[[Does not know what he is talking about. Consider post withdrawn]]
Random thoughts, some short and some long...
- Why make all buildings the same size? That strikes me as almost a cop-out, unless you really can't make multi-square buildings for technical reasons. IIRC, even Outpost 1 was originally intended by the developers to have variable building sizes.
- What would the interface and gameplay look like? (I'm not going to risk signing up for that OGame thing to find out, lest I once again get sucked in to the vortex of MMORPG addiction. )
I'm envisioning essentially the OP2 interface incorporating OP1 elements to compensate for the fact that everything is static. The would be a map with different terrain types, displayed in a way similar to OP1, but with more smaller squares viewable at once. Since most of the commands that you can give units in OP involve map-interaction in some way, I would personally want to see structure/unit information/command screens be integrated into the main view in some way, so that you could for example issue the command "move to", and then click a location on the map, as opposed to typing in coordinates or some other equally irritating method.
- Would the game focus on a single colony, or would the player be able to build multiple colonies?
======[If so...]======
- I once heard of a game that intended to use procedural generation to create a huge playing area without having to program an entire map. Maybe a similar concept could be used here to give players access to a theoretically a planet-sized map.
-If the above occurs, some faster method of travel would have to be devised to make sure players actually come into contact with each other.
- A lot of online multiplayer games have multiple "worlds", and if this one ends up getting enough players for that, why not give each one a different tileset and simulate multiple planets? (far future I know, but still)
======[If only one colony, then never mind]======
- I worry that an online version would be far too slow-paced gameplay-wise, and I have an idea that might alleviate that. I don't know if any other online game use it.
I would want some sort of long-term planning ability, so that you can work out what your colony and vehicles will do, then leave the game alone as they fulfill the commands. I'm thinking a sort of series of macros controlling different processes within the colony, incorporating basic programming concepts like if-then, for-loops, etc, but packaged into some kind of relatively friendly interface.
===[Skip if you know what I'm talking about]===
For example: The process of building a mine:
First you start a new macro (or process or whatever you want to call it). A macro builder window appears (with options that will be described later), and your colony display changes slightly to reflect that you are in a sort of "planning mode" rather than real-time. You would give the vehicle factory instructions to build a robo-miner, and a sort of "ghost" robo-miner would appear on your map, symbolizing where the vehicle will be when it is completed. You instruct the ghost-miner to move to a location and build a mine, and a ghostly mine appears instantly, whereupon you set the route for your cargo trucks.
In the macro builder window, each of the instructions you issued would appear, and one option would be to create a "branch" in case of certain events.
For example, between the "move to" and "build mine" instructions, you could put something like "If mining location gets taken by someone else...", which would start a new macro, possibly containing instructions to build and dispatch combat vehicles to take back the mine.
===[Resume reading here]===
In this way, the player could spend a significant amount of time "playing" the game by planning out what their vehicles do, while also being able to leave the game for long periods, and not feel like they are wasting time, or leaving themselves vulnerable to an attack (assuming they programmed a good defensive strategy). It would also help encourage advancement through skill, rather than the ability to be logged on frequently or for long time periods.
Poll
