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In the form of a MU* (as has already been tried)

4 (4.3%)

Empire building browser-based game, using the Frost and Flame engine or making it from scratch

10 (10.9%)

Adventure RPG browser-based game, using the Dragon Knights engine or making it from scratch

4 (4.3%)

A dungone crawler or maybe cooperative fortress builder client-based game using the Eclipse engine (would be real time, and have better graphics than browser-based games)

25 (27.2%)

Cooperative fortress building browser-based game, with traditional DF top-view 2D tiles

45 (48.9%)

a deviant of the cooperative fortress building browser-based game, were the tiles are grouped into bigger "sections"

3 (3.3%)

Other (propose it in the thread please)

1 (1.1%)

Total Members Voted: 92

[Istrian]

I think it is better to give a broad view to the player. Perhaps 10 or 15 squares in every direction ?
If the player sees to little of the surrounding terrain he can easily get lost (even a fortress map wouldn't be much help) or run into hostile creatures (even though the first version won't include lots of those).
The drawback is that if there are too many tiles the loading time increases considerably, especially since the other tiles have to show the location of other players and miscellaneous mobile objects.
Of course the player can only move one tile at a time, to avoid pathfinding issues raised by obstacles and hostiles.

Slow internet connections are an important issue, hence the need to plan well the interface of the game to avoid overloading the main game screen with useless information.

[Poltifar]

Perhaps have an option to set the number of tiles the player sees? That way, slower internet users can adjust to their own internet speeds. But that would be a bit complicated to implement, so for the first version, let's go with a set 15 tiles each side or somesuch.

[Hawkfrost]

Perhaps have an option to set the number of tiles the player sees? That way, slower internet users can adjust to their own internet speeds. But that would be a bit complicated to implement, so for the first version, let's go with a set 15 tiles each side or somesuch.

Sounds good.

And, if eating and drinking will be crucial to life, please don't use a bar/percentage/other visual display.
Have it pop up a status effect of "Thirty", or "Hungry", like in Rougelikes.
It makes it annoying/paranoid otherwise.

[webadict]

I don't like the logged off resting time for the dwarf, since a single log on would disrupt the whole process, and a 'leader' switching to a dwarf would also disrupt it.

I was thinking, and the system Poltifar brought up would actually be pretty good, though very time consuming. There should be a standard 8-directional keypad, with the ability to go in certain directions a certain number of times:

Example

NW N NE
W     E
SW S SE
[Checkbox] Go until stopped
[Number box] Go this many steps in direction

[Istrian]

For energy refill : sleep mode. Anytime a player logs out, his dwarf goes into sleep mode. Whenever the player logs back on, he can see only the energy bar on the screen (because it's the only thing he wants to know : how ready is he to go out and work). During sleep, a dwarf... well... sleeps and regenerates energy. To stop sleep mode the player has to press a button. This way the player can log in without interrupting sleep.

I think it shoud also be feasible to enter sleep mode without logging out, in which case the player can see the energy bar refilling gradually.

The directional keypad for long-distance movement is nice IMHO.

Health and most bars (and the energy bar too) should not be visible on the main screen, as suggested by Hawkfrost. We should only have status like Hungry, Thirsty, Tired, Wounded. Some of the bars should be in a status menu, and others (like health) should be completely inaccessible to the player.

[Poltifar]

I think Istrian's log-in-withought-disrupting-sleep is the way to go. Not only does it allow the player to log in without waking up the dwarf, this system can also be expanded into a 'choose-your-dwarf' screen, were the player can manage all his dwarves. It would be the main screen when the player logs in, were he can check the status of all his dwarves, and choose which one to use, or create a new one (if immigrants are available). When he puts his dwarf to sleep, the player is taken back to this screen to be able to choose another dwarf if he wants to.

[webadict]

That would work really well actually. So, we've got movement down and sleeping down (the basics, no real mechanics). What about fighting?

My suggestion
There are three modes of fighting, with another mode of retreat:
Attack, defense and aggressive defense (and retreat)
Attack is made when the dwarf goes onto a space occupied by a hostile or wild entity. The dwarf then uses energy to fight the creature.

Defense is when a hostile or wild entity attacks you when you pass by a hostile or wild entity. The dwarf does not use energy in this mode.

Aggressive defense is the same as above, except it is an option that can be chosen. When this is active, you use energy while fighting and gain the same benefits from attack mode.

Retreat mode is another option that can be chosen, but instead of fighting, you do not attack and instead try to retreat as fast as possible.

In attack and aggressive defense mode, you gain benefits, since you are using energy, such as increased accuracy and damage, and possibly a Limit Break

In defense mode, you gain no benefits.

In retreat mode, you do not attack, but you retreat from battle faster.

[qwertyuiopas]

If we are to use PHP/HTML without a base game engine, someone(or more than one person) could start the page layout and PHP for loading the menu(s), since those will be practically the same for every page.
Other people could work on art or log-in/data storage systems.

[webadict]

I don't think there should be a body-part health system. I think that a regular health system would be easier right away. Possibilities?

[Istrian]

A body-part health system isn't that hard to implement, especially considering the reduced amount of body parts.

[webadict]

A body-part health system isn't that hard to implement, especially considering the reduced amount of body parts.

2 Hands - 2 Arms - 1 Upper Body - 1 Lower Body - 1 Neck - 1 Head - 2 Legs - 2 Feet?

I'm probably missing one, but that sounds about what we need. I suppose 12 values wouldn't be too hard. There's just a bunch of extra [Too Injured] stuff to program after that. Especially walking with no legs. That'd be the annoying part.

[Istrian]

No Neck
Upper Body + Lower Body = Body
So only 10 values. As for walking with no legs/one missing leg, it would just mean that walking (crawling/hopping) takes more energy than simple walking. Energy used to walk one step can be stored in a separate variable which only gets updated when the dwarf loses a leg.

I think a dwarf who has lost both arms should be considered dead, as he would be unable to wield a tool for production or a weapon for combat. Since he can do nothing but walk (and perhaps bite or headbutt) it would be boring for the player to continue playing that dwarf.

On the topic of tools, I thin we need tools for all jobs, even if it is something as general as "smithing tools", "butchering tools"... . That would also require a toolmaker job (or perhaps an extension of the craftsdwarf job) who can make tools with anything (wood/stone/metal...) and needs no tools. Using tools of better quality would reduce energy consumption for the task and tools would degrade over time.

[webadict]

I think a dwarf who loses ONE arm (or leg) would probably die of blood loss. Maybe there could be prosthetic limb we could attach. And dwarves shouldn't die from losing both their arms if they did. They're just another burden in your fortress. Maybe it'd just take a BUNCH of energy to do something with their mouth (say... about 5-10 times more).

The tools would be almost exactly like the skill level thing. I think that there should be some kinds of items that decrease energy consumption on certain tasks, but they shouldn't be required unless they're required in DF, like a pickaxe for mining (So, say a bronze pickaxe is 100% energy consumption, but an adamantium pickaxe is 50%). So, say if you had some sort of chisel, it would decrease energy consumption to cut it, but you would NEED one.

Also, having your own room/cabinet/chest to store your items in. That'd be cool.

[Istrian]

For personal belongings I think it should be possible to let players make lockable doors and keys for these. Of course there's the problem of a player building a door in the middle of a corridor, just to annoy people, but that can be circumvented by digging around it. Personal furniture will be added.

Also, should we add rewall in the first version ? In my opinion it is not that different from a 'dig' action, so it shouldn't be a hassle to code.

[Poltifar]

Rewall should be easy, just reverse the dig. But we probably won't have different kinds of walls for the first version, just the generic ground. Also, maybe it should use more energy, to encourage players to try not to make mistakes while digging.