Uh, so. I have an idea for a game I'm kind of considering, and it's not necessarily an RTD, but it will likely be an RPGish thing with some similarities, so I figure I might as well talk about it here. Note that I have basically zero details planned out, and it may very well die before becoming even remotely feasible.
Basically, imagine a hybrid of Minecraft, DF, and maybe Dungeon Keeper. Players take on the role of a creature in a vaguely Minecraftish world, punching down trees or digging burrows or whatever else it takes to not be eaten alive when night falls. Then it falls and they sleep or dig or saunter out into the night and kill or be killed or whatever.
Anyway, that basic cycle continues, but with several adjustments. For one thing, Bad Things might happen from time to time, so we're not relying on extreme circumstances or careless players to weed out the waiting list too much. It's okay though, because for the most part when former players got back in they'd be able to pick up where they left off, at least to some extent.
Secondly, if you do well enough, you get migrants of whatever you are. These migrants would probably vary in effectiveness in some fashion, so it might be kind of a crapshoot as to whether you got elite warriors or sniveling peasants, but there you go. They could drastically boost the power you've got available for whatever it is you're doing, but they'd of course expect luxuries like food and shelter.
Third, players could research things to change the world. Basically, instead of tending crops or building another tower or whatever, they could devote time to researching another type of stone or animal or weapon, and then once they succeed the stone or animal exists and they can go find it or the weapon exists and they can make it, and so on.
So, that's the basic setup I'm thinking about. There's a couple things I'm not sure of, though I'd like feedback on any/all of this.
One of the major ones is the default cooperation level. Should players all be doing a DF-style communal fortress, but players can bail out and do their own thing if they want, or should everyone be off on their own, and can band together if they really want to? Should I encourage feuding/competing tribes?
Stat/skill/quality levels is another. I'm not sure if/how I intend to differentiate players with different skillsets or focuses, or how I'm going to make your migrant peons differ from each other and yourself. I'm also not positive if there'd be equipment or other items of varying quality, or how exactly that'd work if they were.
Scope/scale/etc. is a final one, though it's kind of odd. Basically, I like the idea of players commanding tribes bigger than is really reasonable to care about each individual for, but I'm not sure if/how I'd abstract that out, or even if it's a good idea or if it's just a totally different concept bleeding through.