The Miscreant Engine

[F. Scott Banks]

I think so too.  One good idea has become many and this is a hard place to track them all.  Besides...this thread has performed it's intended purpose of determining what needs to happen with regards to design.  As for the actual games...they should have their own threads.  That becomes apparent as the MUD starts to grow into it's own entity seperate from the MMORPG.  Gameplay, design...even content are becoming entirely different for the two games that this game engine spawned.

Sorry if anyone's been tracking this for updates, but I'll most likely take the rest of these designs to seperate threads.  I appreciate everyone's help.  I've "forged" (sweet god why?) a very solid program out of these breainstorms to not only design a RPG and a MUD, but also an engine that turns downloadable PDF's into playable games for networked or distance gaming.

I think we've worked this corner long enough...the actual games that are coming out of this thing are getting their own threads.  If I get the same kind of help in the individual games as I've received while refining the game engine, this project promises to be a lotta fun.

[F. Scott Banks]

Wow, who'd have thought this monster would have pushed it's way to the surface again?  

I started working on it in a separate thread that dealt specifically with the beta version of the game, but it seems that once you go from theory to actual implementation, people get excited and things start happening very quickly.

We are now actively developing this project.  Anyone interested in contributing to it can email me.  

I'm considering lumping all my projects together with the projects of some of my colleagues.  We're all working together to get published and together we're making some almost frighteningly impressive headway.  

I'm hesitant to say it, but I suppose that the medley of genius and lunacy we've assembled (those who are assembled that is...those who aren't, join the asylum) is almost a company.  It just takes someone saying it to make it official.

If no one objects, I guess we'll start calling ourselves Miscreant Games.  Looking at a cross-section of the talent we've been able to trap in our little pitcher plant, it definately fits.

So yes, the wheels in the miscreant engine are actually turning and anyone who wants to ride should post to this forum.

I'm still somewhat torn as to whether I should just keep posting here (all the info is still relevant to the original system and the theory behind it..moreso than before as the actual implementation is being done in a closed forum) or whether I should start posting multiple threads elsewhere?

Anyway, that's really a question for another day.  For now, we're back, we're doing some big things, and I would just like to thank everyone who's been keeping up with this for helping us get this far.

[Sven Seeland]

First of all, I didn't read the whole thread. It's just too much text and too much info crammed into it, so please forgive me if I'm asking questions that have already been answered.

Well, I'm defintaley very interested in this whole project and while I might not be qualified to help out with any actual developing (it does sound tempting though - I am a programmer/software developer/computer science student after all) I would be very happy about a place where I can keep track of the project and its status. A homepage of some sort would be nice. I don't believe you're planning to make this OpenSource and take it to sourceforge or something... Still I would like to have a homepage with the Design Goals, current status, screenshots, whatnot.

I'd just like to know more about the actual development. Is there something I cold help with, what are you planning to with it, how are you planning to do it, etc.

[F. Scott Banks]

With regards to what we plan on doing with it, it honestly hasn't been discussed much.  I was thinking of using it to pull attention to some of our pen-and-paper games (come for the MUD, but stay for the quality RPGs).  

As far as "where we are in development".  We're moving along at a nice pace, bt we're still at what I'd call the "beginning".  I'll be putting up a site pretty soon, and it'll have news on what we're doing but I'd have to ask everyone involved how much of the development is public.  I don't really have a problem with sharing the ruleset, or the combat system, or anything that could be duplicated with a pencil and dice, but some (i.e. all) of the more sensitive programming isn't wholly mine, and I'm not really the one to ask when it comes to sharing that.  I've measured myself by the programmers on board and I think I'm best suited to just designing the game.  My code comes nowhere near theirs.

Of course, if you wanna join the project, then that's another story altogether.  Drop me a line, or just post here.

[Sven Seeland]

Well, as I said, I'm pretty enthusiastic about the project and the whole idea behind it and I've been searching for a project for a while now. I must admit that I am a bit rusty so I might not live up to your standards and I might not be qualified for the type of work that needs doing. I still don't know what kind of technologies you'll be using or what platform this is going to run on (I'm a fanatical Linux user so I'd vote for a platform independant approach). I don't even know what kind of interface this game will use. I also can't judge about how difficult the work to be done is and what sort of knowledge will be required. While being very interested in AI, for example, I know next to nothing about actually developing it.
You also said you're thinking about founding a company and I'm planning on contributing on a more casual level.

So I really don't know if I'm your man but I am eager to learn as much about the project as I can and maybe help if I am able to.

[F. Scott Banks]

lol...well, it's a pretty casual company, so don't worry about that.  It's pretty much just a bunch of guys pooling their efforts to get their stuff published.  We're more concerned with getting it on shelves than making household names of ourselves as individuals, so we don't mind putting our work out under an umbrella, so long as it gets out.  

Also, it helps to have experts on-board.  I might be terrible at layout, but we've got someone who's great at it.  If you don't have the time to establish a riveting storyline for the game that showcases your amazing new system (i.e.  "It's got robots...ummm, and they're really big"), then I'll take time out of my day to make that happen.  It's structured kind of like the forge in that respect.  "I'll help where I can when you need it and you can pay me back by helping where you can when I need it."

But PM me with your email address, lemme know how much you can help, and in what respects, and we'll see where we can fit you.  Trust me, no one's turning down help so don't let the idea of "a company" scare you off.  That's really just so that everyone's ideas are protected.

[F. Scott Banks]

I suppose I should also open up the "What would you like to see in a computer RPG" element of this thread.  We've got a lot of good ideas out of it, and I'd hate to finish just in time to realize how cool it would've been if only we'd done [blank] cool stuff [/blank].

So, if you actively contributed to this thread, or if you've been trolling, and decided to keep that sweet idea to yourself since there wasn't any activity on it anymore, go ahead and post.  Trust me, this thing gets looked at pretty regularly and you know I'm taking notes.