Chaos + logic = net

Despite the ongoing insanity mentioned a couple posts ago, development is still ongoing, albeit slower. While the slowness can partially be attributed to moving, the fact that I'm working on the combat AI mechanics is probably the bigger problem.

Since this is a simultaneous turn-based game, computer controlled battles are the only feasible way of resolving battles. Not wanting to just base the fights on "all ships attack the nearest ship until it dies," I've tried to give players control of what their ships do; however, there are still a lot of unknown factors. If you set a large, powerful ship with massive guns to attack the nearest target, and that target happens to be a fast-moving agile fighter, what happens? I wouldn't want the large ship attempting to chase down the smaller ship; it would be like a eagle attempting to catch a housefly- unlikely and pointless even if it happened. However, I feel that having ships be omniscient and automatically knowing what ships they should attack is the wrong direction as well.

I get the feeling that battle AI is a problem I'll be tweaking for a long time to come, even after release.

I've decided that the name should be Pews In Sub-Space. Partly because of the acronym, partly because I find the name hilarious, but mostly because I'm curious what kind of search terms my site will record having a link to "PISS Wiki" on the front page. Also, because as far as I know, it's not taken.

So, yay.

I've added a section on the left that constantly updates with any changes occurring on the wiki. I mostly added this for my own benefit, as I know if people are looking at it, I'll be more apt to keep working on it like I have been. Also, later on when (if) more people start making updates in it, I'll be able to keep tabs on what is going on easier.

Anyway, that's pretty much it. Work is ongoing.

Most of the work being done on the game are happening in the wiki, which is coming along quite nice, I think. I still have a lot more to add to it, but the simple act of writing it all down and linking everything together has really been helping me cement how everything will flow and just exactly what kind of strategy game I want to make. Also, I seem to be the type of person that is most creative when writing. I can't even imagine doing all this in XML from scratch.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm still working on this and if you're actually curious enough, you can see the progress in the wiki.

With the help of some friends, I've been thinking about a name for this game. I decided it should have a fairly non-serious name, since I'm purposely including no story (a decision I've kind of regretted, since I love to write and it would give me an opportunity to make something neat) and might have some strange humor. Also. picking a name has gotten even tougher since I decided that whatever name I use should have a corresponding hilarious acronym. Here are some ideas I've written down over the last few weeks; if one strikes your fancy, let me know. Or if you have an idea, tell me. There has to be something better than this:

I toyed with the idea of linking authentication between my bog and the Wiki but I think I'll keep them separate for now, at least until I get most of game information in to prevent asses from screwing with the data. For now, if anybody wants to help add stuff, let me know and I'll create an account for you.

Currently, I'm focusing on fleshing out the technology tree and other game mechanics. Since I'm looking to have 10 metric shitloads of techs to research, help in that area would be especially welcome.

I've been spending most of my time lately with creating the huge technology tree a game like this will require. For awhile, I've been writing down ideas that come to me for technologies in text files, notebooks (mostly during classes or boring meetings), and the occasional napkin. I figured since I had already decided that I wanted a massive wiki to contain all this someday, I might as well start now and actually just write directly in the wiki while designing it instead of transferring the forgotten information off disintegrated napkins.

I'm sure I could be doing something much better with my time (like, say, programming the server), but it's what I feel like doing at the moment, and frankly this is the kind of shit I should have done before even starting on the code. Whatever. It's only a little bit more overhead (OK that's a lie), it's something I was going to do anyway, and I won't have a billion ideas floating around on multiple notebooks now.

The link is currently http://www.chaoslogic.net/TBSWiki although I plan on putting a link up top soon as I figure out an easy way. The Wiki is currently locked from editing, but I plan on linking the users from this here blog to the wiki. I figure I can worry about that later when/if I have a lot of people that want to edit it. Currently, there's not a ton in there since I'm still fucking around with the general design of the wiki (how the categories will flow, namespaces, shit like that). Chalk up another on the list of "things that are not the best use of my time."

Whatever. At least it's progress.

EDIT: The link is now at the top of the page for future access.

As I was uploading the newest build of the server code to my code repository last week, I decided that "TBS Game" was not a suitable name for this project. However, I'm having a difficult time coming up with a name since it will have no plot (on purpose) and very little else that can be considered remarkable given the 4X pedigree of the games it's roughly based on. The huge tech tree and detailed espionage (leftovers from the RTS game) are the only areas that are driving my design of the game, but those are fairly expected in 4X games, although possibly not to the degree for which I have planned. Still, probably not remarkable enough to warrant a name based on either of those qualities... at least nothing that comes to mind.

I'm entertaining suggestions for the name if anybody has any ideas to give.

It seems like most games that aim for realism are very unfun (piss off, spell checker, I say it's a word now). Not many games out there are realistic at all, and probably every single one of them has at least one unrealistic compromise made in the name of fun or playability. Maybe it's finding gold coins in freshly slaughtered bear carcasses, stumbling upon ammo for your arsenal of guns on alien worlds, or medic packs that can somehow heal gunshot wounds caused by tanks, games have to compromise a little somewhere or they turn into horrible chores. Games that forget this or try to branch out usually end in failure or end up not being as fun as they should be.

Take GTA4 for example. If you truly wanted to experience the game, you had to take women on dates, friends out to bars, etc. Doing this would improve your relationship with them, while snubbing them lowered their liking of you. Sadly, not answering your fucking cellphone while you're in the middle of a high-speed chase or getting shot up by Russians and being late when picking them up means you just lost some cred. Or maybe you were picking up a date when your smelly cousin calls to go shoot pool- whoever you ditch will hate you a bit more. While I hope these seemingly minor transgressions wouldn't lower your "cred" with some major characters to the point where they would stop moving the plot along (I never finished the game, so I can't say), it still disagreed with me. It felt like instead of playing the game, the game was playing me.

That all said, I'm making a strategy game. A game with a fairly large scope as it is: galactic warfare. I believe such games have to be mostly based in (some sort of) reality. However, some methods of warfare may totally break the multilayer experience. Take technology, for example. History is filled with examples of a warring faction being totally decimated by another with superior technology. Pointy sticks < swords < guns < tanks, etc. Realistically, if your armada armed with pointy sticks goes up against a foe armed with guns, you're going to lose, and badly. You might not even have the time to reverse engineer their technology before being wiped out. One way of looking at this is technology research is a vital part of these games- you can't neglect it any more than you can neglect maintaining a sizable army to ward off foes. Another way to look at it is that you will make a few mistakes when playing each game. Should you automatically lose the game if you make a mistake and your opponent doesn't? "Fun" says no- you should get a chance to come back. However, somebody has to win the game eventually, and it can't just be based on random factors- skill must have a part in it.

Man, I seriously don't know how game developers do this.

First off, I'm not giving up on my RTS idea. It's too awesome to forget about it, but sadly it would take years working with 3D stuff before I would get to the point of making anything playable. That said, I've completely changed directions and am making a turn-based strategy game. In 2D. Probably even in space so I won't even have to worry about making maps with backgrounds. I'm borrowing a lot of the crazy technology ideas from the RTS though.

The main goal of this project is to create a multiplayer game that can be played at each player's leisure and yet still as fast paced as possible. The game will use a simultaneous turn play-style. How this works is that everybody takes their turn at the same time and submits their choices to the server. Once everybody has told the server what they want to do (or a pre-defined time period elapses) , the server parses all the commands from each player, resolves the combat, makes an updated map, and sends it to each client. The process repeats until there is a victor.

The major problem with this is the server will have to handle all the combat. It would take forever to resolve a skirmish via this method. Now, I'm not usually a fan of computer-resolved combat. It's always too boring and doesn't have the excitement that real human intuition brings. That said, units in the game will be able to be 'programmed' with some rudimentary commands for battle that are executed in order. Things like "fire long-range missiles for X turns; retreat" or "flank army; attack from rear" stuff like that. I toyed with the idea of having a full-blown lua script or something that players could create to control their ships, but I figured most people wouldn't want to deal with that and it would be unfair. I still plan on having lots of options in order to make combat interesting, however.

I believe this format will also lend itself well to portable devices. I'll be getting a Pandora soon, and I'll surely be making a client for it. PC will obviously have a client as well, and maybe the DS if it can run Python. The portable device will connect to the server in the morning, get the updated map, and the player can take their turn while eating lunch or taking a crap. Later, when they get home or within range of a hotspot, they can upload their turn.

Anyway, the server code is coming along nicely. I hope to have a simple server by the end of the week that can move units around on. Obviously there is way more to do than that, but it's an exciting first step.