Massive Online Roleplaying game

[kyle]

I have been working on a project I call Project Rome for 4.5 years now. This game would implement the standard necessities a morpg needs, but I would add 3 or 4 new items to the mix.

I would have the usual pvp system, but it would be set up as a monthly gladiatoral tourney. I would have chariot races, mini-olympics. Of course there would be war, both land and naval. I would allow people to move out of their city states and into the wilderness to make a living on their own, they would be able to band together with other adventureous players and create a small vill/village of their own.

I haven't copyrighted most of this info so I'll stop here.

Please understand this would be in 3d

[fatetriarrii]

All by yourself? That is giong to be a ton of work.

But otherwise, sounds fun, Looking forward to it

[sum1won]

To make a simple copyright, just take the information, put it in a mailbox, addressed to yourself, and dont open it when you get it back.

[kyle]

I understand it will take a lot of work but I'm set in my mind-set that the MORPG genre needs a new face something new, something that stands out from the rest of the crowd.

I have been the only one who's been on the team for project rome since I came up with the idea, thus it is a very tough idea to sell since there's no-one else to help back me. Searching download.com this last month I ran across this companies games for the second time. This time around I realized that this company has been working in the field of expertise I need, I also came to the conclusion that Slitherine is the only company that I'd actually trust to make my game, since I know nothing about coding art or script.

I've compiled so much info it really isn't funny, yet I still have about 3 to 3.5 years of research left. If I have my game Project Rome made into reality, I've got a second game to proceed it. It would focus on Roman Britania. The game would begin as Hadrian Settles Britania. It would be basically the same as Project Rome but it would include new items that hadn't been invented prior to the battle of Thermopolyee

[sum1won]

Kyle, take a look at Nethergate. Roman Brittania. Complete with an underworld.

[kyle]

All by yourself? That is giong to be a ton of work.

But otherwise, sounds fun, Looking forward to it

Well Fatetriarrii, a good game takes a long time to make. I don't want to have this game made by the game worlds standards, I want I made to mine. My standards may be weaker than the standard yet I actually would put content in the game that I know players would like. For example the reasoning behind all of my little activities I listed in I think my second post is that people would actually enjoy them. I know I sound cocky for saying that, But hear this I've polled close to 500 people on the minimum side and as high as 600 people.

These people's opinions are what is driving my desire to make this game a reality, along with my own personal ambitions.

The war system in this game would be unique from any other game to date I think lol. The way the navy and land army is set up, there will be officers/and generals. A General will post summons to the active seamen and soldiers alike, once this has been done the recruits will be assembled and a plan of attack is then drawn up, after the plan of attack is decided on those who put there bid in are the only ones who are allowed to participate in the skirmish or battle.

Right now I don't think you will actually die from military service. The only way you atually die in this game would be if your city state didn't want to pay a ransom for you if you were captured in combat.

[fatetriarrii]

Very interesting, and it sounds even more exciting! The only problem I could think of is, what if you don't have enough people? (like only five or sometihng) And how would these commanders be nominated? That is all. otherwise, it sounds like a really cool game.!

[kyle]

The basic idea fatetriarrii, is that people belong to a city state right?
That is what I planned from the begining.

Thus there will be a chain of command for leaders. As of lately I haven't been working in this area of study, but here's a good idea.
Say general A wants to skirmish then he must ask permission from his boss per say.

Say general B is not favored well by his boss he won't be able to lead men.

I understand this info is very vague play with what it means. I have a hard time describing my thoughts so bear with me lol

[kyle]

Very interesting, and it sounds even more exciting! The only problem I could think of is, what if you don't have enough people? (like only five or sometihng) And how would these commanders be nominated? That is all. otherwise, it sounds like a really cool game.!

LOL I know what you are asking me now, man I was off on tangent lol. Basically there will be a military experience table. So a person starts out as a foot soldier, as he kills people in combat he earns experience, as he does this he has the ability to "rank-up" or gain military ranks.

What I'm saying is People who are of commision are allowed to lead men into battle.

This concept applies to both the land armies and the navies for both nations.

[fatetriarrii]

Sounds good, I like it. So, will there be some Non-player characters thrown in to swell numbers and to be commanders while there isn't any (when the game first starts up)? It really does sound cool

[kyle]

I wish slitherine would take your view lol, since I cannot make it on my own. they say there too busy
[/list]

[fatetriarrii]

Well, there realy aren't too many of them

[kyle]

I understand that.

If anyone would like to help me in this endeavor I would greatly appreciate it.

[kyle]

Never before in a game have I seen a fluid landscape. I would love to see a game engine that would allow the landscape to change when it is necessary, I hate game engines that depict this concept by mere skins, yes there have been advances in the skins but skins are old.

Since I started this game project, I've read about a dozen war novels in and around the same time frame. The best 2 books so far have been "The Histories:Herodotus" and the "Gates of Fire":by Steven Pressfield.

From the Gates of Fire I came to the conclusion that the game engines that are out in the market are dinosaurs. I have a depiction to relate from this book.
One of the characters commented to one of his comrades on how the field of battle was a maze of trenches, created as the Spartans and their adversaries went forwards and backwards.

If any of you people are familiar with military manuevers you should know what a about-face is. This brings another point to light. I know that when this command is given, if you do it enough times there will be a circle cut in the earth you are standing on.

I would like to see a game engine create a landscape that could actually be torn up by troops, by some kind of terrain movement value if the troops move over it long enough.

Another point I would like to make about this fluid enviroment, say there is shrubbery on the ground where troops move over it should be trampled.

[IainMcNeil]

Anything is possile, but the more detailed you want the envorinment to be the harder it will be to create and modify dynamically. What you're talking abotu would be an absolutely huge project with multi million dollar budgets. Then you have the cost of running servers and tech support, administrators etc. Honestly, I think its just way too ambitious.

[kyle]

ianimcneil, look if anyone is accusing me of being ambitious you should look at yourself. I don't mean to be rude but you are currently trying to create a game that will stand out from the rest of your games right?

That is exactly what I am trying to do but, I'm trying outdo the Gaming industry. I want to see a new generation of games come alive. For instance I loved Bungie until they lied about Halo 2.

They were the first company to date to promise a fluid enviroment like I have invisioned. Yet this fluid enviroment focused on appearance of the skin of clothing.

I want to take this idea but a couple steps farther.

Once Halo2 came out the first thing I looked for was this fluid enviroment, TO MY astonishment Halo2 was just a exact copy of Halo but had better graphics and a weaker array of weaponry with a multiplayer mode that sucked ass.

If games are to get better someone has to push the boundaries of what is accepted as the current industry standard.

I'm sorry if I offend anyone with my bluntness

[sum1won]

Kyle, they are running on a 100K budget. Not a multi-million dollar one. And they are trying to push the buck by creating a new genres, with some innovative gaming ideas, not create something that is just fancy as hell. The effects you are looking for are grotesquely expensive- most mmorpgs are expensive because of server maintance, and the effects you want require far more powerful servers than is usual. And how the hell would a small indie company be able to fund your ideas? Go bug mircrosoft or something- they have the money.

And if you feel the need to add "Im sorry to offend anyone by this, but its the way I am", then you recoginze you are offending people, but doing it anways, therefore you are not, in fact, sorry.

[kyle]

look, this is the only company that I know of that actually has studied the roman empire in depth as much as me or even more so.

[IainMcNeil]

There are some extremely knowledgeable people on the forum that know a lot more about the subject than you or me! I think you'll find there is a lot more to know than you realised. Its a massive subject and I dont think anyone knows it all

[kyle]

I knew that coming in, my problem is I don't really know the production side of games that well, since I know some pascal and some vb6.

I am sorry if I have offended people. I understand if people feel a loyalty for a company that is why I chose to pitch my game to slitherine, I have admired their work. If I were able to pay for the work myself we wouldn't be having this conversation now.

As a newbie to these forums I only knew of one person being part of the slitherine production team and that was you ianmcneil.

Sum1won, as to your suggestion of bugging microsoft. Are you sane man if I were to try that I would loose my game entirely.