A little interactive game idea - anyone interested

Rick Stirling

I few years ago I worked on designs for a couple of little fun interaction games, but nothing came of them. I think one could be a lot of fun.

Basically - IRC with characters in an environment. A MMORPG with no realy gameplay.

At its MOST basic, its a client/server based application that anyone can run. It should run on Windows, OS X and Linux. You log onto a server and there is a chat window and an environment.

I do have several paths that this could be taken forward, but unlike mods I'd rather walk very slowly before I run and tripped over and went home crying.

My main goal is to add a little bit of Animal Crossing to it, where you can have a little house and decorate it.

The art is of course no problem, but the coding is. Heh.

So...what do folks think? Ostensibly, it's IRC that you can walk around in. Anyone can run a server, servers might require registration, and the whole thing would be free and multiplatform.

sonic

If you wanted to go cross platform, you could use Java to make it so you wouldn't have to work with seperate APIs. Java is interpreted, so it's slower, but for that it really wouldn't require a powerhouse, and it would take less time to code.

BTW, I really like the idea, if you need help in the future lemme know

CheapAlert

heh i'd prefer it over M$ Comic chat

too bad comic chat spams alot of crap in the channel for other clients

Weiser_Cain

I hate java. You're going to have to do a bit more to generate and hold interest, maybe mini-games. I'd want a lot of character customizations, so if you could set it up like that you have people comming just to generate characters, tie that in with the mini-game and maybe add a trading feature(make it so you get more crap as you interact and make certain things only attainable through trade), you'd have something then. You're going to want to add co-op games eventualy(blackjack?).

Rick Stirling

Walk before run

Like I said, I have complete game designs based around this simple idea.

hawken

omg comic chat!

I havent' heard of that since the late 90's

Wells

I seem to remember something like this. It was called Doll Palace or something as equally masculine. It used customizable 2d sprites if I remember correctly.

Sounds like it could be cool, I spent way too long playing Animal Crossing.

James Edwards

http://www.habbohotel.com/habbo/en/

#md was messing around with this one briefly a couple years ago

Rick Stirling

One of the ideas I had was to build a little village - so each server could be it's own village. Arounds the sides there'd be a forest and lakes etc. People could log in and just go fishing or collecting stuff (like Animal Crossing). The forests would be full of various monsters, and 3 or 4 people could decide to go off and kill them, like Phantasy Star Online or FFCrystal Chronicles.

It's an open ended system, but mainly its IRC with models.

snemmy

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.habbohotel.com/habbo/en/

#md was messing around with this one briefly a couple years ago

[/ QUOTE ]

<gauss to random girl> do you like auto-erotic asphexiation?
<random girl> does that have to do with cars?
<snemmy and gauss nearly die from laughing>


sounds like a cool idea rick.
would it have a main chat like irc and then a seperate window/tab to have the 'game' portion? so that if people are far apart they still see the conversation?

JKMakowka

Wasn't that was most Koreans use the MMORPGs for anyways? At least that is what I have been told

CheapAlert

i hope i get to be a gargoyle flying around raping the 'counters

doc rob

Treading dangerously close to an extrodinarily complex MMO here. To focus back on the IRC in 3D thing, I'd elimintate or minimize player control over movement as that's a huge burden on bandwidth. It might be better to focus on things that directly relate to text chat. Maybe check out Second Life if you haven't already as I think it's not that far off from what you're talking about.

gauss

to say nothing of harnessing an existing engine/networking system.. but then of course if you make it a mod out of an existing engine, you're looking at a bigger memory footprint and whatnot which kinda kills a lot of the casual functionality of an irc client.

Snowfly

Well, this was actually done a few years ago and it bombed commercially. The app was called OZ World, and was fully 3D, and had avatars walking around, living in houses, socializing, and fishing.

Might have to do with the fact that it was a full screen app, and for software that is primarily 'communication software', that should never be the case. Or more probably, because you had to pay to use it.

Rick Stirling

I'll have to dig a little deeper. If it was IRC+, then it'd be popular, but the more you add the more limiting it becomes, unless the additions are plugins.

KDR_11k

There Inc.? Second Life? The Sims Online? The Hello Kitty MMO?

Or are you thinking "MUD"?

jzero

The basic idea here reminds me of the UT Mod 'escape', which is supposed to allow you to go clubbing. Instead of deathmatch levels, they are dance floors, and you're supposed to be able to dance and interact that way. I don't know that it's ever enjoyed any success, though.

Rick: allow virtual sex for players verified to be 18+ and that will be your 'killer feature'. Nowhere from there but up, baby!

/jzero

thnom

I like the idea-- I think it'd be even better if we all did something on it, a big collaberation. Customization would be the big thing for me. The ability to "plug-in" new clothes and stuff would be cool, too. Like you get the base model, make some new clothes for it, and other people can see those.

Rick Stirling

Perhaps more difficult than I first though as a little throwaway game.

It might be easy to alter the source code for an existing Client/server based game though.

adam

Habbo Hotel sounds like that.

Justin Meisse

I know secondlife is pretty much an IRC chat you can walk around in for me, but the graphics are pretty lame.

So if you simplified it where there are just characters who can walk around and talk to eachother, but have really nice looking landscapes and places to hang out, that would be pretty cool.

maybe use the torque engine or quake 3?

Rick Stirling

JM - yup. Just lik that, plus each server is like an IRC room. Anyone can pop in and walk around, become a member of that server ( a simple online registration) and you can have a few possessions. After a wee while you get a house like animal crossing.

Then build a little sandbox play area around the whole thing - a littel go kart track with simple mariokart style play, rivers and lakes to fish in....yaddayaddayadda....

Justin Meisse

well, I know a few coders, I haven't talked to them in a few years since I've been out of the mod scene. I'll see if I can get a hold of them. I'd like to be part of this if you're really planning on giving it a shot.