So I need to stop my transformation into a complete &£%

[cwstjdenobs]

And I'm thinking something else to do with my free time might help. So I'm going to do something I haven't done in a long long time, but have being talking about for just as long, and have a serious attempt at making a game.

So I like space trading games, so that's what I think I'll have a go at. About the only things I've decided on so far are:-

[*]It will be open source.[*]The universe will be (mainly) procedurally generated.[*]The ships won't move like planes. They'll move like space ships.*[*]Single player and online multi player modes.

And that I'm going to start developing this using OpenGL and SDL on the PC (Linux, Windows, and Mac).

So apart from that I'm pretty much open to suggestions, so if you'd be at all interested let us know what you'd like. And while I really want to hear from everyone who is at all interested, if you don't normally like this sort of game your views are especially welcome.

TTFN

*unless things move onto the stage where it has atmospheric flight. Hopefully they will.

 

[Rydian]

Procedurally-generated maps? Cross-platform? Multiplayer?
Boner alert!

Random suggestions...

• Creative commons music? Much of it can be found in tracker formats, reducing filesize and memory overhead.
• Sprite graphics? Could make development a lot easier, and people might be more apt to actually submit things.
• If you're going to have various races, have the player have the ability to make their own race by picking random good points (and bad points to balance out the good). This may need a lot of tweaking to prevent multiplayer people from just picking one certain overpowered buff, though...

 

[MEGAMANTROTSKY]

Best of luck to you.

 

[cwstjdenobs]

Procedurally-generated maps? Cross-platform? Multiplayer?
Boner alert!

Random suggestions...

• Creative commons music? Much of it can be found in tracker formats, reducing filesize and memory overhead.

I was thinking all the assets would be creative commons. Music, even though I'll probably give more hands on input therr than graphics, hasn't being something I've thought about just yet. Probably a mixture of tracker and ogg depending on the situation.

• Sprite graphics? Could make development a lot easier, and people might be more apt to actually submit things.

I could see sprites working in some places, but I'm not sure exactly what you mean when trying to think about how it could work well on this sort of game.

QUOTE

• If you're going to have various races, have the player have the ability to make their own race by picking random good points (and bad points to balance out the good). This may need a lot of tweaking to prevent multiplayer people from just picking one certain overpowered buff, though...

A cool idea, but as you say would need fine balancing. A definite one to put serious thought into. I always actually really liked the human (well top-level sort of species anyway) only sci-fi universes, they seem to open up some interesting possibilities. But I'm well aware that that would make this much less appealing, and much harder to write the background, plot setting, etc for.

@MEGAMANTROTSKY Thank You.

 

[cwstjdenobs]

Well right now I've got enough thrown together to start on star distribution. Right now I'm looking at spiral galaxies, and I'm reading up on the distribution of heavy elements in spiral galaxies to work out how many "useful" solar systems there should be and where they should be. Systems with "natural" life bearing planets and moons will be a subset of these.