Feedback on an idea I have..

[Omnivorous]

Hello!

I hope my post isn't unsuitable for this forum, I have some programming experience, but I'm no programmer. I've just gotten an idea for a game I personally would love, by collecting inspiration from all my favorite games. I'll try to lay out the idea here, and hopefully get some feedback on whether a game like this would be possible to make or not, what tools/programming languages I'd have to integrate etc.

Anyway on to the idea:

I want the game to run in-browser, where you register and log on to play. An interface I've found impressive, simple and really exciting is the way you play "Lands of Hope": www.forlornonline.com What is this really? Flash?

Anyway, another game I draw inspiration from is an old game (that's currently offline :/) called Phantasia4, www.phantasia4.com It was a -very- simple MUD-rpg that ran in java, where you had NO graphics. You just started within a coordinate-range of X:-100 - 100, Y: -100, 100, then you moved around within this infinite grid. At intersections like 100,100, 400,400, 1200,1200 etc. you would find shops, and you could interact with other players.

Third source of inspiration is "Dragon Court" http://wild.ffiends.com/DCourt/Game.stm and what I specifically want to draw from this game is the way it only give you a certain amount of turns each day.

Soooo, what I'm envisioning is this: A space-exploration game, where "space" actually would be generated as players "found" planets. Like having a certain chance each time the player moves, to "find" a planet, then the game would generate this planet and make it persistent in the world for other players to find the same planet. OFcourse setting some sort of ruleset where only 5 planets could be generated within each 10x10 square, and also possibly making them dissapear after a while or something.

On each planet generated there would again be different possibilities. For example landing and finding a dungeon where each dungeon would be generated as in any roguelike, and gameplay would be like a roguelike.

Does anybody get my idea? What type of programmer(s) would I need to make something like this happen, any advice on languages and how to integrate stuff like this into the browser?


Thanks for any replies!

[Fenrir]

This is almost identical to an idea that I have had.

As for browser game development:

If you want to create it in Flash, you will need to purchase Adobe's Flash Professional CS5, which will set you back $700.

To make it in PHP, ASP, and/or Javascript I recommend http://www.w3schools.com/ for the basics and http://buildingbrowsergames.com/ for specific information on how to create browser games. (EDIT: http://buildingbrowsergames.com/ only covers Perl, PHP, and Ruby on Rails)

In the event that you don't have a graphics program, use http://www.gimp.org/
If you use the GIMP, examine this tutorial: http://gtuts.com/design/the-ultimate-gimp-planet-tutorial

[Etinarg]

I'd assume that Javascript in the browser and PHP scripts on the server would work quite nicely together.

AJAX seems to be a very common way to link these together to have dynamic web applications:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_(programming)

[george]

You could use pretty much any language for the server and JavaScript in the browser.

Also you can create Flash games without buying the Adobe creative suite by using the free Flex tools (available from Adobe). Heck, you can create Flash games with probably half a dozen cross-compiling systems (Haxe, etc.).

[Fenrir]

Also you can create Flash games without buying the Adobe creative suite by using the free Flex tools (available from Adobe). Heck, you can create Flash games with probably half a dozen cross-compiling systems (Haxe, etc.).

Fenrir's eyes widen and he grins.

This I did not know. Awesome.

Fenrir rushes off into the distance. As the monstrous wolf strides off at great speed, you can hear him chuckle and say "I'm such a geek."

[guest509]

Fenrir's eyes widen and he grins.

This I did not know. Awesome.

Fenrir rushes off into the distance. As the monstrous wolf strides off at great speed, you can hear him chuckle and say "I'm such a geek."
[/quote]

Off topic but I love how Fenrir RP's on this site. Love it!