Just wanted to know how many of you are interested in new games in the genre of: Master of Magic, Age of Wonders, Warlord III. I''m currently on build 41 on this kind of game, so please respond if there is something else but RPG/shooters that is of interest to you (note: this is a turn based engine). Delphi::Athena

It depends what you are bringing to the genre ?

Well, to make it short:

1-very good multiplayer capabilities, superior to other turn based game, because the turns are processed in parallel, not sequentially.

2- Epic scope, with management of hundreds of units without any burden (you are an emperor, not a petty officer).

3- dynamic entries and exits from a running game, possibility of making a campaign persistent for months.

5- Special abilities for units,multilayered worlds, customized units,heroes,...

4- another slew of features I prefer to keep secrets



Delphi::Athena

As far as I'm concerned, there is always room for more games of this type.

A few requests, though:

1) Eliminate the slog phase that seems to plague these games: That is, get uneven matches over with quickly. Please don't make me fight 40 turns to crush an enemy that I know is beaten. I think you get this problem when there are lots of cheap units and trench warfare mechanics. Either find a good way for knowing when the AI should surrender, or hinge victory on decisive control centers like capitols (so I can cut off the head of my foe), or add in game ending superweapons (heh, or all of the above )

2) Better diplomacy: I'd like to really use diplomatic leverage, as in "If you don't stop attacking A, I'll do B (embargo, war, fines, etc.)

3) Multiple victory paths (goes without saying, Alpha Centauri is the best model I've seen).

4) My governors are going to be idiots, no matter how good your AI is (unless it's good ) Any chance of a scriptiing system, like the party in Baldur's Gate?

Heh, half a billion other suggestions if you want them. As you can tell, I'm really into these types of games so would love to see another one.

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Just waiting for the mothership...

Edited by - wavinator on September 12, 2000 4:02:56 PM

Not many answers as of now... I understand that you are perhaps not very interested in discussing other''s projects, so this is perhaps the reason so few people answered the question:

Is a turn based strategy game with an heroic fantasy setting of interest for you?

But just a word would be appreciated

Wavinator: Thank you for your reply. As I understand you are making your game alone as me, so the creeping feature list syndroma is one of our worst enemy. Still I would like to receive more suggestions from you. By the way have you ever played Master of Magic or Age of Wonders?

1) and 3) Slog phase and victories conditions. These are linked. I will surely implement multi victories conditions, and non zero-sums win (more than one player can win the game at the same time). If for example the victory condition of a scenario is ''take location x/y/z'' then you won''t have to eradicate all the opposition to win. I agree with you trench war is not my idea of a dynamic game.

2) Better diplomacy: this is planned to goes further than the basic option Declare War/Forge Alliance/Settle peace

4) AI/Scripts/Automation: Scripts I dunno, this was not planned and is perhaps too time-consuming to program. Automation and governor won''t be an option: The player won''t be able to command/change every armies/cities orders every turn, so he will have to rely on provincial governor, and ask them general orders. Additionnaly armies can store many orders that can be processed on several turns (conditionnal orders are not planned to be implemented as for now).

Delphi::Athena

I would really like such a game.Master of Magic was one of my favorites.

Here''s something odd :
I would like to play with no enemies.I mean, only the monsters on the map but no AI.Then I could explore and build and build and build ....Or at least don''t force me to go to war with everybody to win the game.Hmm...something like "Peace Mode?"
[drool]

[/end drool]

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I''m unsure about the amount of games that used the name "Master of Magic" so just to clarify that there no misinterpretions.. Commodore 64? Its just that there''s a lot of names in the history of computer games that repeat themselves.

I love Game Design and it loves me back.

Our Goal is "Fun"!

Master of Magic is a pc game released in 1995, made by Simtex (the makers of Master of Orion I) and published by microprose.

It featured something like a civilization II engine in a fantasy settings, with a tactical module which was a neat new thing at his time (compared to the 1 vs 1 battle of civ II). What was most impressive IMO was:

1- the abilities/powers of units, nicely displayed in an object-oriented approach with tons of abilities which led to amazing ''combos'', like for example:

a)undead dont heal naturally
b)troll regenerate

> use ghouls to kill trolls: when they die by drain life attack, they arise as undead which keep regeneration abilities

or the dreaded flying/invisible/spell lock warship:

build a warship (a huge ship of the line), cast flying, invisibility, then cast spell lock to prevent dispelling these enchantments, and you have an almighty unit.

2- An amazing array of spells (more than 200!) with for each various and original effects. The spell books were heavily influenced by Magic the trading card game.


Ok, I will cease my rant, but my point is that MOM, made in 1995, was astonishingly advanced compared to his competitors. Even now Age of Wonders, a game that ressemble quite a bit MOM, made in 1999, has not the elegant complexity and deepness of play (excuse my somehow clumsy english, this is not my natural language) of MOM.



Delphi::Athena

quote: Original post by athena

Wavinator: Thank you for your reply. As I understand you are making your game alone as me, so the creeping feature list syndroma is one of our worst enemy.

Hahahahaha! Don''t I know it!
Me: "I think I''ll add power management gameplay..."
Me: "The game doesn''t need power management gameplay."
Me: "Well, I think I''ll add an emotion engine..."
Me: "Arghh!!! Finish the friggin'' game!!!!!"

quote:
Still I would like to receive more suggestions from you. By the way have you ever played Master of Magic or Age of Wonders?

I''d be happy to brainstorm more on this. I''ve played Age of Wonders, and really loved the combat model. I didn''t get into it as far as I wanted to (the campaign design was a little off-putting; I''m more of a Civ/Master of Orion gamer, and I like open maps rather than canned senarios)

Unfortunately, I missed MoM altogether, and my design knowledge is probably worse for it.

BTW, folks in this group seem very focused on RPGs. You may find this group more interested in strategy/empire games. (Since I''m working on an empire/RPG game, both work well for me )

quote:
4) AI/Scripts/Automation: Scripts I dunno, this was not planned and is perhaps too time-consuming to program. Automation and governor won''t be an option: The player won''t be able to command/change every armies/cities orders every turn, so he will have to rely on provincial governor, and ask them general orders. Additionnaly armies can store many orders that can be processed on several turns (conditionnal orders are not planned to be implemented as for now).

I''m not sure how comfortable you are discussing details, but I''d like to hear more about how this works. (I tend to think we all think in similar ways, so we all have one another''s ideas already ) Automation can be one of the lynchpins that make late game play work. Without it, late games decend into an unmanageable morass.

I''m a fan of being able to drag-select a region, btw, and being able to issue orders via quick and easy slider bars (like Master of Orion).



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Just waiting for the mothership...

I like it! I played MOM 1-3 I love them all. But one of my favoriate is MOO, that game kicked ass, to me anyway.