Game Concept

[Trickman]

hey guys, I'm working on a game concept (It couldn't be accomplished in Flash) it's more of a idea than something that will ever be produced.

The idea is/was to produce a game that would attract users of all nationalities and age groups.

Could it be improved, would it work, could there be any additions - fun/exciting events etc

Life is an evolutionary interactive simulation, a game in which it is your aim to manage and nurture the inhabitants a planet in a virtual solar system with the ultimate aim of creating a super species.

Before embarking upon the quest, users are encouraged to take a personality test, which will help decide what type of person they are, and whom they are most likely or least likely to ‘get along’ with, and will determine where in the universe they are placed.

From this point on Life™ begins, players are encouraged to complete puzzles and tasks to earn credits, these credits will enable users to equip their planet with items and technologies that will allow their planet to evolve.

The inhabitants of the planet will proceed with their daily simulated life. However, the way in which they live their lives is determined by their surroundings, and is controlled by the external, uncontrollable forces of their ecosystem, and universal atmosphere.

The movements of inhabitants are continuously tracked and relayed to the player, it is the players’ responsibility to monitor these events and watch for ‘discoveries’ that may be beneficial to the development of the race.

The way in which the user has grown their planet will determine what technologies are available and how far their race can advance; at some point the user will have no option but to forge alliances with neighbouring planets run by other players of Life™. The combination of their knowledge may enable their species to evolve to the point, that they can achieve space flight, thus allowing them to move to a new planet and co-exist or take over another developing planet, taking control of the current population.

Users can make the decision to start an inter-global war, directly affecting the developing planets around them, and ultimately changing how the universe develops. Or they can pull their knowledge together to fight external forces such as asteroid collisions that may wipe out their species, forcing users to start from scratch.

Users that do colonise new planets will need to keep an eye on the previous planet they have just left; essentially becoming the god and defender of all planets they have ever managed.

This is a time unlimited game, users can play as and when they wish, but the universe never stops, this could mean that if they do not return to their game for a number of days, they may come back to find that their planet has been wiped out, or is under attack. However they do have the option to subscribe to updates that can be sent via e-mail or text massages, warning them of imminent or increasing danger that could threaten their planet, or of discoveries that may benefit their world - allowing sufficient time for players to log-on and respond appropriately.

Feedback and opinions would be appreciated.
Cheers

[strille]

Sounds like one of the most ambitious games ever!

I hope you realise how difficult it will be to finish a huge project like this (I'm not saying you aren't able to finish it mind you ).

So, a particular game will run constantly, even when a player isn't logged on? Which means the game simulation must run on a server. That could be a huge problem. Let's say you manage to make a popular game and 3000 users play your game from time to time (a very conservative estimation if the game turns out good). Then you will have to simulate those 3000 games constantly, which means a game simulation will have to be pretty simple.

Why is it not possible to use Flash for the client part of the game? From the sound of it, most things would be server-side, and the client part would mostly consist of user interface and graphic representation of the game.

It sounds quite interesting. One warning though: Trying to make a game for all ages is more likely to fail than if you were to target a more defined group.

[Trickman]

cheers strille
it's just a concept, Working from a strict brief, we have to produce a game that will allow users of all demographics to engage in.

I know it's unrealistic at present to simulate that many games, however, AI would be progrrammed to simulate life within each planed depending on the environment you have created, so that would take a load off the server, then that takes the server work down to external forces that could effect the planets

I said flash wouldn't be appropriate, as I envisiged this to be a 3D simulation, if i stick with this, I may post up some 3D visuals to show how the game will work... (but that won't be for a few weeks)

the idea is just in it's early stages, I may consider scaling it down... but I don't know if it would as many possibliities / variables that could alter the course of the game

Cheers,
keep them coming guys

[Robtje]

Man that's an ambitious project! I really hope you'll be able to figure out how to realise this!
I'm looking forward to see some progress in this project

good luck!

[Kakihara]

i had an idea like this a few years back but never bothered to try to make it as it was and still is way beyond my abilities, really hope you pull this one off, ive been waiting for something like this to come around, until then i think ill just have to stick to playing around with 'creatures'.

cant wait to see updates on this, good luck.

[BlinkOk]

this is an interesting read in terms of taking your concept beyond the screen;
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,....html/wn_ascii

[Bixarrio]

Wow! Not quite impossible. Just HUGE!!!

I had an idea (if you're interested): In stead of running 30000 simulated planets at once, one could always just store the date when someone logs off, and when he logs in again, run a fast, backend simulation (without all the graphix stuff, etc.) from last logoff date/time until present, to determine what state a planet and it's inhabitants would be in. one day would make no big difference, but a week could cause devestation!!!

Just a thought...

[strille]

Bixarrio, that could work, but then it won't be possible to be notified of important events in the game via e-mail:

However they do have the option to subscribe to updates that can be sent via e-mail or text massages, warning them of imminent or increasing danger that could threaten their planet, or of discoveries that may benefit their world - allowing sufficient time for players to log-on and respond appropriately.

Maybe just simulating each game for a short while once every hour would be enough when the user is logged off.

BlinkOk: Thanks for the link, that was an interesting read.

[Bixarrio]

Strille, you're right. And if the player stayed away for a month or 2, the simulation could take quite a while.

Maybe, the server could run a daily simulation of each player that didn't log on during the previous 24 hours, and save the new state. That way, it only needs to run (at most) a 23 hour, 59 minutes simulation, and it could inform the player (via email) of possible global events that will seriously affect the planet's inhabitants.

[tonypa]

Originally posted by Trickman
Working from a strict brief, we have to produce a game that will allow users of all demographics to engage in.

I wont repeat much about scale of this project: this game needs at least 100 people working on it for 3 years and when its finished, the 3D engine looks like crap compared to other games and needs to be rewritten. Once its finished, it needs couple of servers (main, backup and re-backup) constantly running with huge amounts of data to be hold.

Instead, I will comment the "users of all demographics" thing.

If it is possible to kill other players, then you will end up with "grow fast and kill everyone else" game, which only attracts certain players, who dont care about the inhabitants of the planet, their daily simulated life, ecosystem or universal atmosphere. All they want, are guns, big guns, guns so big that can blow up every planet in your game.

If again, you wont let players to destroy each other, you will lose the main players group. You may attract people, who actually like to watch their people live their everyday life, but everyone from the "big-guns" group will cry out loud to you - booooring!

If the reason to play is not wipe out all other players and become king of the universe, then what is the the goal of the game? Grow your planet? Thats nice, but that wont last for very long. Sooner then you expect, players have seen every discovery you have created. I mean things that can evolve can only evolve to certain degree, which you as game designer have made. When there isnt any more things to do, your players either leave or start to kill each other (see my previous point about killing).

[yakov]

well, i was scouting out interesting posts and found your last one is sniffing on the edges of this very entertaining article about mud-users i stumbled across during a course i had this summer. thought you might find it interesting. (it's about different types of players in online worlds and even about the issue of playerkilling)

http://www.mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm

[Bixarrio]

Sooner then you expect, players have seen every discovery you have created. I mean things that can evolve can only evolve to certain degree, which you as game designer have made.

tonypa's got a point. You could, however, do what they did with the sims. Just for those who don't know, the sims are pretty stupid individuals. The AI for each person is stored in the objects they interact with. How the should react to the object, how the sprite should be animated, how the object affects the stats, etc. This allowed the creators to add new objects, without having to reprogram the sims to use them. If one could figure out the internal format of an object, you could, for instance, make an ecstacy object (which i'm sure does not exist in the sims), and - if you did it right - the sims will be able to use it, and they'd even be animated as though they're on 'e'. The happiness stats would shoot through the roof, etc. What I'm trying to say is that one could always try to write it in such a way, that new technologies could be added at a later stage, without having to rewrite the game. This will not make it any easier to do, though.

Another thing is that, should the simulations quite accurately simulate humans, the planet's inhabitants will probably kill each other before they get to a stage where they can attack other planets.

Just a few thoughts...

[tonypa]

Thom Moyles comes up in the end of this article somehow similar idea to the Trickman's game, while rambling why any current MMORPG isnt interesting anymore:

www.ludonauts.com/index.php/More_Ramblings_Re:(MMO)RPGs

And if you are interested, how much "real" game costs, read this:

http://www.grumpygamer.com/4904226