Multiplayer

[Sim-Mania]

Zaimat has said that facilitating multiplayer as an option to the game, would maybe only occur if there was a sequel or perhaps if there was an extension pack. I was trying to rack my brain around how they could incorporate this option into the background story. There are 15 races in Horizon, in multiplayer if you could choose any one of those 15 races, then each race would have to start at the same level for it to be fair, in which case the unique way the older races in Horizon start off with an obvious advantage would perhaps have to be compromised. Or they could just implement the whole battle star galactica perspective. You start off as but one tribe of mankind, that for whatever reason each tribe has been flung across the galaxy.


This maybe ramblings, but what the hell, the board has been a bite quiet lately.

[Therlun]

[Zaimat]

Holiday season is a very busy time for us all. And I've been very busy with deadlines and I know the same is true for some of our dedicated posters. But it is temporary and things should pick-up.

I'm not sure about a developer diary atm but I'm always available to answer questions here and I'll see about a sort of 'update' reports and more information as we make progress. Either way I do have some ideas to get around to presenting..

As always if you have any other suggestions keep em coming. Ideally it should focus on ideas, furthering discussions, things that can help us fine-tune Horizon based on what you know so far. And even ideas out of immediate scope such as multiplayer are okay. We have every intention of supporting and expanding Horizon beyond a first release version but right now all our focus is on the present.

Sim-Mania: There are 11 major races in Horizon. There are quite a few ways of doing a viable multiplayer version. A lot would depend on what people would like to see. The majority of the time people play 4x games vs the AI and the games themselves aren't really suited for multiplayer due to the length of play. So I would ask what parts would you consider a must and how long should a typical game last to be both fun and meaningful.
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Horizon - Lead Designer

[Queeg 500]

[RobHuntingdon]

Well... perhaps for small multiplayer you could have a combat-only game. You could set in game setup a 'tech level' (or equivalent) for each side and a 'bank balance' (or resource, or whatever) and you spend that on purchasing a fleet of whatever type ships you like to use, equipped to your taste, then go in and fight against the foe until one dies or gives up. Lords2 had something like this in their expansion pack, and several other games as well -- I think the TW series did this a lot too.

For larger multiplayer games with multiple players, if you make sure you can save and restore then anything is possible. MOO3 had people who had MP games that ran for months, in which the players would log on once a week for a few hours at a pre-arranged time and play. I suspect there will be fans of Horizon who would happily do the same, regardless of the length of a game.

As for how to support it... well, IIRC, weren't there to be a fair number of options for customizing "your" humans? If so, perhaps just multiple tribes of humans that each player can customize as they desire, on either random or pre-saved maps, with or without AI depending on whether or not they want a deathmatch-style game or a standard-type game with all the normal victory conditions. Allied victory is important to have available too. Maybe you could even have scenarios in which several tribes of humans are allied to gang up on one of the more powerful AI races, but you don't start with much resources... or something.

Hope that gives you some useful ideas.
_________________
Robert, the Earl of Huntingdon

Tarry here, my merry men, whilst I seek what adventure await in yonder greenwood; but look thou listen for my call, for I will blow my horn if I become hard-pressed.

Adapted from Sterling, pg. 45

[DeckPrism]

[Therlun]

urgs... timetraveling!
timetravel is almost always the tool of creatively hampered authors, that try to get a special "kick" into their story.
and in almost any case they fail....

[DeckPrism]

[Warcaster]

hey guys

[blows the dust of the post] pppphhhhh [cough]

i am an avid fan of tbs such as the moo series gal civ etc and as far as mp games i have found the most frustrating aspect was having to wait until all players were available to play. i personally would like to see a 4x tbs that had a continuous mp game. ie 5 players join a galaxy as individual races (whatever they may be) and play for 2-3 hrs and log off, the next day 4 of those five log back in and continue to play but this time the ai has taken control of the absent players empire. moo3 had this but the biggest flaw and the one thing i would like to see is the ability to regain control. ie on the 3rd day of play the 5th player returns, logs on and takes control of his empire where the ai left off. in moo3 this was not possible, once you left you were gone, that was it you were out of the game for good.

i've no doubt this would be a huge undertaking as the ai would have to be damn fine to make sure no-one lost out while they were gone.

warcaster

[ForesterSOF]

That is why I would go for PBEM stuff.
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You have two choices in life; Explore and Learn, or Vegetate

[Warcaster]

what is PBEM?

warcaster

[Therlun]

"Play By E Mail"

you send your turns to the other player/the host via e-mail, and it is processes after all turns were recieved, or a timelimit was reached.

[RobHuntingdon]

I'm not a big fan of an actual PBEM. For one, these days saved game files are a bit too big for that. I won't bore you by listing the other 400 reasons... But something that kind of simulated the basic concept by allowing people to log in to play a turn and then notifying (by email, perhaps) when the turn gets processed wouldn't be totally awful.

Still, I prefer just hooking up with folks and playing for a few hours, saving, and coming back another day.

RH
_________________
Robert, the Earl of Huntingdon

Tarry here, my merry men, whilst I seek what adventure await in yonder greenwood; but look thou listen for my call, for I will blow my horn if I become hard-pressed.

Adapted from Sterling, pg. 45

[Wraith]

I suppose it depends on how they handle it, and wheither they choose to specifically support it. In most TBS games, most of the information doesn't change from turn to turn, so you'd only need to send the information that has changed. But this is extra work for the programmers, and they might not be enthusiastic about doing it.

I prefer playing at the same time myself, but that's not always an option, and it would be nice to have PBEM available.

[Warcaster]

well as i said earlier i know it would be a real challenge for the programmers to do this. if it were to be run without an online server (just a nominated comp in a network) it would require that machine to be on constantly which aint really possible.

warcaster

[RobHuntingdon]

[Warcaster]

yeah that pretty cool, the old c&c red alert for playstation has that, set no bases, set the tech level and set the number of units you start with (max of 30) then the whole point is to be the last one left with any units

its kinda fun, as your numbers drop against the yellows you start to worry as you know there are no reinforcements but what is this... the greens attack the yellow rearguard, hoorah! no leg it and watch then blow the s***t outta each other.

i always liked sending out a small scouting party to draw the teams into combat with each other, then i'd sit and wait until the remnants of the winner seek me out. mwahahaha!!!

warcaster