This is a random question, slightly off topic, but I was looking at the No Man's Sky videos and wondered how video game programming worked with regard to a server and interfacing with multiple users at once. Does the team design the game to run on the console and also a version to run on the server or is it two separate applications each with its own set of business rules?
A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG
61–70 of 83 posts
Re: A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Probably via this mention: https://twitter.com/imdsm/status/708286213975908352
I pray this actually happens. Dwarf Fortress would be amazing hooked up to this engine.
I've only seen DF on YouTube, could someone explain how another game would hook into it? Any examples of other games doing this?
Re: A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG
#63This is a random question, slightly off topic, but I was looking at the No Man's Sky videos and wondered how video game programming worked with regard to a server and interfacing with multiple users at once. Does the team design the game to run on the console and also a version to run on the server or is it two separate applications each with its own set of business rules?
It will vary based on the game but generally servers would simply store data and verify inputs to make sure the clients are in sync and haven't been hacked for example. The clients get sent data like all of the players positions and update their internal state based on it.
No Man's sky probably does a lot more server side, as the world is persistent for everyone.
Re: A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG
#64This is a random question, slightly off topic, but I was looking at the No Man's Sky videos and wondered how video game programming worked with regard to a server and interfacing with multiple users at once. Does the team design the game to run on the console and also a version to run on the server or is it two separate applications each with its own set of business rules?
Depends on the architecture. If the game has dedicated servers, then they will built 2 separate pieces: 1. The game they ship to the client and 2. The server software which receives messages from the client and propagates world changes to all clients in the same game session.
If the game is PvP (like most xbox games), the there is only the single game, and a 'host' is chosen to act like the server above. This can lead to problems though like host advantage [1], so the networking logic has to be carefully designed in order to mitigate this effect.
[1] http://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/73302/is-host-adv...
Re: A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Superhot Isn't that game meh? Not a great example. > Minecraft gained popularity originally because it added enemies that came out at night I've never heard that point of view before. Rather that it was a cubic world were everything could be destroyed and created. > Portal, the mechanic was neat, but the story is what people always talk about What? Besides "the cake is the lie" there is no real story, people talk a…
I'm actually convinced that you didn't pay any attention in portal. The story is thin, it's the story of a tester that is constantly being thrown curveballs. Finally the testing is done and the AI decides to kill you, you then escape behind the scenes and plot to kill the AI. I think when people praise the game for it's non-mechanics what they are actually praising int he characterization and writing of GladOS (and t…
It really was the coolest thing when you escaped the final test chamber and found yourself alone in the abandoned facility; the music just stops. Up until that point you knew something was wrong but not quite what. The lack of scientists in the observation windows, the creepy graffiti in the alcoves stating "THE CAKE IS A LIE" next to a mountain of broken security cameras and the disturbing fits the robot would get into on occasion. The game was a great example of the "show don't tell" style of story telling.
Also lets be honest, the whole cake thing in Portal was pretty funny. It was just the people burning the joke into the ground and snorting the ashes that ruined it.
Re: A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Superhot Isn't that game meh? Not a great example. > Minecraft gained popularity originally because it added enemies that came out at night I've never heard that point of view before. Rather that it was a cubic world were everything could be destroyed and created. > Portal, the mechanic was neat, but the story is what people always talk about What? Besides "the cake is the lie" there is no real story, people talk a…
I'm actually convinced that you didn't pay any attention in portal. The story is thin, it's the story of a tester that is constantly being thrown curveballs. Finally the testing is done and the AI decides to kill you, you then escape behind the scenes and plot to kill the AI. I think when people praise the game for it's non-mechanics what they are actually praising int he characterization and writing of GladOS (and t…
I felt that backstory in Portal was thereby a metaphor for the whole games industry machine.
Re: A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I always dream about an RTS where one gets to be the DM ... where computer players fight against each other There were quite a few of these around when I was learning to program: I and a couple of friends competed in one where you provided a robot that had to kill survive longer than the rest. Each action (movement, shooting at an enemy, using your shield, scanning to see anything) took energy and sources of that w…
I actually do like programming AIs as well. For some reason I am just fascinated to watch different AIs take on each other while I play the god - that being throwing random resources, challenges, units, disasters and etc. in the game and observing how they react. I used to do this with the very, very limited AI scripting and map trigger placement availability in AoEII and now I switched to C&C Generals but it is more…
I wrote a web-based MMO with the goal that players would augment their experience by enhancing their client (potentially allowing a single player to control 10s of units RTS-style) as well as writing AI/bots to help them. The game can be played entirely by bots (this is how I tested it during development). Interestingly, the game balance and mechanics are such that a skilled solo hero can take on large numbers of bots and win (see this gameplay GIF: https://github.com/srpeck/kchess/blob/gh-pages/docs/kchess.g...).
The major enabling feature is that I do not differentiate between players and AI - both are networked clients (see here for the API docs: https://github.com/srpeck/kchess/blob/gh-pages/docs/kchessdo...). I wrote up some of my other design decisions here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10924316
And sorry, the live demo is currently down...but should be pretty quick/easy to run your own locally.
Re: A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG
#68Hey everyone, dev here. Just got wind of this thread on twitter. Happy to answer any questions. If you're interested you can find out more here: https://itch.io/t/9883/mymmo-design-your-own-mmo-city-builde... https://twitter.com/aaronjbaptiste https://www.twitch.tv/the_alchomist/profile/highlights https://www.reddit.com/r/mymmo
I showed this game to my partners, all Tycoon fans. They were salivating over this. Even in early stages, this is something we all want to play really bad. It isn't every day you get on HN. Hurry up and release something. Provide the usual warnings (this is beta, this sucks right now, things break, etc), but release something . One of the reasons Minecraft was successful was the "release early, release often" philoso…
On the other hand I've seen things get released -too- early, everyone decides, "Boy this sucks." and they never come back.
Sometimes things really aren't done enough yet.
Re: A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
I pray this actually happens. Dwarf Fortress would be amazing hooked up to this engine.
I've only seen DF on YouTube, could someone explain how another game would hook into it? Any examples of other games doing this?
Dwarf Fortress, as an example, has Armok Vision [0] that uses DFHack [1] which reads the data structures directly from the Dwarf Fortress process to provide an API layer to other tools and scripts. Armok Vision provides a 3D visualization to the 2D of Dwarf Fortress (in a separate process, by reading memory through Dfhack). It's pretty rad.
There's also the 2.5D "Text will be Text" plugin that actually alters how Dwarf Fortress renders tiles, stacking 2D planes so you can see more than 1 Z layer at a time [2].
[0] http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=146473.660
Re: A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG
#70Can someone please build new SimCity. I'm missing it badly and I'll pay anything. This was the game that had a meaningful educational value (real estate development, microeconomics) coupled with entertainment. I didn't like people part (Sims) as much as city planning.