Design Documentation
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Revision as of 06:29, 24 November 2010 by Izimerasok (Talk | contribs)
as we are still in the experimentation phase there isn't too much design documentation yet.
chatlogs
to get an impression of what we have in mind you can read these chatlogs :
- http://ghoulsblade.schattenkind.net/sfz/chatlogs/sfzchat_design_07.08.2007.txt
- http://ghoulsblade.schattenkind.net/sfz/chatlogs/sfzchat_29.08.2007_1.txt
- http://ghoulsblade.schattenkind.net/sfz/chatlogs/sfzchatlog__06.09.2007_gameoverview.txt
forum thread archive
- http://freegamer.schattenkind.net/index.php?t=msg&th=206 The Universe of SFZ
- http://freegamer.schattenkind.net/index.php?t=msg&th=178 combat
- http://freegamer.schattenkind.net/index.php?t=msg&th=169 ship internals
- http://freegamer.schattenkind.net/index.php?t=msg&th=170 grinding
- http://freegamer.schattenkind.net/index.php?t=msg&th=107 ship editor
- http://freegamer.schattenkind.net/index.php?t=msg&th=11 planet/solar system scale
planets and procedural stuff
- not seamless landing (would be technically to difficult currently, and has some drawbacks/limitations)
- http://ebonrai.com/sfz/KaelisNotes.html
- ProceduralBrainstorming
- PlanetsInGameplay
- PlanetTechLinks
style
we are currently discussing art style, and are considering a slight toon shader to avoid photo realism
- forum thread : http://freegamer.schattenkind.net/index.php?t=msg&th=209
- chatlog : http://ghoulsblade.schattenkind.net/sfz/chatlogs/sfzchat_2007.09.05_artstyle.txt
- GraphicStyleBrainstorming
- CellShadingNotes
ship internals
combat system suggestions
there is a discussion and in the forum : http://freegamer.schattenkind.net/index.php?t=msg&goto=1432
as there are several very different and interesting suggestions a compromise might leave most of us equally unhappy, so we might capsule the combat system in such a way that it is easy to replace by plugins/mods.
suggestions :
Draft
short description
TODO
gameplay aspects
very important
- lan based coop multiplayer
- fly/control a spaceship
- walk inside spaceships
- possibility to create own ships and design their interior
- explore planets, ships, spacestations ... (you can enter them)
- trading
- collecting things (ie. different types of flowers)
- drive vehicles on the planet surface
- quests
nice to have
- share content (collected stuff, ship design...) online with other players
scenario, environment
TODO
graphic style
TODO
design
- we want to minimize grinding, this affects many design decisions, see also below "anti-grinding"
- no unlimited fleet size / fleet management : that would turn the game into a strategy-game and we don't want that
- no remote autopilot : ships don't move when not directly piloted by a player
- maybe a small amount of npc pilots, but not unlimited (limit could be explained by mutiny)
- taxing ships/shipsize and crew wages cannot be used for balancing/limiting fleet size (see below : "anti-grinding")
- all players are in the same team (it is a coop game)
- not fighting against other teams, but all players agains the npc-universe or somthing like that
- players don't have individual property (e.g. everything belongs to the whole team)
- the team itself makes progress when doing mission (aquires new equipment construction plans)
- players can join / leave at arbitrary times
- there should be no need to aquire enough equipment or experience for a player to be valuable (see also anti-grinding below)
- multiple players can be inside the same spaceship
- repairing stuff inside the ship might be interesting for combat
- cooperatively playing a campaign would be cool, e.g. doing story-related missions and collecting equipment plans as rewards
- no individual savegames/property of players, all belongs to the TEAM,
- so arbitrary number of players can share stuff, anyone can join/leave at any time.
- no individual power/level differences, this elegantly avoids strong-player+weak-player problems (see also "anti-grinding")
- death/ship-destruction = loss of equipment
- no instant respawn with the same ship
- dying will hurt a bit, but you'll be back on track quickly (see below : "anti-grinding")
- no gameplay/story/campaign progress will be lost, equipment-construction plans etc are not destroyed
- when your ship is destroyed, it is gone, no respawning with the same equipment, so you need a new one
- the team can capture a new ship for the player (see "boarding")
- you can have a simple fighter
- equipment itself is easy to replace as the construction plans for it are not lost (see below : "anti-grinding")
- if the team has a big mothership/carrier with multiple fighters in the hangar, the player can just take the next fighter until they are all gone
- maybe : you can have more than one ship but only fly one at once
- not too much RPG
- no complex skill tree's, but simple jobs/professions/specialities are ok (mechanic, medic, ...)
- in a scifi-scenario with highly advanced software, the speed, hit-chance in combat (of the ship) etc should depend on equipment, not on the human-skills.
- no experience/skill grinding, probably just pick the skill at start and change profession at stations
- exploring and collecting (equipment-plans,decoration,plants,animals..) should be important gameplay elements
- the amount of equipment/weapons in use is limited by the available reactor power
- energy management is interesting in combat with batteries being recharged by the reactor while you don't fire
- while your shields restore themselves they require more energy than while they are up
- maybe an energy consuming afterburner for extra speed in combat ?
- energy consuming equipment like anti-missile, shieldboost, maneuver-boost, cloak ...
boarding
- enemy ships can be crippled/disabled and boarded.
- when the shields are down and armor is damaged to below something like 30% the ships is "disabled"
- alternate : this only happens with emp weapons (lightning-tesla-like weapon, emp-torpedo/missiles) ?
- a "disabled" ship cannot move or fire
- player ships can dock to the disabled ship
- players can then overcome the crew of the ship (either decided via random or later with real indoor fighting)
- if they succeed, they can take cargo,equipment, or even switch ships
- if the ship is small enough it might be added to the hangar of the mothership
shipedit
- ship properties (speed,turn..) might be affected/based by/on components assembled via ship editor
- ship-editor balancing :
- hardcap : only one reactor per ship, but differnent types (with different mass/energy output)
- energy management : reactor produces energy, other components consume energy (shield,engine,weapons...)
- maybe heat management
- more ship components means more mass -> less maneuverability
- cool blueprint images could be automatically generated
- damage to the outside could be accurately reflected on the inside
anti-grinding
see also http://freegamer.schattenkind.net/index.php?t=msg&goto=1280
- we want to minimize grinding (repetitive, non-entertaining gameplay to aquire ressources,money or experience)
- making things expansive cannot be used as primary balancing, that'll only lead to more grinding
- taxing ships/shipsize and crew wages cannot be used for balancing/limiting fleet size
- discouraging grinding might even lead to better balancing, as grinding will not be rewarded
- a game not focused on grinding will be more suitable for occasional fun without longterm engagement (more casual?)
- we consider a money-less trading systems
- mission rewards : construction plans for equipment
- cooperative progress when doing missions : the team aquires more and more equipment plans
- motivation for doing specific missions is not to gain the most money, but an interesting equipment part
- players can build as "many" equipment parts as they want, but can only use a limited number of them at once
- so grinding does not lead to super-power
- gathering ressources for equipment should be quick, no mindless asteroid mining for hours, more like seconds
- resource gathering could be made interesting and combined with exploration by requiring different materials
- there should be more places to gather minerals than asteroids : gas giants, space-nebulae, planets : plants,liquid-lakes,mining
- chemical reactions and modification like smelting would be interesting and make crafting interesting