If you'd like to help with the project (right now I'm just lobbying support) then go ahead and add me on Steam.
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198011729958/or just go ahead and message me on the Bay 12 Forum!
So I've been in the game making industry before, and trust me, I understand fully well how double edged ambition can be in games. I fully understand that this project would be insanely hard to do, and that I probably don't understand how difficult it'd be to code based on the fact that I'm just a 3D modeler, but I have an idea.
Something occurred to me while playing Black and White 2. The game really has nothing to do with the concept of B&W2, but it just reminded me of it. I want to make a game that models ALL aspects of a city building/RTS game, in first person. That sounds pretty stupid at first, but I actually think I have some ideas that might make it work. I am not going for an extremely complex thing here. It needs to be sandbox, but we don't need to make a crap ton of really complex mechanics and assets for a demo release.
Basically this game will be centered around a number of different factions on a map. There must be a map editor for replayability. They will, at the beginning of the game, be made up of however many cities the map creator puts down for each faction. They will have different economic buildings within them, and farms outside. For the demo, all cities will have the same kinds of resources, just different amounts of them generated nearby the city, based on the map. Trade routes will be drawn during map creation, so that it isn't left to the AI. The AI traders will handle what goes on the trade routes based off of supply and demand. The player can start as any of the classes, and when he does the gameplay revolves around that player, which should be possible as it's going to be a singleplayer game. As a peasant, in the initial release, your basic objective will be to grind to support yourself (and in later versions, your family) and hopefully earn enough money to buy yourself some land. As a labourer you'll do the same thing, but you'll have more options in terms of work and possibly this class will include assassins, criminals, and the like. As a landowner your job will be to further your economic status, and also try to get yourself into a position of political power. Politics will be expanded on in future versions, but in the initial release it'll probably be as simple as getting people to like you, and killing off, bankrupting, or outright winning against your political opponents. As a mayor it'll be a city builder, as a king it'll be something like EU4, but at least in the initial stage, extremely less complex. The entire game world will be navigable in first person mode, but the player will be able to speed up time while their armies march or while they await opportunities to expand their domain. The point of the game is to be a world that you can walk through and do what you want to do. If you want to be a peasant and quit your job on day one to explore the world and try to make enough money to sustain yourself, go ahead. If you want to rise through the political ranks and become a mayor, and maybe even a king, go ahead. If you want to be a trader and earn yourself an empire of gold, go ahead. If you want to be a king right off the bat and go down as the greatest conqueror that ever lived, that's what you can attempt to do. Beware, this game will not be too easy. Your political opponents will fight back, assassins will come after you as a king, enemy armies will fight back and if you get out of hand, you might find yourself the target of a coalition. If you are a lone adventurer, you'd best hope that you are decent at fighting because there are wolves and bandits out in the wild. If you're a peasant, I'd hope that your employer is generous enough to pay what you need. If not, crime will always be an option. It's a world made entirely for you, but you don't rule it. At least, you don't rule it
yet.
What I'm gunning for for a first release:
first person character
can be any of these classes, and can move up and down the ranks:
- peasant (works raw material buildings [farmer, lumberjack, miner for first release])
- laborer (works conversion buildings [grain mill, bakery, sawmill, smelter, blacksmith, inn worker for first release])
- landowner (anyone who owns buildings, mayors and kings can also be landowners but will retain higher title, maintain stores and stock, face competition, run inns, farms, sawmills, mines, bakeries, etc., gain income from ownership, can ask mayor to build certain buildings)
- mayor (runs like a city building game when you enter Mayor Mode, place building sites and set prices for landowners or aspiring landowners to buy and run businesses on based on demand of your town)
- king (diplomatic, grand strategy type mode when player enters King Mode at any time, can also enter mayor mode for cities when inside mayor's office of city, declare war, set heir upon death, gives armies commands in King mode, can set generals or can lead armies personally in Tactical Mode, declares war, alliances, trade embargoes, etc., has steel armor and steel sword)
Can be any of the following upon start, or can join military at level depending on social class, can move up depending on number of kills:
- recruit (combat skill: 1, thrown into group of infantry, archers or cavalry, group size: 10 men)
- regular (combat skill: 2)
- sergeant (combat skill: 3, 9 men follow him in group, given iron armor)
- commander (combat skill: 4, three commanders in an army, commands groups split evenly between commanders. If there isn't enough groups for all three commanders, then commanders without groups are given their own groups of recruits, given steel armor and sword)
- general (combat skill: 5, commands commanders in tactical mode, determines army marching path if player, AI marching paths determined by map creator and chosen by time difference and eventually climate, given steel armor and sword)
map editor with path creation
ability to move up in class, and down by being fired, mayors elected by landowners, kings are appointed heirs by previous king
randomly generate characters in landowner, mayor, king, sergeants, commanders, and generals
in first release have materials: gold, wheat, flour, bread, log, plank, beer, iron, steel, iron bar, steel bar, iron sword, steel sword, iron armor, steel armor
armies take up food, beer, (in future release arrows, produced at bowyer by laborer), (in future release horses, which will be a raw material that is harvested at a stable), and gold in upkeep.
hunger, thirst, and sleep system
ability to speed up/slow down time exponentially (essential for when army is on the march or just waiting for something to happen)
in the first release military will be simple: the only engagements will be battles and sieges. Sieges will simply block off a town's access to it's farms and trade routes and once the garrison begins taking losses due to starvation they will either surrender or sally forth. They will also sally forth if their army is close in ability to the opposing army. Battles will be essentially both sides just duking it out until one side takes a certain percentage amount of casualties to make them rout.
have a relation system: -200 relation to 200 relation with any actual characters (peasants, laborers, recruits, and regulars are not considered actual characters and thus have no in game name other than their position)
model politics (possibly include assassinations, duels, and other kinds of political cutthroat activity in initial release)
possibly include banditry along trade routs depending on amount of faction patrols in the area (patrols possibly in first release)
have a living, breathing game world for the player to be what they want to be