Today's question is one I have already looked into:

What codebase will you use? Will you biuild from scratch or use a tool? If so, which one? (http://www.devmaster.net/engines/ has a great list)

I admit that I am lazy, and while I have had some basic programming up to this point,  I would prefer to build off existing systems.  I also want to make sure I am using good practice when putting the game together, which is why I'm going to wait until school starts for this part.  Of the research I have completed so far, I feel that Blender will be a very useful tool.  While Unity 3d while showing great promise as a tool, it is rather expensive.  I'm sure that I will run into many other possibilities as I continue to research.

Whose legacy to follow

Today's question goes like this:
Where will you fall on the "MUD/MMO genealogical tree"? Which will you take inspiration from? Which will you try to differ from?


I'd like to think that I am being original in my game design, though I must admit that I am not doing anything entirely original.  From MMO's I am borrowing from Aion, mainly in the area of crafting.  I am also specifically doing things that are inspired from a great dislike of the same game, namely that skill had very little to do with being competitive and levels and gear always trumped.  I am inspired by the originality of games like Minecraft and the simplicity of games like Ace of Spades.  The real time strategy I'm hoping to use is going to be an extremely watered down version of Starcraft or Command and Conquer.  In short I'm being inspired by a great many different sources, so much so that this game won't really be considered as being a copy of any one of them.  Like I have said before, if there is already such a game, please let me know.

To do list

I was thinking that I should make a list of everything that I am currently aware of that will need to occur in order for the game to become reality.

1. Learning programming or hiring a programmer
2. Learning database software and setting up a database for the game
3. Learning server functionality and setting up a server, keeping it secure and functioning with minimal downtime.
4. Determining the amount of bandwidth necessary for 1200 players to be able to connect and play in 1 hex field, or in the game period.
5. Finding a publisher or figure out how to self publish the game
6. Learn marketing in order to attract potential customers
7. Learn about 3d game production and design
8. Set up a website complete with forums, all that must be moderated
9. Possibly create a company, complete with taking out loans for start up costs, etc...
10. Convince at least a portion of the video game market that this game is worth devoting time to

I'm sure this list will grow over time as these are just what I have already realized.  The good news is that much of this can be learned, it will just take a long time by myself.  I guess I'll go get back to work.

Gameplay

Today's question:
Do you have gameplay (quests, etc)? How important is it?

The only real gameplay in terms of quests will be that I will put in will be a basic tutorial on how to play the game.  I would really prefer to leave missions and objectives to the players.  I know that some players really like the direction that quests provide, but I think that so long that the overall objective and how to play the game are made clear, that players will find their own ways to play the game.  The leveling system will encourage certain behaviors in the game, and those with the drive to achieve levels will also be directed in the actions they take by whatever action is required to raise said level.

Genre

So this is the next question:
Genre? (fantasy is about 90% of the market now)

I think that this game would fall under the Sci-fi end of the genre scale.  This allows for a lot of room for artistic interpretation.  If anything it would be similar to Portal with some wacky superpower experimenting on the player.  I don't know if there is a specific genre title for that or not.

I'm just going to say that many of the questions on this list aren't particularly pertinent to what I hope to accomplish with this game.  That being said I think I will only concentrate on those questions which will help me in the development direction I'm hoping for.

A great video on multiplayer

I have stumbled upon this in my research and thought it was worth marking here

Social Mechanics

Some things I found really important in this video is as follows:

Keep game leadership happy.  Leaders often have incredible pull in a society, and online games are no different.
There are some things that there is an infinite amount of and subsequently has little to no value.  Giving gifts of something that has an apparently limited supply can go a long way in keeping players loyal.
Make players feel as though they have a say in the game, with something like an election, and they will feel invested.
I'm sure there are many others I'm forgetting, so I'll keep this link for later.

Appearance of the game

Next item on the list:
MMO Appearance? (text, 3D, first or third person)

Ok I think I have pretty much established to be a 3D First person shooter environment.  If I could have my way I would probably make it look and feel a lot like Unreal Tournament 3 minus the blood, gore, and sexiness.  Many of the things I would love to implement already exist there after all, such as vehicles, turrets, and the outline of red or blue around the characters depending on which team they find themselves.  In reality it will probably not look very good at all, with graphics comparable to something like Ace of Spades or possibly Minecraft.  If the concept takes off though I would hope to be able to get the support of a big game producer and the big game making machines that they control.  In reality the big video game companies appear to have little in the way of motivation to do so, since MMOs have an upkeep cost in order to keep operating every month and people already pay premium money for their products.  I can still be hopeful though.  This is a dream after all.

I think I will take a moment to discuss my personal feelings regarding how I feel the game business is going.  I have played a large number of games over the course of my life over a lot of different genres.  If even half the gamers out there are similar to me, then I think that many of them are tired of playing the same game with new and updated graphics.  There are only so many ways to add detail to a model before it becomes something that takes too much time to make and is not appreciated at all.  The biggest reason I am taking the time to outline so much detail of a game that may or may not happen is because it is a game that I would enjoy playing.  I don't think that I am alone in this boredom with the state of the average first person shooter game.  Conversely I am becoming increasingly aware of the difficulty of making a game though.  I also acknowledge the great risk a company or publisher takes when they agree to fund a game.  One bad game could ruin a company financially, and unless someone presents an awesome final product there is little chance that people are going to financially back it.  So for all the people out there thinking "yeah this would be cool if this actually existed, but there is no way it is going to happen" I hear you.  I am just not content to make a repeat of tetris and/or doom and be satisfied with my effort.  So as crazy and overambitious as this game is, this is going to continue to be my goal.  Hopefully I one day will look back at this and think "Man, this took a ton of effort, but it's finally ready to go."

Also, if there is anyone reading this and thinking "I know of (insert name of project) that was just like this and failed because (insert reason)".  If you are one of these people please do me a favor and email me at d12har at gmail dot com.  Thanks

Economy finish

Because of the level of redundancy of many of these questions I'm just going to post them all and finish the topic

Does persistency differ from region to region?
How do you cull crafted objects?
Do you ever reset the world?
How will you deal with trash? Objects need to decompose. While stuff can reset "out of sight", well travelled areas are always in sight so won't reset. A mob needs to go and close the door. Trash collectors accelerate object decomposition, provide an amusing (cheap) target and toy for users, and gather nondecomposible stuff like quest items into one convenient area.

I think I have addressed many of these questions in prior posts.  Objects in this universe will not really be permanent is any sense.  If an item is discarded it will disappear similar to how things disappear in Minecraft.  While this may be frustrating to players ultimately getting the items in this game will be incredibly simple to do.  Yes the world will reset and be changed.  Crafted armor will disappear as soon as it has absorbed a given amount of damage, vehicles will decompose after they have been destroyed, and base structures will likewise decompose after destruction.  This will mean that the players are constantly spending their credits for things that will simply go away over and over again.  Because of the nature of the environment this will not be strange or out of place at all.  I guess a good comparison would be the environment found on the holodeck in Startrek.  Nothing is really permanent at all.  While I realize this has not been a full discussion of what will occur in this games economy, the final touches will have to made after the game has had some time to be tested.

Economy part 5

Question 5 is as follows:
Do you need an NPC economy? That is, where does the iron for swords come from? Dwarven miners? Are these NPCs? What about flour from bread? NPC farmers and millers? Who farms all those cabbages? What happens to them once farmed? Who buys them?

I feel like I answered a lot of these questions in previous posts, but it doesn't hurt to rehash this.  I hope to have as little of an NPC component as possible.  Payment for services rendered is about the only area where NPCs will be involved, and that can be a nice 2d screen.  Determining what services rendered get what amount of credits might be a difficult task as certain statistics for each player will have to be tracked, such as amount of time spent in the field and amount of damage a player has done to enemy players.  I really want everything else to come from the players themselves.  Because plots of land do not reset with winning conditions, and players will still retain the skills they have learned, players will still have a sense of permanence in the game and the economy will get back to where it was very quickly.

Economy part 4

Question 4 is this:
Fixed or free economy? (aka "worthlessness" or "hyperinflation"?)

As I have specified before this will be a free economy.  Hyperinflation will reset with winning conditions.

Economy part 3

The third economy question is this:
Do you need an economy? If so, Closed or open? (Closed has no inflation; has market forces; economy-driven play. However, v hard to balance, v prone to bugs, not likely to be accepted, and too easy to gouge. Players ALWAYS break closed economies. Open economies ALWAYS go out of hand with inflation. Tying to a realworld economy to fix value means your economy is subject to RL currency variation [qv $US currently], and your world is seen to be "unfair" by poor players if you sell anything other than cosmetics and intangibles: (DVW p266): "pay very close attention to the likes of Achaea to see how to do it - it requires very careful balancing and attracts a certain breed of player.")

Yes I think an economy is a vital part of an MMO.  I think closed will be very unwise to implement, and I do realize that there will be inflation.  Please keep in mind that one of my goals is to keep players relatively balanced, meaning that a completely broke beginner with only the standard gear will still stand a chance against someone equiped with the best the game has to offer.  Carried weapons will not be able to kill a player in one shot, and armor will only increase the players health by 100 no matter what it is made out of.  The differences will come in the amount of pack space used, which when a player is trying to collect rare materials will make a big difference.  I will also be sure to keep a balance with vehicular weapons and turrets, which will be more powerful than carried weapons.  It is my goal that freezing a player will be a difficult task, and if a player engages a target they will most likely take damage in return.  This will make it so people are not able to camp bases and go forever in enemy territory unless they have a very well organized and well equipped group, which eventually will be overrun.  I have mentioned in previous posts that with winning conditions everything will reset, which while I'm sure that will upset many players it will be necessary for faction balance and will keep the game fresh.  I'm sure there will be many strategies for collecting resources as quickly as possible after a reset will emerge.

Economy part 2

Next question is this:
Will there be a supply and demand market? If you buy a baker's whole stock of cakes bar one, does his price go up? Can you then sell those bought cakes back to him for a profit and make the price drop again? And then buy them again? And...?

I do feel that there will be a supply and demand market, but I hope to leave NPCs out of this altogether.  All players able to enter the field will be able to clone the blocks into their backpacks, meaning that the majority of blocks will have little to no worth unless someone is simply unwilling to go out into the field and yet still wants basic blocks.  The main area where I anticipate shortages will be the critical materials of metal and energy crystals.  I feel that there will be many levels of quality in each of these types of collectibles, and since they will be the primary materials for use in anything crafted demand for them will be a given.  Since venturing out for these things is going to be difficult and dangerous it will encourage teamwork.  At the same I don't think that any one player will be able to create a monopoly or corner the market on any of these materials as any player, utilizing a builder, able to make it to these resources and back to the base will be able to sell them.  Players playing other classes will be encouraged to escort the builders by virtue of the fact that the builder will be able to trade the materials they collect with them as payment.  This will still be a risky venture as enemy players I'm sure will patrol looking for easy targets that they can freeze and hope they teleport back to base, leaving whatever materials they have collected for their plunder.  As with any free market there will be people who will make a lot of money from those who sell too low as this is a common mistake new players and unobservant players will tend to make.  With this type of economy players will easily create their own missions for material gain and will generate continued interest in playing.

Economy part 1

Today's question is this:
How persistent is the game? "no economy" only happens if there's no persistence.

I hope to have a world that will be constant.  This will be accomplished by means of server redundancies with one server per hexfield, and with each server also supporting neighboring hexfields.  I know that the raw server power needed for many players to be able to play together in the same space is one of the largest costs associated with MMOs, which is why I will need to be very persuasive.  The question posed is pertinent though in that if a server resets or is offline then players will go elsewhere to play.

The economy itself will be comprised of raw materials such as cloned blocks, refined materials like smelted metals and components for weapons, vehicles, and structures, and finally the finished ready to use end products like the aforementioned weapons, armor, vehicles, and structures.  I would like to avoid an non player character component of the economy if at all possible, which may be unavoidable in the case of certain aspects like a trading house and basic goods store.  I also realize that there will need to be some sort of money sink to avoid inflation and keep costs reasonable.  Since most of the items in the game are temporary and will be destroyed through the normal course of gameplay that will be a large money sink right there.  The money for the economy will be in the form of credits which players will be able to earn through their actions in the game.  For example freezing an enemy will count for so many credits, providing crafting services will count for another set of credits, and anything else that one does to further their factions interests.  Of course another way to earn credits is to sell valuable materials that have been collected.  Credit dispersion will need to be an NPC function, though it could be an interface similar to an ATM or something similar.  An important note is that credits will not be transferable from player to player, which should hopefully discourage gold selling and real money transfers.  I find that free markets where players set the price are going to be the best way to handle trade.  This of course is something that will have to be tweaked and changed as time progresses.  Also there can be some elements of balance that can be blamed on the omnipotent observers, such as all materials and credits being reset at the time when winning conditions are met.  As to what the players will be able to retain during this time it will be difficult to say, though I feel that anything that has been constructed on their plots of land will remain after the reset.

Third party programs

Do you know about, and will you encourage use of, third party communities (teamspeak, proxies, skype, icq, facebook, LJ)?

I think anyone who has a pulse and lives in a area with a population of more than 10 has heard of facebook, and it is clear that social media really helps a lot with independent movements.  Also it is clear that third party programs like teamspeak and ventrilo are going to be a big help to in game communication.  I still have a lot to study in this area in order to determine what programs will be the most helpful.

LFG or LFM

Have you considered "matching services" - ways to help people with the same interests get around - the ability to mark yourself as looking for a group (or partner) or as "taken", or neither, the ability to mark your group as looking for a player.

I find that having a channel dedicated to this will help.  Also players will be able to tag along with those who are leaving the base at approximately the same time.  FPS games are probably going to be over complicated by too much of this area.  It might actually be viewed as a sign of weakness to some players to ask for additional party members, and so this will be a challenge to actually implement in a successful way.

Community tools

Will you have tools for community members to pool knowledge etc and work together on projects to further the community - group websites, mailing lists, with tools to keep archives, to log what was said in game and display the logs, group property ownership, ability to decide their own structure...)

This is something I will mainly leave to players.  I would love to have a website for the game with the standard features such as forums, basic game lore and explanations of game mechanics for those who are looking for more information about it.  This is waaayyy down the road after the game has been created, though it makes sense to start planning for it now.

How to encourage teamwork

How do you make community members want to enlarge their communities? (having communities that require a mix of chars, or a critical number of the same type, is one way)

Ok by having three basic classes it will encourage players to help one another.  I have tried to make the classes such that they will be complimentary.  Scouts will be able to move about quickly to locate enemy players, and they will be needed to hack enemy equipment that the group comes across.  I feel that there should be a cost if one is frozen by the enemy and is not able to be revived by another play, and so when a player is frozen and teleports back to the closest teleport point they will drop everything in their inventory.  Dropped items can then be picked up by the enemy, meaning that going out solo is going to be not so smart.  Before the enemy can utilize the dropped equipment a scout will need to complete the hacking minigame for each item, but because of a limited pack space they will not be able to carry very much.  Soldiers are the damage output of any mission.  They have a larger pack and will be able to utilize a larger assortment of weaponry, but they won't be able to hack equipment nor will they be able to gather the most valuable resources unless they take them from enemy players.  Builders are going to be slow and therefore they will be easy targets of they are out alone, but they will be the only class able to heal others and structures, utilize landmine type weapons, and collect the resources that the other 2 classes cannot.  Also builders will be able to do the most damage to structures, will have the largest pack space, and I also think that builders will be the only class that comes equipped with a light source automatically for underground exploration.  I realize that players will still be able to go solo as each class which I wouldn't have any other way, but they will be complimented by having the other classes there, and the more the merrier, especially when venturing far from the base.

Leadership challenge

Ok next question

How do hierarchies get promoted? Sure there're always reasons to lead, but what motivations to swear fealty? Public services? Shared glory? Shared threats?

In this area the military provides a great model in this area.  Potential leaders will be able to work up the ranks by taking larger and more complex leadership roles.  By being a squad leader first leaders have a chance to prove themselves, then if they so desire they can move up to platoon leader.  Because people also have lives and can not play all the time there needs to be several leaders for each echelon.  In order to attain the rank of commander one will need to at least have led a platoon successfully.  There will need to be different levels of command in order determine ultimate leadership per faction.  Leadership usually is determined by successful mission completion, of which I have the mindset that there will be set mission types such as scouting enemy territory, resource collection missions, base defense, and battle leadership.  This game will only be successful with good leadership, and giving as many people as possible the chance to lead is how the game will be successful.

Informal communities to Formal

Ok another question

How do informal communities promote themselves to permanent, formal communities? This needs to be easy. But so does forming an informal community in the first place.

I think the easiest way to make this happen is to have a registration station in the main base.  I think that people will naturally wish to group according to play styles, real life relationships, and whoever is available to play at the same time that they are playing.  As such there will need to be a looking for group channel and board for pick up groups and missions.  This board will need to include rally location (gathering point), as well as goal, and approximate time frame.  I know that friendships can be spontaneous and I would hope that players do not feel confined to playing only with the other members of their squad, or platoon, or all the way to the highest echelon, which they should both be a part of anyway.  This is something that will naturally occur anyway.

Towns

Today's question goes like this
Related to the above how big are playermade towns, if any? Are there town councils, rulers, etc? Do NPCs get the vote?
Towns are going to be the only part of the game that will resemble the feeling of Minecraft.  Players will own plots of land that they can place blocks however they see fit.  Plots can be traded or sold, and town size will be the size of a hex field.  I feel that players will figure out a way to determine who they want to live next to.  The homes will have various game functionality items like crafting set up and increased storage.  They will also be the place where people can decorate  and do whatever they want without fear of anyone messing it up.  The trick here is how to establish ownership and the ability to transfer said ownership to another player, but that is something I will have to tackle at a later point.

How large should communities be

So today's question is:
How large should the communities be? (max size before fragmentation ~150, but smaller communities are way stickier) Guilds (huge), parties (dozen max? complimentary careers encourage party formation), clans, secret societies, town councils... (intermediate size, for faction vs faction combat). There are advantages of both large and small communities - encourage both, in as many forms as possible to increase player stickiness. Avoid capping community sizes.


This can be a difficult thing to determine.  I am hoping that by having the various echelons that people will be able to be a part of smaller groups while at the same time being part of a larger organizations.  I think that names will first be a part of the platoon sized elements, so it could be something like Dragon company Vigilance Platoon.  I know how important names are to the various groups found in MMO because names often follows individuals and groups from game to game.  Because of the way military is set up one simply needs to expand and elect leadership to whatever echelon size is needed.

Community

The first question that I will address is:
How do you promote communities? Stickiness comes from friendship and loyalty to OTHER PEOPLE, not to the game (good comms, filtered comms, mutual dependencies[varying scale], teleport to friend, communal activities[storytelling], shared stuff[website/game property], jargon dictionary, play instruments (locked to same tempo), ways to relax, stake-holding[things they create - homes. stake is bigger the more control they have], encourage friendship, discourage oppression/miserymaking/griefing)
Community is probably the biggest challenge for any multiplayer game.  I admit that I am hoping that the simplicity of them game play and straightforward goal of fighting will bring players.  After all games like Halo, Unreal Tournament, and almost every other multiplayer FPS game has more or less the same theme, kill the other guys.  I hope that the added aspect of necessary teamwork in order to accomplish the larger design will promote community as well.


I know from personal experience that there is a special bond between brothers at arms.  This is especially true of those who go through a situation where they are relying on one another for their survival.  Band of Brothers was a television miniseries that shows how the relationships created through times of war can be extremely close.  In video games people often feel a similar bond, and MMO's often can see the effects of alienating even a small number of players.  In the Daeldalus Project it was noted that " While it may seem strange that strong relationships can develop in these worlds where everyone is pretending to be someone else, the architecture of these environments actually facilitates these relationships." I played Aion until the elder game portion, and I enjoyed the feeling of camaraderie and sense of purpose when participating in the large scale battles.  I also was a part of the faction leadership on my server for many months, and I experienced firsthand the difficulty in managing confrontations between hundreds of players.  Communication was a serious problem which became very elaborate and extended well beyond the game itself.  Ventrilo servers were set up for faster communications, then consolidation of servers into one giant (and very expensive) server that worked well until people from the other faction started listening in.  To make a long story short great lengths were made in order for effective communication to occur.


And so I find that communications will be very important, and will preferably be voice codecs.  There will be a command and control room for each faction where officers of the faction will meet together and discuss strategy.  During battles this will also be the place where main commands will be issued.  I would prefer to utilize the echelon structure found in the military.  This will mean that groups of 8 people will be a squad, 4 squads will make a platoon, 4 platoons will make a company.  We'll just go to that point for now, though it is possible to continue all the way up the chain.  What is important is that people will be able to group and apply whatever name they want to the group.  Really community is something that occurs outside of any given game already, it will simply be necessary to convince players that this is a place they wish to play together.


As far as punishment for misbehaving I have already mentioned how those players who don't comply will have field privileges revoked.  Along with field privileges could be the ability to communicate with the whole server.  In game chat is really important for people to be able to get to know each other, but it is also where those people trying to make trouble have the biggest audience.  If the ability to communicate has to be earned, people will hopefully think twice before losing that privilege.

I'm writing as though I have it all

I have decided to plan as though I will have all of the resources I need to make this game.  I will discuss things in a kind of optimism that dreamers often have and which producers often have to reign in.  I am also working to be practical in my approach as well as thorough in my design.  To this end I found an excellent list of questions that aspiring MMO creators need to focus on.  I will probably make a post per question as it relates to the vision  that I have of this game.  It is clear that much more thought will be forthcoming before action can take place.

Keep it simple, stupid

This is kind of a running theme in the Army.  If you have to explain it more than 3 times, which will happen anyway, it is too complex.  I'm finding that working with computers is no different.  Computers do exactly what they are instructed to do, nothing more, nothing less.  When trying to make them do something new and different,  they are particularly slow and stubborn.  And so I find myself wondering how to take this complex thought and communicate it to these machines in a way that they will comply.  There are a great many programs, and an even larger amount of ideas of what people want programs to do.  What I propose is nothing completely new and groundbreaking by any means, but doing it is proving to be a test of patience and determination.

I have had a few programming classes in which I have done well, and yet I find that I am completely unprepared.  This doesn't mean I'm giving up, it just means that I am going to have to take the long road in learning the art of programming.

Many sources say that program design is one of the most important things to do before creating a program and can make the actual programming much easier if done correctly.  So before I launch into making this huge project I think I will take a step back and learn a bit more of how to make a functional program.

Possibly a new name

In doing a Google search for the name Hex Wars several things come up.  After all hexes do work for strategy games.  So this is something I'm going to have to brainstorm in order to come up with a decent name.  Some thoughts have been to use my handle, for something like Brift Wars.  Unfortunately Brift seems to be most commonly associated with the Burt Reynolds Institute for Film and Theater,  but at least there doesn't seem to be any games associated with it.  Another option is to look at bee terms and use one of them, like Apoidea.  Of course there is always the option of creating a new word all together.  I might have to do a poll on this.

Ace of Spades review

As a part of my game game creation I have decided to review some games that are similar to what I hope to accomplish.  Please keep it in mind that these games are part of what has inspired me to take on this project.

First a brief introduction.  Ace of Spades is a multiplayer FPS sandbox game in which the goal is essentially capture the flag.  Players come equipped with a basic rifle, a shovel, a pickaxe, 50 blocks, and 2 grenades.   The main feature of this game that sets it apart from other first person shooters is that the landscape is completely editable.  Players may place the blocks in their inventory and make use of the pickaxe or shovel to remove blocks.  It is a simple game, yet very enjoyable to play.

A few lessons I have taken from this are as follows.  One, the map can become a mess quite fast with every player having the ability to place blocks and destroy nearly every part of the map.  I feel that the best lesson learned here is that there should be a basic landscape which cannot be altered by the player.  I also feel that placing blocks needs a good bit more thought put into it, which is why I plan on making it so only blocks that have been brought back to the main base may be placed.

Two, because there is no registration and anyone can download and play the game there is no control on who may enter the game.  As such many of the players are of the lowest quality that I have ever seen.  Trolls, bigots, griefers, and just plain rude people often join the servers, with the apparent goal of ruining the game for all.  It doesn't make for an environment which I would want my children the play games in.  If a game is to be released to the public then rules and regulations are going to have to be set forward and enforced in order for the game to make it.

Three, it is important to thoroughly check over the keymap to make sure that all the key are not only intuitive, but don't lead to cramping.  In most FPS games there is a fairly consistent keymap with things like wasd directions, etc...  In this game I find that holding the left ctrl down for long periods leads to cramping and the reload key is directly next to the chat key which can cause serious problems during gameplay.  Little things like this will hopefully come out during testing, though I may be looking at testing the game on my own.
While I'm sure there are many more things that could help me by further analysis of this game, I'm going to stop here for now.

A galaxy far away

Some might ask why I'm choosing to go with giant bees spectating people like an experiment.  Well there are a few reasons why.  First, I don't want the pressure of following the guidelines created by someone else's imagination or the constraints of history.  Second, by having this setting we can make the assumption that the bees went to great lengths to capture the players, hence the highly controlled environment and the complete devotion to making sure that the humans cannot do anything to harm themselves or each other.  In this way I can set up a world where battle happens, but doesn't happen at the same time.  Everything is non-lethal.  Third it will allow for some crazy situations that simply would not be possible anywhere other than a video game.  To this end I plan on not having fall damage ( the suit will absorb the shock like the boots in Portal).  Vehicles will be able to freeze opponents by running them over, but the suit will also keep the person inside from getting damaged.  I also think that the presence of humans could be explained by cloning, hence everyone of a class is the exact same size and has exactly even capabilities.  I realize that this will disappoint quite a few people as everyone will seem to be the same, but it is necessary for balance within the game.

The power of the cloud

In trying to keep up with technology can be a difficult chore, especially with so many advances happening simultaneously.  One that I feel is worthy to note is the concept of cloud gaming with such systems as Onlive and GaiKai.  Essentially cloud gaming is a system where the game is processed and rendered by powerful servers and delivered to the player via video feed or through a web browser.  There are a few possible problems in that customers of these services need to have very good internet connections and if there is anyone else utilizing the same internet connection for things like Netflix then forget it.  The other problem from my understanding is that these services are quite expensive as far as upkeep and as of this writing they were not an improvement over console/computer based computing.
That being said I do feel that cloud gaming is the future of gaming, particularly when it comes to multiplayer and hopefully massively multiplayer.  Because of the rising cost of hardware in order to run high end games and the difficulty of having to port software to a given system or platform many small companies are finding it difficult to turn a profit.  Because cloud gaming only requires what amounts to a network card, a video card, a sound card, and basic input at the consumer end it will mean they can provide the hardware portion at a greatly decreased cost to the consumer.  Also since the server is all that matters as far as running the game it doesn't matter what programming language or system it is utilizing so long that a video feed can be sent out to the player.  The other big boon that I see from this is that it will make hacking and cheating much more difficult to accomplish.  Because there is so little consumer side about the only thing a player will be able to change is the method of input, so things like simple macros or changing ones keymap will be all they can accomplish without hacking directly into the server, which is probably going to be more trouble than it is worth.
For the independent developer these systems provide a great opportunity to get their game published and played by a larger audience.  I hope to utilize a system like this as it will take many of the difficulties of creating an MMO(such as player registration, server creation, marketing) and make it not only plausible, but possible.
It is my humble opinion that if cloud gaming companies wish to be competitive they should focus on their strengths.  Single player games that do not require a network connection are going to continue to be a better playing experience on a console or fully downloaded.  Multiplayer and massively multiplayer is where these formats have the potential to shine.  As of right now I think they are missing that point.

How to avoid the MMO Timesink

There are a few aspects of games like World of Warcraft and other MMORPG games out there that I personally really don't like.  One is the amount of time those games require in order to stay a competitive player. Level caps rise, gear classes increase, you have to get a set of armor that has a .001% chance of dropping per piece from a boss at the end of an 8 hour long instance, the list goes on and on.  Someone put it well that those games are designed to be played to the exclusion of all else, including eating, sleeping, work, you name it.  So one of my main goals in this game is that a beginner right from the start will have a fighting chance against the person who has spent the hundreds of hours playing.  Skill based games, like FPS tend to be, give a nice level playing field, and that is something I think a lot of players really appreciate.

I have also found that player vs player in the big MMORPG games is not so much a question of skill, but a question of how much money and time (or hacking ability) a person has devoted to the game.  So a leveling system if put into this game will need to be horizontal giving only minor improvements as levels increase.  The possible problem that can arise from this is a loss of player attention due to a perceived lack of goal, which I hope to fill with the constant struggle happening in the game.

The challenge of triangles

A few people have pointed out that using a triangle based system for one of the planes in a sandbox system will be rather difficult.  It does indeed seem that square based tessellations seem to be dominating the scene as of right now in games like Minecraft and it's multitude of clones.  It makes sense as in 3d environments you will usually think of 3 main orientations, being X, Y, and Z.

So in thinking of how to work in this type of environment I think that splitting the Y into 2 sets of planes will be the best option.  One plane will be 30 degrees from Y and the other 30 degrees the opposite direction (330 degrees on the 360 scale).  Then the points at which the X series of planes on the Y axis would occur would be approximately .866  (the square root of 0.75).  Because I plan on using the standard square tessellation for the XZ and YZ planes both X and Z will have the standard 1 unit.  Of course this is much easier written than done, but if I am successful then a whole new set of indie games would be possible.  

Structures

I feel that buildings are not the proper term for these structures as they will not be something a player will be able to enter.  They will more likely be small structures that could be placed on walls or player constructed sites.  The number of spaces taken up by these structures will depend on the level of the structure and will range from 3 basic blocks to quite a few.  
        -Teleport
As the name suggests these will allow players and vehicles to teleport.  The level of the teleporter will dictate the size of object that can pass through
        -Supply/Store
This structure will allow players to purchase anything that can be carried
        -Communications
This structure allows communication to commanders vehicles and depending on level will dictate how much of a given hex field a commander may see.  In the diagram below dark grey is 1 block high, light grey 2 blocks, and white is 3 blocks high.  Another function of this structure is that when a player interacts with it they can see the overhead map of any hexfield in which their faction has another communications structure.
        -Shield
This structure will provide decreased damage to individuals within the area of effect.  The amount of damage reduced will be a percentage of something like 25% for 1, 50% for 2, and 75% for 3.  Also as the level increases the area of effect will also increase.
         -Turret towers
        -Garage
As of right now this will be a place to store vehicles in the field.  They will probably just be player constructions that can be expanded and shaped as needed.
        -Hanger
This will be similar to the garage, player made for vehicle storage in the field
        -Stealth
This structure will give cover but not protection.  Any players, vehicles, and structures will not be visible to enemy forces while in the area of effect of this structure.
-Stabilzer
-Class changing station

What language to program in?

My current challenge has been to sort through the myriad of available programming languages and game development tools to determine what to use for this.  I'm leaning towards the open source language of Python, though in reality I may need to wait until school begins before I start on the actual programming of the game.  In the mean time I will continue to flesh out the concepts so that I have as much as possible down before I get started on the hard part.

Player Classes

The classes are not going to be permanent and in fact playing the different types of classes is encouraged. Each class has distinct purposes and players will be able to develop the abilities of each as they play the game. I have a vision of a Tron-like or simple robot appearance with lines of whatever color their team or faction covering their body like a moderately skin tight suit that can never be removed. Because damage can occur to any one given body part then when that part that is damaged will become a darker, duller color until it is unusable. If additional hits are made to the already disabled part of the body then damage will go to the core which is comprised of head and torso. If the core is damaged sufficiently then the player will become totally frozen and will start a count down timer to respawn. It will be possible for other players to revive frozen comrades with either items that are carried or abilities. All characters will have the ability to gather materials similar to the gathering in minecraft, though the amount they can carry will be determined by their class.
The classes are as follows

Soldier – Biggest class at 1.9 units tall with athletic build. Basic fighter with moderate amounts of both health and defense with starting loadout of medium strength weaponry, both melee and ranged. These will be the main fighting units in the game. The soldier backpack is a 6 hexagon column in the middle with 5 hexagon column then a 4 hexagon column on each side equalling 24 slots altogether. If a player wishes to use specialized weaponry they will need to play and train as a soldier.
Scout – smallest class at 1.2 units tall with slender build. Faster class with decreased health and armor, but at higher levels of proficiency will have stealth. Used for recon and limited fighting. The scout backpack starts with a 6 hexagon column with 5 hexagon on each side for a total of 16 slots altogether. Players wishing to utilize stealth and agility based upgrades like speed run and jump boost will need to play and train as a scout. Scouts will also have the special ability to hack enemy equipment in order to first disable and then re enable for any players of their faction.
Builder – medium size class at 1.5 units tall with heavy build. Greatest amount of health and defense, but slower than the other classes. Builders will play an integral part in the game in that they will construct bases and teleport towers that will allow players to spawn and re-equip themselves. The builders pack is a six hexagon column with columns of 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 hexagons on each side for a total of 34. Builders will also be able to learn to heal other players, vehicles, and structures. An additional ability that will be exclusive to builders is the ability to burrow and dig through placed crafted materials in the game.

Commander – This position will be available to experienced and responsible players who have decided that they would like to be a part of the game leadership. Commanders will have an overhead view which is possible because of small camera aircraft which are vulnerable and can be taken out. After the craft has been destroyed they will need to use resources to create a new one. The main responsibilities of a commander are resource allocation, building direction, and battle direction. There will be many spots available for commanders as it will be an essential aspect of the game, but this position is one that must be earned and will not be available to all players. It is important to note that commanders won’t be able to place items like in single player RTS games. They will simply block out land for various usage by means of a spraypaint or wireframe placement system which only players of their faction can see. Commanders could then take the role of builder to place the items or remove extra or badly placed items. If in the event that voice chat is used commanders will be the only ones authorized an intercom voice which can be heard by all players of their faction in a given hexfield or even the whole server should the need arise, kind of like a state of the faction address or call to arms. I expect there to be a bit of politics which happens in any society based game.

As players play each of the classes and become proficient there will be opportunities for crossover. Some examples would include a player with both high soldier and high scout abilities will have access to a sniper loadout when they choose soldier or ninja loadout as a scout. Builder and soldier crossover could include mortar and demolitions. This will be way down the road though.

The World

The first thing is to establish that the spectating aliens have full control over every aspect of this environment, including but not limited to the amount of gravity, day night cycles, what resources are placed and where, and various challenges in the the world. This world will appear to have been made completely triangular column blocks laid out in a hexagonal grid. The main point is to keep the graphics simple because players will be able to interact with each and every element of this world and the world will hopefully be randomly generated, much like the game of Minecraft. So you may ask why triangles and hexagons. From the list of shapes that tessalate( also known as a pattern of plane figures that fills the plane with no overlaps and no gaps) there are only 3 basic shapes that can do this, the equilateral triangle, the square, and the hexagon. Because the hexagonal tessalation occurs naturally in the honeycomb of beehives and lends itself well to strategy based games in general, and 6 triangles together makes a hexagon anyway, then the use of triangles seems to be the best choice for the basic geometry of the game.

The upper limit of the world will be 200 meters high and the lower limit will be 50 down. Outside of the world will be a rotating day night cycle, which if a player digs all the way to the bottom they will see the opposite of what is seen above the surface. The indestructable outer walls of the world will be opaque and when a player moves to the outer edge they will thunk like they are running into glass (think of it as a bee’s revenge). Flying vehicles and players in general will have a cap of 100 meters with the exception of the commander’s unmanned vehicle which will remain at the 200 meter level at all times. The smallest unit will be a triangular column with sides that are .5 meters for all three sides and a height of .5 meters. One of the rules of this world is that blocks must always be placed so that the shapes are the same, eg triangles with triangles and squares with squares.

One triangle from the above diagram will look like this diagram below
Once a player gets to the edge of said column they must push through to the next Hex field which may be a different biome and environment completely. The player will always be at ground level in the middle of the side of the entered hex field regardless of where they push through. There is an area right next to the entrance where building and digging will not be permitted. Each hex field will have randomly generated landscape ranging from 30 meters below the standard level up to 70 meters above with some relative relation to the neighboring blocks so that movement through the hex field is possible ( although the occasional pit or tower will be possible). Each time the aliens shake the world this landscape will change unless there is a stabilizing structure which will be player constructed, with the area stabilized relative to the level of the structure. ( Just a side note the battle simulator will be 1 hex field and will have as many customizable options for the player as possible. There will be full discussion of the battle simulator below). At the time of the shaking the world will rotate so that the faction with the least amount of area under their control will be on the eastern side, which will give them a bonus of some sort to encourage balance.
In order to help people feel as though they have a part ownership of the game there will be areas in which people will be able to build structures without fear of griefing( other players intentionally destroying their creations). This will be accomplished by means of plots of land on which only the owning player may change anything. These plots of land and the accompanying ownership are something that could be traded or sold. In order for a player to earn a plot of land they must achieve a certain level of proficiency in one of the many possible skills or professions. It is on these plots of land that players will be able to construct larger storage and crafting tables which are better than the standard tables and storage available to all in the main area. Players will be able to teleport to their various plots via portals which will be set up in the main base and in each hex field that the player’s faction is in full control.
The control of hex fields is determined by being the only faction with certain structures (like lets say just a teleport or a teleport, storage access, shop access, and class change) standing. There also needs to be some sort of direct line to the main base of the faction via controlled hex fields. If enemy forces were to flank and cut off lines to the main base then players will only be able to teleport to the farthest point still connected to the main base.
In analyzing games such as Ace of Spades and Minecraft I feel that the actual removal of blocks from the field would be unwise and would lead to a very messy landscape in a short amount of time. Because collection will still be necessary a player can clone the blocks which they can reach with their melee weapon into their backpack for use in crafting and for building up their personal space. As far as the make up of the blocks, each one will be one specific type, similar to Minecraft. The basic classes of blocks will be dirt, sand, water, gravel, stone, lava and possibly more. Specialized blocks will include metals (like iron, titanium and possibly a strange one like unobtanium or adamantium) and energy crystals. I want to make it so that the further one travels into and below the field the better the class of metal or crystal they get. Metals are going to be key for making armor, weapons, vehicles, and structures. When used for personal armor higher end metals will make it so the armor takes up less pack space and when used in vehicles or structures it will increase the total hp of said item. When used in weapons higher quality metals will also decrease the pack space used. Energy crystals will provide the power source for all weapons, vehicles, and structures. These materials will be on the surface in small quantities, but the real wealth of them will be found underground. Possible upgrades later on will be different color stone and plant life according to biomes.
Gravity is something I would like to have be variable from 0 gravity to 20 meters/sec in increments of 1 meter/sec. In 0 gravity environments players will be able to propel themselves with their weapon discharge. This will add an extra challenge as one will need to choose their shooting carefully so as to not bounce off the 100 meter ceiling and or get stuck.
Winning conditions are going to be a possibility as the field will need to be reset every so often. One possibility is if any one faction takes control of the six inner hex fields. Another is if a faction gains control of more than 50% of the field. This is something that could change as time progresses or from one game to the next. In this way players could suggest conditions for winning and map reset. Of course there will also be the unexpected shaking just to keep players on edge too. The idea is that players are like the playing pieces on a giant game of risk.

Before perusing this blog you will need a few reference points. Certain games like Minecraft, Spore, Unreal Tournament, and Savage: Battle for Newerth, Wulfram(free) and more recently Ace of Spades(free) will clarify some of the concepts. Also the book Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

Overall game concept

The world appears to be a large experiment/game which is being spectated by giant aliens(probably a bee like life form), each one rooting for their respective color. The game is a giant triangle which is divided into many smaller hexagons. 3( though possibly up to 6) factions, whether race or simply colors represented by red blue and green(cyan, yellow, and magenta), fight over the land inside of this world. The game will be massively multiplayer with aspects of real time strategy, first person shooter, and puzzle games (MMORTS/FPS Hybrid). The idea is to have a fluid and dynamic semi-sandbox environment which changes at the whims of the aliens (much like a child shaking an ant farm). The main goal is to be able to have large scale strategic battles involving potentially thousands of players. The player will assume various roles that will interact with the environment and other characters. This document will outline the basic concepts to be utilized in the game.

Requirements

This game will need to be family friendly. It will include essentially cartoon violence in a war setting where people are not killed but frozen like in a game of forced freeze tag. It will not have any alcohol and drug reference, no explicit sexual references or content, no obscene language, and no blood and gore. People will be able to participate in the game for free, but only at the basic level. The game will mainly be based on skill with only minor improvements via upgrades. The game mechanics need to be simple, with human interaction creating the depth. It would be preferable that a technology similar to Onlive be utilized where everything is rendered server side and sent to the player via video feed, which should cut down on the amount of hacking/cheating. More to follow.

Target Audience

This game will appeal to people who call themselves gamers, particularly ones who may be starting families and don’t want to play violent video games in front of young children or who are teenagers with parents concerned about violence. Because of time constraints and growing responsibilities players do not always have the hours and hours of time to devote to a leveling process in games where those who spend the most time in a game are rewarded most generously. Many gamers still seek a sense of community and a depth of game play beyond the small servers found in most FPS games today. This game will be a marriage of the social aspects of MMOs with the simplicity of FPS games.