Hello, I decided I want to write a multiplayer strategy game, where kingdoms war on a large land for supremacy. So I collected a bunch of libraries to do most of the work for me and so I can focus on implementing only the logics. I also teamed up with another programmer so that I only write the server side and he writes the client. Everything seemed to be ready, but then it came to me, that the biggest problem is yet before me, and the problem is designing the game. And so, during the process, hundreds of questions arose - should the terrain be tiled or vector-plotted (so users can move everywhere they want), or maybe it should be divided up front like in Europa Universalis, or maybe I should let people who conquer given land denote districts and name them. And then the question is which of these should be chosen to make the game playable and not let people get bored. Another big problem that I'd like to mention is whether to make it turn-based or real time. I wanted the latter first but there's a question of how slow the units have to move so that when someone is not online his country isn't totally conquered and game lost.. Well these are just two of my problems, there are far more but I won't mention them. So my big question is - how to decide which is the best for gameplay? Where to find information about designing such games? Is there anyone here who worked on such a project and can give me some suggestions or point in the right direction? Is there a set of rules governing the design of such online worlds - in order to make them playable?

The first step 2 making any game is know what you wanna achieve, the second implementing it and i would lasty comes eye-candy.

Take Deus Ex 2 for example what the fuck , a crap game(Okay story) but hell its like they went backwards!! But yet beautifull grAPHICS

I have written a multiplayer strategy game. I took the gameplay from the board game Risk and then added all sorts of computer enhancements.

[Edited by - sillysoft on August 24, 2004 8:33:19 PM]

The whole game be realtime.
You could have different view levels.
So country view just shows armeis as pawns, etc and they have to travel around the map, but when a battle is taking place and if a player is actually there commanding the soldiers, you have the normal rts style game, but when there arnt any players commanding the fight, you could just simulate the fight, and spread the calculation of that over a couple of game loops, so there isnt such a big work load per loop, that also would slow down the simulation so it wouldnt be instant

This kind of depends on what kind of game you want to build; i.e., what are your goals?

Is it to gain development experience? Then build something simple like the RISK clone that sillysoft has done (congrats on the game, btw: looks cool); there are lots of possibilities within this basic framework for building a solid game with crucial differences. Risk is also sufficiently flexible a game framework to be done in both real-time OR turn-based.

Is it for the money? Time to wake up to reality. To have a chance in any business, you need to know exactly what you are doing. In any case, as a newcomer it is again paramount to start small, and a Risk-like game would actually provide a nice possibility.

In both cases, your best shot is probably to team up with someone who has a strong vision for this kind of game and who is capable of (and has the time to) delivering a useful design document. Good luck finding that kind of person in here, though. [wink]

Alternatives would be to start with a less ambitious strategy game design (i.e., simple strategy game with a few units), or to take inspiration from some existing board strategy game.

Regards.

of course, playing games similar to what you want is good.

I'd reccomend realtime for a multiplayer, though.

Although( and I know from experience ) it sucks to be overrun before you have a chance by someone who's vastly more experienced in a game.( starcraft...mmmmmmmm ) in a more permanent environment, it might not be as big of a deal.

The more player-control you can give, the better.

oh, wait, I could have just butchered what you thought of. I was thinking MMORTS...something I have yet to see, but which has some scary implications. Wow...that'd be fun.