View Full Version : Game idea : admin game
FuzzYspo0N
29-03-2008, 01:51 PM
I wanna make a network administrator game. I been planning a couple i had 6 or seven ideas. So then, i was thinking, what would the community want to play in terms of a network admin game.
Think hacking, large scale networks (like 20 computers in a network to "play" in)
stuff like that. i wanna wrestle with the ideas u guys might have..ill post my six ideas later.
:)
Thaumaturge
30-03-2008, 01:52 AM
I rather like this idea. ^_^
Hmm... You could include "trouble from within", such as troublesome users or failing hardware.
Failing hardware might simply call for replacement and data backup, or re-routing if the hardware in question is security-related.
Troublesome users might:
Leave their sections of the network (and thus, potentially, the entire network) open to viral and hacker attack.
Invite dumploads of spam to clog up the network.
Delete things that they should not delete. These might be items important only to the user, as well as items important to other users and items important to the network.
While such users might be banned, they might also be required to have access, so management of such users might be called for.
Another idea, following on from the previous, might be a requirement that the player keep his or her user-base happy by keeping the network operational and fixing problems in a timely manner. This could provide an additional ball for the player to juggle.
FuzzYspo0N
30-03-2008, 11:52 AM
cool, thamuaturge thanks.
One of my basic ideas was this :
A tree/heirachy structure to a network. and without "control" or compromising the entire node list in that tree of computers u may not access the ones above it. For example,
in the picture it shows a sorta structure. all under "c:\" which is all under "My computer" which is all under desktop, right?
http://www.owned.co.za/img/admin1.jpg
So :
U enter somewhere in the story on the lines of "nvidia\win2k\163.75\English" and thats where u are. u can "see" all computers on that level, u just have to access them. for example when i am "in" english computer. i can "see" , like ping, tracert etc on the fictional (not shown) "fraps/comp2/system/homeuser" it is in the node 3 from the "root" in that shot. that means all level 3 pc's are on the same subnet kinda idea and u can exploit them.
Then, once you can exploit comp1 comp2 comp3 comp4 and help, there becomes the possibility to infiltrate into fraps, opening more and more nodes of computers to trace your way up the ladder to the important stuff.
This idea i liked a lot because it allows for the following :
multiple paths to choose,
lots and lots to do via not so much backend work
ability to span across levels, smaller networks.
"level one : printer station" : well done, u reached the toplevel pc, "printserv"
"woosh z0om out into a larger tree with questionmarks all over and saynig u may now see
a bunch of other pcs, you may not. find a way to get those files!"
etc.
it should leave enough gameplay for non-hacker non techies right?
In terms of this idea, game play can be quite exte4nsive yet simplistic.
i dont want cliches, and i dont want generic D:
though, i am more then open to ideas , all and any.
:)
Afflict
30-03-2008, 01:24 PM
Have you ever played or checked out uplink, this sorta reminded me of that... which is probably not the same at all but yeah, I loved this game.
http://www.uplink.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uplink_%28computer_game%29
Interesting looks like an expansio nor another version :) Hacker Elite.
http://totalgaming.stardock.com/games/?id=UPL
Mod Site to the game.
http://www.modlink.net/mods.php
Game Guide:
http://guide.modlink.net/
Anyway posting this here so you maybe can get some ideas for your game.
Never knew this was a commercial game :O smell the irony..
Fengol
30-03-2008, 06:11 PM
I was going to suggest, have you played Uplink!
I'd also like to encourage you to think "outside the box" in terms of how a hierarchy (actually, any collection with parents and children) is displayed. Give the game a unique feel rather than a typical tree structure. *For creative influence watch Johnny Mnemonic where he traverses the internet*
FuzzYspo0N
30-03-2008, 07:33 PM
haha, yea i totall played uplink. which hacker didnt lol.
KI wouldnt be showing the tree that way that was jsut a very detailed design sketch D:
01DT!m3r
30-03-2008, 07:42 PM
has anyone here played hackthegame http://www.hackerforever.com/I thought it was quite cool with the ability to load other custom user made levels . hope it can give you some ideas:)
FuzzYspo0N
30-03-2008, 10:45 PM
i thank you all for the replies, but i must reiterate.
i dont want cliches, and i dont want generic D:
Looking at older games (which would be my first place fof reference) was great, i am looking for a fresh concept. i am loooking for more ideas regarding gameplay and what can make this kind of game cool, for non tech/hackers/etc.
:D
Afflict
31-03-2008, 06:08 AM
Hmmm remember now hacking is fun purely for the challenge of the hack and... well... never mind.
Users don't find that stuff cool, period. Hence movies like Hackers had all that visually effect kind of crap that you never see as a hacker (well not on the screen anyways)... ;)
So heres my suggestions, go with an arcade'ish feel, (think Tron-like) I never played system shock, but im pretty sure it was also systemish and since it was the face of the infamous SHODAN http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Shock_2 you can look at the references in that game too. (yes I know ground breaking new awesome awaits your game) Get a good sense of what users will like I recall System Shock to be ground breaking in it's own time frame too?
Dammit now I have to go find and play that game grrr.
Anyway what I wanted you to primarily see on the system shock page was the kewl little trippy thing on the left (thumbnail under plot summary) and the hacking thing above it to its right. Wow the legacy was fun to read, amazing.
Hehe excuse all the made up words in the post. ;) But I hope you got what I meant. If you didn't I'll try again after I finally get some sleep :P
FuzzYspo0N
31-03-2008, 09:56 AM
LOL, no i get you... iv got the visual aspect coverred, im pretty certain the visual will be far fetched enough to make it arcade like. i appreciate the views :)
this is what i mean.
View a system console that has cool graphics and has a drag and drop interface that allows u to move things around. u rearrange ur screen how u like and then u use the tools from the cool menu and find out where u are. with a zoomy kinda "map" screen and the ability to "browse" the network via the mouse sliding to the edges etc.
Like, what kind of GAMEPLAY aspects, not game content, gameplay. like typing in a console is awesome fun for me cos i type fast and making challenges like that i might enjoy, but the average user will find a console based game boring. it will be all interesting and waht not but what kinda of gameplay aspects could be incorporated to make the above mentioned game play uniqyue/interesting.
all ideas will be credited btw , i decided to make this version open minded and all people input
Afflict
31-03-2008, 02:59 PM
Hectic thats pretty awesome that your going to develop all the ideas... :) I had some sleep now, let me ponder on this a bit.
01DT!m3r
01-04-2008, 09:15 PM
How abovt a tech tree type thing similar to the crysandbox2's ai editor but with files and folders and in seperate windows for each computer you hack . I dunno abovt this one . But how abovt some mini games eg when a computer /server has a firewall you have to create a path around the "Fire" to the computers hard drive .
FuzzYspo0N
01-04-2008, 09:33 PM
i think the tree is the way i wud track gameplay, how i display it would not be in tree form.. windows and gui based is not the worst thing, but if im aiminf for a windows based game i wud use a gui like windows itself...hmm, im kinda not getting the first idea. the tree is already setup, its just how wud u play around in this tree... thats what wud interest my thought process
Kensei
02-04-2008, 11:43 AM
Wait. You are making a network admin game and all you guys mention is hacking?
Forgive me, but a network admin doesn't normally hack consoles - he normally prevents that.
He usually downloads and installs patches, checks the health of servers, diagnoses network connectivity, configures firewalls, sets up Active Directory accounts and checks settings on the DNS.
Granted he uses commands such as 'tracert', 'ipconfig' and 'ping' to diagnose network connectivity.
And then, if he is in a small enough company, is the poor sod who has to help the people with their network problems.
I'll use an example of a problem one might need to solve as a network admin - the link between here and London goes down - thus your offices in Australia and Africa cannot access the central servers hosted in London. You have to reroute the firewalls and routers so they go over your link in Boston, USA instead of directly to London - and then, figure out what went wrong.
(Note: I am not a network Administrator :D )
FuzzYspo0N
02-04-2008, 11:57 AM
aha, see thats what cool kensei. my original design went with the opposite approach, one of my other designs was an approach of a hacker. the tree directory thing was for the hacker, and i actually HAD a game like the one you just described. as thaumaturge mentioned an idea this way too.
the game i HAD, i had a finished (had cos i lost it in a drive format) was like you said. but more in the lines of that "scene" from the movie hackers. where the one guy sat at the desk with buttons all over and had to hit the keys to eliminate the viruses , running anti virus, etc. i had that already and its kinda lame to play. so i didnt mind losing it.
Someone on IRC said who the hell wants to play a game about being a netAdmin? which is kinda true, the story would need to be really fantastical to attract an actual network administrator to play a game about the job that he is in.
The newer game design i had for this idea u approached was based on proximity kinda meters. where there wud be a large number of progress bars in the hud saying "mail server" "dns server" etc, and in the "network" someone somewhere was trying to infiltrate. u wud navigate the network to FIND the problem, and use a set of tools or commands to eliminate the threat. the problems also included, dumb users, etc. when the game got more involved the attacks would be lessened by firewalls, and antivirus but the problem being that more size on the company means more of a target, more leet attacks. this means more work to remove threats and problems as well as tracing the ppl to get them caught.
this left a number of cool options, u contact the authorities via mail. a hacker starts taking out the mail server, and u remove him, it takes a amount of time to repair, kinda like RTS where u have a unit that can repair the damaged servers. if the server got too damaged it wud need to be replaced or fixing time was doubled waiting for new parts. this means if ur mail server was taken out by "hackerzkid" and u cud not get him arrested, he will continue to attack. maybe more forcefully, mabe lie low, u can remove his entries, block his attempts but then u not focussing on all the other problems. typical with network admin problems in reality.
i wanted to combine both elements though, without making a game that will take 2 years. so i scaled my idea down to a tree based hacking game, and wondered about the gameplay aspects that could arise. or what could make that kinda game fun for non hackers or techies.
i cant update the thread name, tho i dnt think its vital :)
Kensei
02-04-2008, 02:49 PM
I understand now - thanks :D
FuzzYspo0N
02-04-2008, 02:52 PM
ok,well im still keen for ideas :)
Afflict
03-04-2008, 11:23 PM
Heres what I just thought of & would like to see:
You create the game around the fact that you must "out hack" hackers... :P so your the goody trying to trace and locate them & stop there attacks. (Really good and fast tracking can let you score more cause they caught the guy at the location he was doing it from etc... if you were slower he already left no one can find him... you get the picture.)
This will be done in an arcade time based fashion, as you progress you obviously have shorter times. Little time way points can be added as you reach certain goals in the Hack prevention your time increases. (eg like racing game with way points as you drive over them your time extends)
This could be an interesting and refreshing approach I reckon.
Then we build in a more of character progression feature also :
There will be different corporations that want to hire you, you can decline the jobs stay where you are etc.
your reputation will be important and failing certain hacks will lower your rating ( I don't think of it as missions that fail and can replay... the hack happened life moves on, I think a more modular style of design for the puzzles would be great or even just creating eg a thousand hack cases... etc.)
Heres what I sort of have in mind in terms of game play modes.
Game Modes
Story Mode
-Single Player
-Story Driven (Dynamic story though as story elements will be random and your "reputation" filters in the equation. Obviously to up re playability factor of story mode.)
Hack Attack :
-Hackers vs Hack Prevention Team
-Multi Player & Single Player (will be treated as multi player just with bots obviously)
-If Single player user will select the amount of bots on each team, difficulty etc.
-Up to 4 parties per team, (can be more or less players on either team) eg: 1 vs 4 ... :O
-No story or character progression, mainly for quick play.
Misc:
*Also level creator will be nice. (Single and Story)
I was also maybe thinking the capturing of the Hackers can be more action based (with characters) but yeah, I think it will be kept to the true nature of the game. So we can just make "news paper" reports etc.
Or just a Mission Overview after each "level" which is probably better, Mission briefings to have same look and feel as the overview.
*Hacker prevention leader board so the game uploads to online score board.
Anyway just some random thoughts I had now.. thought I'd lay it out in a more Game Feature way. If your interested in this concept I can flesh it out some more..
FuzzYspo0N
04-04-2008, 12:17 AM
hen we build in a more of character progression feature also :
There will be different corporations that want to hire you, you can decline the jobs stay where you are etc.
your reputation will be important and failing certain hacks will lower your rating ( I don't think of it as missions that fail and can replay... the hack happened life moves on, I think a more modular style of design for the puzzles would be great or even just creating eg a thousand hack cases... etc.)
Story Mode
-Single Player
-Story Driven (Dynamic story though as story elements will be random and your "reputation" filters in the equation. Obviously to up re playability factor of story mode.)
im not making an uplink clone ;)
Hack Attack :
-Hackers vs Hack Prevention Team
-Multi Player & Single Player (will be treated as multi player just with bots obviously)
-If Single player user will select the amount of bots on each team, difficulty etc.
-Up to 4 parties per team, (can be more or less players on either team) eg: 1 vs 4 ... :O
-No story or character progression, mainly for quick play.
counterhack:sauce
lol this is a cool concept, i like the idea of that. ill ponder more
This will be done in an arcade time based fashion, as you progress you obviously have shorter times. Little time way points can be added as you reach certain goals in the Hack prevention your time increases. (eg like racing game with way points as you drive over them your time extends)
checkpoints : win.. i like that too.
i like the basic ideas yea, if you feel inclined to flesh more feel free. im open for ideas.
remember : non-cliche, non-generic.
also, too cpmplex-a game will kill the development. we wud need goals at first that make sense and are feasible.
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