I've been thinking about making a game that could be targeted at the same audience as star trek the next generation. In the game you would be a member of the crew of a star ship. The game could be based on combat, exploration, or a combination of the two. I'm not sure to make the game single player or massively multiplayer. I'm also not sure how much combat to include in the game. Obviously, the more the game contains, the harder it will be to make. Ideally I would want the game to be massively multiplayer, in which players select a home planet. The planets would have a player run government and would compete for empire and mining rights in different systems. There would be wars between empires as to who controls certain planets that would be played out in space between ships and on the planet between individual people in a first-person shooter style of guerilla warfare. You would also have the option of joining your planet's military or being a freelance privateer or mercenary for hire. All players would also have the option of selecting a planet that cannot engage in wars for people who don't want to be involved in combat. Ideally the game would attract different audiences: first person shooter fans who want more strategy than most first person shooters offer, people who like the slow paced real time tactics that ship-ship combat would include, people who want to mine resources to make moneym, buy things that denote status, and socialize (like in many mmorpgs), and people who like games about engineering. Now... What is unique about the game is an in-depth engineering model. You would have a lot of freedom in designing different systems on the ship and configuring the ship. The key to the engineering model is a model complicated enough to give players a high degree of freedom. For example, you could turn a weapons array into a tractor beam. You could reconfigure the shields to cover a ship that is taking damage from radiation. You could convert the whole ship into one large sensor array. You can configure sensor devices (kind of like a tricorder) to record different types of radiation and signals, etc. You can devote all the ships systems to creating ammunition for your troops on the planet below. The model will allow for so much freedom that the possible devices and configurations that can be made are almost endless. The game's motive would be similar to that of many episodes of star trek the next generation, figuring out solutions to problems using science and engineering and reconfiguring different devices. With the idea of using science and engineering to solve problems, the game could be be a new type of puzzle and exploration game; a game that could actually just be based on exploration if necessary. If the game follows the ideal massively multiplayer model, maximum effort would be devoted to making sure that knowing the game's engineering is not necessary to enjoying the other aspects of the game. Just like maximum effort would be taken to ensure that people don't have to participate in the first person shooter or ship-ship combat elements. Another innovative thing about the game that really should have been included in other games of this type (like world war II online) is a well developed player government (elected and participated in by the players). Yet another innovative thing would be the ship-ship combat model that I've made up. It would be based on ancient warfare. Maximum effort would be taken to ensure innovative and quality gameplay, which is the main focus of the game instead of new graphics and technology laid over an old and stale type of gameplay. One of the main problems that many people would claim the game would have is that people don't want games about engineering and that the game would not be very accessible. The engineering model would not require information that comes from outside the game's documentation, so if a person is willing to read the manual they should be able to participate in the engineering portion of the game. Also, every aspect of the game would be skill based instead of based on statistics (being a good helmsman is like being a good racecar driver, its not just having a high amount of helmanship like in everquest). Every aspect of running the ship would be deep. Moving the ship through an asteroid field would require a good helmsman, combat would require a good targeting officer (whose skill set would be similar to that of a good marksman). Moving the ship through rough space (like an asteroid field) wouldn't be a matter of just going from point A to point B like in battlecruiser 3000AD, it would be based on your skills like in an arcade game. Combat for a large ship wouldn't be a direct copy of real life jet combat (again like in Battlecruiser), but would be like a game of chess. Another thing to note, is that this game seeks to create a genre. I know one game about programming robots (like computer programming) for the playstation that was one of the only games given a 10/10 by reviewers for a certain gaming magazine. I also know that in games like air warrior and world war II online, the air combat model is a lot more inaccessible than my game would be. I've seen people talk about reading books to become a better fighter pilot in virtual worlds. If that game can get a 10/10, and games that have an extremely steep learning curve in terms of knowledge and skills like air warrior can be successful, I would think that there might be an audience for a game like mine (just maybe not a mass audience). The game also wouldn't be like Battlecruiser 3000AD, which has a needlessly steep learning curve for gameplay that isn't that innovative. While people who don't even want to read the manual for a game need not apply, I do think that at least a niche audience would exist for my game. What do you guys think? Is there an audience for a game like this? -- Scipio3

How about this?
http://www.webfossan.com/flashtrek/flashfiles/BROKENMIRROR.html

I know it's only flash but it might be something akin to your idea.
Personally I think there's an audience around for the game and it's a really good concept. It sounds like there will be a lot of freedom and possibilities.