Blog for Trace Kern at GarageGames.com

Stale MMO? No longer!

Trace Kern — 2007-08-16T19:13:11+00:00

Argh, I really don't want to seem a malcontent or ranter, but I can't resist the impulse to write this.
Hehe. Okay, so maybe I am a malcontent.

I'm now going to break the seemingly sacred rule of an Indie and tell you about my ideas and plans for my own MMO, if/when I ever get to make it. I don't really care if someone copies these ideas. Why? Because if someone incorporated these ideas into their game, than that game wouldn't be a knock off of WoW/MoM/EQ/UO/etc. anymore.

So, without further stalling for time...

We all know that an MMO has to have the following right?
Monsters
Levels
Inventory
Dungeons
Magic system
Combat
Skills

WRONG!
An MMORPG might seem to need all that stuff, but even that is not set in stone!
Planetside: An MMO premised around team-based FPS combat. No dungeons. No monsters. No Magic system (Although could be argued that Commander powers of EMP Strike and Orbital Cannon would fit). Sure, there's combat, levels, inventory, and skills. But does this game play like any other MMO out there? Well maybe, but certainly not like the 'standard' MMO.

Auto Assault: Post-apocalyptic, real-time vehicular combat game. Okay, there's monsters, levels, powers, skills, combat, and yes even dungeons. Okay, so it does play like WoW/EQ/etc in some places. Quests are still for the most part "Go here and kill X number of Y monsters to get Z number of widgets". That said, most of the time you don't really notice the fact that you're actually level grinding because of the difference in how combat plays. You don't target a monster and just cycle pressing buttons till you or the monster are dead. You actually have to control your vehicle as you drive around trying to line up shots. It adds spice to an otherwise old style of gameplay.

EVE Online: Y'know, this one probably has most of the items on the above list, but it just *feels* so different from most/any other game out there that it doesn't seem stale and re-used. Again, it's an example of adding or changing something seemingly simple in the old formula, and getting something that feels brand new.

Where am I going with all this?
Please, please, PLEASE stop comparing your indie MMO game with (Insert whatever brand-name MMO)!
Your game is just that: your game!

So what am I doing? Let's find out.

Twitch-based combat:
I'm tired of buttons and stats being the primary determiners of combat ability. Let's let the player have some control over if they can hit that orc. Guns or melee, you're gonna have to aim (FPS or 3rdPS) if you want a chance to hit.
Granted there'll be some stats to add random factors (Cone of fire, change to miss with melee, degree of damage, etc).

Vehicles:
Most people here seemed to love Tribes and/or Tribes 2. After all, our local heros (Garage Games) is partly founded on the legacy of those games. Nothing like grabbing a tank and dispensing indiscriminate justice on the enemy (Ten points if you can name the reference here).
Take Planetside again. Vehicles add whole new facets to warfare and combat, especially when coupled with twitch play as above. So my MMO will feature a variety of vehicles for battle, for transporting characters and goods, or even just for getting around the world quicker (Horses and other mounts are still a staple in many fantasy MMOs these days).

Player-owned territory:
Okay, my game is more or less a war-game. In that the central story involves a long-standing war between factions. So you can fight for your nation, or better yet, start your own!
Go out into the wasteland and stake a claim on some land. Set up a few beacons, get some construction units out there, and build your very own base! Anything from a single-building Outpost (good place to rest, heal, and store your loot), all the way up to your own Enclave (more or less a small town/city)!

Those are just some of my ideas that make things just different enough that the game *feels* different from other games out there.
It's almost impossible to be totally unique these days. All you really need to do is *feel* unique.

My Mining Game

Trace Kern — 2007-05-09T07:12:09+00:00

Here are some excerpts from the ad-hoc design document for my latest hare-brained game project.

Gameplay:

The game is a mining and resource management sim. Concept and game goal is similar to the flash game Motherload. Genre and style is sci-fi/futuristic.

Each 'level' of depth represents 10 meters, and each underground tile represents 10 square meters. Each tile (surface or mine) can contain up to two drones at once, with the exception of elevators, which are discussed below. Ore veins have an ore type, and a density which represents the percentage of that tile which contains ore. Each ore type has different values and volume. Volume determines the maximum amount of ore that can be contained in a single tile.

Player starts with all surface assets already in place, a small amount of cash, a small supply of drone fuel and supplies, one Utility drone, and a mine shaft prepared in the center of the map cut to a minimal depth. A single vein of low-value ore has already been located for the player.

Before mining, player must locate a suitable ore deposit using a surface scan, drill down to that depth, then start blasting tunnels to reach the ore vein.

After blasting a rock square, the rubble must be cleared and the new tunnel shored up to prevent collapse. When a drone is full, the rubble is brought to the sorting hopper. All rock sqaures within 3 squares of an ore vein will contain trace amounts of that ore, roughly 5% of the value of the nearest vein tile.

Once a tunnel to the vein has been blasted open and shored up, the drone/s can start mining the vein. As the drone mines, it will bring full loads of ore to the hopper. The hopper will discard any waste rubble and pass the ore to the smelter, which will melt out inpurities and produce finished metals/gems based on the vein tile's value/density.

When a vein tile is depleted, it converts to a standard rock tile and must be blasted open.

When a drone is down to 10% of it's fuel reserves, it stops working to return to the surface and refuel. The same is true when running out of explosives or construction material.

Utility drones can be used for any mine function, but perform poorly at scanning, mining, and ore hauling. The Utility drone is primarily needed for shoring new tunnels, laying down roadway, building new elevators, and installing cameras. Utility drones can only perform depth scans.

The Scanner drone is used to detect and assay ore veins before mining begins. Scans can be performed in two ways: depth scan and vein scan. Depth scans reveal the presence of ore veins on levels below the scanner, but do not determine exact location, type, or density. Vein scans only reveal ore on the same level as the scanner, but will reveal the location and size of the vein. Upgrades to the Scanner drone will reveal the type of ore, then the density of each tile scanned.

Digger drones are best at blasting new tunnels and mining ore veins. Diggers have small on-board 'Moles' which can drill into a tile to place shaped charges to blow open the tile. These moles also allow the Digger to mine ore veins. Each upgrade to the Digger increases the number and sophistication of the Moles, allowing more precision in blasting, the ability to blast more than one square at a time, and faster mining rates. While mining, the Digger itself is removed from view, and the newly-mined ore is deposited as a rubble pile in the previous square, waiting for pickup. Diggers are also the only drones which can drill new or deeper mine shafts.

Collector drones serve two purposes: collecting ore and re-supplying other drones in the field. Collectors have a larger ore bay than Utility drones, plus a small supply bay and reserve fuel tanks. Collectors can refuel all other drones, as well as deliver explosives, construction material, and cameras to Utility and Digger drones. Upgrades to the the Collector allow faster movement without roadways, and larger fuel tanks, ore bay, and supply bays.

The player must purchase fuel, supplies (explosives, construction material, cameras), and new drones. Starting players are given enough fuel and supplies to reach the first revealed ore vein before running out. Also, the costs are low enough that even low-value ores will be enough to re-supply in short order.

Construction materials can be used by Utility drones to shore up tunnels, build roadways, and install elevators in new mine shafts. Each task requires an increasing amount of materials.

Normally, mine tunnels are clouded by a fog of war effect. Drones possess on-board cameras allowing them to see up to three tiles around them, with upgraded drones having larger fields of view. Cameras allow the player to monitor the mine tunnels when no drones are present. Cameras can be purchased and need to be moved from the train depot to the installation site, then installed by a Utility drone. Utility drones can only carry one camera at a time, while Collectors can carry more (based on upgrade level).

Roadways allow all drone types to move faster, but can only be installed on the surface and in cleared and shored tunnels.

All mine tiles have a stability rating. When stability reaches zero, that tile will collapse in a cave-in. Blasting or other explosions will degrade the stability in that tile and nearby tiles. Cave-ins also degrade the stability of nearby tiles, which can result in chain-reactions. Shoring up a tile will improve it's stability. Higher grades of shoring can be installed by upgraded Utility drones, but uses more materials. Whenever a tile is bordered on four sides or more (including above and below) by open space (IE: tunnels), that tile's stability will gradually degrade over time. Because of this, large caverns and tunnels layered on top of each other tend to be prone to eventual collapse. To prevent extensive mine complexes from collapsing, old tunnels can be manually collapsed to return the tile to a rock state. Cave-ins also destroy all shoring, cameras, roadways, and drones caught in collapsing tiles.

New elevator shafts cannot be drilled within three tiles of an existing shaft, and have a maximum depth based on the upgrade level of the elevator to be installed there. Once a shaft is drilled, a new elevator must be installed before the Digger at the bottom of the shaft can be retrieved. Elevators cannot be placed on top of one another. Elevators can not be upgraded while in service, and must be deconstructed before a new elevator can be installed. Also, each level of upgrade has both a maximum cable length, as well as a maximum depth it can be installed at. The basic elevator can hold up to two drones at a time. Elevators are purchased like cameras, and are stored as an upgrade kit until installed.

After a depth of 500 meters (depth level 50), the player will encounter hidden gas pockets. After exposing a pocket, gas will start to leak into surrounding tunnel tiles. All gas pockets have a maximum volume of gas, which corrosponds to the number of tiles that pocket can fill with gas before being depleted. If detected early, a Utility or Collector drone with the right upgrades can siphon the gas from the pocket, rendering the pocket harmless. Siphoned gas can then be taken to the fuel depot and converted into drone fuel.

As gas leaks from the pocket, surrounding tiles will start to fill with gas. Once a tile has reached 30% density, the gas will spread outwards by another tile. Gas density will not rise above 30% as long as there are empty tiles not filled with gas adjacent to the current cloud. When the spreading cloud of gas reaches a mineshaft, the gas will spread down to lower levels, gradually thinning the density as it spreads outwards. Only when the growing cloud hits an obstacle, or else fills all available space will density levels climb above 30%.

Any explosion within one tile of a gas-filled tile of 50% or greater density will trigger a chain of explosions in all adjacent tiles filled with gas, regardless of density level. The player can see gas leaks so long as there is a camera or drone within visual range. Gas leaks can be cleared by activating the fans in elevator shafts. When fans are active, the gas will be drawn gradually towards the elevator, then up the shaft to the surface. Multiple shafts may need to be crossed before the gas reaches the surface safely. Upgraded elevators possess more powerful fans which can draw out the gas faster.

Controls
Controls are RTS style, select a drone or building and issue commands via interface buttons or hotkeys.

Drone universal commands:
Move - This command changes the selection cursor into a waypoint cursor. Left-click on the target tile and the drone will begin moving to that location. Movement targets can be on different depth levels. Holding down shift will allow the player to mark a series of waypoints, which the drone will move to in sequence.

Stop - This command cancels all movement and other orders, telling the drone to stay at it's present location.

RTB - This tells the drone to stop it's current orders and return to the drone garage on the surface.

Shut down - This commands the drone to shut down it's engine and go into an idle stat. This can be used to conserve fuel while waiting for a Collector, or for a Digger at the bottom of a new elevator shaft. When in an idle state, this button changes to 'Start Up', which restarts the engine if the drone has fuel in it's tanks. Drones which run out of fuel automaticly shut down.

Utility commands:
Build menu - This is a sub-menu where all construction options are listed. Unless specified, clicking on a single tile will perform that action on that tile. Click dragging will perform that action on multiple adjacent tiles. Holding shift before clicking or click-dragging will allow the player to mark multiple tiles, not necessarily adjacent to each other.

Shore Tunnel - After clicking this option, left-click on a tunnel tile to shore it up. This action can be used on existing shoring to repair or replace the shoring already in place. This option will use whatever materials are in the drone's supply bay.

Lay Road - Left click on a target tile to start laying down roadways. Roadways automaticly link with adjacent roadway. Roadways can only be installed on the surface or in shored and cleared tunnels.

Install Camera - Oders the Utility drone to install a camera. Left-click on the target tile to install a camera. Drone must have a camera stored in it's supply bay for this option to work.

Install Kit - This tells the Utility to install a new construction kit. Left-click on the location for the kit to be installed. The utility drone will return to the garage to load the kit onto a carry-sled, then lead the sled to the install site, and begin construction.

Repair - Utility drones can repair other drones and elevators while in the field by using on-board materials. Left-click on the drone or elevator to be repaired.

Scan - Orders the drone to perform a depth scan.

Mine - Left click on a target ore vein to order the drone to start mining. Unlike Diggers, a Utility drone performing mining operations remains on the tile adjacent to the vein, and mined ore is stored within the drone's ore bay. Drone will automaticly return to the surface to unload, then return to the mine until the vein is depleted or ordered to stop mining.

Tunnel - Left-click on a target rock or ore vein tile to order the drone to set charges to blast a tunnel into that tile. Once charges are set, the tunnel button changes to 'Detonate Charge'. Be sure to move all drones out of adjacent tiles before detonating the charge. Drone must have explosive charges in the supply bay to perform this order.

Clear Rubble - This order can be performed on a rubble-filled tile to order the drone to clear the rubble. The drone will automatically start loading rubble into it's ore bay, unload the rubble into the hopper on the surface, and return for another load till the tunnel is clear.

Unload - This commands the drone to unload it's ore bay onto the current tile, forming a rubble pile which can either be left behind, or retrieved by another drone. By default a Utility drone will return to the surface when it's ore hold is full, right-clicking on this button on a Utility drone will order the drone to dump the mined ore into and adjacent tunnel tile instead of returning to the surface. This option can be useful for when the player possesses a Collector drone, but is using the Utility drone to mine.

Digger commands:
Mine - Left-click on a target ore vein to order the drone to start mining. The digger will deploy against the face of the vein and deploy it's moles. Mined ore will be deposited in a pile in any empty adjacent tiles.

Tunnel - Left-click on a target rock tile to deploy moles to set charges. Click-drag or shift-click to order an upgraded Digger to set charges in multiple rock tiles. Once charges are set, the tunnel button changes to 'Detonate Charge'. Be sure to move all drones out of adjacent tiles before detonating the charge. Drone must have explosive charges in the supply bay to perform this order.

Drill shaft - This orders the drone to start drilling a new elevator shaft at the present location. After clicking this button, a dialogue with a slide-bar and text box appears, allowing the player to specify the number of depth levels to drill downwards.

Destroy Tunnel - This orders the Digger to set charges to manually collapse the target tunnel tile, turning it back into a rock tile. This can be used to stop the gradual degradation of stability from having too many adjacent tunnel sqaures.

Scanner commands:
Depth Scan - Orders the drone to perform a depth scan. After clicking this button, a dialogue with a slide-bar and text box appears, allowing the player to specify the number of depth levels to scan. The drone will anchor itself in the current tile, and send out a scanner pulse into the levels specified. The deeper the pulse, the longer the scan will take and the more fuel will be used.

Ore Scan - This orders the drone to perform a location scan, which reveals the location of all ore vein tiles within the scan range. Upgraded Scanner drones have larger scan ranges, however Ore scans only reveal vein information on the same level as the drone.

Assay Scan - An assay scan will reveal the location and type of all ore vein tiles in range. Upgraded Scanner drones have larger scan ranges, however ore scans only reveal vein information on the same level as the drone. Assay scans can only be performed by Mk II Scanners.

Density Scan - A density scan can only be performed by a Mk III Scanner, but reveals the location, type, and density of all ore vein tiles in range. Upgraded Scanner drones have larger scan ranges, however ore scans only reveal vein information on the same level as the drone.

Collector commands:
Clear Rubble - This order can be performed on a rubble-filled tile to order the drone to clear the rubble. The drone will automatically start loading rubble into it's ore bay, unload the rubble into the hopper on the surface, and return for another load untill the tunnel is clear.

Refuel Drone - Left click on a target drone to refuel in the field. After clicking on the target drone, a dialogue appears with a slidebar showing both the target and collector's fuel tanks. Moving the slidebar towards the target's end will determine how much fuel is transferred. After selecting a target and amount of fuel to transfer, the drone will move to the target's loction and perform the transfer.

Resupply Drone - Left click on the target Utility or Digger drone to transfer explosives, materials, or cameras. After clicking the button and target, an inventory window will appear with the Collector on the left and the target on the right. Inventory transfers are carried out as described in the Garage controls.

Fill Shaft - This orders the drone to start filling in the target empty elevator shaft. In order to perform this order, the target elevator shaft cannot have an active elevator, and must be surrounded by rock tiles on all sides on each level the shaft intersects. The Collector loads rubble from the rubble pile and starts dumping it into the shaft. The number of loads to fill one tile at the bottom of the shaft is based on the upgrade level of the Collector's ore bay, but is equal to the number of loads required to clear a collapsed tile of rubble.

Unload - This commands the drone to unload it's ore bay onto the current tile, forming a rubble pile which can either be left behind, or retrieved by another drone.

Elevator commands:
De/Activate Fans - This toggles the gas venting fans on and off. While the fans are active, drones will be unable to use this elevator.

Deconstruct - This orders the elevator to being shutting down and deconstruct itself, leaving the shaft empty.

Control Booth commands:
All RTB - This orders all drones to halt their current orders and return to the drone garage. This can be useful in the event of an earthquake.

Abandon Site - After storing all drones in the Garage, a mining site which has been completely depleted can be abandoned. After selecting this option, a confirmation dialogue appears. All installed upgrade kits, as well as any drones not in the garage will be lost when the player moves to a new site. The game map will be re-initialized, with a brand new ore distribution underground. However, no starting elevator shaft will be deployed at the new site, and the player must start fresh. Commodities, supplies, and upgrade kits in storage are moved along with the player's drones.

Train depot commands:
Purchase Menu - This menu is where all drones, supplies, and upgrade kits can be purchased.

Sales Menu - This is where drones, metals, gems etc can be sold for profit.

Contracts - This brings up the contract window, where the player can browse and select contracts. Contracts are discussed elsewhere.

Drone garage commands:
Repair - This menu will allow you to select a damaged drone to repair. You can choose to repair using stored materials, or by paying for the repairs. Material repair takes time to complete, while purchased repair is instant and uses no materials.

Upgrade - This sub-menu will allow you to select a drone to upgrade. After selecting a drone in the garage, the upgrade menu appears, which is discussed elsewhere.

Supplies - This brings up the inventory trade window for the selected drone in the garage. The inventory trade window is discussed elsewhere.

Refuel - Similar to the Collector drone's refuel command, this brings up a slidebar allowing the transfer of fuel from the garage to the selected drone.

Deploy - This allows the player to select a drone to re-deploy into the field. The drone will exit the garage and move two tiles in a random direction, then stop and wait for orders.

Sales:
All metals, gems, coal, and other commodities which have been mined by the player can be sold off for profit, or delivered to fulfill a contract goal. In addition, any drones or upgrade kits in the garage can be sold off. An inventory window will allow the player to select items to be sold, with tabs dividing Commodities, Drones, and Supplies. Note that upgrade kits are listed on the Supplies tab. The window is divided between the player's inventory on the left, and items to be sold on the right.
After selecting an item from the left side, a slidebar/text dialogue similar to that of a Digger given a Drill Shaft order appears. Use the slidebar or text entry to indicate the amount desired. A confirm button finalizes the sale and deposits the cash into the player's inventory, a clear button removes all items from the right side, and a cancel button cancels the sale and closes the window.

Purchases:
Like the sales menu, items are divided by tabs. However the player only has tabs for Drones and Supplies, additionally the left side of the window lists items for sale, while the right side lists the items to be purchased. Items which the player cannot afford will be marked in red on the left side of the screen.
After selecting an item from the left side, a slidebar/text dialogue similar to that of a Digger given a Drill Shaft order appears. Use the slidebar or text entry to indicate the amount desired. A confirm button finalizes the sale and deposits the cash into the player's inventory, a clear button removes all items from the right side, and a cancel button cancels the sale and closes the window.

Inventory:
This window appears when a Collector is re-supplying a drone in the field, or when managing the inventory of drones in the garage. The left side of the window shows the Collector/Garage's inventory, and the right side lists the selected drone's inventory. Note that scanner drones do not carry supplies and will not be listed in the garage's Inventory menu. Note that Digger drones can only carry explosives.
After selecting an item from the left side, a slidebar/text dialogue similar to that of a Digger given a Drill Shaft order appears. Use the slidebar or text entry to indicate the amount desired. A confirm button finalizes the sale and deposits the cash into the player's inventory, a clear button removes all items from the right side, and a cancel button cancels the sale and closes the window. In addition, another button will allow you to select a different drone to manage.

Contracts:
Contracts act as game goals. Contracts ask the player to mine a required amount of specific commodities to be delivered to the client. There is no time limit on contracts, however only one contract can be active at a time. In addition, commodities which are already in storage before accepting the contract do not count against the contract goals.
Contracts pay the sale value of the required commodities, plus allow the player access to purchase upgrade kits, drone upgrades, and supply purchase discounts.

Prototype Checklists:

Prototype Points:
Basic interface
Title Screen / Pause Menu
Start/Resume Game button
Quit Game button
Surface level map with Train Depot, Smelter, Control Booth, and Garage.
Assets:
Basic ground terrain tile
Mag-lev tracks (corners and straights), alpha layers to show tiles underneath
Mag-lev depot
Smelter complex
Control Center
Vehicle Garage
Mine shaft tile
Elevator at surface
One mine level map, with elevator connecting to surface.
Assets:
Unmined rock tile
Fresh tunnel tile
Shored tunnel tile
Rock rubble filling tunnel
One Utility, Scanner, Digger, and Collector drone.
Assets:
Utility drone. 8-direction rotation
Scanner drone. 8-direction rotation
Digger drone. 8-direction rotation
Collector drone. 8-direction rotation
One gold vein NW of elevator, 3x4 tiles, 40-70% density.
Assets:
Gold vein tile overlays. Alpha layered to show rock beneath. Center and edge tiles.
One silver vein S of elevator, 2x4 tiles, 20-60% density.
Assets:
Silver vein tile overlays. Alpha layered to show rock beneath. Center and edge tiles.
Ability to scan deposits with all scan types.
Assets:
Generic ore tile overlays. Alpha layered to show rock beneath. Center and edge tiles.
Percentage text tile overlays, 10%-100%, 10% increments.
Ability to tunnel to each deposit.
Assets:

Ability to mine each deposit.
Assets:

Movement of rubble and ore to hopper.
Assets:

Detection of ore vs rubble.
Assets:

Smelting of ore to metals.
Assets:

Storage of metals.
Assets:

Sale of metals with train pickup.
Assets:

Purchase of new drones with train delivery.
Assets:

Storage of drones in Garage.
Assets:

Abandon mining site with reinitialization of map.
Assets:

2nd Prototype:
Add additional depth levels, up to lvl 10.
Test drone movement pathfinding between multiple levels.
Test Elevator behavior with multiple drones on multiple levels.
Addition of more ore types.
Random generation of ore veins locations, sizes, types, and densities.
Introduce fuel consumption and auto-refuel behavior of drones.
Add purchase of fuel and fuel storage to garage and depot.
Add explosive supplies and auto re-supply to drones.
Add RTB behavior to drones.

3rd Prototype:
Add stability to tunnels.
Introduce and test degrading stability.
Introduce shoring and Materials. Test shoring on stability.
Introduce cave-ins as result of lost stability.
Drone damage and destruction.
Repair of damage at Garage.

Estimated Required Art Assets:

Here's a list of required assets:

Surface assets: Each terrain tile should be represented by a 256x256 pixel texture. All sprites (buildings, drones, etc) are 128x128 base, so as many as four sprites can fit into a single terrain tile.

Static assets:
Generic rock/ground tiles for surface map.
Mag-lev train tracks.
Mag-lev docking station/platform.
Supply depot adjacent to train platform.
Ore/metal smelter and processing plant. (This one is fully automated, and would take up a decent bit of space, think 2x4 'tiles) Can be static or with minor animations.
Animated conveyor belt running from smelter to supply depot.
Animations for moving belt, and/or metals moving across belt (though this could be accomplished with seperate scrollers I think?)
Ore hopper connected to smelter. (A smaller unit which sorts rubble/rock and ore). Again, can be static or with animations.
Animated conveyor belt between hopper and smelter.
Scrollers/Animated sprites of metals moving from smelter to train loading bay.
Scrollers/Animated sprites of ore moving from hopper to smelter.
Animated sprites of refuse rubble being dumped from hopper into rubble pile.
Road tiles, generic asphalt road which will be built by player and placed as seperate layer from gorund.
Handful of static lightposts.
Mine shaft sprite which can be layer-placed onto the map.
Animated elevator which fits into mine-shaft sprite.
Small control booth. (Think along the lines of portable offices/trailers, with an antennae on the roof)
Drone Garage.
Small cargo sled tracks connecting Garage to Train Depot.
Animated cargo sleds moving between Garage and Depot.
Mag-lev train cars. (Five cars: Engine, Metals, Fuel, Supplies, and Vehicle Delivery).
Cargo sleds moving from depot in and out of Metals, Supplies, and Vehicle cars.

Four types of mining drones. All drones should be automated, remote-controlled vehicles. Either tracked or wheeled. Additionally, each type of drone has three upgrade classes, and each should look slightly different and/or more advanced.
Worker/Utility drone. This one should have some kind of 'arms'. It's used for building roads, shoring up tunnels, installing cameras, and can double as the other three in a crisis.
Scanner drone. Used for doing deep sonar scans from the surface, as well as detailed ore scans from underground. No initial ideas on looks.
Excavator/Digger/Drill drone. Used for cutting new tunnels and mining from ore veins. Open to ideas for looks.
Collector/Truck drone. Used to scoop up rubble from new tunnles, clear out cave-ins, and collect ore debris to cart it back to the smelter facility. Should look something like a dump-truck, only more compact.
Animated explosion for when drones are destroyed.

Underground assets:
Generic rock tiles used for much of the un-mined map.
Empty tunnel tiles for freshly cut tunnels.
Rubble/debris for collapsed tunnels, with or without cave-in animations. Should be same size as other tiles.
Shoring/bracing supports for tunnels. Probably just pillars at edges of tile. Will be layered onto tunnel tiles.
Survailance camera sprites, either static or animated.
Small rubble pile sprites for partially cleared new tunnels. Prefer multiple frames to show progress.
Ore tile overlays. Instead of replacing the default rock tiles, overlays will be used to indicate ore veins. List of ores below.
Gas pocket explosion. Animated explosion sprites for hitting a gas pocket.
Animated sprite of explosion and collapsing rock, for converting rock tiles into tunnel tiles.

Ore types:
Ores: 26 resource types / 7 categories
Radioactives - Uranium/Plutonium/Iriduim/Palladium
Common Metals - Lead/Iron/Copper/Nickel/Tin/Zinc
Precious Metals - Silver/Gold/Platinum
Industrial Metals - Tungsten/Cobalt/Chromium/Titanium
Precious Gemstones - Diamond/Emerald/Ruby/Sapphire/Amber
Common Gemstones - Obsidian/Quartz/Topaz
Non-Metals - Coal

For the ore overlays, I'm not expecting one of each, but at least two from each category. Feel free to do more or all if you wish.

I believe that is all the art which will be needed for this project at this time.

Tuesday Jul 6 2:33

Trace Kern — 2004-07-06T02:33:02+00:00

Shattered Prism: Lost Wastelands The world of Wasteland was once created by an advanced alien race to be a massive laboratory. An artificial world, with two moons and orbiting a single star, all contained within a pocket dimension. To collect their experiment 'samples' the aliens devised a system of autonomous 'gateways' which could be sent out into our corner of the galaxy. These gateways functioned only one way, and when they encountered a viable sample, the subject was pulled in and dropped on the surface of Wasteland. That was millions of years ago. Since then the aliens have left, but their legacy remains. The gateways continue to function, dilligently pulling in samples from throughout the galaxy and depositing them here. You are one such 'sample'. Wasteland is a dangerous place, a largly savage wilderness inhabited by the Outsiders and the Enclaves. The Enclaves faced their situation by banding together to form some semblance of civilization on this world. The Outsiders however, faced with the fact that none of us can return to our homes, have reverted to a savage state. Preferring to live in a 'survival of the fittest' mindset, they form into gangs and warlord nations scattered all over Wasteland. In addition to these sentient threats, there are many non-sentient creatures dropped here, and many of them would like nothing better than to have you as their next meal. Welcome to the Wasteland...

The idea this project embodies isn't an MMOG, but it is a persistant-world, multiplayer, online RPG. The numbers of players I'm aiming for is considerably less than a thousand, and if I hit 500 players online at a time I will be impressed.

Which actually brings me to my second question, for anyone willing to answer.
What are some of the technical requirements of this type of game?
Here's what I can forcast, but if I've left anything out, lemme know:

Server-Side Team:
Data/Account management
Networking/Connections
Gameworld database
Runtime engine (what actually makes everything in the game move)

Client-Side Team:
Networking/Connections
Graphics (2D top-down art)
Sound and/or Music
Interface

Did I miss anything?

Oh, in addition, I do have what *might* serve as cannon-fodder for writing a design document. If you feel otherwise, or have some suggestions to make, feel free to reply here or via email.

***

Lemme tell you a little about the project I'm starting. The title is called
Shattered Prism: Lost Wasteland.
It's a combination of two earlier ideas/projects I've worked on but never
finished.

About a year ago I started designing a tabletop RPG (Pen & Paper) titled
Shattered Prism, based on ideas which had been growing in my head for years.
Early this year I burned out trying to overwork on the RPG rules and getting
it 'just right'. So I put the project on hiatus, and started working on a
new idea.
Lost Wasteland was turning into a rather interesting MUD project, and in
fact is still under active development by a friend of mine. Unfortunately
the basic idea could be taken so much further if I had the programming and
other talents needed to turn it into a graphical game, something a MUD
server can't do.

For a little information about the game itself, here's some theme text I've
written recently:

***
The world of Wasteland was once created by an advanced alien race to be a
massive laboratory. An artificial world, with two moons and orbiting a
single star, all contained within a pocket dimension. To collect their
experiment 'samples' the aliens devised a system of autonomous 'gateways'
which could be sent out into our corner of the galaxy. These gateways
functioned only one way, and when they encountered a viable sample, the
subject was pulled in and dropped on the surface of Wasteland.
That was millions of years ago. Since then the aliens have left, but their
legacy remains. The gateways continue to function, dilligently pulling in
samples from throughout the galaxy and depositing them here. You are one
such 'sample'.
Wasteland is a dangerous place, a largly savage wilderness inhabited by the
Outsiders and the Enclaves. The Enclaves faced their situation by banding
together to form some semblance of civilization on this world. The Outsiders
however, faced with the fact that none of us can return to our homes, have
reverted to a savage state. Preferring to live in a 'survival of the
fittest' mindset, they form into gangs and warlord nations scattered all
over Wasteland.
In addition to these sentient threats, there are many non-sentient creatures
dropped here, and many of them would like nothing better than to have you as
their next meal.
Welcome to the Wasteland...
***

It needs a bit of polishing yet, but that's the basic idea behind Lost
Wasteland.
Now, as for Shattered Prism: Lost Wasteland, it will be the combination of
the ideas expressed in my SP RPG, and the LW MUD. You see, in the MUD you
can be any race, any character you want because those 'gateways' roam the
entire universe. The system developed for the MUD doesn't restrict you to
race selections because you can write a description for anything you want.
However, I've come to the determination that this won't be the case for a
graphical game, where art for each 'race' selection needs to be done
beforehand. Which means I need a limited 'list' of racial selections; and
that brings me back to Shattered Prism RPG.

The SP gameworld is populated by 26 different alien species, and covers
roughly one quarter of the galaxy. For SP: LW, we will keep this list of 26
races, and drop them onto this world in a hidden corner of reality,
Wasteland.

Well, I suppose that's enough information about the setting, what about the
game?
The game will be a combination of three gameplay elements: Combat,
Economics, and Strategy.

Combat:
Wasteland is a dangerous environment. There are plenty of intelligent
creatures who have joined the Outsiders, and most wouldn't think twice
before killing you if they saw you wandering the wilderness, looking for
minign sites or whatever. Even more, there are plenty of non-intelligent
beasts/animals which would like nothing better than to make you their next
meal. All of this means combat is likely to occur anytime you're outside one
of the Enclaves. One major difference from most combat-oriented MMOGs is
that gaining power/advancement in SP: LW will not be based on killing
things. No rabbit bashing for the newbie player just to get to 'Level 2'.
Combat in this game may be inevitable, but the player *can* choose to try
and avoid combat and still be effective. But for those that do want to go
kill stuff and loot the corpses, they can.

Economics:
I want players to have the eventual option to make all the equipment they
and other players might need and use. Weapons, armor, gear, vehicles, etc.
This means I need some form of economic model. I've decided to take a page
out of Star Wars Galaxies and use a similar model.
Here's how it works. The first step to building, say a sword, is to go out
into the wilderness and mine some Raw Materials (metal ore). Then you can
bring this back 'home' to a workshop and you have to turn it into Processed
Materials (metal ingots) through smelting. Thirdly you take the processed
material and craft Components (Hilt and Blade) using metalworking. Finally,
you assemble the components into Finished Goods (the sword) with
weaponsmithing.
Each of the above four steps requires different character skills, different
resources, and different tools. Players who don't have the tools or skills
to finish one of the steps themselves must buy from those players who do.
This creates trading. Buying and selling at each of the steps.
In addition there are two basic commodities which can be harvested and are
consumed by many things: Energy and Food. All Enclaves need both of these to
continue functioning. Creating a form of resource management simulation.

Strategy:
Finally we get to this element. In the later stages of play, after a player
has built up their 'capital' and resources, they have access to some
interesting play options. Players with the cash and resources can purchase
or build what they need to found their own Enclave. First by building an
Outpost in the wilderness. This can be upgraded into a Fortress, and you can
start claming territory around your base. You can then hire/create troops to
defend your base and your land. These are NPC units which can be commanded,
given orders, sent on missions. If someone attacks you, a battle will take
place where you can give orders to any of your units defending your base.
Further, a Fortress can be upgraded into a full Enclave, with the ability to
claim more territory, and to form new Outposts and remote bases. Enclaves
are like small cities, with lots of NPCs 'behind stage' doing many things a
Fortress can, only better, faster, and without player supervision being
required.

Allright, enough about the game. How about the interface?
Okay, this part is going to be the most sketchy because I don't have the
background to know what is or isn't technically unrealistic. But here
goes...

The game interface will be largely a top-down perspective of a 2D world
using tile-based mapping and a keyboard/mouse interface. There will be
different interface screens for various elements of gameplay: Combat Maps,
Travel Maps, In-Building Maps, Inventory, Manufacturing, Base Management,
Vehicle Travel, etc...
Here are some screenshots of a game one of my friends started some years
back. The game is called Wormhole, and he started it as a demo for getting
into the games industry. Why am I showing you this? Because these images are
the primary source of inspiration for what I would like SP: LW to look like:

http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v258/TracerFox/Wormhole/

The graphics from Wormhole were very early and simple. If all I can find is
talent to do things like that, so be it. But if I can improve the graphics,
then all the better.

So, those are the basics of this project idea.
Any questions?
***