Massive Multiplayer Real Time Strategy Game

[Raver]

Hello,

i'm programming since five months (in my spare free time) on a "isometric massive multiplayer real time strategy peer-to-peer game".

The peer-to-peer platform is already working, but it is still very very buggy.

If someone is interested in
-gui programming (until now, only displaying, animation and scrolling works, but no input is possible)
-game logic  (like path-finding, battle system, the land-generation in new sectors)

please contact me.


The concept is: The game never stops running.
If you go offline, your units in the internet are defending themselve with the AI against other players.
You can build units and buildings, you can trade and fight. Together with your alliance you can make campaigns with hundreds of other players.

At a later point of time, it is planned for the developers to earn some money from the players who spend more than 20 or 40 hours per month in the game. For other players, the game shall be free.

Im seeking programmers, who are also interested in the improvement of the game concept with their own ideas.

If you are interested please send me a mail.

Greetings,

Daniel

Present Screenshot:

[Malohkan]

I'm somewhat interested... but I think I'll probably spend my time on my own idea for a next game.

[Raver]

Well, all ideas are welcome.

There are some fixed parameters due to technical reasons, like isometric, strategy, always running, but about everything else we can talk.

It is planned, that the game plays is in the near future. The graphics in the screenshot are in the middleage, because i'm all thumbs in graphics things and the sprites were taken from http://www.reinerstileset.4players.de:1059/ (a very good free graphics resource site). However, developing and testing with real graphics makes much more fun, than with colored rectangles.

Due to the peer-to-peer architecture, fast action scenes like in Rimscape are not possible. And there is also the risk of the technical impossibility of the real time peer-to-peer architecture, because i can only test here with three computers and not with hundreds.

I can also fully understand, if it makes more fun to plan your own game. For me it is the same. But since my main concern is, to see the isometric p2p-platform running  and the AI sprites living in the internet , i'm also disposed to provide the networking and basic gui platform to others who have an excellent story-line idea for their game. This would mean, pool together two projects to one.

Greetings,

Daniel

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[Horizon]

Hey Raver,

Sounds cool. I have a two week vacation coming up (starting monday) in which I'll have a lot of time to waste.

I'm a 4th year AI and 1st year CS student. I have about 2 years of Java experience, though I have trouble starting up any projects of my own. I am however able to write good chunks of code as soon as I figure out where to start. I'm in this mainly to learn more programming (the same reason I started CS this year) so almost any game idea goes. I really like the idea of a persistent world populated with AI, however.

I may have some ideas for other uses of your isometric-p2p-platform, if it works out well. I am a bit of a proponent of opensource, so I'd like to know your opinion on that (though it's not make/break for me).

I also think it will be hard to cash in on a system like this, especially since it's serverless. You'd need to really make it worthwhile to your players to earn any real cash on this, but it's all about the challenge.

Last but not least, I'll PM you including an email-adress so you can reach me faster.

Horizon

[Raver]

Hello Horizon,

I'm a 4th year AI and 1st year CS student.

if i understand right, you learned first artifical intelligence and then computer scientist? Or did i get the shortcuts wrong? Here in germany it is inverted. AI is part of the computer scientist studies.

I may have some ideas for other uses of your isometric-p2p-platform, if it works out well. I am a bit of a proponent of opensource, so I'd like to know your opinion on that (though it's not make/break for me).

I also think it will be hard to cash in on a system like this, especially since it's serverless. You'd need to really make it worthwhile to your players to earn any real cash on this, but it's all about the challenge.

As many others here, my dream is, that i can live from game developing at any time and do it  fulltime. However,  the gpl doesn't execlude to earn money. So,  it would be ok, to make the code opensource, as long as there is a possibility to take money from premium players for the server usage.

Now we are back at the technical concept: there is one directory server required, who tells the p2p-client, which client IP is managing sector X. But during normal play, a client only connects every 15 min to the server for only some milliseconds and so, the server can handle lots of clients. It is only nearly peer-to-peer.

The plan is to earn the cash from premium players. Every player gets a contingent of 20 or 40 hours per month. If this contingent is empty, he can't give his units any commands, until the next month. If he has build a nice empire and sees that another player is attacking him, he can sign a electronic "certificate of debt" for x $ and can counterattack immediately. But he has to pay back his debt in 30 days, or he is blocked, until he pays it back. That is my "business plan"

Players who don't need the 20 hours per month can play completely and forever for free.  They wouldn't pay anyway  nothing.

If you are any longer interested, i suppose that you want to code the AI part? But if the part is regardless for you, the next important thing would be the mouse input system (selecting units, giving commands). I'm still digging in the networking subsystem..

I send you on monday a link with PM, where you can test a little bit and then i prepare/document the API of your desired code part.


Greetings,

Daniel

[tapish]

hi!!
i want to make a new game .
i want the direction of how to be proceeded.
so please send me the information about how can i make a java based game.


yours faithfully
tapish agrawal

[sanojo]

Hi Raver,

I sent you a PM in case you are still looking for help.   I have written a multiplayer RTS a few years ago so I am familiar with alot of the issues.