Cooperative Project

[Tim Brooks]

Hi All!

This is something SG Development has been kicking around for a while, and since we are now looking at what comes after All American, it is probably time to get some feedback on this.

The Project we have in mind is a coop strategy game, design, art, programming, all with input from some of Shrapnel Games' fans.

How we came up with this idea, was seeing the kind of mods that you guys (and gals) have put out for our games over the last 5 1/2 years! Alot of these are quite impressive, and we thought, hey, lets harness some of that creativity and game development desire.

So, what do you think? A good idea or not?

And before you ask a bunch of questions about what the game is about and other things, well, that will be decided by those that participate on the project.

Best regards,

[Combat Wombat]

So umm do we sign-up here? Also I assume this will be a game that you will sell?

[mac5732]

Sounds like a very good idea. If you can transpose some of the great ideas from the various Modders and their mods you might be able to come up with several really great games. I hope the modders show an interest... I'm in for whatever you need.

[Tim Brooks]

Yes, if you are interested this is a good place to start. We'll put a form up when we have an idea of those interested. Until then, just let us know here.

[Tim Brooks]

Thanks Mac! I knew we could count on you.

[Combat Wombat]

Well I'm in. This sounds like it could be alot of fun.

[tesco samoa]

sounds cool. Modding is what makes a game enjoyable after the first month. Hence the shelf life of se 4.

If you would like me to join in please invite me.

take care.

I look forward to working with the old snake

[Rogue]

Wow, very cool idea! Heh, if I had any artistic talent whatsoever I'd offer it willingly. That is a very awesome idea though.

[Tim Brooks]

Wombat, I overlooked your question, but yes this will be a game that we will sell. And that means that those who help with the project will make something off of it. We haven't worked out all the details yet, but will soon.

[Phoenix-D]

If I had any actual graphics, coding, or art skills I'd offer to help, but alas. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Tim Brooks]

There is also the Design, Phoenix-D.

[Fyron]

Will this be an open source project? How is the coding of the game going to be handled?

[Suicide Junkie]

Coop, strategy eh?

What if you were to give each player a piece of an army?
Player 1 commands the land forces, while player 2 commands the air force, and in some scenarios, player 3 controls the navy.

Each will be trying to protect their own assets, while helping out the others to complete their objectives.

[Combat Wombat]

Well here are my first ideas. Shrapnel doesn't sell a flight sim so that area is open but right now market-wise its dominated by games with great gameplay and graphics like the MS: Flight Simulator games. Another choice would be a shooter game but I would guess that simply because you are in these forums you are looking for something besides those. So that really leaves RTS games, there aren't any good ones out right now based on realistic war so that might be a good idea. Oh almost forgot the last would be a RPG it would need to have a deep story and hopefully not take place in a magical fantasy world, maybe one that takes place during a war in an alternate dimension that way we can have realistic stuff but we wouldnt have to worry about historical accuracy and could develop a unique story.

[Gandalf Parker]

Feel free to snag mine. I think that alot of the work that was put into SEIV modules would port over nicely to an Ocean Colonies game. The nations of the world have colonized the oceans and now war with each other.

The game play, the combat, the ships, much of the game would port over nicely. Maybe some bits of Dominions such as the method of balance and the province structure for maps.

[Atrocities]

Count me in if I can be of help.

[Mephisto]

In past some friends and mine had a play by mail game running where players played on a fantasy continent named "Trae Stralon". I even have a computer map of it and a hand made (really nice!). Most players played a head of a domain and could do all sort of things (build armies, construct buildings and so forth). But I also had a lot of RPG to it. Diplomatic messages were very important, too. Ah, the memories.
There is even a 80(?) page rule book for the game. We once tried to port it to PC but failed due to the lack of programming skill (traces can still be found on sourceforge.net). If anyone is interested in the concept I could provide it.

[Tim Brooks]

There are some good ideas here. I will have them organized and we can run a poll to vote for your favorites. I would like to get a longer list though. Any more folks?

[Saber Cherry]

Sounds interesting. In fact, it sounds like something I'd like to work on. However, I fear commitment... so I'll have to go down as a "maybe," and as such, I don't want to affect the planning stage too much. But I'll think about it a bit.

[Instar]

do you need a C++/Java/C#/x86 assembly coder? I should have some free time and a constant net connection after I get my new laptop
The only thing is SEV beta testing... I hope to get in and wont have much free time if I am beta testing
Other than the languages, I know some OpenGL and want to learn DX9. I can get you more info on my programming skills if you want.

[Fyron]

Imperator Fyron said:
Will this be an open source project? How is the coding of the game going to be handled?

Can I get an answer please?

[Tim Brooks]

Imperator Fyron said:
Will this be an open source project? How is the coding of the game going to be handled?




Not open source, no.

The coding will be handled however we can make it work, with Shrapnel people, those that wish to code, or both.

[Fyron]

It seems fairly strange to me to have a proprietary community project... Oh well.

[mac5732]

Since there are a number of different types of games out there that the public buys we lst have to decide what type/s we want to get into.
Wargames (War in Pacific, Steel Panthers, etc)
Fanatasy adventure (Heros, Dominionns, Disciples, etc)
Space Warfare (Space Empires IV, etc)
Shootemups (quake, Duke Nukem, etc)
Real Time games (Starcraft, Warcraft, etc)
We all like different kinds, so a consensus would have to be made as to the direction of the game/s to go

There are many ideas for each type of game, maybe, and I'm just rambling, we should decide the type lst, then look into the components, makeup, etc.
Just some ideas

[Atrocities]

I have to say that I would love a world domination game based on the 4 x model. The current games are all RPG, RTS, or turn based. I would like to see a game where the player builds ships, troops, armor, planes, subs, and etc, then expands out to conqure other provinces. A cross between SE IV and Dominions but with an entire world map, huge.

Territory could be handled simularly to civ but with the restriction that you can establish a city, colony, in a colonizable area. This will restrict planting cities every few feet.

I hate games like Civ, sorry to say it, but that is not what I want to play. I want to play a game with the game play of Axis and allies but on a uber grand scale, feel, game adaptablity, and the control and depth that comes with Space Empires IV.

[Tim Brooks]

Imperator Fyron said:
It seems fairly strange to me to have a proprietary community project... Oh well.



Only if everyone was working for free. Shrapnel will end up putting alot of money into a project like this. That is if we get enough interest to even do it.

[mac5732]

AT, you mean something on the order like Empire or Empire Delux, or the old Colonial Conquest game, or even the old Star General? (similiar in scope? ) If so thats sounds , I always liked that type of game and really enjoyed playing those.

[Baron Munchausen]

Tim Brooks said:
Hi All!

This is something SG Development has been kicking around for a while, and since we are now looking at what comes after All American, it is probably time to get some feedback on this.

The Project we have in mind is a coop strategy game, design, art, programming, all with input from some of Shrapnel Games' fans.

How we came up with this idea, was seeing the kind of mods that you guys (and gals) have put out for our games over the last 5 1/2 years! Alot of these are quite impressive, and we thought, hey, lets harness some of that creativity and game development desire.

So, what do you think? A good idea or not?

And before you ask a bunch of questions about what the game is about and other things, well, that will be decided by those that participate on the project.

Best regards,



Writing a game from scratch will be a huge project. Look at Free Orion, the response to the Master of Orion 3 debacle. It's now working towards version .3 after a couple of years development. I wonder if Shrapnel Games can afford to think in the 'long term' to this degree? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

We have a few programmers in the Shrapnel forums, but we have vastly more artists than programmers. What would be better would be to license someone else's code to save development time and leverage your real advantage in the artistic community on these forums. I would still like to see the Star Fury engine adapted to a submarine simulation, for example. Do you suppose that relations with Malfador Machinations are good enough that you could license this code from him? (I sure hope he hasn't signed any 'exclusive' deals with Strategy 1st?) Some relatively minor changes in the physics of this engine, combined with artwork from the many prolific artists on these forums, could produce a very nice submarine game in a fairly short time. Under a year, I'd say.

How's that for an "idea"?

[Combat Wombat]

Oh man a submarine simulation its so perfect. I wonder how would would do depth in the starfury engine though, it likes to keep everything on one plane.

[Baron Munchausen]

Yeah, true 3D with multiple 'levels' is one of the changes you'd have to make to the Star Fury engine. And you'd have to give ships 'weight' so they'd naturally tend to sink if they aren't moving. And you'd need to make 'bubble trails' for torpedos that slowly rise and dissipate.

[GreyCloud]

I'd like to add my vote for a Submarine type of game, the difficulty will be making it 'special' even if you could license the starfury engine, could you really steer a summarie from outside ? ;p

A 4x Risk Game would also be great http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif but again how could you make it 'special'?

Any game made in this method would HAVE to be easily modable - if not open source.

To throw a spanner into the works, how about making the game 'online'? so it could be multi player? I mean only the actual kinda engine -still have people buy the game so as to not have to compromise on art...

GreyCloud

[Phoenix-D]

Actually SF handles multiple levels quite nicely right now.

You just can't -move- between them, and it doesn't have the code to handle up/down firing arcs, so you automaticly get a full coverage.

[Baron Munchausen]

Good! That means all we would need to do is add the code to let ships move between levels and to let weapons fire at ships on different levels. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Combat Wombat]

So whats happening with this, did I get excited for nothing? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Suicide Junkie]

"E's dead, Jim"

[Tim Brooks]

Nope not dead -- waiting patiently for more interest.

[mac5732]

I'd like to see this move along some more, maybe we should post it in forum since some of the members might not check this forum???

[GreyCloud]

*waiting patiently*

[Suicide Junkie]

In order to get any more interest before you lose what you do have, we probably need to see some sort of progress.

Or at least a progress bar or chart of some sort.

[Combat Wombat]

Colorful pie charts are always fun http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif I think a progress bar is a good idea... not sure if anything has been done though.

[Instar]

The famous pie bar chart would work well.

[Suicide Junkie]

Tim Brooks said:
Nope not dead -- waiting patiently for more interest.

Its been a month and a half now with zero apparent progress. I think that you're losing the interest you already have (or had).

Something has to be done. Make a page listing the leading ideas or something. At this point, ISTM that anything is better than the crickets.

[Suicide Junkie]

It sounds like we still need a game idea...

What about a sort-of mix between a dungeon keeper game and a sim city game?

- You are an greedy, semi-evil baron, looking to increase tax revenues. Having noticed that your town's income (and thus taxes) went up during a recent monster scare, you hatch an evil plot.

What you do, is dig out a lair, populate it with monsters, and place some of your treasure in it.

The idea being that townsfolk will see the treasure, but be scared off by the monsters. The stories will attract adventurers from other provinces, who will have to sleep in your inns, drink in your taverns, and have their equipment repaired by your blacksmiths before heading off to seek the treasure.


So, the key to the game is:
- making enough money off your town to keep the dungeon full of treasure
- balancing the quality of your blacksmiths and the quality of your monsters to make the most money without getting your monsters killed.
- keep enough monster-spawner objects and hired boss-monsters to prevent the adventurers from stealing all your money.
- let the adventurers see enough and steal enough to spread stories of the treasure and attract higher-level adventurers who will want more expensive goods and services during their stay in town. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[DarkAnt]

Sign me up for coding

[DarkAnt]

no response for this long? This project is definately dead.

[Xrati]

I think it's a great idea. After all, the best games to play are the ones you enjoy and how could you not enjoy something you helped to create! I find the best games are the ones you can edit and create scenarios for. If time and life in general cooperate, I'd be willing to help out in any form I can.

[Atrocities]

ITs not dead DarkAnt, its just not being discussed over the summer. Wait until winter when we are all locked in our houses and bored ****less.

[Combat Wombat]

Atrocities said:
ITs not dead DarkAnt, its just not being discussed over the summer. Wait until winter when we are all locked in our houses and bored ****less.



Winter nears and I am bored ****less http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif Any news on this project?

[Richard]

CW,

Actually we are doing something with this, just not what we originally planned. Send me an email for more details.

[Combat Wombat]

Richard said:
CW,

Actually we are doing something with this, just not what we originally planned. Send me an email for more details.



I emailed you about 2 weeks ago now and I haven't gotten a response.

my email is cwombat at gmail dot com

[Richard]

CW,

The project I was speaking of is not going to happen. Thanks for the interest though.