Hello there,

i am am working on a game right now and i wonder if i am going into a direction that may lead me to game of no use.

so i just like to get your thoughts on the following concept.

I am working on a isometric turn based game just like the old "xcom - terror from the deep" in a low poly art style.
And i am planing to make it a MMO-Game.
So all players will be acting on a huge map ( of course different parts of the map )
and can freely choose to cooperate against the alien force or to sabotage each other.

Even if this is MMO it will still be turn based.
So 60 seconds for the players to take there moves and actions and than 60 seconds of 'hidden movement' ( or visible actions ) of the aliens.

There will be side quests  along the overall goal of beating all aliens to concur the planet.

While you are not actively playing you may rest in on of multiple human bases and while you are there you may trade with other players or improve your equipment.

No matter how good you are equipped and how experienced you character may be, you will always only be 1 ambush away from being killed and start as a rookie again.

I know that this is only a short description but i hope you gat the basic idea and are willing to share your first thoughts with me .. whatever they may be.

big thanx !
kai

The first thing that jumps out at me is the MMO part. How many players are you envisioning? Does each player take a turn or does everyone move at once in one turn? If it's the latter, then you'll need a robust means of resolving the interactions that will arise from players moving at once.

The basic concept itself makes sense. It sounds like it could work. Is the main goal just fighting aliens? Will there be global events/missions? Are there enemy bases or fortresses that need to be concurred? I'm curious as to how the main goal of the game will be structured though.

Also, to the mods, this post would make more sense in Game Design, no?

Even a "game of no use" has a use; You learn from making mistakes.  I always think of time and how it is very much like programming code. Time, this thing we create in our head to make sense of the world around us. Problem is according to science past and future should both exist as reciprocal to each other, or maybe I should say mathematically they should, yet the future and the past are both only near the present. My little philosophy of time only existing as an intellectual concept and reality being composed of a perpetual present moment I think would make a good structure for a game engine. Stop thinking of time "60 seconds per turn" and think of "relative perspectives" so then your game and it's turns will be dependent on the actions in the game and not the other way around. When you think about it sounds like a realistic sim of how we truly experience time what I think Einsteins' work actually uncovered. Good luck and I think your going to find a way to make use of the game no matter how it fairs in the future ;)  

On 7/22/2019 at 4:48 PM, deltaKshatriya said:

The first thing that jumps out at me is the MMO part. How many players are you envisioning? Does each player take a turn or does everyone move at once in one turn? If it's the latter, then you'll need a robust means of resolving the interactions that will arise from players moving at once.

The basic concept itself makes sense. It sounds like it could work. Is the main goal just fighting aliens? Will there be global events/missions? Are there enemy bases or fortresses that need to be concurred? I'm curious as to how the main goal of the game will be structured though.

Also, to the mods, this post would make more sense in Game Design, no?

Hi and thanx for your feedback !
well maybe i picked the wrong forum .. sorry for that !

Yes there will be ailen citys to be concurred and othe alien locations. sometimes the aliens may attack the human base and it needs to be defended. still the main part of the game will be turn based tactics to clear a sector.
yes all players may act at the same time and i know the trouble that this may cause. i guess i need to set up a quick n dirty prototype of that simultanious movements to se how well it may work.

On 7/22/2019 at 5:58 PM, rodgaskins said:

Even a "game of no use" has a use; You learn from making mistakes.  I always think of time and how it is very much like programming code. Time, this thing we create in our head to make sense of the world around us. Problem is according to science past and future should both exist as reciprocal to each other, or maybe I should say mathematically they should, yet the future and the past are both only near the present. My little philosophy of time only existing as an intellectual concept and reality being composed of a perpetual present moment I think would make a good structure for a game engine. Stop thinking of time "60 seconds per turn" and think of "relative perspectives" so then your game and it's turns will be dependent on the actions in the game and not the other way around. When you think about it sounds like a realistic sim of how we truly experience time what I think Einsteins' work actually uncovered. Good luck and I think your going to find a way to make use of the game no matter how it fairs in the future

Hi there,
thanx ! yes quite philosophic ?
.. i will think about the time system !
 

Similar to a game called "ballerium" which died years ago. It was real time, but units moved/attacked very slowly, and you could build bases in an open world etc.

I thought it was extremely fun, and was pretty bummed out when it was suddenly cancelled.

Enemies would spawn/build bases/raid players. You could also attack other players.

The idea looks very interesting but I would be careful with concept of player interaction when you can lose everything. If I understand MMO part of the concept right there may be players "hunting" other players that can't be really avoided. If a player can't choose to play solo or only with friends and is always at risk of such hunter that may lead to a lot of frustration.

Similar problem had (not sure if it still has) Diablo 3 in hardcore mode where you lose all items on your character when you die. Even that the game is only co-op there were players that built their characters to withstand enormous amount of damage in order to lure random players into the middle of a fight they couldn't survive. Those player-killers were enjoying this more than actual progress in the game.

Other than that I like the idea of turn based multiplayer "PvPvE" combat. Simultaneous order phase will shorten wait time even with larger number of players and may encourage grouping with others to take on mission too hard for each player separately.

Xcom had some great games, ufo defense of the 90's is still more complex than most games.

I would think you need another force... Something like playing as aliens. Having everyone on one team... Is difficult... Or have loose allegiances.. Where each city is the equivalent of an alliance or faction. Which is more concerned with there own survival. Which means the citys can have wars.

Personally if you have a transport, and take 4-8 people with you to a ruin, where you scavange materials, kill aliens and drag it all back to base.

Start with a small helicopter, work your way up....eventually steal ufos. And make your more advanced ships eventually. Perhaps make a moon and mars colony? Or big space ship city?

Hey there Kai!

I thought I'd give my input on the matter:

From what I understand I'm looking at a game where it's always live. Basically when your gone the AI continually grows, multiplying through your inactivity. When you come back on the AI could have destroyed your base already? If so, thats totally fine, as I like hard core games anyway haha!

My main question is: what are the end goals your looking to bring the game into? Once the Aliens have been destroyed with help from other live players, then what?

Do rankings get distributed to skilled players giving a bit of competition?

My thoughts on the question I presented would be: You want the players to come back for more. After they defeat the AI, typically I would say, a hard map would be triggered. Although, you need something different; rather than giving repetitive gameplay. Maybe the top rated player becomes the Alien warlord and literally has unlimited resources, (in a sense). He would then fight off real time players:

 1 player vs. X amount of players online

Or another scenario could be:

Once players make a certain rank against the AI Aliens they then "Graduate" into the Alien group. Each AI will get replaced by a graduating player.

Example: Let's say there are 10 Generating AI in the alien group.

5 beginning players graduate into the Alien group after they achieve a certain rank. Now, 5 of the 10 AI get replaced by 5 realtime players. 

The 5 players' mission aside from fighting the beginning players is to conquer in turn a stronger AI group.

But this could get as repetitive as the beginning gameplay....so to make things interesting: each time a player graduates he can choose a choice of liking from a tech tree:

Example:

                                                                                        -> Group 5

                                                              ->  -Group 2   ->  Group 4

                                                                                      -> Group 7

Beginning players   -> Alien Group ->  -Group 1     -> Group 6

                                                                                      -> Group 8

                                                             ->  -Group 3   -> Group 9

                                                                                      -> Group 10

Ect...

Basically each tier, (I showed 4 tiers), have to not only defend against the weeker previous tiers, but they have to fight the next stronger AI or players who've reached that tier. And of course the individual routes are different group types.....air units opposed to soldier units, ect... Giving different gameplay feels and mechanics to the individual.

Well anyway haha this is just an opinion!

I hope this helps!

~Ryan

Helo Kai, i was played xcom too, the first and 2nd, it was great games at the time. 

You want to make it MMO and turn based, right? Here what i think: 

1. Since it is turn based, need to limit how many players involve in one play/event/ occurrence/mission. Kinda: every player bring a team of 3 or 4, per mission maybe 4 or 5 players sign into that.

2. Player can play: Solo(for grinding- easy to med level) into investigations or collecting samples, Or Join Mission(tag team) sound by a player for area patrolling/investigation(med to large foes num), Or Live Incident that blast in many spots(mission/team) for several teams(5 or 6 players) to launch & secure the area.

3. Live incident maybe occurs every 1 or 1.5 hour randomly, and each player limited up to (maybe) 2 Live missions per day. But for Solo and Join Missions are not limited.

4. Each join mission may consist/divide to 2 or 3 sections, where player team need to wait for others to reach the door link to next section, so no large gap progress between each other.

5. A player out from mission when all of his/her troop dead, the rest other keep continue. A player can recruit new troop, but start from level 1 again, or maybe can hire specialist with higher level at start, and it will not be cheap, also have the same chance to die at ambush.

That's all in my head right now  

I would like to see non traditional aliens... Small and tall grays in shiny gray flying saucers... Its to predictable.. Overly dependent on tech. And physically weak... I have some ideas if your interested.

What should happen is have building construction. Where when off line, your player would be able to do chores... Obviously bots would be an issue. But lets say make building x bigger. Or go make ammunition, or build trenches around the base.

I still prefer xcom ufo defense style where you have a squad... Something like 6... Lets you have a pilot, a couple non combat personnel. Than have the rest Solidiers... Have scientists, physicians, engineers, production and construction workers. 

I think make it a little darker.. Where the aliens leveled 98% of everything. It makes the conditions harder. And cant over whelm the enemies with cannon fodder.

Leaving the base is the risky part... But would be nice if patrols took vehicles from the city