Heroes For Hire, A Game Idea That I'm Trying To Create me just explaining a game for feedback and ideas

[adriantc 0]

Why not place the action backwards in time... let's say during the Roman Empire, the beginning of its downfall. Your heroes would be the roman generals doing the best they can to preserve the empire from collapsing. Or, why not, the users would be one of the barbarian commanders trying to take down the empire. Think carefully before choosing any period of time because the users like to be in a position that give them glory, where their deeds could make a very big difference. Maybe even create some historic battles which the user can play and by doing so altering the course of history... That's got to be interesting! So maybe you could use the game to teach a history lesson (I would like that) and also to explore some alternate timelines... But if you choose to place the action further in time (in the future) you will also need a story, something to explain how things ended up that way. In fact before even starting to code you should work out a story and study the period of time you want to create... like the cloths , the weapons, the amour, the building, even the social behavior.From what I understand from your posts you want to create something like World of Warcraft single player style. I would take that even further. You should make you game more like Black&White. You should try to do what Black&White failed to do... make you hero inspire the ones below him like the henchmen and the brute squads. You should give the user the chance to turn his hero into a positive hero or a evil one. Of course I don't know if you can do that since I think it requires hours and hours or programming. And since we are here I think you should spend more time on the programming part first.... it's far more important to make the characters and the world of the game behave as you want rather then spending countless hours on an armor or on a new weapon. Take the time and shape the world as you like and program the AI (which must be very smart) and then start working on graphics.Keep us posted when you start working on the game... If you need beta-testers count me on...

Edited May 25, 2007 by adriantc (see edit history)

[amit nigam 0]

hello stormsinger and other friends,i feel that your idea is very good stormsinger...i feel that i can help you out in places where decision making tasks are involved...i am not so good in coding but i am a good manager, i think. also i like playing these sort of games therefore i think i can give you tips about things that i feel are either wrong or missing in other these sort of games....i wish you best of luck for your endeavour..to start with, in the start you had said that you are thinking over two things....one is the time factor that is in which age to place the game and the second is whether it should be three d or two d...also you had said that you want to place more emphasis on political analysis and strategy making rather than just fancy fights...i am writing this post just to tell you that if you stick to your idea of giving more stress on strategy making than just fighting then it will be a very good and slightly different game from other such games...since your real decision making ability is tested more in peacetime than in times of war therefore i feel that if you will put more stress on political decision making then it will be great test of ones capabilities...also i feel that instead of having the time span of past, like medieval ages etc., i feel that if you place your game in future than it will be great....there are, i feel, two good points regarding this....first your game will be different from most of the games like these since most of the popular strategy making games are based on historical events...so if you put it in future then you can have your own wars created and own kingdoms made and also you will be different....the second good thing is that the scope of the game will increase..why so??...because then you can give the players not only the option of winning kingdoms etc. on earth but even on other planets...i feel that if you add in some way some sort of intergalactic type of things in your game then it will be amazing...also i feel that the game should be in two d and not in three d....because three d will shift the concentration of you as well as your players from the basic aim...for you the basic aim i feel should be not justto build visually great game but strategically sound game...and for players also strategy making must be the focus not just roaming around in great environments...by the way this is what i feel...if you would like to discuss something else then i am always open...i wish you best of luck..ok bye...keep writing..

[Stormsinger 0]

amit nigam adriantc Thanks the both of you for your posts. I like the ideas. (i'm still split on a specific historic event of the past or a low tech future)In either case, i think even if you guys don't want to code i have a million and a half ideas that i could use a great detail of help on. I keep wanting to figure out formulas for exactly how things work, and then make them simple enough to do them a few thousand times a day. Any and all input and ideas would be spectacular, sign into the forums if you would, or send me a message That goes for anyone else as well, we want as much help coding and non as possible

[Stormsinger 0]

Ok, here's a tiny fractional update(i haven't posted since due to technical issues)I'm thinking of resetting the timeperiod as suggested. I kind of liked the roman era idea, but i've also been thinking of a quasi-cliche homegrown scenario. Opinions, thoughts, etc, for this. Sci-fi futuristic. There exists high speed interstellar travel, but its energy costly based on the mass. We've colonized a handful of systems, and they are now all called core worlds. Resources are always problematic and scans showed that there was an interesting star system a long distance away. Probes were sent, and there was found to be a unique energy source in the system, a kind of quasi-radioactive(not radioactive, just acts similiar with decay and such). So a fleet of generational ships was sent out and the system colonized. (the system is a whole slew of small planetoids, so space isn't an issue for the setting)3 problems. 1 - The planetoids are inhabited by monstrous creatures.2 - The Crystals once found decay into more stable forms, while in the system and can still be used for a power source. But the hitch is that once the crystals leave the system they have a very high likelihood of even the most stable forms losing stability. So much so that it takes more energy to transport them. So the colony is nearly considered to be a bust. 3 - The system starts to change people, they begin to be able to control their environment "like magic". Then some people start to change too much, and start to resemble the inhabitants. And the generational ships were one-way. So they're stuck there, are getting near to no support from the core worlds who regard them as a "failed venture", and now its a struggle to survive.. etc etc. So now the people are trying to find enough supplies to live, the crystals are found to nourish and create extreme growth in plants and animals, and it seems the most feasible way to support themselves with food is to gather the crystals to create sufficient harvests.

[Stormsinger 0]

Ok thats all tentative, i created half that as i wrote it. So... the monsters are constantly attacking outposts and thingsCrystals power everything. There is a very small content of hard metals, so its difficult to use guns or anything, theres just no resources for itCrystals quickly become the currency for the system. Crystals are harvested in meteor showers on all of the planetoids. There is quick travel between the planetoidsThe crystals attract the creatures to the area, so often you will be challenged.. mision fights etcThe guild has been created, it is a code and mission list People are respected and honored through the guildPeople post requests and rewards for specific tasks, can pick up the missionsIt becomes like a honorable thieves guild type dealieThere is heavy contention for "owning" the various hunting grounds, asking for help with specific monsters that are plaqueing your area.Theres little direct fighting between players, more underhanding and backstabbing. I'm trying so hard to put in a huge political component, i want people to have guild rankings, and power approximationsTherefore challenges can be set and "the fairness" can be set off of the conditions of the challenges and the relative power between the two. For example if a more notable and powerful player challenges a lesser player it will be considered unfair, and will not be penalized heavily if you refute the challenge.Whereas if your a higher power and some bad deals go down, leaving you with few resources(tired hurt heroes, few crystals, or something) but its not public knowledge because its not honorable, and someone does find out. They can challenge you. Even though they are unfair conditions(you are in bad shape) because its not publicly known it will be a fair challenge and lose some major honor/respect if you decline or lose it badly. The challenges might be direct combat, or more likely missions, retrieve these crystals from overthere in this time period, or a race, etc. Ok, thoughts comments as usual, we are 2 and a few hopefuls working on this atm, if you have input, want to help, anything, post/pm me or signup on the websiteIf anyone knows how to get more political tell me, i'd love to know