Well, would you? I have seen posts of games that would come close to being labeled a MoO clone. What I am trying to do; yes, clone it, but add to it to make it more appealing, with more gameplay options. Ideas: MoO and it's later sequels have alot to offer, but I left wanting more. What if you could start out as a budding admiral, in a part of space, that is already dominated by a particular empire? You are responsible for developing a portion of undeveloped space. Well, with power and money (Which you do gather in this game) opens several doors for you; start building your own empire, by settling and developing neutral worlds, or even take over your previous empire's or other's territories. You micro-manage planets, build fleets, develope technology, and other original 4x activities. What do you dot hough when you become a well of Empire of your own? Your ships, buildings, and uniforms look like you're still a part of your previous 'owner'. Or you don't have uniforms at all!. After some time developing your own empire, you can change your ship architectures, uniform design, and technologies. Doing these things can add to moral, have an effect on reosurces, and how other empires view your's. Basically if you can remember such games, I want to find a balanced, intelligent and attractive way of mixing Master of Orion(4x theme), When Two Worlds War(ship customization, architectures), and any other reosurce gathering game out there. My question to you (even though this is all I have so far), would you play it? Would you enjoy it? Even though it's going to be free, and just incase; would pay for it? Graphics will not be too snazzy, but will not look like they climbed out of the EGA era. GUI will be as streamlined as possible, and the learning curve will be intelligent, but simple enough for the complete novice at strategy games to play well enough. If this a flame-attractive post, flame away :) Criticism is good. [Edited by - JWRIchards on May 16, 2005 8:24:40 AM]

The market for this type of game is huge, which of course means you'll have plenty of competition. Where you will succeed though, is through originality. If you have an interesting idea that you think would only apply to a niche market, never be afraid to realise it - the free-game from hobbyist is a market that can only thrive with new and interesting ideas.

Sure, some of your ideas will fall on deaf ears and be lost on your audience, but that is part of the fun of it - your game is free (or cheap at least) and wont have all the latest visual or audio gimmickery so you need something to stand out, and an interesting, dangerous twist on an existing theme is perfect.

Although your ideas are still at the pupal stage they sound good, I like the idea that you develop a part of an empire whilst learning the intricacies of the game and then are free to develop yourself once you are familiar with the game. Of course, if the emphasis of the gameplay shifted slightly at that point it would help the game stay interesting.

Good luck with your project and I wouldnt worry too much about trying to please an audience - do something new!

Hey, I actually received a response.

Reading the forums here, it seems like everyone supports everyone else, almost no matter what. I posted the same idea on another board, and not a single reply came.

I have reasons to post, I have never programmed my own game before. I did an old hangman game back in high school for a class called advanced computer lab, and also wrote a calender program...all text no graphics.

I started this project because like I said, I've felt lacking in alot of games I've played. And, a few friends are willing to help.

The questions I asked were already expressed by other posts...so...

I'm working on the engine to randomly create a galaxy, and populate it (with stars, planets, gass-clouds, and other spacial anomolies), so when you start a game you can get a fresh 'map'. Then have a way to save that info so if you save and come back, you don't get a new 'map' all over again. Any suggestions? I'm hitting some pretty thick walls.

I've just done something similar to what you're suggesting (I've used entirely 2D, not sure what you're planning but theory is the same anyway). All of my objects (planets, anomalies, moons, ships, asteroids etc.) are derived from a baseSpaceObject class and all objects are kept in a list. To save all I do is get how many objects in the list (and save that variable) and then for each object, save that data (using derived method) along with a type identifier, and I do that for all objects. As my galaxies dont involve many permanent objects (between 20-100 (my asteroid belts work from an emitter)) I don't bother sorting the list so that same-type objects are saved together.

When loading, I get how many objects to load, then for each object get the type identifier and load in the variables by creating new objects.

Incidentally, when I cast back to my base class I dont keep a type identifier tag on the object, my classes are designed in such a way that I dont have to cast back at any time, I believe this is the whole point of using inheritance rather than continually casting objects up and down. My type identifier tag is written to file using the derived Save() function and this is only so I can call the correct Load() function when loading the data.

I'd check out a game called Stars! (very old but still popular) that is much much better than MoO3. It's all about the gameplay though and has no flash graphics.

My project is writing a game similar to Stars! but with a hell of a lot of new features, gameplay and options. The market for this type of game is huge and I think the fans haven't been given what they deserve yet!

maybe you should check these
http://groups.google.ro/groups?hl=ro&lr=lang_en|lang_ro&threadm=74cda663.0504140204
http://www.geocities.com/svallentinus/RandomTechnology.doc