What will cross-platform multiplayer RTS games be like when you can play between smartphones and computers? And drop-in any time like in FPS games? For the drop-in mechanic, I was thinking you would be a business/empire that starts off with a certain amount of money and when you leave the game all your property is auctioned off. It wouldn't be very comfortable to play on a bus but I can imagine lying in bed and playing it on a smartphone.

What will cross-platform multiplayer RTS games be like when you can play between smartphones and computers?

I don't think that real cross-platform (where the power of each platform is utilized) will really work. One major issue with mutliplayer games is to match players with the same skill level and motivation together to get a game running. A smartphone player in a bus will have an other motivation than a dedicated PC player. It is hard for me to see a match between these players. Therefor I could only imagine a casual game for smartphones/tablets which will be although playable in a browser.

I think with a pause feature all players can play at the same level.

Pause as a game mechanic doesn't really work as player count goes up beyond one. In even as low as an eight player game, having other players randomly pause my gaming experience is jarring. A system that pauses every X time for Y seconds might work, but then you're not really real-time =) And it's been done in the past, and never really caught on.

Asynchronous multiplayer is probably the better way to attempt cross-platform play.

Otherwise, I agree with Ashaman. For the most part, the motivations are different. Mobile players are on the go, have short increments of time, and are more likely to do something 'just for fun'. So even a game like a MOBA, one could maybe do drop-in mobile players who control creeps directly, but it'd be likely to see the creeps doing just utterly random behavior, and not trying to help their side at all.

I like the idea of a core player acting as the RTS manager, and allocating portions of the army to "mercenary captains". Reduces focus of the primary player by delegating.

The player has a squadron he can move around the map and better leverages actions and maneuver than the commander ever could.

If you take a look at the FPS "The Division" you'll notice the reverse is in effect: the tablet player provides tactical support (because the game is more geared towards actions the characters can take, and less so on the Tablet player, but they still make it work).

I don't see why you couldn't treat a smartphone as a handheld computer, with the added ability to use it in public places. It's almost a PS Vita. Kids would spend hours on gameboys, though the mechanics were much simpler.

Pause might make more sense for an economic RTS where improvements can always be made and there is plentiful data and graphs to look at. If players were also able to see what the slowest players were doing or get notifications about what they're currently doing, without violating fog of war, that would feed their curiosity and also possibly be able to help out players that are having trouble. Like spectator/kill cam. Player screens would be duplicated by capturing mouse position/touches, scroll, and opened views and values. Also all the frustum outlines would be drawn in semitransparent player colors on the minimap and main view. It's a lot of work, but seems necessary.

Orysmus, I think players controlling the same faction can sort out priorities. There's not much maneuvering armies can do in my RTS conception besides stances and move/attack/capture order. Player screens would be duplicated by capturing mouse position/touches, scroll, and opened views and values. Also all the frustum outlines would be drawn in semitransparent player colors on the minimap and main view. It's a lot of work, but seems necessary.

This is a lot of work. Is it all necessary? I think just giving graphs to look at and lots of numbers to adjust, the players will have plenty to tend to during pause.

What happens if mobile guy pauses the game, then puts the phone in his pocket for the next six hours?

If he turns off his screen, the app quits and gets disconnected. If he doesn't do anything, he gets auto-kicked for inactivity. If he leaves his screen on in his pocket though, there might be some random touches, so maybe players should get to vote to kick. Lots of work.

I see it necessary to make it work on mobile however, because that gives me the ability to test multiplayer from home. Testing it from the same computer with multiple windows doesn't test out networking. I hope there will be no unexpected surprises, like >200 ms lag or low bandwidth.

Smartphones are gaming devices as good as any other, and shouldn't have developers told what they can't do, because that's limiting the possibilities. Smartphones aren't just second rate devices; the newer ones have great hardware, with multi-core processors in the 2 GHz range and GB's of RAM. There's no good games for iphone or android I have. Developers don't have as high goals for smartphones. No 10-year development cycles for smartphones, it's all monetize as quickly as possible, iterate. I haven't had as much success with this model. Maybe a big title will have more success.

Cellular connectivity also makes them ideal for use anywhere. This is what I would want to play on a long car trip, or any time I'm out. I don't know. Trying to picture playing this on smartphone. The biggest limitation is a small screen with inputs on the same surface. And the use of double-tapping for left mouse clicks and two-finger dragging for drag-selection. Single-finger drag for scroll...

Releasing alpha version on mobile also will allow me to build a player community. I get hundreds of downloads when I release something free, but not so much on PC.

I don't know. Pause might work. You could have an accumulator of time you're allowed to pause that recharges. Let's say for every minute of play you get 10 seconds of pause. I think in the beginning there'll be a big pause to adjust starting building values and make anything new, then periodically when something isn't going right, players will pause to investigate. And that way, when another player is paused, that gives them a "free chance" to adjust their own things without using up their time. Lots of work...

Ive talked about (here and other places) the possibility of using handhelds (tablets/smartphones) to augment a PC (console?) based MMORPG. You often have alot of mundane actvities which dont have a need for big-time graphics (Ive also asked around here as to the advances the handhelds have with processing and 3D capabilities). Handling in-game email or character/bank inventory shuffling (and proposed basic crafting access too). Mini-games related to the main game might also be done (better if the effort expediture gets you something in the main interfaces world).

Too many people dont have alot of time to play on their base PC/console (and the full 3D adventure has to happen there) but have additional daily time to do simple(r) things in small intervals through their busy day.

With some expansion of the logic (and good interfacing), NPCs with in-game tasks which you can plan/order/modify/monitor/prioritize from the handhelds are possible (again to get done mundane stuff to maximize your fancy effects gameplay time).

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Something I JUST though of : Handheld interface to run the AI for routine/generic in-main-game opponents (monster vs player). They usually have a pretty short lifespan (to match a limited play interval) being cannon-fodder, but even with NPC options activated by only a handfull (or two) touch controls could have better (or at least surprising/unconventional) tactics compared to the typical MMORPG AI (I understand that often nobody will be online/available to play the part, but then the players never know when they WILL get one). Fallback, if the 'remote' player leaves (playtimes up or dodgy connection), is to the ordinary server-based AI assuming control. I suppose a mob/pack of 'monsters' could be directed/coordinated the same way.

Simplified (throwback) graphical representation of the in-world game terrain/objects and actions could be sufficient on the handhelds (many can do a not-horrible 3D equivalent to games a decade and a half (?).ago).

The usual 'monster' experience ramps would be there (some games already have player vs monster mechanisms) to add interest , and a spectrum of different 'monsters' to play. (And random join placement to nullify alot of cheatings, and I suppose you could come up with some basic 'good play' metric to counter 'lay down and die to give easy points' cheat attempts).

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