Reply #1 on: March 08, 2009, 18:22:43 PM
So, basic premise:
Playing area is a hex grid, of some size allowing for a degree of freedom in terms of maneuverability. The grid/landscape would have objects that either block movement, fire, or both, and this could be a partial blockage, or complete. (So, streams and swamps = 50% movement, low walls = 50% accuracy and no movement etc).
Units can vary in stats, IE Health, Action Points (Which could be used for both moving and shooting), accuracy, range and damage. Either armies or individual units could be chosen at the start, armies would allow for balance from the start, whilst individuals would need a points based system.
The system would be set up so it is quick and easy to start a game, inviting a friend and setting some basic rules (turn time limit, objectives, army size, map etc) and allow for easy off and on gameplay, so if both people are at a computer, turns can be played pretty much one after the other. If they arent the system stores the scenario, allowing for the user to log in later and load up the game.
More advanced stuff:
To animate or not to animate? I guess the choice of static/animated would then decide on how it is made, flash, or php/html stuff. Another key factor in this is the fact I am relying on getting a graphics designer friend involved to do all the UI/Graphical elements hehe.
Obviously animated would be more fun to play, but at the same time I am only going for a basic game which is playable over time like a chessgame through the post. Yeah battlechess was fun, but it had limited playability till it was just another chess game.
Is the game likely to be resource heavy? I mean, itll be storing an entire mapset with all the stats of all the units per game, and having to load them each time someone logs into a game. Are overhead costs for servers going to be high? An alternative is to make it offline, and have move information sent via email, though obviously there is a high risk of this being exploited and viruses being inserted into the turn data attachment.
And finally, obviously a lot of the structure of the game is pretty much ripping off warhammer style games. So long as I dont use units, names, and terminology specific to GW games, is there any risk of copyright theft cases? I mean, can you copyright a method of gameplay?