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View Full Version : 22: Starcraft as a tick based online game



cairnswm
02-06-2009, 09:55 PM
Anyone remember Prehysteria?

How about Starcraft as be an online game. You register, choose a race and start playing. Each day you earn a certain amount of ticks that you then use to: Build, Harvest or attack. Each building gives you abilities that require ticks to use (I'll have to go read up on all the startcraft buildings and units again).

Various worlds can be created in which players can compete for superiority - possibly with options to form aliances on the same world, and once a world is conquerored then they can go out into space and attack other worlds. (Or the world then restarts giving everyone a chance to reset and start again).

Players can build armies by allocating built weapons to the army. Armies that go out to attack other players are then not available for a certain amount of time, before they can attack again (and they are not at home to defend the base). Some method will need to be found to encourage players to attack each other instead of just keeping everyone at home and building up a massive army. (Maybe you earn resources for the enemy pieces you destroy).

The biggest problem Prehysteria had was that it was all a positive feedbakc loop - the person who was ahead on day 1 was going to be the winner. This game needs some sort of negative feedback loop - maybe as people drop behind the leader of their world they get resource bonuses, or the tick period decreases giving them more turns in which to catch up in. (All the ways I can think of implementing negative feedback seems to encourage a defensive strategy).

Nice idea D!

FuzzYspo0N
03-06-2009, 12:01 AM
I like the concept, an MMORPG! jk but it sounds really workable. The concept would keep players a lot longer than a 2 minute run in with a test. The creating an account and actualy having to maintain it can work as a negative loop. for example , use the amount of time you have been logged out as an exponential component in the resources / skills / stats / building phase formula.

ie : when i log out / end the session the timer starts ticking (can start after say, 10 minutes idle as well)... Then if my say, research is going at 100 units per second, the more i stay away, the slower that gets (which eventually reaches 0 speed updates), where a stagnant flag makes the timer stop and what not.

Maybe that will keep things a little more balanced but of course, if i play every day i am most likley to win, if i was winning at first. So how about specific race handicaps? where the race you choose somehow gives you a certain negative approach based on something out of the players control. Such as seasonal, or daytime changes that affect different races. Like the zerg work slower in the mornings, or the protoss lose energy in the night, the humans requiring sleep, gives them a deficit and a certain weak point that another player can exploit.

Obviously you dont want to be watching people pillage the town while your stupid units sleep, but perhaps a race based handicap can somehow work as a deficit within reason.

Cool idea too

Kensei
03-06-2009, 12:09 AM
I like the idea, cairnswm, and it is definitely a viable game idea - something that is a good twist on an upcoming genre (online go-away-come-back-later type game)

cairnswm
04-06-2009, 08:35 AM
Tick based games are probably the oldest form of online gaming. Back in the days of 8kb modems and BBSs there were tick based online go-away-come-back-later type games available. I'm thinking back to the very early 1990s. It was also the period of true MUDs (Multi User Dimensions/Dungeons)......

cairnswm
04-06-2009, 08:38 AM
To prevent the need of scheduled process running on the server (which most ISPs dont allow anyway) I am goign to make the whole game work on a tick system. Which also basically becomes an immediate feedback system. So research in the tech tree will costs a tick plus resources (and no time required). etc.