Well...
Submitted by Ryan on Thu, 2006-01-12 02:35.
So I've followed the discussions on Gamegrene and checked back here pretty regularly. I finally decided to get in on things, and this is my first post! My name is Ryan Szrama, I'm 22 (almost 23..) and live in Louisville, KY where I graduated from college in May. My degree was Biblical Studies, and now I sell refrigeration on-line and make blinds at night. ;-) And I love programming. And computers. And the internet. And on-line games. = P At my on-line sales job, I mostly develop the web site and update products. The site uses osCommerce at http://www.vittitow.com if you want to check it out. I got into Drupal because we use it to run http://www.icemachineguide.com, and I recently got to make the little Sizing Guide Calculator on there. It was my first ever dive into PHP, MySQL, and Drupal, and my boss was fairly impressed. (Though I can think of dozens of things to do different/improve now after the fact.) It was a good learning experience, and I hope to do more in the future either with the game API or on a game system of my own. I'm happy to hang around here and be involved in development, though I must admit I really just don't see the big picture yet. Maybe I'm just in the dark on features? (Also, is the I in Spindowners supposed to be long or short?) Perhaps you could fill me in a little? Like will this be a huge RP community, or will there actually be coded things to handle combat, quests, equipment, leveling, skills, and whatever else? I've always been an avid MUD player/builder/coder and think I might enjoy this environment as well.
I have a very old, poorly designed site with some games I've programmed over the years at http://www.geocities.com/szrrya if you wanna check 'em out. ;-)
Welcome!
Welcome to Spindowners, Ryan! Glad to see some people checking in.
As far a big picture, I'm posting a bit here and there to help paint that picture. I'm trying not to get stuck in any one detail right now, so I've been posting all over the place, to help people see where I'm heading with all this. Then I figure we'll fill in the holes as needed.
Part of that is the structure of the forums. I'm trying to categorize it into broad sections, so they'll slowly fill up with the necessary information for players to get started and to dig into more advanced topics once the game's in motion.
At the same time, I want to help clarify anything that needs it. Keep the questions coming! (And suggestions!) Helps to make everything more understandable for everyone.
Ok, here's a stab at some of the questions you asked.
Is the I in Spindowners supposed to be long or short?
Short. It's pronounced "Spin-downers". The spin is because the substation slowly spins in orbit, to create an artifical gravity. "Spindowners" is a sort of colloquial slang that longterm residents of the substation call themselves. It's occassionally used as a derogatory term referring specifically to the working class residents, but it's used like that less frequently now that war has broken out and everyone on the station is uncertain of their own status.
Will this be a huge RP community?
Hopefully so. From my experience with online RPG's, about 10-25% of players are interested in the role-playing aspects of a game. I happen to be one of those numbers. However, I also believe a game should be enjoyable for everyone playing it, and I recognize that many players are interested in other aspects. Hopefully, Spindowners will combine enough elements to make the game a rich experience.
Will there actually be coded things to handle combat, quests, equipment, leveling, skills, and whatever else?
Absolutely! A person could in theory play the game without any role-playing at all and fully enjoy the experience. I'm helping to develop the Game API so that we can implement some of the automatic tasks. Some things will come from existing parts of Drupal (such as these forums and Organic Groups). A lot of the code will be custom code I'll create. I imagine there will be rewards inherent in cooperating with other players for some goals and quests, but the lone wolf should be able to succeed as well.
A lot of what I'm putting up are notes explaining how the system will work. However, the server will handle all the number crunching of the system. Thus, if you try to shoot a renegade droid with your blaster, the server will compare your skill to the defense, add a bit of randomness, and let you know if you hit the droid, the wall, or your own foot.
Well, that's it for tonight. See you around!
- Aaron