4 replies to this topic

[TheGreatOnion]

I have had lots of ideas about team-based war-type games, but all of them would be almost entirely PVP-based with a minimal amount of strategy or cooperation. This one I believe, drawn from my experience on real-time strategy games, incorporates a heavy amount of teamwork and involvement. Note that this idea is completely on paper since I am very busy with real-life obligations and staying in-game long enough to work on my personal construction projects is already challenging enough. I am putting this idea on paper for the purpose of using later when (and if) I have the time to do so, and to accept any suggestions I believe would improve the quality of this game. 

 

This is how my idea works:

 

-There are 2 teams.

-All players involved with the game cannot bring any gold with them into the game. 

-Each team starts with two players, a builder and a farmer. There are additional possible players, but I will get to this later.

-The objective is to kill the other team's builder(s).

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The Farmer: A farmer's weapon (and ONLY weapon) is a hammer. There are "mineral" caches at each team base which are pretty much two hipsters stuck in a double layered cell of large blocks. To "Mine" the gold, farmers use hammers to kill hipsters for the gold that no other weapon can be used to reach. Farmers farm the gold and deposit it in an open safe in the middle of the base.

 

Purpose: The team's economy

 

Privileges:

- A hammer. Can be used for PVP purposes, but very unwise due to the team's dependency on the farmer for money.

- Cannot build. 

- There are High Yield mineral caches in the center of the map (Dire Game Reviewers) that can be contended for maximum resource production. Farmers can vie to control these caches (better to have them escorted though). 

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The Builder: The utility tool of the game. Builders do not have any kind of weapon and thus are extremely vulnerable. Furthermore, it's a game over if they die so all other team members should prioritize the protection of its builder. The builder must also have absolutely NOTHING in the inventory when entering this game. You're a completely blank slate.

 

Purpose: Making utility structures. Utility structures are structures that enable the team to perform certain tasks. Here are the list of utility buildings and what each one does:

- Barracks:

      ~No Prerequisites. Once a Barracks is built, the team has the ability to recruit a Fighter (PVP'er) for 100g. Also in the event a farmer dies, another one can be recruited for 100g. If you can't afford to replace a Farmer, well gg. 

 

- Engineering Bay: 

       ~Requires Barracks. Once this is built, a team can upgrade weapons for the Fighter.  Upgrade to Blue Sword costs 200g. Upgrade to Red costs 500g. A Red sword additionally requires a Blue sword upgrade first.

 

- Research Facility: 

       ~Requires Engineering Bay. Once this is built, a team can upgrade to ranged weapons; Upgrade to Pixel pistol costs 200g. Upgrade to Laser Rifle costs 500g. Laser Rifle additionally requires a Pixel Pistol upgrade first. (Note that upgrades for the sword are not necessary for the construction of the Research Facility).

 

- Advanced R&D

       ~Requires Research Facility. Once this is built, a builder may "Buy" spikes for 500g each and Laser turrets for 700g.

 

A bit to take in, but here's the Tech tree to simplify it: Barracks ==> Engineering Bay ==> Research Facility ==> Advanced R&D

 

Privileges- The builder's secondary purpose is building a defense. Other than the utility structures (which follow a very strict set of blueprints), virtually anything can be made given you have the gold to do it. In other words, you can make a fortress and wall off entrances, preventing people from invading the base. HOWEVER, you also have the ability to build ladders and stairs to allow your teammates to scale an enemy-built wall so it's best to be careful how you spend gold on construction materials.

 

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The Fighter: if the builder is the shield of the game, this is the sword. The priority of this player is to protect teammates and invade the other base when necessary. When you're not turning people into mincemeat, you're making sure the rest of your team doesn't join the pile.

 

-Purpose: Kill other team members, while protecting your own.

-Privileges: All fighters start with a white sword. This essentially makes their start up cost a liability since they're outmatched by farmers (who have hammers), but since farmers make gold and you don't, they have much more to lose than you do. When upgraded to Red Sword/Pixel Pistol/Laser Rifle, they become the Alpha male and will make you regret poking fun at them early-game. 

 

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Other stuff

 

-Builders start with nothing whatsoever. Farmers start with nothing whatsoever, except the hammer. Fighters start with nothing whatsoever, except the white sword.

-The only member on the team with citizenship in Warfield, is the Builder. This means that any kind of barricade, research, or mobility that has to be addressed rests solely on the builder. 

-The only member with the ability to earn money is the Farmer (hammers are the only weapons with the ability to reach across two layers of blocks, and no other team member is permitted to use a hammer). This means that no one gets fancy weapons or castles without the money earned by this guy. Protect him well.

-The only member with the ability to throw a left hook with almost 0 liability is the Fighter. Doesn't mean he's expendable; 100g must be spent to revive/recruit a new fighter. 

-A Barracks is mandatory for a fighter to enter your team. So getting a Barracks up is a top priority early game.

-There is no such thing as a free revive, both the Farmer and Fighter require 100g to bring back to life. 

-All gold spent on "purchases" (research, recruitment/revival, and traps) are deposited in a separate, closed safe. All purchases made are to be recorded on a sign right next to the safe.

-In the event that a builder decides to be Mr. Wise Guy and walls himself entirely in a concrete box, impenetrable by anything, the opposing team wins when they occupy Mr. Wise Guy's base for a minute. 

-Anyone can make purchases, so work as a team to decide how best to spend the finite resources.

-The game can encompass any number of players. but with the average number of players nowadays, lets not get ahead of ourselves. 

-Healing is allowed. Don't spend frivolously on food though, your team's only got one bank. 

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And that's my idea for this real-time strategy minigame. I have the money to put these ideas in motion, but like I said, I am a very very busy person. I don't plan on putting this in motion anytime soon, the only purpose of this post is to put it on paper and have people freely throw suggestions my way. If, however, you ARE serious about this, let me know how serious you are and I'll see what I can work out. This is a game based entirely on teamwork, economy, and strategy. I hope I can somehow put this game in motion someday when I get the time and cooperation for it.

[asedita1]

so starcraft? with us as scv's and marines? sweet

one suggestion, maybe combine the farmer and the builder into 1 person that can do both, that way less people need to do the repetitive farming tasks, and there is more strategy in what the builder does when

[CD87]

Nice idea Onion, but just one problem:

How can you make sure that they won't bring any gold? :/

I didn't mention that i will cheat though. Don't be misunderstanding!

Thanks

[TheGreatOnion]

so starcraft? with us as scv's and marines? sweet

one suggestion, maybe combine the farmer and the builder into 1 person that can do both, that way less people need to do the repetitive farming tasks, and there is more strategy in what the builder does when

 

I initially thought of combining the two roles into one, and I just may very well do that if there aren't enough players. However, I also thought of letting that "SCV" have a mind of its own. More so than a farmer, a person with a hammer could be placed in strategic positions to attack players from high ground or to defend a base from behind a barricade. I also considered the fact that this person would need to balance the needs of attack vs. economy, since he's the only one capable of making money. Another reason is the fact that the builder is the objective of the game. The king on a chessboard needs to be protected in the same way because he's the most important as well as the most vulnerable piece on the field. I wanted to keep the essence of the concept by making it so that the builder had absolutely no way of defending himself other than blocking off other players with concrete. 

 

Nice idea Onion, but just one problem:

How can you make sure that they won't bring any gold? :/

I didn't mention that i will cheat though. Don't be misunderstanding!

Thanks

 

Truth of the matter is, there is no way to assure this. However, once you look at many activities in 8 bit mmo, many of them are based almost entirely on trust. Team-based PVP, there's no such thing. You only trust that the guy with the same shirt as you won't back stab you the next second. Only way to bullet-proof dubs is to have a moderator to hold the money, but most dubs games do not work that way; it's entirely dependent on your opponent's integrity to keep his word. What keeps these games running is the plausibility of the circumstances, meaning that if cheating happened, it would be almost entirely obvious (most of the time). So if you start Warfield and the opponent starts building an industrial city right off the bat, you'd know immediately. If they made it seem less obvious and used the money in discretion, then I'd probably not have a surefire way of knowing. However, my plan is to have someone moderate the game as an observer and make sure everyone plays fair and square. Besides, what's the fun of the game if you aren't dirt poor? It's the essence of real-time strategy games such as Starcraft. You just play along. 

[The Blood Rose Alchemist]

Awww.... no Zerg Rush available.... oh, if you need to build an arena, I can help with it.... just don't expect me to build elaborate things....