Idea Info Name: StarSea Index: Primary Category: Online Submitted: 12/12/2002 10:19:28 PM Written By: ninjas

This was originally planned to be a solar system sized game but I
thought setting it up under the surface of a small moon would be a
good test of the ideas and server client software.

You begin play at a ship builder screen. You have so many credits
to buy equipment, and can test your designs in a simulator before
committing to one. You can buy different hulls, weapons, reactors,
engines, tools, com systems, armor types, personal equipment, crew.

An automatic physics and graphics utility calculates the ship's
behavior and appearance on the server. It's a little complicated.
Each piece of equipment gives off and is sensitive to different
types and levels of radiation, and vibration. So there is a limit
to what can be combined in one ship. Warnings can be ignored
however with unexpected and possibly disastrous effects. Second
hand, or substandard equipment can be purchased at a discount.
Which can have some amusing effects. Remember Han Solo's
hyperdrive? Every piece of equipment takes up a certain ammount of
volume in the hull, and has a mass. For example, if I put a very
heavy reactor in the nose of my ship, and maneuvering thrusters
and fins in the rear, the ship will turn around the nose(the
center of mass). Your profession affects ship choice.

Choosing which profession to be. You can be a Freight Hauler or
Smuggler. A Spy. A Privateer hired by either side to commit acts
of Piracy on the other. A Soldier or Mercenary. Or a member of a
faction trying to stop the war, or encourage it. There could also
be Hunters or Farmers providing food for the people. The ocean is
full of plant and animal life. There are more thing to worry about
than enemy ships. And a big part of life in this ocean moon is
mining the solid core. The core isn't attached to the icy surface.
It floats freely in the gravitic center of the moon. Occasionally
during extra large tides, the core strikes the ice causing core
quakes. Most of the cities are on the core, protected from the
meteors that strike the ice.

Weapons: Ultraviolet Lasers, Hypersonic Projectors, Neutron Beams,
Electrical Arc and Contact Attacks, A multitude of Torpedoes and
Mines, Attack Drones, Rams.

Defenses: Armor, Magnetic Repulsion, Jamming, Microwave Pulse,
Flares Chaffe Dye and other Decoys, Sound Damping, Evasive Moves.

Thrusters: Propellers, Magneto-electrical Impeller, Hydro Jet,
Fish-like swimming motion, Spiral Ribbon propeller(like the water
craft in Star Wars ep. I).

Reactors: Fusion, Fission, Fuel Cell, Chemical, Biological.

Communications/Tactical: Radio/Radar, Sonic/Sonar, Laser/Lidar,
Jamming, Electronic Decoys and Displacement.

Graphics / Game engine: The graphics would be 3D but the plane of
the game would be 2D. The game map is like a slice through the
moon seen from the side(a cross section). It's a big circle of ice
containing water, and the free floating solid core. The core has
passages through it. Along the edges of the core there are ports
and cities, where your characters can leave the ship. (effectively
pausing the game for you) You can wander around if you like. Go
buying stuff, or chatting at the bar, or organizing an attack, on
the enemy or a faction, at your Headquarters. You also go hunting,
farming, or prospecting for minerals along the edges or under-ice
surface.

I've been working on this idea for, literally, years. I just need
some interested and dedicated programming "gurus" :) to help make
this a reality.

As for the economics of this... It should be free to download and
play. Ads might be shown during server information downloads, and
when off-ship maybe. Ads could also be shown when building ships,
or watching people duel, or play flag games.

That's another feature. Mini games. You don't need to get bored by
any huge plots, and goings-on in the RPG part of the game. You can
kick back, and blow the heck out of other ships in arena style
battles. Fight for fame, honor, or in a sport style setting. Fight
over flags, or territory. The Sky/Ice is the limit.

If anyone is interested in Helping out programming, or coming up
with ideas, email me ninjas@rogers.com I will have a website for
all of this, and coordination of talent, or ideas. I'm in the
middle of changing ISPs :/

If we lose contact, I can also be reached at chollett@canada.com