Ok, I think I have all the technical abilities to build a Space Ship Shooter (3D of course). However, it seems that I can't find a SIMPLE enjoyable gameplay concept to associate with a system that employs First Person Shooting into space ships. Ideas are Most Welcome... [EDIT] edited the title [Edited by - arithma on February 8, 2006 8:04:15 AM]

That's a though question :P Most shooters are ok with just giving targets to the player to shoot. They don't bother much with very interesting gameplay mechanics.

How about ship control. Anything you particularly hate or like.
What about enemies - What should they be?
More questions later [grin]

I know this doesn't come under simple but it shouldnt be to hard to implement missions? Each mission could have different objectives such as destroy a target the enemy is escorting, escorting your own ships or recover a object etc.

You could also have several types of enemy ship which require you to use different tatics to take them out.

I guess missions is a fairly standard feature of games. Maybe I'll be implementing it after all the physics and control are done.

What about speed limits. Angular speed limits. Weapons. Pickups... ?

What about planets. Landing. Is it also necessary to employ landing on vast planets or could we just go for a far orbit around the planets?

C'mon people

If you've tried Freelancer, there is a great 1st person space-battle game.

Personally, I enjoy space-sim-combat games with the following features:

Ship Control:
- auto-navigated hyperspace/warp speed to travel between star systems
- fine thruster control for short-range combat/missions

Gameplay:
- being select the option to play the role of a trader, a space pirate, a mercenary, or a military officer
- freedom in choosing travel destinations
- ship model and part upgrades / swapping
- uncharted regions of space
- warring factions with whom you can ally yourself (either as a neutral trader or an active military officer/merc)
- flashy guns and torpedos
- escape pod jettisoning to save yourself from being killed in combat

Hope that helps.

Ok...here's an idea. Not a normal idea, but that's why I'm posting it.

You are a maintenance/engineer in space. It is your job to ensure constant communication with satellites in space and the planet below. It is a new planet and there is a lot of debris (think large rocks a quarter mile in diameter or the likes), rotating around it causing interference transmission.

So you have to find the offending debris first to destroy it...(duh). You find it by listening. You get a copy of the transmission and scan for the same signal being rerouted by the debris, hunt it down, land on it if possible to plant charges, take off and get the heck out of there...clean transmission.

Of course to mix things up you'll need to have something like a race of beings who call the debris home and try to stop you from eradicating their home.

Since you are just an engineer and not a soldier, your tools are not traditional weapons. You can modify them perhaps to be more lethal, but perhaps you can have a subsonic tool (to clear/destroy smaller debris) that can be modified/upgraded to affect larger entities. And of course you have the charges, which you can use as a "bomb" of sorts, perhaps employing a little bit of trickery to ensnare larger groups of enemies.

Wow, I should stop. I'm just thinking out loud. Let's see, what did I just write...? Hmm...sounds like a cool idea.

Or you can make another space shooter with all the standard features everyone needs from space shooters that already exist.

Let me know if you do anything!

Tony
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http://www.anthem-audio.com

How about actually building your own ship, Im not talking your standard fill hardwear points with powerups. Actual piecing together of different units, positioning of thrusters determining rotational velocity etc etc

I had thought of a style of "pod"/"cube" based spaceship that would allow very easy design and construction of player made spaceships. Basically all ships would be made of the same basic bits that are mass produced and sold cheaply by a few companies. Players can buy the bits, and then assemble them like Legos. You would have things like power plants, armour plates, walk ways, crew cabins, command/control rooms, escape pods, cargo holds, weapons pods, and most importantly connectors.

Ships would sort of look like a half finished highrise, unless the player places armour plates all over it, which would then really increase the weight and decrease accelerations.

Buying parts from better companies costs more, but they are lighter and/or stronger. I'm dreaming of a system that lets you quickly buy elcheapo parts, and put together a massive ship with lots of guns and storage, but it would use lots of fuel to move it at a good pace. Then someone puts the same ammount of money into buying a few highpriced pieces, and they can beat the ass off the large ship with skill and better weapons/armour, and moving faster.