I hope everybody else had a good year! I know I did, though it could have been better. Still, a pretty good year, the next one should be better! Hopefully for all of us!
The main thing I wanted to share in this post was the idea I had for ship design, which would be one of my favourite aspects of the game.
Inspired mainly by my first big space-empire MMO which I loved to death - SPACE: Glory Through Conquest - because I never came across another such game to do it: as stated in the previous post, players would design their own ships. There would be some 'basic' designs (blueprints) available so players could make ships without having to learn about designing ships, but you would have the option of creating your own designs through drop-down value selections and options, which would affect various attributes of the ship. For example, increasing the 'hit points' of a ship would generally make it larger and more durable, but also less quick and maneuverable, and you could add thruster power to somewhat counteract this (but it might never be as evasive as a smaller ship) and naturally the more you add to the ship, the more it will cost. Ship sizes/classes would probably have a limited number of slot-points to build a ship, to represent it being bound to a certain size class and the range of values within it.
I'm probably not describing it very well right now, but for fans of the genre, it's really satisfying and cool to design your own ships and then actually use them with and against other players!
An advanced option I'd want to add in the future would be to make another page in which you wouldn't even have drop-down menus for everything, just a few limited things (like weapon types for weapon systems) but otherwise you would manually design all of the main attributes and stats yourself (such as hit points and armour and speed and weapons) and the page would report the cost and results of what your design is.
I'm actually down with a cold right now which is making me reeeeally tired, and if I had any more thoughts of what to add to this babbling I've forgotten it! Hopefully there's something and hopefully I'll remember soon!
Have a nice day and a Happy new year =)
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Update#85 : Back and Forth about SPACESHIPS
It's only been a few months now, yeah? Yeah...
Anyway, I've dropped that idea of an EVE application within the greater whole of my website. At first I was just going to drop the idea of a shared login, but the totality of having a whole extra database and a moderately complex system there, and then finding a website that already exists to do what I wanted to do... it just didn't feel like it's worth making.
That said, for UNIVERSE development I can say that I haven't made any real progess to the game in a little while (sorry!) due to being busy with people and jobs.
I have made one important breakthrough for the project: I have confidence now that even with a total system loss I can restore a backup from scratch onto a fresh computer. This is good also because the current host system is mildly crippled by a virus I picked up a while back [don't worry no threat to you] which has been gradually sapping resources and performance capability from the machine, which I therefor may soon reformat or replace.
SPACE COMBAT ~ SHIP ATTRIBUTES
I don't think I've mentioned much about the game's combat system yet, so I shall gift thee all with some details that have been swimming in my head for a long time. Besides, if you've read most or all of the devlog, you deserve it.
Mass & Volume: These physical attributes affect things like speed, evasion, and detectability.
Structure: The main HP of the ship. As the structure takes damage so too do various ship systems. On-board weapons, evasion, and sensors will be reduced along with the structure HP level. Once reduced to zero, the ship is fully incapacitated and damaged beyond repair, effectively dead.
Armour: Yes I spell it with a u. The armour attribute of a ship will reduce incoming damage by the 'amount' of the armor equipped; as the ship takes damage the effectveness of the armour is reduced by a factor dependant on the damage recieved. For example, a large powerful shot would pierce and severely compromise that area of the armour plating, allowing a percentage of future shots to completely bypass any armour.
Energy Shields: Who doesn't like energy shields? First to mention, they would be an advanced technology not available to starting empires; that's okay though because they would be expensive, too. Energy Shields would function as both additional HP and armour. The shields would have a threshold, a max HP, and might regenerate a bit through the battle. The shield threshold would probably be something like 10% of the current shield HP; an attack whose damage is less than or equal to this amount will be completely absorbed by the shield HP, and if the damage is higher than this then its damage would be reduced by the threshold amount and then what remains would hit the ship armour/structure as normal.
Speed: There would actually be a few speed ratings; one would be a battle maneuvering speed, one would be a cruising speed for travelling within a solar system (too fast for battles but too slow for interstellar flight) and one would be an FTL drive for travel between the stars.
Summary of Weapon Types: Laser, Projectile, Missile, Particle Beam
Laser: Good Accuracy, High Power Demand, Shields are not very effective, Least damaging type
Projectile: Medium Accuracy, Medium Power Demand, Shields are normal effective
Missile: Excellent Accuracy, Very Low Power Demand, Shields are highly effective
Particle Beam: Good Accuracy, Very High Power Demand, Shields are normal effective, Significant damage & tech cost
Additionally: Projectile & Missile weapons might have a moderate & high upkeep cost (respectively) for ammunition, while lasers and particle beam (P'eam?) weapons have very low upkeep cost...
Summary of Weapon Systems
When designing your ships, you get to create whole weapon systems (if any) your ship will be equipped with. Larger ships are permitted to install more weapon systems. A weapon system will probably include 3 attributes for you to control: Weapon Type, Power, Shots .. and maybe a 4th for accuracy ... Small ships will be limited to one weapon system, medium ships will be allowed two, and large ships will be allowed up to three weapon systems.
NEXT TIME
More about designing your space ships... (coming soon!)
Anyway, I've dropped that idea of an EVE application within the greater whole of my website. At first I was just going to drop the idea of a shared login, but the totality of having a whole extra database and a moderately complex system there, and then finding a website that already exists to do what I wanted to do... it just didn't feel like it's worth making.
That said, for UNIVERSE development I can say that I haven't made any real progess to the game in a little while (sorry!) due to being busy with people and jobs.
I have made one important breakthrough for the project: I have confidence now that even with a total system loss I can restore a backup from scratch onto a fresh computer. This is good also because the current host system is mildly crippled by a virus I picked up a while back [don't worry no threat to you] which has been gradually sapping resources and performance capability from the machine, which I therefor may soon reformat or replace.
SPACE COMBAT ~ SHIP ATTRIBUTES
I don't think I've mentioned much about the game's combat system yet, so I shall gift thee all with some details that have been swimming in my head for a long time. Besides, if you've read most or all of the devlog, you deserve it.
Mass & Volume: These physical attributes affect things like speed, evasion, and detectability.
Structure: The main HP of the ship. As the structure takes damage so too do various ship systems. On-board weapons, evasion, and sensors will be reduced along with the structure HP level. Once reduced to zero, the ship is fully incapacitated and damaged beyond repair, effectively dead.
Armour: Yes I spell it with a u. The armour attribute of a ship will reduce incoming damage by the 'amount' of the armor equipped; as the ship takes damage the effectveness of the armour is reduced by a factor dependant on the damage recieved. For example, a large powerful shot would pierce and severely compromise that area of the armour plating, allowing a percentage of future shots to completely bypass any armour.
Energy Shields: Who doesn't like energy shields? First to mention, they would be an advanced technology not available to starting empires; that's okay though because they would be expensive, too. Energy Shields would function as both additional HP and armour. The shields would have a threshold, a max HP, and might regenerate a bit through the battle. The shield threshold would probably be something like 10% of the current shield HP; an attack whose damage is less than or equal to this amount will be completely absorbed by the shield HP, and if the damage is higher than this then its damage would be reduced by the threshold amount and then what remains would hit the ship armour/structure as normal.
Speed: There would actually be a few speed ratings; one would be a battle maneuvering speed, one would be a cruising speed for travelling within a solar system (too fast for battles but too slow for interstellar flight) and one would be an FTL drive for travel between the stars.
Summary of Weapon Types: Laser, Projectile, Missile, Particle Beam
Laser: Good Accuracy, High Power Demand, Shields are not very effective, Least damaging type
Projectile: Medium Accuracy, Medium Power Demand, Shields are normal effective
Missile: Excellent Accuracy, Very Low Power Demand, Shields are highly effective
Particle Beam: Good Accuracy, Very High Power Demand, Shields are normal effective, Significant damage & tech cost
Additionally: Projectile & Missile weapons might have a moderate & high upkeep cost (respectively) for ammunition, while lasers and particle beam (P'eam?) weapons have very low upkeep cost...
Summary of Weapon Systems
When designing your ships, you get to create whole weapon systems (if any) your ship will be equipped with. Larger ships are permitted to install more weapon systems. A weapon system will probably include 3 attributes for you to control: Weapon Type, Power, Shots .. and maybe a 4th for accuracy ... Small ships will be limited to one weapon system, medium ships will be allowed two, and large ships will be allowed up to three weapon systems.
NEXT TIME
More about designing your space ships... (coming soon!)
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Update#84 : EVEn More of a Website
Less than a month since the last update! Woohoo! Anyway..
Some people may know, there's a game called EVE Online and it's a pretty neat game. Check out that website to learn more because if I try to tell you about it I'll ramble on and on and on and on because it's really really really really big.
Anyway, I can admit that some aspects of UNIVERSE were created with some inspiration from EVE Online, either direct inspiration or through several tangent thoughts... I'll stress that I'm not copying anything; they're completely different games so it wouldn't work anyway!
Am I rambling? Because that doesn't look like actual information!
I'm a big fan of EVE Online, and the developers who build that game offer an API system to allow people to make their own web sites and applications which can fetch data from within the massive EVE universe, to help them manage their in-game businesses and assets. I would like to do that too!
So, with that in mind, I'll gradually or eventually build a second part of the website which will employ EVE API and other information supplied by users, to make a nice set of data... some of it should be open for those who want to use it, but some tools will be very powerful and their use will be restricted so that only myself and my friends will be able to use them.
To serve the needs for accomodating that as well as anything else I might decide to concoct in the future, I'll be rebuilding the login function of the website. Users will have a general account login/access for the site, which would then grant access to all of those areas they might be interested in and keeping the same identity for all, which is relevant for game/forum access, and thus also prevents imposters.
I have no idea when I'll set up a forum, but I'm sure I will some day.
... Yeah I think that's all for now. Ta~!
Some people may know, there's a game called EVE Online and it's a pretty neat game. Check out that website to learn more because if I try to tell you about it I'll ramble on and on and on and on because it's really really really really big.
Anyway, I can admit that some aspects of UNIVERSE were created with some inspiration from EVE Online, either direct inspiration or through several tangent thoughts... I'll stress that I'm not copying anything; they're completely different games so it wouldn't work anyway!
Am I rambling? Because that doesn't look like actual information!
I'm a big fan of EVE Online, and the developers who build that game offer an API system to allow people to make their own web sites and applications which can fetch data from within the massive EVE universe, to help them manage their in-game businesses and assets. I would like to do that too!
So, with that in mind, I'll gradually or eventually build a second part of the website which will employ EVE API and other information supplied by users, to make a nice set of data... some of it should be open for those who want to use it, but some tools will be very powerful and their use will be restricted so that only myself and my friends will be able to use them.
To serve the needs for accomodating that as well as anything else I might decide to concoct in the future, I'll be rebuilding the login function of the website. Users will have a general account login/access for the site, which would then grant access to all of those areas they might be interested in and keeping the same identity for all, which is relevant for game/forum access, and thus also prevents imposters.
I have no idea when I'll set up a forum, but I'm sure I will some day.
... Yeah I think that's all for now. Ta~!
Friday, May 30, 2014
Update#83 : Shadow and Flame
Seven months?!
I knew I was being neglectful but I thought I was still posting at least once every other month!
Apologies! Apologies everywhere!
As is always the case I have been quite busy; apparently even busier than I knew. Last weekend I visited the AnimeNorth convention for the weekend, and for much of the past few months I even had a job! Just a temporary contract thing, but still, real money!
I haven't stopped working on this project, though the pace has been forced to slow down. I've been working mostly on back-end improvements (still!) to ensure that the best future is built on the best foundation.
Here's a few of the more recent things I've been working on.
Names : To help prevent unwanted name overlap and simplify management, all names of significant entities (planets, stars, empires) will be collected into a single database table. A name which is currently in use cannot be used for something else. I believe I have stated in the past (or otherwise written somewhere) that there would be an exception to this, that a planet and its star could have the same name; while I thought it was a nice idea, it would and add unnecessary complications to navigation for both coding and player experience, so instead I'll just skip that option and say there can't be any overlap. This no-name-overlap policy will not apply to ship designs and names, and only might apply to outposts/cities. Having name management centralized into one table also allows for easier monitoring, to make sure people aren't abusing the name feature and check for inappropriate labels and messages being applied in names.
Logging : I toyed with the idea in my head for a while, and originally I wasn't going to do it but now I have decided to... After observing in various other games and platforms how useful the data can be, I've decided that I want to install basic logging in the site. Basic logging would just record when someone loads a page, how long it took for the page to load, maybe report little page or data errors, and really just give a bit of statistical data that would allow me to monitor how the game is being played, where people spend their time, what pages need optimization, and anything else like that. Such logging would eventually extend into transaction records when the market gets together, collecting economic data. It also has applications for things like account security.
Resources : I'm very much considering adding some tiered resources in the future; that is, resources produced by combining/processing basic resources. Right now the list is only 4 long, consisting of [volatiles] [minerals] [light metals] [heavy metals] ... I'm thinking these could comfortably be refined and combined, calling those metals ores and having a list of 'usable resources' which might look like [water] [simple chemicals] [complex chemicals] [crystalline compounds] [soil] [structural metals] [heavy metals] [active metals] and those would be the resources used to actually build things (list not finalized!) and some other products could exist, like [rations] which is another idea playing in my head, as supplies are really a big deal in large-scale warfare.
NPC Factions : I know I've mentioned that long ago somewhat, but I'm closer to having some identities for such things. For example, some might be outright aggressive raider factions which attacks players seemingly at random, while another might be some sort of semi-benevolent nation who tries to enforce peace (by punishing violence) between others in its territories.
Tools : Devising and building tools for admin (and users) is an important part of safely managing complex systems.
Stories and Lore : Any game with depth has a background story, so I've been putting some thought into the history of things in the UNIVERSE. Right now I'm leaning towards a core theme about something like ... some sort of civil war and a general crumbling of humanity occurred some generations ago, a few major organizations survived [which would be represented by NPC factions] but most colonies have been decimated or abandoned or lost or whatever and we - the players - represent those who have survived and grown to a point where they are ready to join the interstellar community and establish themselves as a power of their own.
I'm really sorry for the long period of blog neglect, and I hope this has been enough of a glimpse to convince everybody that I haven't given up! No promises, but I'll try to make my next posting somewhere in the near future; if you get tired of waiting, feel free to poke me through the internet!
Alright, off to bed...
I knew I was being neglectful but I thought I was still posting at least once every other month!
Apologies! Apologies everywhere!
As is always the case I have been quite busy; apparently even busier than I knew. Last weekend I visited the AnimeNorth convention for the weekend, and for much of the past few months I even had a job! Just a temporary contract thing, but still, real money!
I haven't stopped working on this project, though the pace has been forced to slow down. I've been working mostly on back-end improvements (still!) to ensure that the best future is built on the best foundation.
Here's a few of the more recent things I've been working on.
Names : To help prevent unwanted name overlap and simplify management, all names of significant entities (planets, stars, empires) will be collected into a single database table. A name which is currently in use cannot be used for something else. I believe I have stated in the past (or otherwise written somewhere) that there would be an exception to this, that a planet and its star could have the same name; while I thought it was a nice idea, it would and add unnecessary complications to navigation for both coding and player experience, so instead I'll just skip that option and say there can't be any overlap. This no-name-overlap policy will not apply to ship designs and names, and only might apply to outposts/cities. Having name management centralized into one table also allows for easier monitoring, to make sure people aren't abusing the name feature and check for inappropriate labels and messages being applied in names.
Logging : I toyed with the idea in my head for a while, and originally I wasn't going to do it but now I have decided to... After observing in various other games and platforms how useful the data can be, I've decided that I want to install basic logging in the site. Basic logging would just record when someone loads a page, how long it took for the page to load, maybe report little page or data errors, and really just give a bit of statistical data that would allow me to monitor how the game is being played, where people spend their time, what pages need optimization, and anything else like that. Such logging would eventually extend into transaction records when the market gets together, collecting economic data. It also has applications for things like account security.
Resources : I'm very much considering adding some tiered resources in the future; that is, resources produced by combining/processing basic resources. Right now the list is only 4 long, consisting of [volatiles] [minerals] [light metals] [heavy metals] ... I'm thinking these could comfortably be refined and combined, calling those metals ores and having a list of 'usable resources' which might look like [water] [simple chemicals] [complex chemicals] [crystalline compounds] [soil] [structural metals] [heavy metals] [active metals] and those would be the resources used to actually build things (list not finalized!) and some other products could exist, like [rations] which is another idea playing in my head, as supplies are really a big deal in large-scale warfare.
NPC Factions : I know I've mentioned that long ago somewhat, but I'm closer to having some identities for such things. For example, some might be outright aggressive raider factions which attacks players seemingly at random, while another might be some sort of semi-benevolent nation who tries to enforce peace (by punishing violence) between others in its territories.
Tools : Devising and building tools for admin (and users) is an important part of safely managing complex systems.
Stories and Lore : Any game with depth has a background story, so I've been putting some thought into the history of things in the UNIVERSE. Right now I'm leaning towards a core theme about something like ... some sort of civil war and a general crumbling of humanity occurred some generations ago, a few major organizations survived [which would be represented by NPC factions] but most colonies have been decimated or abandoned or lost or whatever and we - the players - represent those who have survived and grown to a point where they are ready to join the interstellar community and establish themselves as a power of their own.
I'm really sorry for the long period of blog neglect, and I hope this has been enough of a glimpse to convince everybody that I haven't given up! No promises, but I'll try to make my next posting somewhere in the near future; if you get tired of waiting, feel free to poke me through the internet!
Alright, off to bed...
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