How about a $MiniGame Democracy Game.

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

I figure we can run the smaller one at MZO, then once we get the database stuff up and running we can start a C3C one here for the larger market.

I just want to play, dang it.

[Aeson]

Guess I'll bump this thread. I show the basic format of the database so far in the next few posts. Suggestions welcome. Generally I've gone with smaller database size and more computation requirements (should still be rather minimal) in the design.

I mainly need to know how the $minigame functions. I have a basic idea of what needs to be done, but some of the specifics are missing. Is there an Excel spreadsheet that's been used for a $minigame available?

Pages so far:

Registration page. Inserts a new player (if conditions met), and also creates a stockpile for that player. Id field will be the same for both. Email is for if any automated notices are available and requested, also to clear up any disputes if someone were to register another's forum name.

Login page. Based off the player's name and password.

[Aeson]

player
	id
	name
	password
	email
	notify
	title

This will probably expand to allow for more security (IP, cookies, ect) in the registration and login pages. Right now they are very basic.

Title is a reference to the id in the title table.

title
	id
	name
	tilerequirement
	unitrequirement
	connectionrequirement
	titlesrequirement
	cost
	bonus
	commandleader

tile
	id
	name
	owner
	x
	y
	type
	resource
	road
	mine
	irrigation
	railroad
	harbor
	offshoreplatform

This will hold the actual tiles. The name would be so the player could name their mountain, hill, whatever. x and y are the coordinates, and I think using a square grid naming system instead of the ingame isoteric system would be best. Basically rotate the map 45 degrees, which won't result in a square map, but it will be obvious which tiles are next to each other with minimal math.

Type references the id field of the tile_type table. That way we only have to store the Food, Production, and Commerce numbers once for each terrain type, instead of 10000 times for each individual tile.

Same thing with resource, it references the id field in the resource table.

The improvements could be consolidated into a single binary field.

tile_types
	id
	name
	food
	production
	commerce
	roadbonus
	minebonus
	irrigationbonus
	railroadbonus
	harborbonus
	offshoreplatformbonus

This is pretty straightforward. It's just what you'd find in the editor.

resource
	id
	name
	fbonus
	pbonus
	cbonus

Same here.

[Aeson]

building
	id
	tile (references tile.id)
	owner
	type
	name

This will be a list of all built/purchaced businesses. Type references the id of the business.

business
	id
	name
	fbonus
	pbonus
	cbonus
	abonus
	requirements
	cost
	upgrade_to
	upgrade_cost

Here the specifics of each business are stored. upgrade_to would reference the id of the business you could upgrade to. I'm not sure how requirements would be set so far. I'm thinking a bit for each other business, but that will lock us into a certain number of business types.

city
	id
	tile
	mayor
	pop
	name

Tile references the tile id where it is built. Do we want building and player to have a reference to city(s) they reside in?

Also do we want to expand this to keep track of build queues and labor assignments?

unit
	id
	tile
	move_to
	owner
	type
	experience
	name

Tile references the tile id where the unit is. Move_to references the tile id where the owner orders it to move. Type references the id in unit_type so that the unit stats only have to be stored once for each type of unit, instead of for each unit. Name is the owner given name.

Not quite sure how to approach Settlers and their multiple owners.

unit_types
	id
	name
	attack
	defence
	movement

Just from the editor. Probably want to expand this for bombardment and type (air, ground, naval). That way we could have our own military power rating for each player.

[Aeson]

stockpile
	id
	size
	food
	production
	commerce
	labor
	tobacco
	fruit
	sugar
	grain
	beef
	fish
	venison
	whale
	iron
	coal
	crude_oil
	aluminum
	uranium
	horses
	saltpeter
	petroleum
	fuel_coal
	rubber
	fuel_cell_uranium
	dye
	incense
	spice
	ivory
	gems
	gold
	wine
	rum
	beer
	ale
	flour
	snacks
	pastries
	paper
	books
	pamphlets

The stockpile id would always match the id of the player who owns it. Size would be determined by the number of warehouse 'businesses' the player owns right? Whenever a player builds a new warehouse, it would update the size of that player's stockpile.

The rest of the fields would show how much of each stock the player has.

We could have 2 non-player entries. One for the going rate of each stock, and one for demand? (not really sure how this portion of the game is supposed to work)

[Aeson]

Pages in the works: (suggestions needed)

Player overview page. (available to anyone?) Shows what the player owns. Their title, stocks, tiles, units, buildings

Player admin page. (available only to the Player) Bid on units, tiles, or sell/trade them. Buy/sell/trade/give stocks. Buy/upgrade/modify buildings. Order unit movement. Apply for title. Vote on issues?

City overview page (available to everyone). View build queues, city improvements, units under city control, tiles owned and by whom, tiles up for sale.

City admin page. (available only to the Mayor of that city) Assign laborers, build queues, order movement of city owned units. Put units up for sale.

Demogame overview page. (available to everyone) Shows unit movement orders from owners/mayors. Laborer assignments from Mayors. Build queues from Mayors. Diplomatic status with AI. Financial reports. Latest save for downloading.

Demogame admin page. (available to elected leaders) Set up polls. (not sure if we shouldn't just use the forum for this) Upload saves. This could automatically extract some of the game status for the overview page like is done in the CFC GOTM submission process. Depends on the php processing limit on the hosted server, as php is slow at the decompression.

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

Originally posted by Aeson
I mainly need to know how the $minigame functions. I have a basic idea of what needs to be done, but some of the specifics are missing. Is there an Excel spreadsheet that's been used for a $minigame available?

Yes, I will locate it and post it later. My wife is dragging at me to go right now because we are eating at Texas Roadhouse tonight.

[Tassadar500]

This sounds extremely interesting so far! I can't wait to get started

[Jonny]

Looking good...

[Tassadar500]

GF, when do you plan for this to be in the works?

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

The basic info we would need to keep track of would be:
Owner (Player who owns tile)
Food (how much food the tile produces)
Shields (how many shields the tile produces)
Commerce (how much commerce the tile produces)
Resource (What special resource it has (if any))

A resource could change the type of production from any of the three other types.

[Tassadar500]

I am not understanding some parts of this. How do you aquire more tiles and how do you make money?

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

Originally posted by Nuclear Master
I am not understanding some parts of this. How do you aquire more tiles and how do you make money?

We would periodically auction off more tiles. You make money by selling the output of your tiles in a stock market like fashion.

[Tassadar500]

But if we do it in a stock market like fashion, why would someone want to buy your output?

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

Originally posted by Nuclear Master
But if we do it in a stock market like fashion, why would someone want to buy your output?

The Market has an inherant demand that requires goods. The cities require food to eat, etc.