   Game Concept. Need Help With Engines.
  Hello Peoples!!I am currently studying games design at Uni and have played games since I can remember.. So... I think my first game I played was Command and Conquer. I am no pro at playing games but I am a fast learner and am learning all the concepts needed to create a sucessful commercial game.I have had many many ideas for games most of which were MMO based because since the release of WoW I have loved the Idea of player to player interactions through quests and other things!I am currently creating a game concept that isnt necessarily an MMORPG.It could be online or offline and my decision isnt quite there yet but here is a rough games concept.The game is based in a fictional universe where the laws of physics are very different.Inspired by Outlands from World of Warcraft and many other games, the universe consists of a fog which is unlimited in distance both on the X Y & Z axis. There are no planets or moons. The world is made of this endless nether-fog and islands of rock which rise, sink, rotate and float within.So there is gravity which acts universaly on all object within the world. Gravity is down.But the islands are fairly free moving.There islands are in a variety of sizes from small boulders which wander about, to full sized continents.These islands in some cases have flowing rivers and lakes which all inevitably flow out into the nether. There are no seas due to this.Weather and seasons change due to nether-fog anomalies which cause drops in temperature and wind. Day and night cycles change also due to these nether-fog anomalies. In some cases Days and Nights can last days and weeks.Weather such as rain, fog and snow are all reliant on a source of water above other islands. So islands would have these weather cycles by being beneath an island which has rivers and lakes which pour out into the nether.Due to the unlimited size of this nether and the vast number of islands players will be free to claim islands as their own, build on them and when powerful enough, Use their engineering skills to link islands together with chains and bridges. This is my concept so far. I enjoy creating and developing ideas. I know some of this is far fetched but after all it is just a concept.But what I do require some help with is what game engine would be good to get something similar to this working?I dont know much about programming so creating my own engine would be very difficult but I am willing to learn anything!I believe that user created content in games adds to the experience and i beleive giving usings land to own and a set of building tools is something I would like to aim for.Thanks In Advance!Aappleyard! :3   
  If you don't know how to do any programming or anything, start with Unity Engine.Good luck.   ;  Before you can choose what engine you want to use, you first have to know what you want from the engine. This means knowing the mechanics of the game.What you have described so far is a good, strong theme of the game (floating islands, wandering about them, linking them together, etc).You have described some basic mechanics (gravity, physics, linking islands, etc) but you need more details and more mechancis.For instance, the most basic of all questions: What does the player do in the game?You have mentioned:- Claiming Islands- Linking IslandsIn linking islands, you have also mentioned "Engineering Skills", but whether this is a "Character" skill (where the skill is represented as a number on a player chracter sheet) or as a "player" skill (like shooting in an FPS is a player skill) where it is the ability of the player that allows them to create the link has not been mentioned.Also, claiming islands is a whole pile of mechanics that needs clarification. IS it done in an RTS type way, does the [player have to complete quests like in an RPG, do they buy them like in an Economic/Trading game, or whatever?There is also mechancis about how the player mopves around the world. Is it a camera system where there is noactual player entity like in an RTS, or is there a specific character (or group of characters) that represent the player in the world.A few years ago now (about 7 or so) I had a similar idea to this, but as an MMORTS game (I called it Rift Wars).In this the player would use an RTS like system to conquer "Realms", then use magic to create a "Rift" between realms to expand their territory. There was a limit to the number of realms the player could have as maintaining the rifts was a drain on the player's magic (and as magic was needed to create a rift, they would eventually be unable to make more rifts to link realms). It also acted as a a balance mechanic as a player whith many realms would have less magic to use, but more troops and resources at their disposal (it helped player with few rifts by giving them access to more magic, but also helped players who had a lot of rifts as they had more resources and troops - the play style and balance between them was up to the player to choose).Players could link to an uninhabited realm and conquer it as a single player game, but these realms were undeveloped and would take time and resources to develop. Or, they could link to an inhabited realm (at the discresion of the realm owner being linked to) in a Player vs Player match (and multiple players could link up into massive interrealm wars - which could even involve more than 2 factions) and you could conquer that realm to gain a developed realm.Essentially in the PvP matches, the players put up a stake of one of their realms in the chance that they could conquer another player's realm (that players stake). SO PvP was risky, but highly rewarding, but even if they were completely conqured they could fall back to PvE matchs to start collecting realms again.What I hoped is that some players would get into a "Strip mining" strategy where they would depleat the resources of a realm and then cast it off, but then conquer other realms again and then strip mine them out. This would cause these players to be very powerful, but they would also make themselves as targets for another player to attempt to conquer and get their resources (may be in a hit and run/raider strategy).   ;  I really like some of the ideas there!Ok I'll clear it all up.Players controll characters. The characters are goblin type creatures.Players will have a selection of proffesions. Alchemey, Mining, Engineering etc etc.Each proffession give the player unique ways of gathering and using different resources but without limiting each player too much.These floating islands can be built apon. So if there is enough land on one island. LIke about the size of a small house, then the player can build a house if they wish. Or a patch of farming land, or storage. What ever they want.Any island can just be built on. But this leaves their land open for the taking. IF they buy a deed for the islands however, then their land can be left untouched and private.Engineering is a proffession. One of many. Engineers will be able to create chains and then link islands together. Make fantastic, blimp type floating boats and ships to traverse the world and can make many other things.Resources :Ores from islands. Mining reduces the size of islands so long as the islands dosent have a deed. Ores change depending on the type of materials the islands are made of.Plants, Flowers, Herbs, Fruits, Nuts and Seeds are all forageable from a variety of flora.Water <-- Found where you would expect. -.-Lightening. Harvested from storm clouds floating in the nether atmosphere.Cloths, Silk and Wool. Harvested from crops, insects(silk worms) and nether sheep and other animals.Resources such as wind can also be captured. Wind, Lightening, Coal, Moving water, Steam vents, and Volcanoes can all be harnest as a powersource.[Edited by - Aappleyard on May 11, 2010 11:02:42 PM];Quote:Original post by AappleyardDue to the unlimited size of this nether and the vast number of islands...Red flag here...you'll need to seriously consider the resources and software design required to create the illusion of "unlimited size", especially if you're thinking this could be a multiplayer game at some point.;  YEh I realise Unlimited is abit crazy.  The illusion of unlimited would be better. Maybe a rpeating world. So once you reach the top or bottom or sides of this universe you start coming from the opposite side. So if you were traveling upwards. Once reaching a specific point you would actually be traveling from the bottom of the world.From Point A to Point BYou would travel up and point A IS point B . Like in portal or that old game with portal rooms. AB   