<Evaders99> yep, want to work on a Rebellion-style game :)
<evillejedi> heh I'll be glad to help in anyway I can
<Evaders99> sure, glad to have ya
<Evaders99> thinking now that I'm holiday break, I can start with the initial stuff. See how we want to work this out
<evillejedi> what were you thinking of in terms of interface and scope?
<Evaders99> mostly, I wanted something quick and dirty. Something multiplayer that everyone can join, web-based seems the easiest
<evillejedi> yeah
<Evaders99> control a section of the galaxy... battle your neighbors
<evillejedi> exactly
<Evaders99> other Imperial warlords, Rebel factions, what-not
<evillejedi> nothing too grand, but your own little corner of the galaxy
<Evaders99> yea - definitely I'd like to keep things simple from the start, simple and fun
<Evaders99> 2d combat at most.. but really, something that's easily simulated would be good
<evillejedi> something like planets controlled= credits = military/political power
<evillejedi> yeah I don't think its a big deal if your battles were pretty much simulated
<Evaders99> yea, we can always add to it as we get more interested people. Some kind of alliances system would be good, simple economy perhaps
<evillejedi> like you have to trust your commanders, equipment and training, you just set the policy, politics and purchases
<Evaders99> yep - basically at the top looking down
<Evaders99> I don't want to go the big project route unless we have enough interested and dedicated people to do this
<evillejedi> heh actually I'd love a game where you just get a galactic map, then can click on sectors and systems, pulls up information, you have a few boxes for purchases, personel and finances and pretty much everything else is run on the server
<evillejedi> actually, military, personel, finances, politics and purchases
<Evaders99> that'd be the basics of it. Not a big time dedication, could have lots of players with minimal resources
<evillejedi> yeah
<evillejedi> I don't think there's any reason to go beyond having prerenders and info boxes in the interface
<evillejedi> like you click on a planet there's a jpg loaded with the picture, same with ships and people etc
<Evaders99> yea, no complex things - really could just be all-text, but people do like seeing graphics
<evillejedi> yeah, given all the stuff that people did up for rebellion you pretty much have multiple graphical versions of every character,ship etc
<Evaders99> hehe
<evillejedi> and for the planets there's a lot too, WOTC has some, the rest can sorta be randomly generated
<evillejedi> In terms of art, it just has to be organized
<Evaders99> yep
<Evaders99> if we get it organized and do it right, shouldn't be something we're spending too much time on
<evillejedi> yeah I think the worst part will actually be the interface code, I'm not to familiar with stuff like that, were you thinking a java applet or something?
<Evaders99> yes, I think Java would be our best choice
<Evaders99> though I'm not sure if we'd do a Java server backend - I've no experience in maintaining that
<evillejedi> hmmm I might be willing to help code a bit, just for fun, I don't know really any java but I've been interestd in trying it out
<evillejedi> heh personally I'd just talk to a SQL db
<Evaders99> possibly just PHP, but we'll lose some interaction vs an application
<evillejedi> but there's probably some better way
<Evaders99> well I'd hate having to query an SQL server directly - slow, not really efficient
<Evaders99> Java's not bad. I have some really big OOP fanatics interested in the project
<Evaders99> some people to work on rules... still not sure how many on graphics
<evillejedi> heh don't forget about this, igor and I brainstormed up a lot of ideas, if you pull off the tactical modes and references to a 3d engine I think its a good goal http://www.swrebellion.com/reb2/index.php?title=Main_Page
<Evaders99> yea, the aim isn't a Reb2, but definitely some good ideas we'll use from the wiki
<evillejedi> the only problem we couldn't figure out how to develop a concurrancy system for multiplayer for a persistant server
<Evaders99> what do you mean?
<evillejedi> well lets say player A and B are fighting each other, but assuming this game is long term persistant universe what if player A isn't around and player B attacks, obviously you can resolve some conflicts, but it getsreally dogy when people are playing it more than others
<Evaders99> ah
<evillejedi> cause you can't 'grey out' a sector when a player is off line
<evillejedi> but at the same time you can't make it turn based because it will be slow and unfun
<Evaders99> I'm thinking you'd have some automatic responses for players, not sure
<evillejedi> yeah
<Evaders99> turn based would be fine for what we're doing
<evillejedi> heh more lik fantasy football or something?
<evillejedi> you pick the weeks orders and see what happens?
<Evaders99> hehe
<evillejedi> well actually
<Evaders99> a bit more lively than that. But for the most part, yea
<evillejedi> depending on the amount of players you could have multiple galaxies, some faster paced than others, it would simply be a different db at worst
<Evaders99> definitely, love to see some different starting conditions affecting the game
<Evaders99> maybe even have some of the more dedicated players on their own galaxy duking it out
<evillejedi> okay then that solves that issue, heh yeah
<Evaders99> it'd be interesting just to have spectators watch what's happening
<Evaders99> does the Empire always win if we do this? Or if we set research this way? Or perhaps every character gets Force powers? (approaching the limits of absurdity, but never-the-less still fun)
<evillejedi> and realistically since you're not spending that long some people would probably play multiple universes, though you could force them to pick different eras
<evillejedi> yeah, how about this, people get to see the galactic map and all public communications for each universe
<evillejedi> heh yeah that would be really cool
<Evaders99> yea, that'd be fine
<Evaders99> don't need any complicated information storage for each player
<Evaders99> eras I think is a must. We can limit factions to have a galactic civil war era, NJO era, etc
<Evaders99> possibly some free-for-all, just for kicks
<evillejedi> yeah I was thinking that basically the player pretty much just has a list of all their systems, faction standing and military/personel
<evillejedi> heh
<evillejedi> and the server just figures out that if you own planet X and faction Y doesn't like you, you require Z troops to hold the planet or W political sway or something
<Evaders99> yep
<Evaders99> swaying populice to overthrow the governement, and then having them try to suppress them or diplomatize them
<Evaders99> gotta make it so there are rewards for doing good, not just playing evil Galactic Empire style :)
<Evaders99> of course people are free to mix it up... pull a Death Star out of their hat and finish someone off :)
<evillejedi> heh yeah
<Evaders99> I'm thinking of some kind of good/evil ranking. Who's the biggest angel and the worst demon? That'd be cool
<Evaders99> maybe Civ3 style - ratings for military, culture, so forth
<evillejedi> heh
<evillejedi> need a leader board
<evillejedi> how many ewoks sacrificed and all
