I was going to make some other suggestions, however I note quite a few
have already been added to the web page... In particular the test suite
is nice - but I think harder then people may realise (state is extremely
hard to control in an arbitrary program).
I still have more...
Races
=====
Meet strange and interesting races... and kill them. One of the core
tenants of the modern 4X game. Race design for Stars! is an art form,
with few major race strategies (HP, HG, -F...), and dozens of minor
variations. Other games feature fixed races - do you play the strange
robotic machines, or the orange giant insects of Epsilon Persei III.
The goal for this project is to design and implement a protocol for
player races. Protocol and server support are a necessity, as is a
(portable) client that can create races in some way. Race files will
need to be saved and distributed.. Take into account both fixed races
(ala Master of Orion) or races built using another ruleset (ala Stars!).
Also you will need to have at least one implementation of a game that
uses the races in some way - easiest is Minisec, but if others are
working on another project building a ruleset, you may work with them.
Race files need to be verified in some manner on the server, so take
into account how to do this easily.
Research
========
A general research framework is not designed yet. Design it...
You need to be able to support a wide variety of research rules,
technology items and similar. Some rulesets feature randomly generated
technology, others have a fixed list. Different trees for different
races/players is also a common feature. Variable tech levels (Weapons
vs Construction) must be supported as well technology with different
requirements.
Obviously this requires extensions to the TP protocol - it's the main
feature. Also you will need to expand a client and server to support
it, along with an example in a ruleset. Once again this may be good to
do in a group with someone else implementing the core rules why you
focus on this aspect.
A Ruleset Implementation
=========================
Thousand Parsec's greatest strength is that it is a protocol for
describing games, not a single game ruleset. Obviously then the more
(complete) rulesets the better.
MTSec
-----
(blurb for MTSec here)
RFTSec
------
In 1981 SSI released "Reach for the Stars", a classic in the 4X genre.
The rules for the game itself were fairly simple - in the mechanics for
everything except combat were in the rule book. It allowed up to 4
players, although it lacked decent network play (not a surprise -- the
internet as we know it was quite a few years in the future).
TP is currently at a stage were most, if not all, of RFTS can be
implemented in the current protocol. The game itself was balanced (by
virtue of identical races) but had more then enough depth to keep
players coming back.
The goal of this project is to implement RFTS as a TP ruleset in any
server. Additionally you may need to make adjustments to a client to
support it. The RFTS AI's are a challenge for the truly adventurous.
A new version of RFTS was released some years later. It also could be
used as a ruleset, however it is a much more ambitous project, and would
require a lot of work to expand the TP protocol.
Diplomancy... In Space
----------------------
One of the greatest board (and later computer) games is Avalon Hills
Diplomacy game. Focusing on diplomacy between the players, forcing them
to ally, lie, cheat, support and often backstab each other the game was
(and is) a classic. Without the diplomacy aspect it becomes a fairly
average war game - with the diplomacy aspect, it's simple support-based
combat system, secret orders and general tight confines make for an
engaging and deep gaming experience.
TP itself is missing some basic in turn messaging, but otherwise a
ruleset using some of the ideas from Diplomacy to create fairly simple
diplomatic game - in space could be done. Some work on how to turn
adjacent countries/territories into space fleets need to done.
The goal of this project is to implement a Diplomacy style game - one
focused on shifting alliances and political manoeuvring, rather then
pure military might. Messaging between players will need to implemented
in a server and client, and minor protocol adjustments will need to be
made to allow messaging between players.
Regards,
nash
_______________________________________________
tp-devel mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.thousandparsec.net/tp/mailman.php/listinfo/tp-devel
