Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[EuchreJack]

Best bet is to read the GNU license for the game.  It should have all the answers.  However, I think the GNU only protects the source code.

From the constant protests on the code, you might be better off remaking the game from scratch.

Have you considered a sequel instead of the original?  Mechanically, Conservative Crime Squad would be very similar, however the flavor would make it into a whole new game.  Suddenly, kidnappings are about ransom and release of captured brothers-in-arms, instead of brainwashing!

For added global exposure and scrutiny from the FBI, perhaps a "terrorist simulator" that mimics more modern terrorist groups.  The dark humor would be darker, but the social statement would be far more significant.  For instance, the current political framework offers no incentive for terrorist kidnappers not to torture their captives.  If their caught, they generally die regardless.  If they succeed, they generally get paid the same.

[Alexhans]

New themes or ideas are cool as long as mechanics don't really change.  The things is, it's always easier to program something if you already know what you're supposed to be doing instead of having to develop the inner workings of the game or redesign gameplay as you go (or even before, depending on the time you waste).

I imagine one of the red goals for the CCS being "Demonstrate that global warming is a hoax" and it definetly sounds hilarious.

You'd have to start in some sort of futuristic aftermath of an LCS victory.  In a liberal distopia and try to bring the back the good ol' conservative principles (emphasize the evil of those commie liberal baby killers ).

Anyway, as I said.  Not having to reinvent and rebalance mechanics with a straight port seems easier (albeit not easy).

As for the GPL issue, I think porting would not mean a derivative work unless you use equal lines of source code (unlikely for a webpage, I guess, ruby c++ wrapper?? O_o) but there seems to be different opinions on the matter.  There could always be patented algorithms or other stuff but I doubt this is the case.

Anyway, just going on with GPL and releasing the source code seems both good and educational.

[jasonred79]

If you're going to make it a WEB GAME, here's an idea:

Make it multiplayer.

Sounds daunting? Actually, no it isn't. Make it so that multiple players can join the same game. Each person will control one founding cell of the LCS. Gameplay will be the same as regular LCS, except that everyone shares the same Issues and president and other stats in one online file.
Gameplay wise, you set the speed of the game at start: how many "game" days are allowed per "real" day. For instance with 8 days setting, each player would only be allowed to advance the day via "W" button 8 times each day, which resets at the 23:59 every day. Those who do not use up their turns in time will find that the game forced everyone in their team to lay low instead.
ALSO, you could have multiplayer vs, and allow some players to control the CCS and undermine the issues in the other direction.

[GlyphGryph]

I've actually started working on this now. I'm just going to try a regular single player game (although with the ability to create additional save slots).

It's also going to be extremely customizable (which has taken up most of the design phase so far)

When you create a new game, you can choose to customize details - create new /edit existing items, weapons, armor, NPC types, locations (though you'll need to pick an existing map generator, you can add random location triggers like "cell" and "big red button" and "table" and "armory" and have them do a variety of actions based on a skill check + difficulty), and new skills (weapon skills only though).

In addition to it being something a lot of people said they wanted, it will also be nice to have that generic interface for me to change the default setup.

Things that will still be hardcoded include the map generator, skills OTHER than weapon skills, stats, issues, and the actual mechanics.

Creating custom stuff will probably a fairly long laborious process working your way through a bunch of forms, but when you're done you'll be able to save the settings and later share them with the world (or you can take other's pre-built settings and use them). You can also share saved games.

Right now, I'm planning on doing that by creating a "player_slot_generator" flat file for each player save slot that is created and doesn't use the default system to store all those settings, but I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it.

Anyways, once I get up a decent working copy of the generator I'm going to start working on the location exploration bit, and then I'll actually have something to show you guys. But that might take a while - I may not be working my full time job any more, but I AM looking for a new one, and I have other obligations.

(Also, I am planning on making two slight changes. You will be able to load "chemicals" into the syringe to give it interesting effects. This is in many ways a test of the "ammo side effect" feature I intend on implementing to allow things like tasers and flamers without having to make special cases.
Leadership will also be re-implemented, easier to get, and have more of an effect than it did before. It will mostly govern how many people you can effectively bring on missions, and their chance of panicking (which can manifest in a lot of bad ways) or getting separated from the group and having to make their own way home.)

[breadbocks]

I think you should start from the characters and how they develop, but that's from somebody who has no idea how programming works, so take it with a shaker of salt.

Also, I'd totally play it.

[GlyphGryph]

Well, character development can't really come first because I need to be able to test it.
I can't do that unless there is a way to do actions and stuff, and then it is a pretty easy job, just adding a bunch of triggers to increment the skill value.

Of course, I do have a basic static character model with all stats and a whole bunch of skills already set up, but development can come later.

At this point, I'm basically debating exactly how stuff will be broken up, page wise. Obviously, I want to attempt to minimize page loads and make the experience seemless, but I don't want to load so much data up front that things break. At the very least I'm going to have separate management and location pages, but I'm not sure if I should just make the management a whole bunch of pages or try to make it as few as possible and do everything with javascript.

I'll probably start with having each bit with its own page and then condense it later.

[breadbocks]

Makes enough sense.

Perhaps it could be done in panels, sorta like in the browsers windows, where the main screen is always on, and other things can be toggled closed, which makes them not load, and open, which loads them, but lets you access it's information and interface. You could move them around too, but that would require the whole thing to be in a java applet or something. That way, people with low bandwidth can play the important parts without the fluff, but people running 100MBps speeds don't need to be dragged down by the weakest link.

[GlyphGryph]

Normally I'm extremely averse to, say, frames... but what you just said has made my realize they could actually work exceptionally well in this sort of situation...

Nevermind, its a terrible idea and they don't work in HTML5 anyways.

[justinlee999]

How about a Moderate Crime Squad?

Attacking Arch-Conservatives and Elite Liberals as you try to maintain moderate peace in the city.

[EuchreJack]

I meant to state this idea earlier, but currently the game plays like the Red Shirt Brigade.  Everyone has the same stats, the same skills, and most can get better.  The only real originality of the characters comes from their prior occupations, which doesn't matter in most cases upon joining the squad.

For a socialist paradise, it's perfect.  But it keeps the player from really caring so much about individual characters, because they're not individuals.  So I'd suggest adding "Traits".

Traits make characters unique.  Not every character needs to have them, but perhaps every character has some random chance of obtaining them.  Skills and stats make the rules.  Traits break them.

Martial Arts kinda sucks compared to guns, right?  But not on that guy with the "Dragon Punch" trait.  S/he just punched through a tank with their bare hands.

They don't have to all be good, some could be bad.  But they add individuality.  If you like the idea of "Traits", I'm certain the B12 gang can produce a large list, and you can pick those that are easiest to implement.

Finally, I'd strongly recommend implementing the ability to repair permanent injuries for ludicrous sums of money.  At least allow dentist to replace teeth.  This is a modern satire, not some 1880's cowboy game.

[GlyphGryph]

Yes, I DO plan on including a "proper" hospital along with the current free clinic. In fact, I'm probably going to nerf the free clinic as well. Hospital will be expensive, but should be able to offer plastic surgery as option.

[EuchreJack]

If you wanted to be more realistic, have the hospital heal the liberals, and a medical complex offer the dentistry, limb replacement, facial reconstruction, etc.

It is more realistic because any hospital in the US with an Emergency Room must treat anyone that can enter the building (if they collapse on the front lawn, the law is more ambigous, lol).  But they only have to stabilize the patient.  Soon as the patient is no longer in risk of death, out they go.

If you can do only this, your game will be totally awesome.

[Pnx]

It would really be nice to see LCS rewritten into a better format, currently it's got a buttload of idiosyncrasies that make making changes rather difficult. Which is a shame because it's an awesome game.

I wish you the best of luck with this.

[JohnATallon]

I can't attest to how correct this is, but other people have had similar questions about the legality of reproducing the rules to a game without permission and the legal record so far in the U.S. indicates that you can copy the principles behind how the rules of a game operate and be completely in the clear: http://tft.brainiac.com/archive/0710/msg00168.html

Just don't use actual code from LCS if you don't want to adhere to its license.

[GlyphGryph]

Cool.

Anyways, progress has been slow while I deal with other issues, I'm considering trashing what I've got and redoing it now that I've got a bit of a clearer image of how things work together.

Maybe the web-idea wasn't the best after all, and I'd be better off just remaking a downloadable version. We'll see.