Strategos Optimus Maximus

My Bookshelf

2007-09-04T22:02:00.000-07:00

What does a game designer working on a massively multiplayer grand strategy game read anyway? Well, lots! My goal for this year was to read a non-work (i.e. "fun") book per week, I think I am on track to hit about 35 for the year (mostly thanks to a gods-aweful Weber/Flint book, Crown of Slaves, that took me 8 weeks to get 120 pages into before finally giving up). Mostly I read sci-fi with a spattering of fantasy books, really good space opera is few and far between, so pretty much anything with blasters and aliens is fine. :)

In no particular order of importance, here are a few of the recent books that either validate things I am doing in the game, or in some way inspire an aspect in the design. None of the books are even close to the "galacticus is based on X" category. No linkies in the list, you'll have to copy and paste the titles into an amazon search yourself. :)

By no means are the following reviews, mostly notes/thoughts on each book series and how it relates to Galacticus (if applicable).

Building Harlequin's Moon
Best description of world building I have come across. The book basically describes a 60,000 year layover in space with key characters being unfrozen for 5 year shifts and regenerated with Nano-tech. In a sparse system a colony ship with inadequate fuel to use it's stardrive, first task is to build a barely habitable world by smashing together small moons and comet debris around a gas giant (this part of the story takes 59,970 years, the rest is the next 30 or so). Then populate it with uneducated "moonborn" workers (that are the offspring of the "earthborn" colonists) so that they can build up enough infrastructure to make an anti-matter fuel generating particle collider. Many interesting sub plots, great characters, well described social and technical challenges.

Book itself does not really apply to Galacticus, other than tech...will empires in Galacticus ever get the chance to smash together worlds and make bigger stuff? You bet! Ring moons, ring worlds, maybe even dyson spheres or engineered planets. Other technology making an appearance in the game tech tree is Nanotech, molecular manufacturing, fusion, anti-matter, regeneration, and much more.

Dread Empire's Fall trilogy : The Praxis, The Sundering, and Conventions of War
I found a horrendous copy of Praxis at Powells books. By "horrendous" I mean it was *used* - very, very, very well used - it looked wet/oily/slimy and there was no way I was going to touch it so I kinda poked it with another book so I could see the cover. Since it was Walter Jon Williams (cyberpunk author...Hardwired/Angel Station/etc) I was on a mission to track down an unslimy copy of the book. First stop, since Powells had no other copies, I went to amazon.com (on my Sidekick, while browsing more books in the store) and discovered it was the first book of a trilogy and furthermore the 3rd book had just came out recently, and as the title/graphic indicated it was not only sci-fi (as I initially thought) but *space opera*. Being it was Williams *and* space opera I had to have them without waiting for the mail (no amazon order :) ). I drove all over town. Found all 3 new at Borders, and brought the prize home. I thought it was going to be my Summer reading and I ended up reading all 3 in ~1 week. They were that good (best space opera since Dune).

Probably one of the reasons I liked this series is that so much of it validated where I was already going with the Galacticus game design, it was great to read descriptions of events that could be happening within the game framework I was building! That and the characters/story development are really top notch. There was one sentence buried in the story, a random sentence describing some mundane aspect of FTL travel/how the empire fit together, that turned on the light about how to balance the new player regions with the established empires in the game universe. One of those "wow" moments when the most obvious thing jumps out and smacks you, leaving you wondering how you could have missed it before.

The Last Legion : The Last Legion, Firemask, StormForce, and HomeFall
Sometimes R rated. Pretty decent military sci-fi series. Follows detailed characters through their careers as the long-lived Human Confederation declines and falls. Light on the starship combat, very detailed with ground/tactical combat. Takes the first book to get comfortable with all the slang and naming/phrases.

One thing similar to Galacticus is the concept of primary and secondary races controlling a planet. Oh, and the importance of corporations to mine/farm/build|maintain|discover technology. Some interesting politics, more interpersonal than grand strategy in nature. Players who leave the game in Galacticus would have their empires turn NPC and likely decline and fall alot like the Confederation in this series, making nice targets for other empires.

Kris Longknife series : Deserter, Mutineer, Defiant, Resolute, and Audacious (coming 10/2007)
What is a rich girl who's dad is the leader of a planet to do? Join the marines. Great descriptive starship combat sequences, realistic tech descriptions, and deep characters taking part in interesting adventures. World development and politics is somewhat lacking/shallow (especially since the entire family of the main character is supposed to be politicians. Sometimes the subplot makes the reader scream "when is this overused rich heroine cliche going to end?"

The system of jump points used in Kris Longknife series is similar to the starskip in Galacticus, in the books each system has 1 or more jump points to other systems which gives strategic value to an inhospitable system with numerous safe jump points to other places. Starship combat itself is very similar in that everything is carried out in slow motion due to the vast distances between ships and reaction times of the crews.

The Lost Fleet : Dauntless, Fearless, and Courageous (coming 12/2007)
Great reads. Very good character development and descriptive battles. Stories are from the point of view of an involuntary fleet commander who got the job due to being frozen > 100 years in an escape pod (because of rank date he had seniority). Battles are over distances of light minutes using sublight (.3c) speeds with the ships so attack planning and predicting events/ship locations are tricky. Lots of interpersonal politics.

Tour of the Merrimack : The Myriad, Wolf Star, and Saggitarius Command (coming 11/2007)
United States in Space vs. Space Rome (a breakaway former colony). Sometimes star trekish, sometimes Aliens or Starship Troopers like. Very descriptive. Kinda zany humor style. At least a PG-13, maybe borderline R in some scenes. Interesting aspects of time travel and long distance travel ("catapult" device to instantly transfer ships from fixed point to fixed point between galactic arms).

Empires in galacticus could have encounters such as those with the hive. Higher tech stargates could function like the "catapult" which would allow empires to leapfrog each others territory.

Still plodding along!

2007-08-08T20:38:00.000-07:00

"Wow, it's been quite some time since I updated this blog."

That worked last November so it works now too!

The game project codenamed "Galacticus" is alive and well. While most of the last year has been focused on family, my country home (the main house is finally livable and now we are working on landscaping and building my home office), and my day job I have managed to make a lot of progress on "Galacticus".

In the last year, I have :

Converted the game to .NET 2.0
Wrote a bunch of admin tools
Added 50,000 events, item/tech descriptions, and diplomatic messages
Sketched out 100+ ships and scenes (now I need an artist, I realized in the last year I can't do it all myself...damn...I would so like to just sit for a month creating things with 3d Studio).
Named the game, still publically known as "the game codenamed Galacticus", but internally the name and theme is known
Fix all the issues from the first round of closed Alpha testing
Reconnected with the game designer/founder of Midnight Games (a PBM/PBEM company I worked for lifetimes ago)
Read numerous inspirational sci-fi novels (well under the goal of 1 book a week, but holding an average of 30 for the year)

I still need to add about half a dozen planned features before the next Alpha round. Still pondering making the next alpha open to the public.

Long time between posts!

2006-11-02T19:17:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been quite some time since I updated this blog.

Well, Galacticus is still alive, in fact, more than ever! I am busy toiling away on some really boring changes that came out of the closed alpha test, mostly stuff that is tedious to write about/read on a blog, therefore no updates! :) Real life has mostly remained out of the way aside from a house demolition and construction project at my new country villa outside Portland (it's just a small .2 acre place, totally maintainable with all my other projects and quiet with plenty of spots for a telescope platform - oh, it will have a 700-800 sq ft game studio above the garage :) ).

Regarding Galacticus progress, here are a few things I have been working on in preparation for the next alpha testing phase (which might be public) :

Improved race selection and registration
Still working on fixing some things that caused items/locations to seep across game boundaries (I had originally designed the database schema assuming one db per game, then I told my wife that SQL server was $5k per server (more like $20k for the Enterprise version I wanted) and she made me go with a shared environment during testing).
Totally replaced the research and build model with something far less complicated. Still a plethora of research branches & items, but the requirements and cost models are less restrictive.
Working on some production and event tweaks.
Improving the starship designer. Yes, you can design and build ships from the hull up!
Related to ships, fixing the "upgrade to new technology" because, well, it plain didn't work at all.
Fixing some of the balance of the galaxy generation.
And a million other little things!

As long as the home construction goes smoothly the next testing round should happen right around Winter Solstice.

Head over to Warped Studios to sign up as a tester!

Back to work! I will make more frequent updates...honest!

Intersections and Xaminations

2006-08-22T22:38:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about the direction of the client for Galacticus quite a bit lately. Currently there is a (mostly static) web based application that allows player interaction. It is certainly a servicable interface and was always intended to be leveraged as the admin interface to the game servers as well as remaining for players that might be checking in on their empire/plans while away from their main computer (like while at work :) ).

So while I have been waiting for the Microsoft XNA Beta I've been doing some design work for a desktop based client application and expanding the capabilities of the Galacticus Webservice so a future client could connect to the game servers.

In addition to XNA I recently (because of the cancellation of the Indie Game Developer Conference) became aware of Torque X, which is the Torque Game Engine port to XNA. Adding these two technologies together would allow the rapid development of a really cool PC based client application for the game.

Over the next few days while I work on some core engine bugs I'll be deciding which direction to take the client application. Expect updates soon! :)

IndieGamesCon 2006 CANCELLED!

2006-08-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

Bummer.

Just got the email that the 2006 IndieGamesCon in Eugene is cancelled. Excuse is here. :(

Too bad for the conference. I guess it would have been fun, I was looking forward to it. I had never attended but had signed up this year and had already set up a couple of meetings with people interested in helping get the Project Codenamed Galacticus online. I'll either travel down to San Fran or wait for the Computer Game Developers Conference (which I am a long time attendee) to meet up with them.

Galacticus Overview/Status

2006-08-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be good to put up an overview and current status of the Project Code-Named Galacticus. Yes, I have chosen the actual name of the game when it's finally released, for now it will publically remain the Project Code-Named Galacticus (or just "Galacticus"). :)

For readers that don't know, Galacticus is a Grand Strategy Massively Multiplayer Strategy game (designed by me!). It is a game set in the future and has design roots in the 4X space strategy genre where the primary goal is building a vast galactic empire and interacting with other empires. Unlike the great single player 4X games like Galactic Civilizations or Master of Orion, Galacticus is multiplayer only, there is no "play against a computer opponent" option.

How do you find opponents when you want to play? Well, that's easy, Galacticus is a hosted game universe that supports open-ended game play concurrent with specific victory conditions on localized struggles/events/achievements.

Some players are instantly wondering about advanced players coming in and killing of starting positions, without going into the design details - you can pay my consulting fee or steal the encrypted design docs to get those - new player positions are sufficiently protected from advanced positions through time/distance in the game that it won't be a problem. In fact players can have multiple empires in the galaxy depending on their subscription level and if one empire is a real 6-months ahead of another position they would never "know" about each other or remotely share any territory. For a possible clue how this happens, read the Dread Empire series by Walter Jon Williams (most excellent space opera series). The Kris Longknife series by Mike Shepard might also provide a clue or three. ;)

Technical Features

ASP/.NET 2.0 core game application. The WarpedCore handles all the game logic, rules, decisions, production, and event system.

ASP/.NET 1.1 Web Interface. This is the current test interface. It is a web-based interface that utilizes Atlas/Ajax for a slightly less boring UI interface. Ultimately the web interface will remain but most players would use a downloadable game application to connect to the Galacticus game universe.

MS SQL Server 2000 DB. MS SQL totally rocks. Best bang for the buck of any relational DB engine.

Secure Web Services. Currently used by the production application and the administrative tools for the game. The Web Services interface is created for future use with a Windows Desktop game client.

Utilization of Atlas/AJAX technologies for a better web interface.

Custom encryption libraries to secure all game related data

Localization Ready. The game engine is built on a robust localization framework that is based on the concepts in the Microsoft Enterprise Localization Toolkit (available from MSDN as Shared Source, sorry, don't have the link handy).

Major Features

Gigantic, ever growing game universe. How big? Well, theoretically it's limited only by the SQL server space and the limits object ID's. Of course the design supports distributed databases, so each database server could host a galaxy of billions of stars with tens of thousands of concurrent players.

Massively multiplayer! Compete against an untold number of opponents in the eternal struggles of a vast galactic empire. Make alliances, build powerful starfleets, plot the economic or military destruction of your foes!

Large tech-tree and research possibilities. A huge number of combinations of research and item builds (racially modified later, not in the current game though ;) ).

Potentially unlimited racial profiles (Currently we are testing with 4 races, there is no reason, aside from time to create content, that this could not be 400 racial profiles).

Build lists and macros. There is built in support to automate many of the usually tedious aspects of a space empire game such as creation of new colonies - build lists can be preconfigured and used for each new colony settled.

Templated event and reporting system - yes, we can keep adding events and messages as new content is dreamt up. :) Best of all, with the templated report system say you are a player in the US and you have an ally who speaks only Korean...with the report system you can share the report and they will be able to read all the details/data in their own language! This, of course, does not include player entered data like empire name, or their position based star/planet/fleet names, those will not be translated from the players native language.

Completely localized interface.

Language neutral diplomacy. Similar to the templated reports and events. Users speaking different Terran native languages can interact in the diplomacy, faction, and trade aspects of the game with others by using templated messages which present dynamic items to each user in their native language.

Current Status
The Project Code-Named Galacticus is currently in development. There has been some closed Alpha testing on the web interface to the game and extensive testing of the core game application - including the galaxy generation, production code, tech & research, and other core components. The game should be moving into a semi-open Alpha test in the next couple of months, I don't want to put a date out there at this time as Galacticus is a hobby effort, and as such real life events tend to impact development timelines! :( But...HEY...I am working on the game at least a little bit each day, err, a few days each week that is. :)

Next Steps
The very next items I am planning to work on for the project codenamed Galacticus are:

Attend the independant game developers conference in October. :)

Better graphics instead of fpo graphics based on community 3d models from some recent sci-fi epic. Obviously before the game is public the graphics need to be home grown with no question regarding ownership. See the August 8, 2006 post for some sketches of 3D ship models I'm currently developing.

Finish some of the AJAX portions of the web interface. Includes improving the JS framework used on the client side.

Fix all the bugs that are currently on the master buglist for the web interface, production code and game logic.

Complete the user game registration so that players may select multiple games!

Semi-open public Alpha test (maybe sometime in 2006)!

Work on new features/bugs/next list of items in preparation for BETA! :)

Bunches more stuff...

2006-08-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

Some concept images!

These are some concept sketches of ships that will be appearing in the game. Yeah, I'm still working on getting interesting content off my other (defunct) game dev journal, should be done with anything really interesting tomorrow then I can get on with new, insightful, creative posts.

2006-08-07T22:27:00.000-07:00

Interesting Old Links

I am in the process of going through my other (retired) Galacticus gamedev blogs and pulling out some interesting and/or useful information. I plan to re-post all the useful entries in the next couple of days and then get on with some insightful and inspiring new posts.

Here are some indie game dev links I found that are rather interesting :

2006-08-03T22:15:00.000-07:00

Grand Strategy Gaming...

In the multiverse of gaming, a small, yet fanatical group of gamers exist who overthrow governments, create empires, explore and conquer entire galaxies. Many are very successful and all have immense fun. These are the gamers that enjoy strategy games. There are two basic types of strategy games: the quick action, typically single player, 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) computer game and the more complex, typically hosted, multiplayer Grand Strategy game.

Grand Strategy games primarily trace their roots back to Play By Mail (PBM/PBEM) gaming, and also pull many design elements from miniatures combat rules and dice and paper Role Playing games.

True Grand Strategy games are massively multiplayer by nature. They tend not to include many computer controlled (AI) positions, though some games do have them for added interest. Do not be fooled by the typical 4X single/limited-multi player empire building game, while these excellent games can provide hours of fun they are mere shadows of the Grand Strategy experience. A typical Grand Strategy game will support 100's to 1000's of players in a single game universe, players typically interact through diplomacy and economic actions building alliances and helping each other grow their empires and explore the game universe. The games are not all peaceful exploration, discoveries of advanced technology, rare resources or the seemingly harmless incursion into another empires territory can spark wars of a galactic magnitude.

In a grand strategy game patience is a virtue. Some games can take years to reach their conclusion. Plans may take weeks and even months to unfold and it is not unheard of for player to loose sleep at the endgame of a long term plan - wondering if their intell reports were correct about the enemies weakness or worried that one of their trusted allies has made a secret pact with their most hated enemy and will turn on them at the worst possible moment. Will the plan to deliver a death blow your most hated enemy succeed? Or will it be your own swan song? Only time will tell! No other type of game can build the level of suspense that a Grand Strategy game can.

Grand Strategy games encompass numerous genres in gaming. Warped Studios is currently working on a space empire title, codenamed Galacticus, in which the player controls the destiny of a spacefaring race through economics, diplomacy, research and exploration. Portions of the current Galacticus design and codebase stretch back over 10 years to game master tools created by the designer, Andrew Rielly, for traditional Role Playing games he participated in.

Grand Strategy games do not have to be space empire games, once Galacticus is complete Warped Studios plans to bring a new depth of multiplayer interaction to other genres.