Because I didn't want to bloat an unrelated thread with grousing about my favorite game-that-never-quite-was:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/malkariIn concept, it blows Master of Orion OUT OF THE FREAKING WATER. Like, seriously hardcore. The game designer for this, the Sid Meier or Will Wright or Peter Molyneux or whoever, was a god and should be respected and renowned across the industry. But I don't know if it was low budget (likely) or small team (dunno) or inexperienced programmers (doesn't look like it) or just plain a few bad decisions... it just ended up failing horribly.
It could have been so awesome. But, well, for one thing, it doesn't even run on XP. It had crap support, up to 40-player multiplayer (simultaneous pbem turns!) while cool in theory was onerous to run, and while it would have been more great with a few patches, the whole company tanked a year after it came out--so, no patches, and goodbye multiplayer.
What it needs is a straight-up clone. No muss, no fuss, no Elemental dicking around and trying to improve the concept. Fix what's broken, and leave the rest alone. Leave it. Alone. LEAVE IT.
Okay, here's what went right:
- Imagine if MOO took place on an asteroid belt around a binary system. A constantly moving asteroid belt. Instead of planets, you have...asteroids. They don't orbit at the same speed. Some of them even orbit in the backwards direction. They orbit one or both stars. What does this mean, tactically? Well, there's no such thing as a safe system in the back of your empire. You can try and control everything around your asteroids, but eventually they will drift apart. Keep active. Be ready to abandon colonies as they drift away. And always be wary of a massive built-up army parked on a fast-moving rock. (Yes, you can drag a slider to see what's going to be where when. And they don't collide as a general rule, but they can as kinda-random events, which you can disable.)
- Simultaneous turns, and simultaneous combat (as part of the normal turn, instead of being off in some separate thing).
- Ship design. This system is SIMPLE and COMPLICATED and GOOD. You drag components onto slots on your ship and it winds up looking kinda like MOO. Each guild gets their own unique components. You have to build on predefined hulls, and in addition to basic stats, each hull has a certain number of slots, which are designed to take certain types of components. Yes, that slot can take a weapon or a defense or a computer. You CAN wedge a troop transport into that spot, but...it'll cost twice as much. So, customization within reason.
- Research is EFFING SWEET, the best I've ever seen. In addition to your normal research points from your colonies, you get research just from using ships with those components, and use a slider to adjust it between "improve existing parts" and "invent new ones". So if you use a ton of basic lasers, you can direct your research elsewhere and still learn how to improve those lasers over time to be cheaper, smaller, whatever. Or how to make stronger ones, your choice. Oh yeah and constant research pact with all your allies.
- Four mineral types, and power. Each guild gets power from asteroids in different ways: some get it from faster-spinning ones, some get it from ones that are closer to the sun, some get it from larger or smaller asteroids...and of course different guilds need different mineral ratios for their construction. Which means that a high-value target for you might or might not not be as important for someone else. Will they surrender a colony because it doesn't help them much, or will they defend it to the death to keep it out of your hands?
- Up to 40 players, in five guilds (think of them as big corporations from before your system became a binary system, and your planets became asteroids). You are always allied with your guild, and always at war with all other guilds. It takes this huge scope and gives you a manageable chunk, without losing the epic feel of it all. You can customize your chapter bonuses (ie like racial bonuses). And it's kinda nice to play multiplayer in the same faction, because you're on the same side...mostly. Heh heh. See, while your whole guild can claim control of the system, only one chapter gets to truly lead it. Not satisfied with just a minor victory? Rebel against your buddy and push that endgame a little farther out.
- The learning curve is just a little above Master of Orion, and nowhere NEAR Aurora's.
So...yeah, someone needs to make this. Again. If someone wanted to make a clone of it that was just different enough to fix the broken parts, and just different enough to be legal ("inspired" not "ripped off"), I'd jump on the project.
Fake!Edit: So I looked up what the designers have been working on in the last eleven years. Adrian Earle, Original Concept & Design!... Uh. Um. Madagascar: Operation Penguin. Madagascar. Over the Hedge. Shrek the Third. Bee Movie Game. Kung Fu Panda. I weep bitter tears.
Design & Lead Programmer, Brent Smith: Tropico. Railroad Tycoon 2 (expansions?). Railroad Tycoon 3. Some others I haven't heard of that I want to learn about now. Well, that's better at least, and he wasn't involved with Railroad Tycoon 4, which is bonus points to him. So at least that's cool.
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Topic: Malkari (Read 2358 times)