quote:Original post by MSW
Um...Chess is a great stratigy game basied off of some very simple rules...and as simple as it is...the ''rock, paper, and sisccors'' approch would work very well, I think....no matter how complex such systems can be made, they can all be abstracted to a base level of understanding that the player needs to interpret as "I''m ahead!","I''m breaking even", and "I''m behind".

I conceed that if the result you seek is to build the kind of design that players can abstract without too much trouble then you are on the right track. However, the beauty of games such as Chess, Go, and even Starcraft is that it is very hard to see all of the abstract at a glance. For that reason, I suggest a more complex design, firstly so that a Combatant really can''t see everything that his/her Brain can see, so that they might be more ready to follow orders. Secondly so that sneaky moves are possible. If both brains can see all of the field all the time, and they can see, with a general gist what tech the other team is using, I might see it as easy to get into a dead heat, neither one could really make a surprise attack.

quote:I guess the RTS aspect I''m trying to implament is basied more around the tactical squad command of units rather then the resorce management systems used by the majority of RTS games...buildings are out...as well as anything that relates directly to real world military hardware..that game theme has been done to death, IMHO (along with D&D type fantasy settings)...so weapons and such in this game will be a bit fantastical in design and function.

Of course, I do not mean to impinge on your tastes, I understand your postition, but I am not personally convinced that those genres are ''dead'' in any way, however that is not relevant to this discussion.

Sure you want to loose buildings? they add heavily to the strategic element of "What do I destroy first to give myself a percieved advantage" A good reason to go with military hardware is that it gives something for players to identify with instantly. But that''s all in the packaging I guess, that''s unrelated to actual mechanics and balance.

I was thinking, that you should have a round mechanism like that in counterstrike. If a brain dies, then a new round starts and the brain on that team is cycled (Winning brain stays on top of his/her team).

George D. Filiotis
Are you in support of the ban of Dihydrogen Monoxide? You should be!

Symphonic - sorry if I seemed a bit ''testy''...New Years day hang-over had something to do with that

The "unit" players see a typical FPS view of the game world...while the "brain" player sees a birds-eye view...

"Units" only have one weapon...and can only upgrade it through ''power-ups'' supplied by the "brain" as they spawn in that particular "units" waypoint area...or when the "unit" dies and is respawned, he/she can then chose what weapon they will use among those available through the ''tech'' tree thingy....players who won''t at least make some atempt to follow orders won''t last long...and "brains" who ruthlessly order "units" to thier death won''t either...and anytime sombody dies the other side gets points to use for upgrades, etc...so a stong element of trust will need to be fostered between players.

Adding buildings and other structures would add to the fun the "units" could have...but it could become a headache for the "brains" to keep tabs on things. the game needs to have both FPS and RTS elements tightly intertwined to the point where the removal of one side basicly breaks the game...makes it unplayable...When/If this game gets made, I would rather hear comments from fans saying something like "the game would be better if there were buildings in it"...then hear comments like "whats wrong with the freaking camera?"

The problem I have with military themed games (and D&D style ones too) is two fold:
1) there are a lot of them out right now, and even more on the way...it would be very difficult to stand out among such a competitive field of games...
2) with such games there is a high level of player expectations...players would expect a military themed game such as this to have a hierchy of command...they would expect certain weapons...the use of specific tactics and situations

I want to ''clean the slate''...start freash...it''s bad enough that this game would use the FPS and RTS game genres as a crutch...I don''t want it to also depend on the currently common genre themes and styles as well...

Anyway...I''m stuck for a title...what should I call it?

liv tyler is hot, but that doesn''t necessarily make her a great elf!

--- krez (krezisback@aol.com)

yah i saw it!
she was hot for the three minutes she was in the movie, but other than having the name "arwen" she wasn't especially elf-like. it was more like one of those "let's put some hot chick in this movie for a few minutes so we can put her on the posters and burger-king mugs, and say there is a hot chick in the movie" situations.
it has been a good year or so since i read LoTR, but i could have sworn that frodo was rushed to rivendell by a male elven dude and not aragorn's fiance (i forget his name though). i'll have to go check now...
EDIT: the elven dude is named glorfindel. arwen doesn't even show up in the book (except for being mentioned in conversation) until the third volume. considering how hollywood bastardizes good books every day, though, i still think this movie was pretty sweet.

--- krez (krezisback@aol.com)

Edited by - krez on January 1, 2002 12:01:31 AM

well if you're gonna include those two paragraphs into your sig definetly make use of the "font" tag like I did to make the text smaller. Also stretch them out so they take up less room. Also add a demarkation line via the "hl" tag or a series of underscores. But that's enough about sigs on this thread...

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To get back on topic:

I conceed your points MSW, at this point I''m convinced that you have a solid design in your head, if not in this thread.

I still think you should go with something less pedantic than RGB for the tech types. Perhaps you might treat this as a battle between creatures of an alien race, I see no reason why you might be restricted in your technological vision then.

quote:Original post by MSW
players would expect a military themed game such as this to have a hierchy of command

I''m not convinced of this particular statement. I don''t see why anyone could mistakenly see the presence of a heirarchy in a game such as yours, quite simply, the player who is the brain is in charge, and the units can only communicate with the brain, so that settles it.

Good from the get-go

quote:Anyway...I''m stuck for a title...what should I call it?

Wait until later to get a title, for now you need a development team. If you''re really itching for a title, I think the name "Eye/Claw" is cool

George D. Filiotis
Are you in support of the ban of Dihydrogen Monoxide? You should be!