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Notch's next game is an MMO

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Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#181

Post by pantaloons »

groby_b wrote: post #138
pantaloons wrote: post #21

"We are going to emulate all computers and physics even when players aren't logged in." I built a prototype trying to do something similar, inspired by a text-based RTS/MMO that kept running while you were asleep. For me this was an unrealistic goal, if the simulations are complex enough you can't operate at a price point users will pay for. Even if you can, because the game is now CPU bound, far less players fit on…

Really? Given what Notch plans (2,000 DCPUs per machine - which is certainly doable), let's assume he's running a high-cpu instance (large) at Amazon for those 2,000 DCPUs. That's $500 per month for the machine. If he can't get that much money out of 2,000 players, he's doing it wrong. Assuming you allow for eventual instead of atomic consistency, and allow for loss of CPU for several seconds if an instance goes kabl…

Well a first person shooter engine only really needs an (x, y, look-at) tuple for each player, certainly putting thousands of players on one map is doable. You're dreaming.

Assume for a moment a team of developers spend several months if not years doing infrastructure build-out to support the imagined CPU simulation system. Now they just have to implement the rest of the engine, the part powering the actual game, in which all players, CPUs, and other elements are active and interacting with one another at all times.

I'm hoping Notch succeeds, but lets be realistic -- the closest anyone has got to offline simulation is effectively "event queue and timer" and not for lack of trying.

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#182

Post by pdaddyo »

redthrowaway wrote: post #80
endianswap wrote: post #4

Technology of note: "The computer in the game is a fully functioning emulated 16 bit CPU that can be used to control your entire ship, or just to play games on while waiting for a large mining operation to finish. [...] The cost of the game is still undecided, but it's likely there will be a monthly fee for joining the Multiverse as we are going to emulate all computers and physics even when players aren't logged in.…

This could quite possibly be the nerdiest game ever made. The amazing level of boffin creativity we've seen in Minecraft could easily be eclipsed by giving everyone their own in-game programmable computers to tinker with. I can't wait.

Just so you're aware, there are now programmable computers in Minecraft courtesy of this plugin:

http://computercraft.info/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#184

Post by coopdog »

swah wrote: post #119
aresant wrote: post #18

A four paragraph website outlining the vision coupled with a simple way for customers to engage directly with the CEO of the company. Notch understands "Minimum Viable Product"

Should there be a button so he could have some feedback?

The fact that you're looking at the site is all the feedback he needs.

It's interesting the first iteration of the site was actually on April fools day, a good way to withdraw the idea if it sucked (no withdrawal needed ; ) ). I'm guessing but I wonder if there are more sites out there with slight variations on the idea to determine which one gets the most exitement and spreads the fastest

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#185

Post by Schweigi »

andypants wrote: post #140
h2s wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the one thing stopping me from reaching 100% rabid-fanboy-mode about this news. We already have Quake in Space, WoW in Space, and Spreadsheets in Space: I hope this doesn't turn out to be "Assembly Programming in Space". This quote gave me hope: > A cloaking field, for example, might require almost all the power from the generator, forcing you to turn off all computers and dim all lights in order to successfu…

That would be pretty awesome. To have different sizes of ships that require different amounts of crew members. To have a big ship, you'll need lots of friends to perform all the jobs, and you can take shifts in flying the ship (or set it to autopilot) or cleaning the space showers.

I hope its not only possible to acutally explore the ships but to integrate the virtual CPU to the controls and environment. Like guns, stearing, doors...

The virtual CPU could then be used to control the ship guns. A better software would mean more accurate hits or perhaps improve the power / force / firing rate ratio by adjusting it automatically. People could even create their own auto pilots.

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#186

Post by coopdog »

indiecore wrote: post #142
xymostech wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this will be a game where those of us that know assembly will end up writing our weird assembly programs for playing text based adventures or spinning our ships in spirals or whatever, whereas everything that is actually necessary will (hopefully) be able to be bought/created in game. Also, there's probably going to be a lot of community sharing of ideas and programs (just like there is with Minecraft) so…

Yeah I see it as a "Well you got a bunch of gyros last pit stop. Pity they don't all link up to your guidance stuff" so you write a program to grab data from your gyros and headings from your heading input. You could still fly just fine using the default stuff but if you want say...constant attitude adjustment or the ability to have your ship not pick up unwanted spin you're going to have to deal with that yourself o…

Would be fun to have a market for functions (literally programming functions)

Let the original author keep the insides secret, maybe the protection decays over time (say a year)

Sounds a lot like copyright but sensible and the false constraint is only to make the game fun : P

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#187

Post by coopdog »

viraptor wrote: post #91
someone13 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not quite as bad as it would be in a program other than an emulator, granted, but I can't imagine that it's easy to notice a bug in a 200-character line of: int pos=(ram[PC++&0xffff]+X)&0xff; byte v=ram[(ram[pos]&0xff)| And so on. It just seems like some sort of code generation would be much easier.

That kind of code generation is unlikely to exist. Each line of that code has its own specific purpose, it's not some copy pasta. And surprisingly, it should be trivial to test it! there are no conditions of edge cases apart from the conditional instructions. As long as you test for ranges and off by ones, there's no space for mistakes really. I'd take that kind of code over usual "business logic" any time :-)

Off by one errors, maybe we'll even bring back the golden age of buffer overflow exploits, emergent realistic hacking gameplay mechanics, Notch you're a genius...

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#188

Post by coopdog »

cing wrote: post #12
endianswap wrote: post #4

Technology of note: "The computer in the game is a fully functioning emulated 16 bit CPU that can be used to control your entire ship, or just to play games on while waiting for a large mining operation to finish. [...] The cost of the game is still undecided, but it's likely there will be a monthly fee for joining the Multiverse as we are going to emulate all computers and physics even when players aren't logged in.…

Programmable 16-bit CPUs? Sounds like work disguised as gaming!

Sounds like a game you can disguise as work!

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#189

Post by coopdog »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #66
tesseractive wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When I played EVE, I always thought that a programmable ship would be fun. Although there is a risk that programmers will get an unfair advantage. If programming is part of the gameplay, then being good at programming means you are good at the game. It would then be best considered an entirely fair advantage.

True, but I imagine their target market is not just programmers. Perhaps there will become a market in the game for selling programs to run on the CPUs. Some players specialize in programming, others in logistics , battle command etc. Of course it will be an interesting microcosm of the software industry in such a case. Will people care about piracy of their code? Will anybody start releasing under GPL etc? As I have…

Keep your core secret, open source the support code, declare war on those who violate GPL >:[

Re: Notch's next game is an MMO

#190

Post by alanfalcon »

fleitz wrote: post #125
jiggy2011 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but most MMOs simulate minimum wage busywork this one involves some actual skill/thinking.

So true, I played WoW for about a month when it came out then I thought: "Didn't I get into to programming because I didn't want to work at UPS delivering packages?" It should have been called World of Errands.

It's better since Cataclysm, the errands are more directly, visually, and emotionally tied to saving the world (of Warcraft.)

Anyone who once thought they liked the game's single player questing aspects should spend a week with a free scroll of ressurection and experience what the game has become, because it's really awesome and fun.

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