[Sgdc] Minutes from 2/1/11 Brainstorm

[fdicola at stevens.edu]

Hey Game Development Club! It's Frank. (that new weird Art guy) 

Here's all the concepts we decided we wanted to keep from our
brainstorming session: 

  

Gameplay: Real-Time
Strategy                                                                                  
Setting: Earth-like planet 

  

A huge part of this game is resource management. We have decided to
provide the gamer with the choice to use Renewable Resources,
Semi-Renewable Resources, and Non-Renewable Resources.  

RENEWABLE RESOURCES:                           
Solar Power, Wind Energy, Water Power, Trees 

SEMI RENEWABLE RESOURCES:                 Nuclear Power,
Fusion, Hydrogen Cells 

                Or “Transitionary” 

NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES:                 Fossil Fuels,
Coal, Oil, Gas, Minerals 

                Or “Transient” 

Renewable Resources like Forests should be able to be replanted at the
cost of some of the lumber in your possession, with the outcome that you
will be able to deforest again and get even more resources. 

Your net gain with Renewable Resources will be your true advantage. For
example, building a ton of solar panels gets you solar power. By contrast,
using a lot of fossil fuel just leaves you with fewer resources… a
product, no doubt, but still an overall lack of resources. 

An example of Semi-Renewable Resources would be like if you could use a
rod of uranium 3 times. So, it’s not renewable forever, but it can be
used a few times.  

The player may be able to research “refining” which would give you
more charges on uranium, or just more in general. 

On that note, Nuclear plants should slowly kill all the workers (if
they’re human, this makes sense) that go in and out of it, but should
also provide the possibility that a super mutant will emerge from it at any
given point in the game, turning your worker into an unstoppable beast
hungry for robot blood. 

 Technology Research is very big in this game. 

 Races = Omninom, the Nation of Nofbair, and the Hippies. 

 The Omninom and Nofbair are the main races. Both of them start out in an
industrial age (much like modern times) where they are neither fully
polluting nor fully green, but somewhere in between.  

   

STORY 

The story is quite undeveloped this early on in the designing process, and
is mostly used as a way to adhere to ImagineCup standards. Nonetheless,
we’ll say that there is this Nation of Nofbair that uses robots to do
manual labor. One day some terrorist (or a robot who was given super AI
capabilities) designs a virus to get most of the robots to turn traitor and
form their own nation. This virus specifically targets a new line of
military grade robots Nofbair was constructing, making them an imposing
enemy. Nofbair decides they are a threat to their nation and will suffer
through no more of their attacks, and retaliates with their own robot
soldiers.  

   

NOFBAIR 

The Player must play as the Nation of Nofbair. This human nation developed
robots to do manual labor for them. Their newest line of military grade
robots was recently infected by a crazy virus named “Omninom” that has
turned this batch of robo-soldiers against their home nation. The player
must defeat these enemies, using the remaining sane robots, to win. 

Nofbair begins at an age that pollutes but is “getting there” in terms
of green technology. The player may choose to utilize green technology,
making the land around him much nicer, or go full pollution mode, making
his base a cesspool of waste and filth. 

    

OMNINOM 

The computer is always the “Omninom”. This race of deranged robots is
hell bent on destroying the nation of Nofbair – perhaps because the virus
has wiped them of their intellectual reasoning, or perhaps because the
viral infection has caused them to “wake up” and confront their
oppressors. 

                The technology this race uses is robo-heavy
and extremely wasteful. They computer always goes “full pollution” and
vies for non-renewable resources. The land surrounding their bases will
quickly turn to a sludgy dump. 

   

HIPPIES 

It cannot be stressed enough that the Hippies are a scattered group, and
at MOST are a minor annoyance toward the player and his opponent. They
basically serve to annoy the player and sort of keep him on his toes.
Basically, since the player begins at a period where his nation still
pollutes a little bit, the Hippies will come out of the nearby trees and
attack your base.  

If the player uses non-renewable resources, semi-renewable resources, and
does actions to pollute the area (whatever those may be) the player will be
hostile toward these hippies and will have to deal with their occasional
attack. 

If the player uses green technology, makes the surrounding area nicer, and
deforests the nearby forest (but replants some of the trees), the Hippies
will not attack you anymore, and instead may serve to harass your opponent.


But again, we’re talking about a dude in a headband with 5 health doing
one damage with a stick or something. This should not take over the game.  


  

SCATTERED IDEAS 

 Possible draw condition: If the world DIES due to pollution (which may
happen in a game that runs on for very long and is kind of a stalemate,
between a player who went Industrial and his Industrial robotic enemy) the
game ends in a draw. 

 Possible instant win condition: If the player expands his bases around
the map and generally improves the area of the map with green technology
niceness, it is possible he may overrule the pollution and win.  

Possible unit: A spy (if you go industrial, since it has that Cold War
feel). This unit can be used to catch up to other players who have
technology you don’t have. Simply make a spy, and send him to their base.
If he remains uncaught, press his “spy” move button and point it at a
building or a unit you wish to know how to construct. He will then proceed
to “spy” for like, I dunno, a few minutes. Finally, he’ll learn the
plans, and your base can produce it. (POSSIBLE CHANCE HE WILL DOUBLE CROSS
YOU? DUE TO THE VIRUS?) 

Other possible industrial units: Cold War tanks, Hindenburgs, Jet
fighters, submarines – anything that seems Soviet in nature. 

 
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