonna happen, but maybe three games where what happens in one can be loaded into the next at a certain military rank... but could be played seperately. Hey, that would work good with a subscription service. ;)
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
A game that I want ? Err...May I suggest GalCiv + Hotseat mode ? LOL
Ok ok, go back to work... :d

Entilzar.
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
I want a space game like the 4X games but lets you
explore and do things on any planet surface that you
land on. Like building, mining, setting up a colony,
etc. This would give you the best of both types of these games...

JIM
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
I'm still not sure what would drive the conflict (and I don;t mean just fighting) in the game. Would it be turn based, with resources spent of various types of research/projects, etc.? Would it be like Populus, where you cna spend certain amounts on different tassk that increase your peoples' ability to stay alive, and if you don;t manage it correctly certain numbers die? Would the main goal of each turn (if turn-based) be to increase your population (or increase certain stats of your population, like Health, Growth, Strength, Resistance to ceratin things like radiation)?

-Dave
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
Well, what I had in mind was somewhere in the line of an Event-directed mission, every time you start a new game the computer will generate, from the events, a mission for you to fulfill, the goals will not be "find 10 iron" or "build 2 houses and a granary", it will be more like "The planet has to little water, find a way to create more water" or "the temperature of the planet is to low, find a solution".
It is hard to explain as there is no game quite like it yet, but when I say that the environment will be the biggest enemy, I mean it. Even without and "enemy" a game can be full of action...

/Andreas
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
Nidaros - Sim Planet?

Jythier - I think Stardock was sort of going this direction at one time with Stellar Frontiers and GalCiv. I'm sort of drawn to the idea of a massive, multiplayer universe where one could choose to play at either the first person, international/planetary, or galactic level. Something where you might be roleplaying as the first person hero while a friend runs the country you're fighting for or a friends run the planets in a galactic empire, etc. I'm really, really drawn to the idea of having somebody else code the whole thing...

End transmission.

~SDC~
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
And when I hit the pick six I'll put it into development. Heheheh.
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
Well, sim planet is not quite what I had in mind, Sim games a generally to....cute for me :)
I am having a much darker story in my thoughts.. dark, rainy, no hope, that kind of thing..

Hehe, what a coincidence! I have actually been talking to my firends about the EXACT SAME kind of game, a game were you start out as a RPG type of game, and work yourself up, and if you are proven potent enough you are set to rule a nation, this would be hard to do but here is one idea.

The rpg players play as usuall, everyday, and the game is real time, well not perhaps real time but real times x 2 so it will go a bit faster. The ones playing in "imperial" level make decisions maybe say.. once a week, for example, the next week these things will happen:
*Declare war on X state
*Begin construction of X wonder or X building
*Recruit x number of new soldiers
and so on...
The ones playing the rpg game will see these things happen, the construction of the new buldings or the declaration of war on posters around the city.

This is actually another of the many ideas for a game I wish (and hope someday) to make.. :)
The rulers of the nations will not be able to play on imperial level to often, as this would be hard to implement. But when they are not on imperial level they can rpg as usuall, as the king/emperor of course, making everyday descisions, meeting people, beeing assasinated and so on LOL
Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top
1) Sim Planet isn't really what I had in mind either, but it may be the direction you'd want to take for marketing and design purposes. You just want the gameplay to have a greater sense of urgency, right? (E.g. Problems that delay terraforming projects compound unrest aboard your colony ship; unforeseen events on a newly inhabited, but not completely terraformed, threaten the viability of your colony; choosing a particular research path lets you prevent Type A disasters, but preclude research that would prevent Type B disasters, etc.)

2) I think you'd have to go top-down to run the kind of "interwoven world" game we're describing. Plus, I think you might have to limit it to two levels (E.g. rpg + regional/national strategy or planetary strategy + galactic strategy). That is, players make their moves at the highest level until one player's plans interfere with another player's plans, at which point the conflict moves to the next lower level for resolution. So, King A decides King B has too much land and invades. King A's invasion force is led by Heroes A1, A2, and A3; King B defends with Heroes B1, B2, B3, and B4.
Naturally, this would be a nightmare to administer in a timely fashion. You might try doing it by filling the lower levels on an ad hoc basis. Like so:
. Many players are signed up for your MMOVW (Massively Multiplayer Virtual World)
. Two or more players at the highest level of administration - 3 (strategy gamers running kingdoms) decide that they're going to duke it out over who gets to take Cinderella to the ball
. At this point, a notice goes up on the MMOVW bulletin board that there's going to be a gum fight - who wants to play?
. Players at the next lower level - 2 (say, for example, tactical players running guilds or mercenary troops) recruit players
. Players at the lowest level - 1 (FPS/RPG players who like to get in and mix it up with the monsters) join up to fight on one side or another. There would have to be numerical limits to balance each side and there would have to be agreement on the date and time of the battle(s)

The phrase "Better you (or Stardock) than me" leaps instantly to mind.

End transmission.

~SDC~
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
1: exactly

2: Well, lets try somethjing else.
The world is created as a large landmass only populated by small kingdoms (lets make it fantasy for now). These kingdoms are from the beginning ruled by either the devs or an AI. If you would let new players in at the top directly then it might turn into chaos.

Lets make a short story about what I mean:

Lets say that Player A just bought the game. Player A thinks "WOW COOL, im gonna be REALLY evil an conquer the entire world!". Players A selects a Kingdom and starts playing, he gives massive orders on troop development and invades a neighbouring kingdom, summons a couple of monsters and let them roam aroung then he kills them himself because he feels bored, he fights awhile with his regular troops, get bored bacause the battle isnt progressing as fast as he would like, he demolishes a few buildings in his own kingdom and then quits and starts a rpg game.. How would this affect those who plays the rpg version?

Well perhaps like this:

Player B is an rpg lover, he just created a great character, he browses among the skills, picking a few decides that hes going to play a thief, writes a little background story about his character and starts playing.
Player B struts merrily out in the woods looking at the nice trees and cute little birdies. Suddenly a giant army show up, marching past him and just as suddenly as they showed up they are gone.. He looks confused but carries on with his happy strutting.. He arrives at the outscirts of a small village, then 10 giants appear from nowhere, they run around killing some people, then runs around some more and *POFF* they are gone.. poor Player B, he is even more confused.. What kind of world is this? :he asks himself, oh well, I need new dagger. Player B enter a small shop, purchases a fine dagger and starts to walk to the exit. Then the house burns down and Player B is killed.
Player B leans back in his chair, picks up the box the game arrived in.. turns it around and reads on the backside.. Hmm.. Player B carefully puts the box AND the CD in the trash and starts playing GalCiv.

Many of your suggestions are good indeed, but I must argue against to let “new” players in at the imperial level, they would have to much influence over the world and if played wrong, they could make it unplayable for the rpg people.
If everyone started out as beginners of the game and worked themselves up they would gain experience about the world, and they would surely respect it. I have seen this kind things in MUD games. When a player has reached a certain “level” he might be offered (by the devs) the change of govering his own kingdom, this would have the following benefits:

1: The player who rules the kingdom already has a profound knowledge of the world.
2: He would know how certain decisions effect the gameplay of those on rpg level.

Another idea might be to let players in at both imperial AND rpg level at the same time but RESTRICTING the imperial players options. As they gain more experience they can do greater things.

Besides the point I have given here I agree with you on your other ideas.

/Andreas
Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top
Make them be King, not based on you, but on the real world... King as long as people are willing to let you be King. And if a palace guarded by 500 people is enough for them to let you be King, so be it! Hehe... anyone can be King but that doesn't mean they can order everyone around... in the end they'd still have to be a RP character.
Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top
What I'd like to see is an expansion of the government side of things. This is along the lines of the old boardgame "Republic of Rome". Parties of the senate would be represented by individuals which would have ceratin attributes. You would have influence within the senate as you do in the UP model. There would be titles that you could get for your senators like gov. of some planet or sector. You would have to control the senate leadership to do some things from within the senate.