i got this idea for a 3d space combat game. the thing that would set it apart from all the rest would be the sheer scale of the world. the idea being that you don''t have to go level1->level2 and so on, you could go anywhere and do anything that was "Happening" at the time. the "Happening" thing being the way the designer controls things you''d be a mercenary type character and have to buy ur ship and weapons and the like, possibly take the gameplay in a direction that suited you like maybe running a little ferry service or hauling things from one point to another. there''d be fun stuff to do maybe like piracy of convoys,getting together a big group of ships to go blow up a station etc. you''d get your missions (in rpg style) by talking to people on the stations and planets you visit. where you go will dictate what paths are open to you. poke holes, give suggestions, something.....

I''m not certain, but I think Independence War 2 was like this. ( I own it but haven''t played enough of it yet )

My space game ideas shares similar ideas:
big world scale, not divided in levels.
player can fight, customize ship, buy equipment, make money by trading, pirating, escorting, and any other missions

Check out my website: www.star-fortress.com
If you like, you could join my team and work together.

Let me remind you gentlemen that ... while it seems easy, to pull it off can be immensly hard. Elite(that space game) was nearly like that... probably different then you are thinking of, but still... You could go around, increasing your rank in the military, trading and upgrading your ship... but to what end? If people wanted to lifelessly fly around and become a space pirate, that kind of game would be done by now. One thing to solve this problem is to add(not add, ... integrate) online play. Let players battle, and have lots and lots of ship combinations and... no... REALLY big huge MASSIVE amounts of parts. If you can''t have online stuff... then you will have to make some pretty good missions, and lots of them.

Example why: I used to like perfect dark... it was a fun game to play, but after finishing all the stages, and having no real challange in multiplayer mode only two things could rescue me
1). Online play to find a challenge
2). Have it turned into an Rpg, then I could raise my stuff... that would be good.
Case in point, keep your eye on the goal of the game, ... perhaps make it enjoyable to do repetative stuff(... that sounds wrong...)

Privateer: one of my all time favorite games was like this idea. Lots of open universe to wander. Be a pirate, a smuggler, a trader, a bounty hunter or all of em. Upgrade your ship, buy new ones. It rocked, but it did get repetitive. One way that it could keep a player interested was by following the main plot. Kept you going and made you feel cool cause the plot took you to places normally hidden to the wandering free-gamer. I remember going to pirate bases in the middle of almost empty galaxies and such.

Speaking of Privateer, that was my favorite space game, and it has influenced my own game design considerably.

quote: Original post by berserk
My space game ideas shares similar ideas:
big world scale, not divided in levels.
player can fight, customize ship, buy equipment, make money by trading, pirating, escorting, and any other missions

Check out my website: www.star-fortress.com
If you like, you could join my team and work together.

coolness.

yeah im in [if possible]

email is qatal@nr.processreporting.com

die or be died...i think

that sounds EXACTLY like Escape Velocity 1, 2 and 3, and maybe terminus...

no offense but that is not a new idea

that was privateer 1 and 2. 2 was lots of fun but broken. heck privateer 1 rivaled doom for lunch time fodder. i _dream_ of a privateer: online. that would be perfect.

oh someone had my thought. ya the privateer thing wears off. manly cause you find an exploit and milk it. but online if the rewards were set to auto lower based on previous people taking it.

one thing if i could smack around the privateer people company and say OK hey you aint got the muscle to make this an online hit OR its not technically feasible.

I would make the _worlds_ on privateer ONLINE then make the space a private game. so the worlds would have online markets and chat and trading but the space would be you and NPC. the worlds is very technically feasible. you could do it with just a few servers really. with low trafic. the key bonus is you get dynamic market shifts. if someone else is milking an easy trade route then that shows.

because the over head would be less you could charge considerably less. this idea is sort of like blending a true online game with a true offline game.

how''s this?

taking a quite different angle on the space rts idea, turning it into more of a space tactical combat sim (if there can be such a thing)...

you''re a low-ranking officer on the flagship of this big & nasty fleet, and can work your way up the ranks.
would incorporate flying of small ships (fighters, shuttles, etc) directly, and then directing larger ship maneuvers from the bridge. it would be a FPS/RTS blend that might remind people a little of star trek...

character development & interaction with other members of the crew would be a big part of things.

and yes, we''d have online play. not particularly difficult to pull it off, methinks.

so if neone wants to help, you''re welcome to.
i already have the collisions system, player animation system, relative movement on a ship -type stuff worked out.

and while im at it, does nething else use a collision system like this? ::

you have "logical surfaces" which are completely independent of your level geometry, aligned with a frame in the heirarchy. (theoretically, they could be aligned to anything because a frame can be )
each cycle, (or at least if the player is moving) we check to see if they''re standing on a valid surface. if not, we bounce them back to their previous position (or more or less like that). because they''re attached into the frame heirarchy, we have no probs standing on bits of ships when they''re moving, except perhaps if the grav generator was offline (that could make for some very cool-looking "ship is screwed" effects in the hallways, like the ship moving around a bit without the player following, = banging into walls, sliding doown corridors. this would only happen with severe damage to the grav generator...

most of the game would be spent on the ship but there would be some dogfights too…<br><br>so i have the bridge of the big mama ship sorted. screenies for neone who wants them should be up at nr.processreporting.com soon…<br><br>ne concept artists out there wanting to draw up some characters, and lots of them?<br>im trying to keep away from the generic "officer" and "guy" model situation that happens somtimes, but it takes a lot of work.<br><br>contact me @ qatal@nr.processreporting.com<br><br>thanx for your feedback. <img src="smile.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle> <br><br>die or be died…i think