Tweet
Let's Make Our Own Game
Spawned from the Topic: Live in the Past or Live in the Past?
You know, I think Pingu has a great idea about using the "bucky ball" concept for a Civ Type game. There are some really great minds on this forum. It's a real shame that neither Firaxis nor Activision nor Hasbro nor any other team really have the collective ideas that this Apolyton Forum has. They take a whole bunch of our fantastic ideas, lump them together in a list, and dump it out on a computer print out ... and maybe, if we are real lucky the programmer might take a look at those wonderful ideas and if we bow down to them enough... they just MIGHT put one of your great ideas to work (if they think THEY might profit from it). And if you are real lucky... they might write you an email that says, "...Thank you for your idea ... we used it in our game... you should feel honored..."
Back to the Bucky Ball world (and or worlds). Bucky balls are the best representation of a sphere (in two dimensions) that we have. No such thing as the polar regions having ridiculously exagerated Mercator projections, and no ludicrous "donut" worlds, (yeah... that's realistic!), just to make the wrapping work in the program. Pingu mentioned that the pentagon of the bucky ball would have less area than the hexagons, and also less adjacent regions (5) compared to the hexagons (6). I think this could be handled in the programming without too much trouble. Your movement ability and capacities would have to be scaled differently for the two types of regions. It would be a lot more tricky than programming "squares" but it would be way more realistic.
Alright... this is a real stretch, but I'm going to put it out here anyway and let it get shot down.
I know, I know... it takes thousands of hours of programming to create a real game for the market. And then you will probably lose your shirt on the investment. But look at the games that we like... they are all using exactly the same engine. CIV 1,2,3 CTP 1,2 SMAC/X are all the same game with different story lines and units. Interfaces are a little different. But they are really the same game, with "square tiles" and the unrealistic population growth patterns in all of them, (which, as you all know, is the key to winning in ALL the civ type games.)
We could create a game development corporation (without a building). The internet is getting to the point where we could all be legal partners around the globe without leaving our homes. We could all work on pieces of the game (or games) ourselves and be subsidised when the game releases and starts to generate a profit (depending upon the ratio of the hours spent by each of us on the game released). I think we could work out some legal monetary arrangement so that one person who worked 200 hours on the game would get his fair share and so would another person who only worked 5 hours on the game. I don't think the money part of it would be as big a deal as the satisfaction of creating something of our own.
We can do it. I'm sure there are many of you out there with plenty of skills -- artists, writers, project managers, programmers, graphics artists, editors, mathemeticians, historians, soldiers, doctors, politicians, accountants, lawyers, city planners, ... and on and on. We just need to come up with a fair and organized way to put our skills to work together to make a great game. Someone could work one hour a week on it, and another could work 80 hours a week on it (I doubt it, but it is possible).
Comments and constructive (or destructive) criticisms welcome.
[This message has been edited by quinns (edited March 03, 2001).]
You know, I think Pingu has a great idea about using the "bucky ball" concept for a Civ Type game. There are some really great minds on this forum. It's a real shame that neither Firaxis nor Activision nor Hasbro nor any other team really have the collective ideas that this Apolyton Forum has. They take a whole bunch of our fantastic ideas, lump them together in a list, and dump it out on a computer print out ... and maybe, if we are real lucky the programmer might take a look at those wonderful ideas and if we bow down to them enough... they just MIGHT put one of your great ideas to work (if they think THEY might profit from it). And if you are real lucky... they might write you an email that says, "...Thank you for your idea ... we used it in our game... you should feel honored..."
Back to the Bucky Ball world (and or worlds). Bucky balls are the best representation of a sphere (in two dimensions) that we have. No such thing as the polar regions having ridiculously exagerated Mercator projections, and no ludicrous "donut" worlds, (yeah... that's realistic!), just to make the wrapping work in the program. Pingu mentioned that the pentagon of the bucky ball would have less area than the hexagons, and also less adjacent regions (5) compared to the hexagons (6). I think this could be handled in the programming without too much trouble. Your movement ability and capacities would have to be scaled differently for the two types of regions. It would be a lot more tricky than programming "squares" but it would be way more realistic.
Alright... this is a real stretch, but I'm going to put it out here anyway and let it get shot down.
LET'S DO IT OURSELVES
I know, I know... it takes thousands of hours of programming to create a real game for the market. And then you will probably lose your shirt on the investment. But look at the games that we like... they are all using exactly the same engine. CIV 1,2,3 CTP 1,2 SMAC/X are all the same game with different story lines and units. Interfaces are a little different. But they are really the same game, with "square tiles" and the unrealistic population growth patterns in all of them, (which, as you all know, is the key to winning in ALL the civ type games.)
We could create a game development corporation (without a building). The internet is getting to the point where we could all be legal partners around the globe without leaving our homes. We could all work on pieces of the game (or games) ourselves and be subsidised when the game releases and starts to generate a profit (depending upon the ratio of the hours spent by each of us on the game released). I think we could work out some legal monetary arrangement so that one person who worked 200 hours on the game would get his fair share and so would another person who only worked 5 hours on the game. I don't think the money part of it would be as big a deal as the satisfaction of creating something of our own.
We can do it. I'm sure there are many of you out there with plenty of skills -- artists, writers, project managers, programmers, graphics artists, editors, mathemeticians, historians, soldiers, doctors, politicians, accountants, lawyers, city planners, ... and on and on. We just need to come up with a fair and organized way to put our skills to work together to make a great game. Someone could work one hour a week on it, and another could work 80 hours a week on it (I doubt it, but it is possible).
Comments and constructive (or destructive) criticisms welcome.
[This message has been edited by quinns (edited March 03, 2001).]
Comment