Plan for Ted "darkhitman" Nubel

[Core Warz Design Document] (sort of more like a manual. My developer isn't in to the 'technical details' sort of thing. That's my job.)


Core Warz
design document


Introduction

In the Terran year 2012, a massive war known as World War 3 destroyed the world. Nukes rained down from the heavens, missiles streaked across the war-torn land, and humanity fled to underground shelters. All countries, all cities, all places on Earth were razed to the ground. What we know as civilization was destroyed.

In the midst of the chaos, all of the world leaders were assassinated or slaughtered. Without any rulers, world order fell into anarchy. All humans lived only for themselves, and tried only to survive. A few groups of survivalists formed communities to live in, which, as they grew, formed into the new factions of NeoTerra, or New Earth.

The year is 2069. Technology has surpassed what had existed before the Great War, and NeoTerra was divided into several factions which had different ways of thinking, different cultures, and different religions.

As the factions began to form, the ancient language of Greek was rediscovered. The faction that did so, which thought itself the superior faction, named itself the Alpha Army. The Alpha was a terrorist organization, and soon a new faction rose to oppose the Alpha Army. Because of this, they named themselves the Beta Initiative. Soon, many of the other NeoTerran factions named their factions after Greek letters, to concrete their power in the world.

But the Great War was unable to change one thing: As technology has advanced, it became easier to get weapons and develop new ones. Due to several major differnces of opinion, NeoTerra broke, once more, into open warfare.

Circa 2028, rumors about a secret underground city that remianed untouched by war, called the 12th Core, started to spread. This city was rumored to hold the key to eternal life, and people there could live forever.

Many factions viewed this as a source of income. To others, it was an opportunity to establish dominance. More and more groups began investigating the rumors and attempted to find out the location of the 12th Core.

Recently, an unnamed group has succeeded in locating the city. They attempted to keep the location of the 12th Core secret and eventually use its power to control all of NeoTerra, but Julius Traddon, the head of the Special Operations branch of the Alpha army, infiltrated their network and revealed the 12th Core's exact location to the world.

Consequently, all the armed factions made their way to the 12th Core in a bid to seize the city, and with it, global domination. But in a war that will determine the fate of the reborn NeoTerra, only one can win.

Welcome to Core Warz.


Game Overview

What makes Core Warz so special, compared to other RTS'? I say, tactics and versatility. Core Warz is not just about building an army and mass-attacking. The key in Core Warz is to combine the right weapons, technologies and tactics. While all armies have similar kinds of units, each army is quite unique. Not only that, but there are 16 of them! Still not conviencing enough? Ok, how about capturing other armies' technology, or making an alliance to get special 'combine units' available? Infantry, vehicles, aircraft, even ships! There are more weapons than you can count, including the devastating/strategic special weapons. Like nuking the sh*t outta your opponents? Ok. We got nukes. You'd rather take a defensive stance? Alright, we got shields and gadgets to block those superweapons. Or maybe you would like to use both? Can do, just hack into the other armies' networks. Bash out a full-scale battle with your friends in a Conquest multiplayer mode, and even build your own scenarios and campaigns using the editor!



Units and Buildings

Classes
Each army has it's own units and technology, but they all obey a specific structure. There are infantry, vehicles, aircraft and ships as units, this is not strict. But the building hierarchy of the armies is mostly the same. Also armies usually have a specific amount of some unit type, but that's not strict as said above.

Buildings
Each army has the same buildings, performing about the same tasks, but army-specific:

Command Center
The Command Center (abbr. C2) is where it all starts from. The C2 builds Workers and/or new buildings. Also it stores all the technology researched, along with the Tech Center.

Powerplant
Your base needs power, and here's something to generate it. The Powerplant requires Fuel to run. A Powerplant without Fuel is like a fish without a bicycle (just kidding). If a Powerplant substains damage, it's energy producing capabilities go down. If a Powerplant is destroyed, it causes a spike in the power network, which inflicts little damage to some buildings, and disrupts your radar. A Powerplant comes with one Miner.

Refinery
Raw Ore is processed into useable Ore in the Refinery. The rate and efficency at which Ore is processed varies based on the technology and upgrades. Damaged Refineries operate slower. A Refinery can hold only a certain amount of raw Ore, after which it is dumped to the Refinery backyard. With power down, a Refinery works with only half the efficency.

Barracks
The Barracks train and heal (slowly) infantry. And that's about it. One Barracks can train an n number of infantry simultaneously, where n is army- (and upgrade) specific. With no power, production times halve.

Barrier
[NDA]

Gate
[NDA]

Academy
[NDA].

Ground Defense
Your standard static defense against ground-attacks. Naturally, can only fire at ground targets (and sea targets!).

Factory
In a Factory you can build and repair vehicles. Only one vehicle can be built/repaired at a time, but you can queue up more. If the power goes out, the Factory works only half as fast.

Armory
The Armory serves as a research facility for vehicle weapons and armor. Also it enables some new vehicles. Without power, research freezes.

Dock
At the Dock, you can build, repair and upgrade ships. I repeat, build, repair and upgrade. The Dock must be placed into water. If there's no power, production times are halved and research stops.

Radar
Once you build a Radar, the Minimap view is available. If power goes out, radar view is gone. Also the Radar reveals a fairly large radius around it, and detects invisible units.

Airport
An Airport is used to build, repair, upgrade, refuel and host aircraft. That is, perform all tasks aircraft require. Without power, building is only half as fast and no repair, upgrade or refuel can be done.

Air Defense
As the name suggests, used to fend off air threats. Hence, can only fire into air. If the power goes off, the Air Defense goes off.

Tech Center
This building is somewhat special. Here, your most advanced technologies are researched, and stored, together with the Command Center. If both are lost, all researched technology is lost. The Tech Center also allows new units.

Advanced Defense
The ultimate base defense, can fire at any target (except maybe underground heheh), as long as there is power. Unfortunately, rather expensive and power-consuming.

Hacker Center
[NDA]

Special Building
[NDA]
Here is the building hierarchy:
Command Center -> Powerplant, Refinery, Barracks, Barrier, Gate
Barracks -> Academy, Ground Defense
Barracks + Powerplant -> Factory, Radar
Factory -> Amory, Dock
Radar -> Airport, Air Defense
Factory + Radar -> Tech Center
Tech Center -> Advanced Defense, Hacker Center, Special Building

Units
Here's a list of unit types:

[NDA]

And the unit (default) hierarchy:

[NDA]



Navigating


Programmer note -- this part is most definitely not what I did. More like, shift adds, control removes selected units. There we go.


Selecting
Selecting is done with the left mouse button. There are two ways of selecting: a) single click, or b) dragbox-select. By single clicking you can select any unit or building on the battlefield. There are key + click combinations for advanced selecting (does not apply for buildings):
o Shift: Select or deselect in addition to other selecteds.
o Ctrl: Select all units of a specific kind (Laser Gunner, Engineer, etc.)
o Alt: Select all units of a specific class (Offense, Support, etc.)
But by dragbox-selecting, you can only select units, and a specific select order persists, if smart-select is enables in the game settings:
1. Worker units (Worker, Miner)
2. Support units (medic, mransport, etc.)
3. Offense units (i.e. armed)
Which class to select is decided by the number of each units in the box.

Ordering
You can order a unit to do something by using the right mouse button. What the unit(s) do, depend(s) on the unit(s), and what was clicked on. Here are the common actions that most units can perform. Click on:
o Ground move
o Enemy attack
o Transport enter transport
Other actions are unit-specific. Also, there are key + click combinations for advanced ordering:
o Alt: Force move
o Ctrl: Force attack
o Shift: Follow
When you click to order a unit, you can hold down the button and drag a 'direction arrow' to indicate which way the unit should face when/after performing it's duty.


Programmer note -- Ugh.
Interface

[NDA] (aka you don't care)


Resources

There are three resources per army in Core Warz. Two kinds of Ore and one kind of Fuel.

[NDA]




Building Units

Direct
The unit is built in it's factory, and comes out when finished. If the factory is destroyed while it is building, the units in build are lost.

Indirect / Arrive
The unit is ordered in the factory, but built elsewhere (outside battlefield). Units in build are not lost if the factory is destroyed. When a unit is finished, it arrives onto the battlefield.

Indirect / Escort
[NDA]



Building Buildings

Worker / Build
Workers build the building, from the beginning to the end. Once a site is selected using a build function of a Worker, the Worker will start building onto that site. If the Worker is killed (or reassigned), any other Worker can be ordered to continue the construction.

Worker / Transform
[NDA]

Center / Deploy
[NDA]

Center / Build
[NDA]



Missions

There will be a big load of singleplayer missions. Each army is playable, and has it's own missions. There are two kinds of missions: Primary targets and secondary targets. A primary mission must be won in order to advance in the campaign. Secondary missions are not necessary to play or win. If you play a secondary mission however, when you: a) win, the primary mission will be easier, or b) lose, the primary mission might be harder. When you win a mission, you are taken to a map screen, where you may have several options, different missions to choose. Each mission has a briefing intro, and an ending scene when won. (?)



Multiplay
Programmer note -- Ugh. Again. Not all of these modes will be in the final game.

Multiplay is essential. You can either play on the Internet or skirmish missions, against computers. Players can choose their army and color freely, except one color can only be used once, of course. There are a number of multiplay settings, like map, and game mode. The following game modes exist:

Free For All
Where everybody's your enemy, or ally, if you choose so. It's a classic deathmatch. Pwn or get pwned.

Capture the Flag
Each player has a flag in his base. Any enemy player, with any of his/her units, can steal the flag and attempt to take it to his/her Command Center for capture. When a unit carrying a flag is killed, the flag is dropped. You cannot move your own flag. If your flag is captured, you lose. The player with the most captures when the time runs out, or eliminates all his/her opponents, wins.

Crate Fortress
There is a heavily-fortified fortress (usually) in the center of that map, that has certain crates inside. The player who posesses the most crates when the fortress guardians are beaten, wins.

Treasure Truck
[NDA]

Conquest Mode
This works slightly different. Each player picks a faction, and a campaign is chosen. The campaign contains a 'world map', divided into sectors. Each sector has it's own map. How the game progresses, is completely up to the players. Players start with an army, on one sector. There are two different play modes:

Risk Style
[NDA]

World War
[NDA]



Armies
[color=red]Programmer note -- 16 frickin' armies. And that number ain't goin' down. I think it's 17 already... but hey, I'm not the person who will be doing the data entry. Oh, wait, yes I am. Damn. [/color]

There are 16 armies alltogether, but only the first 4 of them play in Core Warz 1.

Alpha
The Alpha Army is an international terrorist organization, and the very first faction of NeoTerra. Alpha is indeed one of the biggest communities. Not only does it consist of thousands of people, but they are effectively spread around the globe, infiltrated into opposing factions. The Alpha are advanced in laser technologies. Almost all of their weapons are based on laser, one way or another.

Beta
A lot of people oppose the Alpha's terrorist actions, and eventually the Beta Initiative was formed to fight them. Beta is the second faction of NeoTerra, established very shortly after Alpha. The Beta master force field technology. They are capable of creating deflector fields and impulse generators, which are quite effective warfare in both defense and offense. Simplified, the Beta have shields.

Delta
[NDA]

Omega
The Omega Union counts on strict code and tactics. Their weapons are somewhat classic, some say even ancient. But it worked before, so why shouldn't it work now? The Omega has exceptionally solid armor, and their armor piercing weapons make them a deadly enemy.

12th Core
[NDA]

Gamma
The Gamma Fleet arrived to our solar system, and established a base on Luna. The robot army built to protect humankind attacked them, and they fled. Now they're back, for revenge. Their intention is not only to slaughter all of NeoTerra but to permanently wipe out Earth. With their plasma technology and massive fleet they are somewhat dangerous. The Gamma buildings are built in an orbital frigate, and shot down onto the battlefield as large pods that establish into fully operational structures upon impact.

Nu
[NDA]

Meta
[NDA]

Lambda
Formed from the 12th Core survivors, the Lambda Team masters the secret of invisibility. Their stealth technology was vital to hide from the crowd after the 12th Core incident, but recent events have forced them to develop weapons out of their technology. These sneaky soldiers can easily stab your back if you're not careful. The Lambda is the only army posessing aircraft miners.

Zeta
[NDA]

Pi
The Pi are hot. I mean literally. Their fiery Melta-technology covers anything from flamethrowers to napalm. Besides that, they aren't any special. Not like that's not special, or anything!

Rho
[NDA]

Theta
The ony faction of NeoTerra to use biochemical warfare hence hated. Their chemical style is actually very weird, because they are nature-friendly. The recycle almost everything. Their weapons are built using natural resources, yet they use chemical stuff. This odd way of thinking has made them a lot of enemies.

Ypsilon
The Ypsilon Mercenaries are a well-known faction, probably because of their greediness. One day they're fighting with you, and the next day stabbing your back for a bounty. Like the Delta, their units are produced elsewhere. They are mercenaries with no mercy. They gain extra cash for killing. Their high-velocity rail technology is 100% armor piercing.

Omikron
[NDA]

Sigma
The Sigma Corporation is a very interesting faction. Completely formed out of local power companies, it is the world's #1 energy production corporation. Their funds and power are virtually unlimited, and they like to take advantage of their nuclear power technology by using electric weapons.

Khaa
[NDA]


[PROGRAMMER NOTE]
So, yeah. If you didn't read all of that or found part of it weird/eccentric/totally unneccessary, don't worry. I have a logic-sense built in that lets me totally ignore parts of this that don't work in actual games. Like the selection. No one gives a damn about classes, they want shift to allow them to select multiple groups. So I fixed that, and we're all good.

As for the design of the engine, well, it's divided into a few parts. At some point, I'll write the rest of this section -- I'll just rip it from my chat history lol.

Edit: No [color] tag? Come on.

Edit: Due to excessive, and quite self-esteem lowering and abusive, dare I say class-action lawsuitabe, comments, I have replaced parts of this doc with [NDA] tags -- Non-Disclosure Agreement. It also means that you probably don't give a damn.

If I get some more abusive and demoralizing reponses, I think I might experience mental anguish and sue someone. Actually, I don't really care. I appreciate criticism. Criticism of the plan. Not it's length/coverage. And I resent the low rating you gave it. Just because it's totally un-useful... sniff...