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Classic Games (Games)

Journal tomhudson's Journal: OpenRisk - feature suggestions wanted 11

Journal by tomhudson
Okay, step 1. Get a list of features, etc., people want.

Remember - the more features, the more time it takes, so please prioritize your features.

  1. Top priority - a must-have item, essential
  2. Great idea - try to put it in the roadmap for the near future
  3. Good stuff - would appeal to a large segment, etc., somewhere down the road
  4. When U Have Time - would be nice, but not really necessary
  5. Whatever - everything else.

Specifics I have in mind (but that can be adjusted based on fedback)

  • Browser-based (don't want people screaming that they got a virus, etc from a download, and don't want them to be crying that their version of java doesn't work)
  • The maps, tokens, and boundaries should be configurable
  • Avoid the cheesy animated effects of the computer version, at least for now. Watching people shoot each other is neat the first few times, but after that it gets in the way of gameplay. Maybe when we get around to thermo-nuclear war openrisk, or bio-risk, or nanobot-risk. Maybe a few sound effects (that can be turned off by the user), and animations for the dice rolling, but that's it.
  • Cheats - none!
  • If a person logs off, someone else (with a different IP address - no taking over and losing on purpose) should be able to take their "seat at the table"
  • auto-log-off if you don't move within a certain time limit (when we're playing the board game, we've got a timer to prevent people from taking FOREVER to make their move - THIS MEANS YOU JOE!!! The logic is that in the real world, you should be strategizing while the enemy is moving.

Implementation - the usual lamp stack (linux OS, apache server, mysql db, php page scripting), w. css/javascript.

Target browsers - firefox, opera (unless Opera never gets around to fixing their stupid layers/iframe bug and that causes too many issues, but I'll try to stay away from it for the time being).

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OpenRisk - feature suggestions wanted More

OpenRisk - feature suggestions wanted

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  • In no particular order (other than what occurred to me):
    • Save/Restore That would be a nice feature in an online game for those of us who can't dedicate the time to play a game end-to-end. Either:
      • Save the game state online for x days/hours
      • encrypt and download the state to the players (to prevent tampering)
    • Chatroom to get around all that "which IM client" mess.
    • Private/Public games - Private is by invitation, public allows for spectators.
    • Leave/Rejoin a game in progress for when your browser decide
    • Thanks. They're good suggestions. I'll look at it over the weekend (just letting people accumulate their comments here before I actually sit down and map out a proper development course - after all, gotta get the "user requirements" right :-)

      Be funny if you made a version where you have to get everyone OUT of NYC, and the winner is the first one to escape :-)

      • Player-created scenarios-allow players to define scenarios for 2 or more players, each player starts with a certain # of units, different victory conditions allowable then "annihilate the opponent entirely. Some suggestions-

        Capitals-Each player begins with a "capital". If the opponent can take and hold the opponent's capital for X turns (defined in the scenario) they win immediately.

        Continental takeover-same as the "capitals" game, and can be combined with capitals, but a target continent is the takeove

        • Oh, thought of a couple more. You can strangle me now if you'd like. :)

          Defense-rather than overtake, one side's goal is to defend a certain area that it starts on for a given # of turns. (This might fit quite nicely with some custom maps-one side needs to hold open an escape route while the other side attempts to cut it off.)

          Survival-This would probably be combined with a scenario in which one side starts with a significant advantage. Their goal is to wipe out the other side within a given number of tur

        • Sounds an awful lot like Axis and Allies (or is it Allies and Axis - gotta go check the box).

          Okay, its Axis and ALlies. Would have been quicker to google for it.

          • Suppose it is a bit like that, makes sense, that wasn't specifically what I had in mind but I always did enjoy that game. (That one and Diplomacy, if you ever played that, pain to try and get enough people together though. I've toyed with the idea of doing a version of it in an online setting.) Mostly was just throwing out ideas though, feel free to use the ones you like and chuck the ones you don't. Sounds like a very cool project regardless.

            • That's always been a problem - getting enough people for a good round of Risk - and not having it devolve into this:
              1. Well, lets make it into a supper and game night
              2. After supper ... oh, man, did we eat too much! Let's just veg in front of the tube for a while ...
              3. Oops, to late to start a game now.
              I told everyone that, next time its at my place, they don't get fed unless we've played a round first.
  • I know the Risk + Google Maps site got shut down, but...

    How about being able to specify GPS coordinates for the 4 corners of the gameboard and underlaying the map image below the game board? Then the other idea in this thread with being able to make alternate maps prevents having to actually draw details into the map image. You make an outline and have all the countries/zones filled with a transparent image color. Then you can see the underlying map image to nicely fill in the transparent spaces.

    -R
    • Firefox supports png transparently nicely, but exploder really sux at it. Maybe they'll get it right next time around, in which case that could work (while I won't go out of my way to accomodate IE, I also won't actively jerk around those who have already been herked around by M$)

      The GPS stuff sounds like it would need a tie-in with google maps or another service, which means more possibilities of breakage. Still, something to consider (USG maps, maybe?)

  • I don't know if you've thought at all about making AI opponents - but it would be nice to have an simple interface for programming AI bots, pitting them against each other, online players etc. - also then you don't have to write them!

    eg TurboRisk [marioferrari.org] a freeware non-networked implementation of Risk, allows AI players to be programmed in a Pascal-like syntax, and 20 or so different ones have been written for it. The code is open but not free.

    Probably falls into the category of "Would be cool" though

    • The whole idea of getting people to play online is to get them to socialize, and maybe have some of them get together in real life.

      This is why I couldn't understand why Hasbro wouldn't actively sponsor development of such a product, or at least not "look the other way" at the Google Risk game - when people get together, they play the board game, pieces get lost, cards get torn, pop and food gets spilled, and they go and buy another one. I've got 4. One of my friends has 2. Another one has one.

      People do

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