I'm currently working on a browser-based game (PHP, MySQL, XHTML and CSS) with some similarities with hattrick and managerzone. Well, the only similarities are the competition system (players are divided into divisions and series) and the way users train their fighters. The game: All users has fighter animals/pets and for each competition four of them are selected to compete. The battles are 4 vs 4... Animals are either found or bread from the animals the user currently has. There are (currently) three factions, which have one different species each. There are seven different species and each faction has five ones to choose from. You can only mate full bloods. If you mate the pet A and B they'll get the offspring AB. This offspring won't be able to mate. The animals’ stats can be trained every week (just like hattrick’s football players). Each Monday there are compulsory competitions and every Thursday the users will be able to compete in friendly matches, which doesn’t affect the league. For every competition the user will be able to select a strategy for each animal (aggressive, normal or passive). The users will also be able to place the animals in the arena. Each position has its advantages. If the user place the animals in a big group their defence may rise, but may affect something other in another direction. To add a bit more strategy to the game the users will see the opponent’s animals and their placement in the arena half an hour before the match begins. Users will then be able to feed their animals with different food to add different stats and resistances. Some food may last for 24h, while better food may only last 30 minutes… How can I add more tactics to the game? I want users who spend a lot of time in the game to be compensated for it! What do you think of the mating idea? How do I make this fun? Just trial and error isn’t fun. Should users somehow be able to view the animals genes (stats without training, the maximum amount of points every stats can have etc) so they can choose which animals to mate?

Do the users get to control the pets during the battle?

No, the battles will be computer generated. In latter stages of development users may get the ability to view the battles, but not anything else than to view them.