3D Online Risk Game... Non Browser Based

[kleep]

I was wondering what everyone would think about a Risk style game with 3D Graphics and a dedicated program to run it. It would be like battle.net or some similar matchmaking program, where you join different games created by people.

Now the benefit of this obviously would be a more entertaining experience... but also they could have different game types (risk 2142, risk classic) with special cards and leaders. You could maybe customize your armies paint scheme (or decals) and there could be different maps with different troops for each. So if you fight in a civil war map, your troops would be decked in civil war era weapons/outfits.

The disadvantage would no 24 hour move games (which I love)... but I think it would be a really fun late at night playing a game or 2 with lot's of extra eye candy/strategy options...

Thoughts?

[reminisco]

i don't think it'll fly. decent idea, but i doubt it'll catch on.

remember Battle Chess? similar idea, but never took off.

[kleep]

I don't remember battle chess. But are you saying you don't think the game would be popular enough for a developer make it?

[reminisco]

I don't remember battle chess. But are you saying you don't think the game would be popular enough for a developer make it?

no, a developer might make it, but i don't see it becoming a hit. i'd even be doubtful that you could turn a profit with the product, depending on the cost of development, distribution and marketing.

i mean, how are sales on Hasbro's computer version of Risk?

cause you'd run into the problem of competing with sites like this (and there's a lot of free RISK rip off sites out there). that don't require software to be installed, can be played on a slow almost passive pace, and aren't encumbered by such hold ups as obeying copyright law.

oh, and Battle Chess was a computer version of chess, but when you'd take another piece, there'd be a 3-D animation of the pieces doing battle, and of course, the losing piece getting destroyed. kind of like a cross between Mortal Kombat and chess, without fatality bonuses or even animations as cool as Mortal Kombat.

[kleep]

Ya I see your point. Consider this idea, destroyed!

[Neoteny]

I still have battle chess on the ole three and a quarter.

[kleep]

I guess what I kind of want to see is special cards and leaders (like in Risk 2210) in CC. I think it would add so much to the game.

And to anyone who hasn't played 2210, in addition to reinforcements every turn, you get energy. As you control more of the map, you get more energy. The energy acts as currency. You can then buy stuff with them.

(this is from risk 2210 wiki)

One of the biggest differences from classic Risk is the addition of commanders: land, naval, space, nuclear, and diplomat. These fill a number of roles. Their most basic function is to act as an improved army unit, enabling players to roll eight-sided dice rather than the typical six-sided ones. For all commanders this is true when defending. Space and naval commanders allow movement into Moon or water territories respectively.

The most important function of the commanders is allowing the purchase and use of cards of various types. The addition of cards has a huge effect — they change the strategies in broad sweeps rather than small adjustments. Card play can shift the balance of power rapidly. Players can only buy four cards at a time, and only for commanders in play. Like the new avenues of movement, cards open up the board by making no position impregnable, no attack a certainty. With cards in use, the game is more fluid and positions are constantly shifting. There is a separate deck of cards for each type of commander. Perhaps the most devastating card attacks are enabled by the nuclear commander: playing a nuclear card has the potential to destroy all the armies on an entire continent.


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Now digging deeper it seems there already is a game like this... AHHAHA. http://www.smileygames.net/invadeearth

[reminisco]

kleep, do it.

i'll join up and play that game.

but let me give you a serious tip.

make your own website. DO NOT CREATE IT HERE.

do the map makers on this site get a cut of the profits? ask yourself that. it's far more important to be a shareholder in the stake, or, be the owner and CEO of the site than anything else.

if i were you i'd go off and create your own website. hell, rip off Conquer Club. lord knows they don't mind ripping off someone else to make a buck. it's all in the name of capitalism.

so go make that website. model it after this site, same idea. give a free option and a pay-in option. and install yourself as CEO. i'll join up, for sure (but only for the free option. no way can i, in good conscience, pay money into a concept that is ultimately stealing the intellectual property of someone else -- but don't tell that to anyone around here, i don't want them to get their panties all in a bunch. plus, i'm not trying to get anyone in trouble, i'm just not a thief. nor am i going to support thieves. if they had ads on this site for anything other than their own merchandise, i'd have to stop using this site forever)

so seriously. don't suggest it here. just go program your own site, and i'll see you there. oh, and if you do go public, lemme get in on the IPO early, huh?

something an old fencing coach used to tell me (and his guidance helped me become a state champion and a junior olympian):

"you know, Nike came up with a great slogan: Just do it. now JUST FUCKING DO IT!"

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oops, was this whole post NOT sent as a PM? my bad...

[kleep]

I just don't think it would catch on nor would it make any money. But thanks for the pep talk... you sound like a man with a plan.

[Ditocoaf]

I saw the topic title, and was SURE that this was a rick roll...

[AndrewLC]

I loved battle chess

[reminisco]

I just don't think it would catch on nor would it make any money. But thanks for the pep talk... you sound like a man with a plan.

okay, so if it doesn't take off, at least you gain experience in creating and running a website.

i don't know if Conquer Club has been charging since day one, but i do know that their growth has been organic. started small, very small, and in a few years it's blown up pretty dramatically.

plus, i'm sure the creators of this website had their doubts, but they just said "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."

so what if there are other people out there already doing it. i mean, hell, RISK already fucking exists! it didn't stop Conquer Club. seriously man, do this. i think it would catch on. and it'd be different enough from THIS site that you'd probably find a lot of crossover -- people from here going there and vice versa. and if you get big enough, your payout might even come from Conquer Club buying you out. to absorb your product and market share. in fact, you should get to it before Conquer Club makes a 2210 version.

seriously dude, i think it's a good idea. don't get down on yourself about your ideas just because there are already others out there doing it. there's nothing new under the sun. at all at all.

almost every successful entrepreneur has had a string of failures in their past. the difference between them and the others is that the successful ones didn't give up, learned the lessons of their failures, and persisted on. i mean, think of it like RISK even. i know the first time i ever played RISK (when i was 9 or 10), i went for the continents that gave me the biggest bonus, not the ones that were the easiest to hold -- i lost, big time. and even today... i learn more about gameplay from my losses than from my wins.

the same is true in life. it's generally harder to replicate your successes than to avoid making the same mistakes twice. the empirical process, as Science would call it. learning from experience, as a guidance counselor would call it.

[kleep]

It’s just so hard for me to try something like that. Between work, wife, son, friends... Every bit of my free time I spend playing comp games or reading books. Being successful in life just isn’t my goal in life. I know that working hard for money will make me happier in the future, but it’s just so hard to kick myself in the butt and try.

My friend, who is pretty much an entrepreneur, wants me to write a script for a movie. Apparently he knows some people and has some faith in me. I’ve always been extremely creative and love a good story... So I think I am going to actually try to write a script. I kinda told him “ya ya, ok.” But I think it’s about time I try something new and scary.

[reminisco]

do yourself a favor and buy The Writer's Legal Guide. here's a link to the amazon page on it.

http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Legal-Gui ... 490&sr=8-1

before you show anyone anything read that book and CYA.

[kleep]

You are just a fountain of raw knowledge, aren't you?

[reminisco]

You are just a fountain of raw knowledge, aren't you?

i've tried (and failed) at alot of things myself. i've also tried and succeeded at things.

i have a copy of that book. also, a copy of Writer's Legal Companion. both are good and compliment one another, but you can make do with only one -- and in that case, go with the one printed by the guild.

and hell, if you want some more unsolicited advice, if you are going to write, i can tell you my method. first of all, you have to accept that good work is distilled, not devised. when i'm really writing (i.e. not a blog or for a web forum) i spend 3x as much time on revision as i do on actual composition. it can get really really grueling. and the most important thing is discipline.

set yourself up so that you can make it a routine. i like to do my writing in the mornings, usually for 3 hours at a time, unless i'm under deadline and then extend that block of time. what i do is put myself in detention. i can either write, or not write, but i can't do anything else. i can't watch TV, i can't answer the phone, i can't go online, i can't read, i can't masturbate, and most importantly, i can't be interrupted by other people. i just seal myself off from the world.

i can either write or not write, but i can't do anything else. sometimes, i just stare at the wall for a couple hours. and sometimes, that's how the best ideas come. sometimes i've got diarrhea of the fingers and the shit just flows onto the page. sometimes i spend the whole time revising a passage i wrote earlier. but the point is, that block of time, at the same time every day, is always used ONLY for writing.

trust me, it's hard to be disciplined about it, and sometimes you really need a gun to your head to get the work done. but if you can do it and stick with it, i think you'll find an awful lot of productivity coming from yourself. also, it's never a bad idea to join a writer's group and see if that works for you. Chuck Palahniuk swears by his. I tried one in Philly for a while, and it helped me get into the routine and discipline of writing regularly, but ultimately wasn't a good fit for me (especially after i read the Legal Guide -- just didn't feel protected, and couldn't trust the other writers the way Palahniuk obviously can).

okay, so i know this is a ridiculously long post, but go for it.

just do it.

[kleep]

may i ask your age, good sir?

and also, i appreciate your advice. i really do.

[reminisco]

may i ask your age, good sir?

and also, i appreciate your advice. i really do.

i'm 28. so i'm tres young. especially compared to the writers i most admire, who usually didn't get started until late in life. remember, Joseph Heller was 38 when he got Catch-22 published. Raymond Chandler was in his 40s when he got STARTED.

i've also never married, no kids. but i've dodged a few bullets.

i go through phases myself. so don't get the idea that i'm the perfect model of discipline. it can be really hard for me to stay on task. but i've found ways to do that too. first of all, don't drink any more than one a night. any more than that, and your mind will be dull the following morning -- the ideal is to actually go completely dry, which i've managed during some prolonged projects. also, regular exercise. staying disciplined with that helps you stay disciplined with everything else.

also, if you've ever read About a Boy... (i like Nick Hornby, okay, i admit it) but in that, the main character kills time in half hour chunks. well, i liked that idea, and try to apply it to my life, but in a productive way. so, i can't always write for 3 hours at a time. that's the ideal, not always the norm.

so when things are really busy and hectic, sometimes it's only half hour chunks of time at a time. or 1 hour, etc. and it's funny, when you start to figure out how long it takes you to do all of your daily tasks, and you start to block them into half hour chunks, it's easier to find time to spend on what you really wanna do.

in your case, that sounds like either writing or video game developing.