I have an idea for a computer game

[Vastatosaurus Rex]

I'm not in the game design industry or anything, but often for fun, I like to come up with concepts for computer games, especially real-time strategy games like Age of Empires. Here's a little outline of a concept I came up with today; critique and suggestions are desired:

Savage Continent

This RTS takes place in a fantasy land called Akhesa, a tropical land of deserts, savannas, and jungles, where mighty dinosaurs roam. This land is home to three sentient species: the saurian Sraaks, the simian Kokongs, and Humans.

Sraaks

The Sraaks are intelligent theropod dinosaurs closely related to the Allosaurus. They are nomadic hunters who follow migrating dinosaur herds across the savannas and jungles of Akhesa. Growing twenty feet long from head to tail and seven feet tall, they are the fastest and physically strongest and hardest to kill of the three sentient species. They have no use for crafted weapons like clubs, bows, or swords, as they are naturally equipped with sharp claws and teeth. They have no ranged weapons.

The Sraak gathered two resources: food and bone. Food is used for creating new Sraaks as well as funding technological research. Bone is used for constructing buildings. Both of these resources can be gathered from the carcasses of wild animals or from dead Kokongs, Humans, or even other Sraaks.

Because of Sraak nomadism, Sraak buildings are temporary and can therefore be taken down, with the bone used to construct them being returned to the resource stockpile. Unfortunately, they are less durable than buildings constructed by Humans or Kokongs.

Sraaks are capable of swimming across water, but they cannot attack while swimming and therefore do not have a true navy.

Sraak units are created one-by-one, and include:

Warrior: Resource-gatherer, builder, and basic military unit in one package.
Rammer: Carries a large log which he uses to ram into buildings and trees. This is the Sraak "siege weapon".
Shaman: The spiritual leaders of the Sraak, these can heal other Sraaks and "convert" certain predatory wild animals to the Sraak cause at the cost of energy.
Chieftain: The most powerful Sraak warrior, he can also temporarily raise his warriors' morale (therefore increasing their attack rate and speed). You can only have one Chieftain for every Camp Center you construct.

Sraak buildings are:

Camp Center: The Sraak equivalent of a Town Center, this creates Warriors, Chieftains, and Rammers, and also can act as a place to deposit resources. You can never build more than five of these.
House: Raises population limit.
Storage Hut: Deposit resources here.
Shaman's Hut: Create Shamans and upgrade your technology here.
Palisade: Bone fence used as a fortification.

Kokongs

The Kokongs are an ape species closely related to gorillas who are native to the land's jungle regions. When on the ground, they walk on two legs like humans, but they are also adept climbers. They are shorter but more muscular (especially at the upper body) than humans. Herbivores like their gorilla cousins, the Kokongs are peaceful compared with Humans and Sraaks, but they can still be fierce warriors in defense of their homes.

Because of their greater upper body strength, the Kokongs are superior archers to humans, able to shoot their arrows with greater distance and attack. They are also stronger than humans in melee combat, though not as strong as Sraaks. On the downside, the Kokongs cannot move as fast as Humans or Sraaks, and their lack of armor makes them easier to kill than Humans.

The Kokongs gather three resources: food, wood, and stone. Food is gathered from wild plants and is used to create all units. Wood is gathered from trees and is the Kokong's main construction material. Mined from rocks, stone is used for warriors' weapons.

Unique among sentient races is the arboreal nature of Kokong architecture---they build their structures on the boughs of trees. Only the largest trees can be used to support buildings. At first, the Kokongs must use wild trees, but after reaching a sufficient level of technological development, they can plant their own trees. Kokong units can garrison buildings and use them like sentry towers, shooting arrows from them.

All Kokong units can move through thick forests and climb trees to hide. They can also leap from tree to tree.

Kokong units are created in small groups, and include:

Villager: Builder and gatherer unit.
Clubber: Melee infantry armed with a club.
Archer: Ranged unit armed with a bow.
Rammer: Similar to the Sraak unit, the log-carrying Rammer can knock down trees or buildings.
Medicine Ape: Spiritual unit who can heal and convert enemies (whether Kokong, Sraak, or Human) to the Kokong cause at the cost of energy.
Chieftain: Same type of unit as the Sraak, you can have only one per Village Center.
Battle Dugout: Small naval unit mounted with archers. This can be transported over land, but cannot attack then.
Transport Dugout: Non-attacking naval unit that can be used to transport units across water. Also can be transported over land.

Kokong buildings are:

Village Center: Town Center equivalent, trains Villagers and Chieftains. Again, the limit is five.
House: Raises population limit.
Storage Hut: Same as the Sraak storage hut.
Warrior Hut: Trains Clubbers, Archers, and Rammers.
Toolmaking Hut: Builds dugouts and researches technology.
Medicine Ape's Hut: Trains and upgrades Medicine Apes.

Humans

With dark skin and kinky black hair, the Humans of Akhesa physically resemble African people of our own world. Unlike the other two species, the Humans are organized not into tribes but into large kingdoms ruled by female monarchs called Pharaohs.

Humans are not as physically strong as the Sraaks or Kokongs, but they make up for this weakness by being the most technologically advanced. For Humans, technological research is swifter than for the other species.

Humans are the only species on Akhesa to wear armor, making their military units better able to withstand attack than Kokongs (though still not as much as Sraaks). They are also faster than Kokongs, though still not as fast as Sraaks. As stated earlier, however, the Humans are not as strong as the other two races, so their infantry's attack is weaker.

Humans gather four resources: food, wood, stone, and metal. Since humans are omnivorous, as opposed to the carnivorous Sraaks and herbivorous Kokongs, they can gather food from hunted animals, fish, wild plants, or special buildings called Farms. Wood and stone are both used for buildings. Metal, mined from certain rocks, funds technological research and the creation of military units.

Architecturally, Human buildings resemble the buildings of our Africa, especially those of Nile Valley cultures such as Egypt and Nubia. They are built on the ground and cannot be taken down to get back resources, but they are much more durable than Sraak or Kokong buildings. Unlike Kokong buildings, all of which can be garrisoned and used as defense stations, only certain Human buildings have a defensive purpose. Over time, Human buildings can be upgraded at the cost of stone and wood.

Human units are created in groups and include:

Citizen: Gatherer and builder.
Spearman: Melee infantry armed with a spear and shield.
Bowman: Ranged unit armed with a bow; not as powerful or far-ranged as the Kokong equivalent, but better-armored.
Pharaoh: This powerful unit can fight (she has a stronger attack than other Human foot units), raise morale, and heal other units at the cost of energy, but you can only have one of her.
War Gallimimus: Swift mounted unit; good against archers, but can be countered with melee infantry.
War Triceratops: Slow but powerful mounted unit; good against archers and buildings, but can be countered with melee infantry.
Catapult: Siege weapon that can be countered by all other military units, but is even better against buildings than the War Triceratops.
Galley: Large naval unit mounted with archers; can also ram into other Galleys. Cannot move onto land.
Transport Ship: Large, non-attacking naval unit that can transport people across water. Cannot move onto land.
Fishing Ship: Non-attacking naval unit used for fishing for food.

Human buildings are:

Town Center: Trains Citizens and Pharaohs; also acts as a resource deposit center.
House: Raises population limit.
Farm: Food can be gathered from here. Needs to be reseeded occasionally.
Storage Yard: Resource deposit center.
Fortress: Trains terrestrial military units; also fires arrows at enemies.
Temple: Researches technology; also has a healing effect on units in its radius.
Dock: Builds ships; must be placed on the water's edge.
Sentry Tower: Shoots arrows at enemies; cheaper but less durable than the Fortress.
Wall: Stone fortification.

[salm]

What was your method of designing your game?

[Vastatosaurus Rex]

What was your method of designing your game?

Brainstorming. Why?

[Starglider]

Here's a little outline of a concept I came up with today; critique and suggestions are desired:

To be honest, it seems really bland. If you made this as a Warcraft 3 mod (say), would it have anything that would stand out from all the other faction-replacement mods out there?

[Thirdfain]

I like this! Especially the fact that you have a limited unit selection. I think it's better to have fewer units, with more clearly-defined roles, than a whole mass of unit types.


It reminds me of an idea I had for an RTS myself;

Hearts and Minds.

Imagine that in the near future, a mutation in the human genome leads to the birth of individuals gifted with psychic powers. Essentially, I'm ripping the basic plot of X-Men: the government and society as a whole are terrified of these powerful creatures, and moves to suppress them. Laws are passed calling for the capture and registration of all psychics.

The game is two player, and the map is a rural, suburban, or urban area, covered with neutral houses and neutral citizens. One player is the local human authorities; the other, a newly-awakened psychic. At game start, the human player controls a handful of police and fire departments spread through the area, as well as a City Hall. He can see areas where his (automatically patrolling) police are, and around his structures, but no where else. One random citizen in the town is controlled by the awakened player.

Winning:

The Awakened player has two means of achieving victory; the Authority player has only one. There are two sliders, prominently displayed at the top of the screen. One measures the public's fear. At one end, it represents a population completely cowed and terrified of the Awakened. On the other, it represents a population completely terrorized by the Authorities. The other is popular support. One end represents the populace having decided that the Awakened are OK and interested in seeing the mutant registration laws repealed; the other represents a population completely behind that registration acts. The Awakened player can win by completely crushing the Authority physically and terrifying the populace- pushing the slider all the way to one extreme. They can also win by completely turning society in favour of the repeal of the Registration Act. So the objectives which the Awakened player will pursue can change from game to game completely. The Authority can win in only one way- kill the Awakened. However, the sliders are very important to their ability to do this. A high "Fear" level and a high "Public Support" allows the Authority to bring in the Army, the FBI, to bomb wide areas, raise taxes, or even use tac-nukes.

The Awakened

The Awakened player is essentially playing an RPG; his lone character has 3 skill trees to work through. He builds these skills by gathering Essence, his resource- this can be gained in 3 ways, each linked to one of the skill trees. Essence acts both as experience points and mana, and is spent to use powers or strengthen the Awakened. The Awakened player can focus on one, or spread his point out for a different strategy. The three trees are:

Benevolence: The Benevolence tree focuses on pushing for a Public Support victory. Benevolence powers focus on hiding the Awakened in plain sight, healing the sick and wounded, and making people happy. The disadvantage is that a pure Benevolence character is physically weak, and could even be killed by a single sniper bullet. Some examples:
Adoration: Produces a steady stream of Essence which increases the higher Public Support is.
Healing: An area effect spell which if used on unhurt citizens raises Public Support slightly. If used on Citizens hurt by collateral damage caused by the Authority, raises Public Support even more.
Silver Tongue: If the Awakened uses this ability in front of a large group of Citizens, or from a Broadcasting Center, it raises public support.
The Leader: If public support is high enough, this ability can spawn Protests; units which the Awakened can control consisting of masses of Citizens. These raise Public Support as long as they continue and are close to Authority structures. The Authority must be careful about dispersing them, as killing citizens can turn them into Riots, which will attack Authority units, and raise Public Support even further.

Malevolence: Malevolence takes an entirely different tact. Malevolence focuses on doing the most damage possible, both through powerful spells and the transformation of the Awakened into a horribly twisted death-machine. A few points into the tree can grant offensive capability to any Awakened, though.
Consumption: Destroys a citizen, and grants the Awakened a surgee of Essence. At the lowest level, the Awakened must eat the brain of the target, which is slow, but at higher ranks, anything killed by the Awakened will give it essence. Needless to say, using this ability reduces Public Support and increases Fear.
Abomination: Increases the health of the AWakened and grants it increased physical strength in it's melee attacks. More points in Abomination cause the AWakened to start to turn into a horrible beast and drastically reduce it's ability to use skills like Silver Tongue.
Telekinesis: The first rank is just a ranged attack, which becomes more and more powerful and gains an area of effect.
Sunder: The ultimate Malevolence ability, Sunder is an area effect attack as strong as a tacnuke; it's use destroys a huge area, converting many hit into zombies, and massively decreases Public Support and increases Fear.
Meat Puppets: Revives corpses as fighting zombies.

Manipulation: Manipulation focuses on mind control, and can be used to work towards either goal. A Manipulation awakened can take over roving NPC journalists and create Riots out of nowhere to push for a Public Support victory, or can be used to turn the Authority's own forces against it and aim for a Fear victory. Manipulation is also handy because it allows the creation of Doppelgangers, who can be handy in many ways- an Authority player who snipes an Awakened using Silver Tongue in front of a crowd and some journalists has to fear that his attempt to snatch a sudden victory may merely eliminate a pawn, and lead to massive Riots and loss of Public Support as well.
Dominate: An ability which can either be used to turn citizens into Worshippers, or to convert Authority units directly to Awakened control; it can even be used to control NPC Journalists. An example of a neat tactic: Dominate a few NPC journalists and send them to a public place, then Dominate some cops and order them to open fire on civilians. Instant boost in Public Support!
Worship: Causes Dominated citizens to produce a slow stream of Essence. The disadvantage to Worship is that it's easy for the Authority to notice it, as Citizens will stop going about their business and instead vocally proclaim their loyalty to the Awakened.
Doppelganger: Produces an exact physical replica which constantly drains Essence, but can use all the abilities of the original- albeit at a much-increased cost.
Terrify: A powerful area effect spell which causes all humans to flee; it's effects are reduced against high-end Authority units like FBI agents and special forces.
Dominate Building: If the Awakened has a high enough public support, it can take control of Authority buildings and start producing loyal troops of it's own. The pinnacle of the Manipulator's power.

The Authorities:

The Authorities are closer at game-start to a traditional RTS side. They gain a steady stream of Income from all the houses and population on the map; this will decrease as the Awakened conquers, destroys, or converts parts of the map, and increase as the Authority Raises Taxes. At the start of the game, the Authority has a number of Police and Fire Stations and a Town Hall. He has one Politician and a few Bodyguards. Police Stations automatically send out NPC beat cops who patrol neighborhoods and will receive reports of Awakened activity (minimap pings) so long as Fear remains low or Public Support remains high. Units available at first:

Cops: Cops are lightly armed and cheap. They can be ordered to Investigate Neighborhoods, in which they go house to house looking for evidence of AWakened activity. They can Arrest individuals who the Authority player believe have been Dominated, which can reduce the Awakened player's income but which costs Public Support. They can also help put down Riots, although they are not especially effective.

Emergency Response: Dispatches firefighters and paramedics to an area, increasing Public Support- however, this can only happen after an attack, and if the Firefighters or paramedics are attacked, dramatically raises Fear.

Civil Engineers: Can set up Blockades and repair damaged buildings.

Politician: The main unit of the Authority side, the Politician is a vital weapon. He can Calm crowds with speeches and when dispatched to NPC broacasting towers, he can slowly raise Public Support. Also has the Raise Taxes ability, which increases all income at the expense of Public Support- this loss of Public Support is lessened if there is high Fear directed at the Awakened. If the Politician is suborned or killed, a new one will appear shortly at Town Hall; however a murdered Politician raises Fear and a mind-controlled one can turn Popular Support strongly towards the awakened- such a creature is a great target for assassination.

Bodyguard: A tough plainclothes unit who will sacrifice himself to protect the Politician and who is resistant to mind control and Fear effects.

As the Authority player accumulates money and as a state of emergency arises, the Authority's options expand. If Fear gets really high, the Authority can call in the National Guard or Army. Calling in the FBI doesn't require a high Fear, but FBI units are not strong in combat. Additionally, the Authority can upgrade his Police Departments to produce better units.

Improved Police: Upgrading Police Departments allows the deployment of SWAT teams, which provide decent combat units which can be used even with a low Fear rating. Additionally, it can produce Riot Police, who are excellent at dispersing Protests and Riots with a minimum of fuss. Finally, the Police Chopper provides a low-cost air unit which can search for the AWakened and even carry garrisoned Police of SWAT to fire down from above.

National Guard: The National Guard can be called in at significant cost in money only when Fear is fairly high; a National Guard camp can be used to dispatch Search and Rescue teams, a sort of improved, low-cost Emergency Response unit, and can produce Guardsmen, who are moderate fighting units who deploy from humvees. However, Guardsmen produce a lot of collateral damage in combat (compared to regular police.) Finally, they also produce IFVs, which are the cheapest and weakest armored units available.

Army: The Army is an option of last resort- calling it in is a recipe for major collateral damage, and is very expensive. However, in situations when a powerful Awakened has driven Fear high and Public Support for the Authority high, the Army provides the only force capable of stopping a rampaging Awakened beast or massed army of mind-controlled cops and civilians. The center of this is the GI, units deployed from armed Humvees, who are very capable fighting units which unfortunately are likely to cause collateral damage. Machinegun Teams are the ultimate infantry defensive unit, and can mow down Riots or masses of Zombies effortlessly. Tanks need no introduction, but are very expensive and cause huge collateral damage in combat. Attack Choppers can carry troops or unleash powerful, long-ranged firepower from above, but are expensive and cause great collateral damage. Army bases also give access to Air Strikes, which are mighty indeed- unless, of course, some clever Awakened uses mind control to direct such an attack against innocent civilians.

FBI: The FBI is expensive to summon and provides limiyed combat power, but offers a number of dirty tricks to the Authority player. Censors can round up NPC journalists or shut down Broadcasting Towers. Agents act like police, but can disguise themselves as ordinary civilians- they can even remain loyal to the Authority after being mind controlled, providing the Authority with a mole who removes Fog of War. Agents are weakly armed, but have some combat ability- and they can Arrest civilians without causing damage to Public Support. Sweeper Teams are specialist SWAT units with resistance to many psychic attacks; while they are overwhelmed by large Riots, they can provide precision firepower where needed and can even Assassinate units with their powerful sniper attack.

Finally, the Authority has a number of special abilities it can use- Martial Law allows the searching of houses with all units and the arrest of any Civilian, at the cost of reduced Public Support. Propaganda converts a stack of money into higher Public Support, and can even cause the spawning of crowds of Vigilantes, angry citizens who will attack Awakened units and Protesters, and even form pro-Authority Riots. Finally, the Tactical Strike unleashes a nuclear bomb at massive cost in terms of Public Support and Fear.

I rather like the idea, and can imagine such a game being really fun and a totally *different* experience.

[Starglider]

I rather like the idea, and can imagine such a game being really fun and a totally *different* experience.

That is a good balance of innovation and convention; although a good implementation would be a challenge, it would be a manageable one. UI, balancing and AI (for single player, maybe unnecessary if it was done free/open-source) would be tough but probably no moreso than Sim City etc. Gameplay would doubtless need a lot of fine-tuning, there's plenty to go wrong, but there are plenty of options for fixing the problems as well.

In short it is a much better idea.

[Thirdfain]

I rather like the idea, and can imagine such a game being really fun and a totally *different* experience.

That is a good balance of innovation and convention; although a good implementation would be a challenge, it would be a manageable one. UI, balancing and AI (for single player, maybe unnecessary if it was done free/open-source) would be tough but probably no moreso than Sim City etc. Gameplay would doubtless need a lot of fine-tuning, there's plenty to go wrong, but there are plenty of options for fixing the problems as well.

In short it is a much better idea.

I feel like balance would be a huge issue. It's hard enough to balance broadly similar RTS factions; imagine having to balance factions against what are essentially WoW style skill trees, which would have to be balanced against each other AND the Authority.

[Starglider]

I feel like balance would be a huge issue.

One of the nice things about single-player is that balance is less of an issue. The objective is not to be balanced as such, it is to be fun, and with an AI enemy you can use various forms of cheating to raise or lower the difficulty as needed. If the primary form of the game is multi-player, and the sides are dissimilar, then there is just no substitute for massive amounts of man hours spent testing, collecting play statistics, and fine-tuning.

[Thanas]

Okay, this thread is hiliarious enough not to be punted to testing despite the OP.

[Vastatosaurus Rex]

I like this! Especially the fact that you have a limited unit selection. I think it's better to have fewer units, with more clearly-defined roles, than a whole mass of unit types.

To tell you the truth, I hate it when you have to make enough of each type of a huge diversity of unit types for your army to be balanced.

[adam_grif]

Does anybody remember the David Wong "Ultimate War Simulation Game"?

I'll post the first 10 points.

Like my Grandpa always said, there were no naked human pyramids in Starcraft.

There were no whiny anti-war Hollywood types or questionable war motives or granola-munching protesters. I'm starting to think that even World in Conflict, a real time strategy game so "realistic" it takes a NASA-built Quantum supercomputer to run it, has left me woefully unprepared to fight an actual war.

Well, below is my open letter to the real time strategy gaming cartel. I want a war simulation. A real one. I don't want little cartoon tanks jostling around in a video sandbox chewing down each other's health meters, while a preteen opponent insults my sexuality using every key on his keyboard except the ones with letters. I want an RTS game that will give me a stress headache after an hour and an ulcer after a week. I want to identify experienced players on the street by their 1,000-yard stares.

I want a war sim ...

1. ... where I spend two hours pushing across a map to destroy a "nuclear missile silo," only to find out after the fact that it was just a missile-themed orphanage.



I want little celebrities to show up on the scene and do interviews over video of charred teddy bears, decrying my unilateral attack. I want congressional hearings demanding answers to these atrocities.



2. On the very next level I want to lose half of my units because another "orphanage" turned out to be an enemy ambush site. I want another round of hearings asking why I didn't level that orphanage as soon as I saw it, including tearful testimony from a slain soldier's daughter who is now, ironically, an orphan.



3. Every war sim has a "Fog of War" that obscures the map in darkness until units scout the landscape. Well, I want a hazy, brown "Fog of Bullshit" layer below that. I want it to make a village of farmers look like a secret armed militia, I want it to show me a massive enemy fortress where there is actually an aspirin factory. I want to never know for sure which it was, even after the game is over.

4. I want those awesome rooted monsters from Starcraft that wait until the enemy gets close and then launch tentacles up their asses. Just think of how demoralizing that would have to be.

But, I want to lose points off my Public Support Meter every time one of those monsters accidentally impales a schoolgirl in a horrific bloody mess that will shock all but the Japanese.

5. I want that Public Support Meter to rise and fall according to Troops Lost, Length of Conflict, Innocents Killed and Whether or Not There is Anything Else On TV That Week. I want to lose 200 public-support points because, in a war where 8,000 units have been lost, one of my Mutalisks happened to be caught on video accidentally eating one clergyman. Then, later, my destruction of an entire enemy city will go unnoticed because the Nude Zero-Gravity Futureball championship went into overtime.

6. Speaking of innocents, I want a war sim where native townsfolk stand shoulder-to-shoulder on every inch of the map and not a single bomb can be dropped without blowing 200 of them into chunks. Forget about the abandoned building wallpaper in games like the Red Alert series. I want to have to choose between sending marines door-to-door to be killed in the streets or leveling the block from afar, Nuns and all. I want to have to choose between 40 dead troops or 400 dead children, and be damned to hell by chubby pundits from the safety of their studios regardless of which way I go.

7. I want my Mission Objectives to change every 30 seconds, without anyone letting me know. I want little talking heads to pop up on my screen--commanders, politicians, allies, military intelligence--each giving me different sets of victory parameters, all of them conflicting and many of them written in bullshit ass-covering doublespeak.



8. I want CIA field agents that operate completely on their own agenda, the little units spreading clouds of brown wherever they go. When I try to take out enemy weapons scientists, I'll find out said agents have spirited them away and put them on the payroll.

9. I want a super-cool custom-weapons lab where I can design mech armor for my infantry with wicked acid-tipped missiles and guns that shoot spiders. Then I want to watch as 100 men are cooked alive in the desert because of a defect in the internal air conditioning units that shorted due to condensation in the fusion coils and insufficient insulation in the wiring units bypassing the laser reactor core, due to the contractor's decision to use over-the-counter components instead of the military-grade ones mandated in Subsection 12:94A, Paragraph B of the Military Weapons Platform Procurement Act of 3013, a document that is 14,724 pages long and contains some 81,301 loopholes that allow congressmen to bypass component testing and funnel lucrative military contracts to cut-rate suppliers from their home districts at the peak of every election cycle.

10. Geneva Convention be damned, I want to drop Anthrax.

[img]http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimage ... ax.jpg[img]

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

Does anybody remember the David Wong "Ultimate War Simulation Game"?

I'll post the first 10 points.

*snip ten points of unfunny bullshit*

"Simulation" and "game" are mutually exclusive concepts, last I checked. Games are made to provide fun and amusement for the average consumer, not to pander to the fringe market of (to quote Stark) fatty nerds who complain about the shape of the commander's cupola on the T-80U, which is something that this David Wong apparently fails to understand. Many of those "features" are just plain malicious anyway, regardless of what element of "realism" they may confer onto such a "game"; hell, even the aforementioned "OMG OBVIOUS COMMANDERS CUPOLA" fatty nerds probably wouldn't dare to touch such a thing.

[Starglider]

"Simulation" and "game" are mutually exclusive concepts, last I checked.

That isn't the point of the joke; it's about the silliness of how war is portrayed in the media, the game thing is just a frame. Of course Grif fucked up the link to the site and left out the part where the joke builds to a punchline, so you don't know that.

[adam_grif]

Did you not notice that, being linked from cracked.com, it was not supposed to be interpreted as a serious proposal, but was instead a joke-article, or are just being deliberately hostile for no real reason?

I just noticed a put the wrong link up there:

http://www.cracked.com/article_15660_th ... -game.html

"Ultimate Ware Simulation Game" is his title, not mine. You should also probably check again regarding mutually exclusive definitions. Just going by the wiki, simulations are an "imitation of some real thing, state of affairs, or process", and games are "a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool." It goes on to say "Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, and interaction. Games generally involve mental or physical stimulation, and often both. Many games help develop practical skills, serve as a form of exercise, or otherwise perform an educational, simulational or psychological role."

I see nothing mutually exclusive here. Fifa 09 is both a game and a simulation. Madden is a game and a simulation. Ace Combat is a game and a simulation. If you're disqualifying things as simulations on account of "not being totally realistic" then I think you'll find that aboslutely nothing in existence is a "simulation" by this definition.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

Setting aside my knee-jerk hostility (I obviously wasn't thinking clearly when I wrote up that initial rant) and actually reading that article, some of the things suggested there would actually go well with a war game...provided they were implemented properly, of course.

For instance, suggestion #3, or the "Fog of Bullshit" as David Wong so eloquently put it, might go well with an open-ended game where intelligence-gathering is important, but it'd be a one-trick pony unless you take the effort to program your game engine to randomize the scenario with every playthrough; it'd be pretty easy to cut through that fog if you know exactly where the fortresses and the aspirin factories are and can distinguish between them every single time, after all. Suggestion #12 (units that go rogue and engage in illicit activities, try to frag you, and/or desert if left to their own devices) might be worth something if you want a game with a focus on unit morale, but it can easily devolve into dating sim-style relationship meter micromanagement where you spend more time babying your squaddies to keep them on the straight and narrow than actually accomplishing your objectives.

Hell, the whole public relations angle as a whole is actually quite intriguing, but it would probably just be bastardized into a BioWare-style "sliding scale of saint versus mass murderer" karma meter if it were to be used as an actual game mechanic; everything else (the congressional hearings, the celebrity interviews, the pundits, et cetera) would just be cutscenes that play depending on where you lie on that scale.

[The Romulan Republic]

I'm not in the game design industry or anything, but often for fun, I like to come up with concepts for computer games, especially real-time strategy games like Age of Empires. Here's a little outline of a concept I came up with today; critique and suggestions are desired:

Savage Continent

First off, I can't help but be drawn to the basic premise, being a long-time dinosaur enthusiast. And I like the choice of an Allosaur-inspired faction, even if intelligent dinosaurs based off of raptors would have been a bit more realistic.

On the downside, however, I fail to see how this game would be remotely balanced. Specifically, the humans have it all and the Sraak have almost nothing. Basically, they're really great at melee and that's it. The humans, meanwhile, have the best siege equipment and the best navy by far, and the only cavalry, and while they might be weaker at infantry, they're not helpless their either. The only real issue they have is lack of a mass-produceable healing or converting unit. Is that enough to make up for their advantages?

[Darth Wong]

If I could make videogames, I would make an insect-based RTS. Yes, you are an insect overlord, you start with a puny anthill, and your objective is to expand and conquer other insect colonies. The trick is that as you tech up, instead of getting actual new technologies you get the ability to control and recruit other insect species.

The cool thing about insects is that they already have such a wide variety of unit types, thus allowing a huge amount of expansion. You have your air units, ground units, underground units, etc. Big armoured insects, little swarming insects, insects which attack with stingers, insects which attack with mandibles, etc. You also have an amusing resource collection system, since anything from sugar to shit could be used as food (example: once you can recruit dung beetles, you can harvest shit and get a major resource boost).

Of course, the real twist is that as your insect kingdom expands, the game eventually switches to phase 2: war against humanity. The scale suddenly gets bigger and you deploy vast swarms of intelligently controlled insects to wreak havoc with human settlements, human crops, etc. The human retaliate with chemical weapons, electric-grid devices, genetically-engineered creatures, and eventually, robotic insect killers. Your ultimate goal is to become Insect Overlord of Earth.

Of course, it's doubtful that anyone would make this game. There's more money to be made in Yet Another Tank Swarm game.

[Samuel]

That sounds like Sim Ant, but much broader. All you did in Sim Ant was conquer a house and commit genocide against the red ants. Also fight an unending and desperate battle against the laser yielding spiders. Where the hell do they keep geting those particle weapons?

[Darth Wong]

That sounds like Sim Ant, but much broader. All you did in Sim Ant was conquer a house and commit genocide against the red ants. Also fight an unending and desperate battle against the laser yielding spiders. Where the hell do they keep geting those particle weapons?

It seems stupid to have absurd laser spiders, when the real insect kingdom offers such incredible variety of unit types and killing methods.

[Samuel]

Well, it happens when you keep on killing the spider it respawns shoting laser beams from its eyes. I have no idea why they did that.

I think there was something that aimed for that in Empire of the Ants, but I never played it so I don't how close it fixs.

[salm]

What was your method of designing your game?

Brainstorming. Why?

I meant, did you first think up the gameplay and pop the whole plot and setting over it or did you make up the setting and then think about which units and buildings would fit to this setting?
I recommend the former. The latter never works in my experience.

It would also be interesting how the units of the different races are connected to each other. Are some specific units there to counter specific units from another race for example? What is the basic and more specific game play? Until that question is clear the setting isn´t really interesting. It doesn´t matter if it´s about dinosaurs, space ships or sapient penises. That´s something you can do later and is relatively easy to pull out of your ass. The first thing you need is good game play.

[defanatic]

I meant, did you first think up the gameplay and pop the whole plot and setting over it or did you make up the setting and then think about which units and buildings would fit to this setting?

This.

Definitely go the former.

For the game concept, at least, you could probably make it out of an Age of Empires game, or possibly SAGE if you're willing to put up with its many shortcomings.

Come up with the factions, but describe things in a relatively fluffless way. For instance, instead of:

Rammer: Carries a large log which he uses to ram into buildings and trees. This is the Sraak "siege weapon".

write:

The first faction has a short ranged, high damage/low RoF unit that is intended for use against few, tough units, but is ineffective against numerous, weaker units.
In gameplay, this would mean that one could not win using just this unit, as it would be overwhelmed by many smaller units, or simply outmaneuvered. However, it is also useful on the battlefield, since against large targets, it does more damage that the equivalent cost of small units.

[Vastatosaurus Rex]

On the downside, however, I fail to see how this game would be remotely balanced. Specifically, the humans have it all and the Sraak have almost nothing. Basically, they're really great at melee and that's it. The humans, meanwhile, have the best siege equipment and the best navy by far, and the only cavalry, and while they might be weaker at infantry, they're not helpless their either. The only real issue they have is lack of a mass-produceable healing or converting unit. Is that enough to make up for their advantages?

Here's an idea to address that: make the Human units (especially the siege weapons, navy, and cavalry) more expensive as a disadvantage. That way, they have a slower time building up a big army than the Sraaks, giving the Sraaks an advantage if they choose to rush. Catapults and galleys could also be slower-moving and less maneuverable than their Sraak and Kokong equivalents.

[Starglider]

Personally, there are two games I would really like to make. I am making a simplified version of one of them right now; a cross between Pilotwings, Ace Combat and Defender with characters who change into birds instead of aircraft. In my idle fantasy it would be an epic trilogy of AAA titles, in reality it is something I am doing in my spare time with friends and family contributing voice acting.

The other one would be a cross between X-COM: Apocalypse and Wonder Project J / J2. Essentially I would like to try putting some of the advanced AI technology I work with into a tactical game (probably with puzzle solving elements as well), where you have to train up your agents and give them general orders, but cannot control them directly. Obviously that would live or die on the quality of the AI. Maybe next Christmas, if I have worked out how to make the probabilistic concept core run on a GPU by then.

Oh and also on the list is the nuclear weapon targeteering simulation game I promised Shep I'd make some day. The main reason I am not enthused about that one is the fact that the set of potential players would consist of about 30% of the HPCA board, 20% of HAB, and no one else.

[Sarevok]

You could also work with FPS game AI. They are so universally shitty even a simple improvement like enemies with non infinite guns who have to smartly conserve and scavenge ammo would be hailed as revolutionary by the hype industry.