For reasons I dont remember, I never begun to learn to code/work on the project.

HOWEVER After playing rebellion again (seriously) really getting back into it again...

Iv decided to start reading my coding books. I have some ideas I would like to pass around, see what everyone thinks.

1. Different Interface

- The interface, Im still trying to figure out in my head...but I think I want dropdown menus. Maybe a dropdown menu, containing all the sectors.

And when you click on a sector name, it opens up a window/screen for that sector with all it's planets shown?

- Same for fleets/soldier units. If you want to find a specific fleet, or grouped unit of soldiers (wookies, sulustans, etc) there could maybe be filters too?

To help you find certain fleets/units you have made for different purposes.

2. Main Screen Tabs

- An espionage tab window. This is where you would conduct espionage missions. Select your bothan spies and send them out from wheerever there sitting.

I also wanted to expand on the whole espionage thing. Maybe there could be spending of credits, toward funding, of the Bothan Spy network?

That would grant certain bonuses, advantages. I was also thinking, maybe mission equipment, could be attached to bothan units, for increased chances of success. And that the equipment can be upgrades for further odds of success. And lastly, bothan spy unit training, to increase rank/lv

- Same thing kinda for sabotage missions.

3. Tactical, turnbased battle system.

- perhaps a gridbased map for space battles. Maybe mix in, chances to target a ship's engines, or weapons, shields...kinda like whats in empire at war.

And thats all I have right now. Please tell me your thoughts

And being a fan of rebellion, as well as recently starting to learn a gaming/coding language, I thought I would attempt to make a game like rebellion.

Now I havnt been studying for long, and I cant do a whole lot yet, but I do understand what Iv read completely so far, and hope to put it all into practice.

Now, about the game I hope to make someday.

It will be a turn based strategy, and the battle maps will probly be hex grid maps, I guess kinda like the civilization series.

I was even thinking of maybe mixing in some kind of card system.

I hope to make this game, more detailed then rebellion, with more options/features, maybe even some minor rpg features such as leveling up.

Needless to say this will probly be a hybrid game, of different types, but mostly a strategy.

I figured this would probly be the best place to post about such a project idea. Pls tell me what u think, and if u have suggestions/ideas feel free to share, also if u would like to know more about the game let me know.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ai5aswydel9krza RebRel0001.7z New Version 3-3-2011

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/7986/rebstrat0001.jpg

This is my announcement for my own Rebellion2 project. I tried for a while to join one of the other developers working on their own but either I dont get a response or it just wont work. I recently cut my hours back at work and retarted another University degree so first year subjects are so easy that I have plenty of free time to work on this. Most days I aim to put in at least 4 or 5 hours of work into the project.

I have been playing around in a few different environments to create this and have been steadily working on a design document for the last few weeks and going over my old game design

books to get some ideas on how to go about this. I tried out C++ with OGRE, Irrilicht and DarkBasic Pro, and recently started with C#/XNA which has been my final chosen platform. Although this restricts Games to being deployed on Windows, XNA is a very powerful API and I am concentrate more on the game and less on the low-level details. Even though I had to learn C# for it, it was pretty easy and very quick to learn

Community Involvement

I hope this will become a large part of my project. Anyone willing to help out is more than welcome to help.

Artwork: is my biggest problem as I have had very little experience with artwork. Good 3D Models and Textures, Nice looking planet textures. All help will be welcome

Programming: Anyone competent in C#/XNA welcome. Its pretty easy to learn as well

Design: Biggest help section I reckon. A good design will be the key to making this game work.

Which leads me to what I have gotten going so far. Set up a GameStateManagement section to swap between the different menus and game states. Got a nice GUI window system plugin that works a treat Menu works fine and I found a really cool sample to create a sun which will look really awesome in-game I am starting work on the world now.

Anyone wanting to exchange ideas:

Email: mijatovic@iinet.net.au

Xfire: steel86

Or simply post on the forums. I usually check here twice a day. thanks guys in advance for all help

The one thing that we have both attempted to give in our games is a bit more depth. We wanted the easy ability to add more ships, systems, and the ability for the player to add their own. What I would like to see is what everyone actually wants from a sequel/recreation. Have I been too ambitious with certain features? Feel free to list any problems with what I have created and I will try to answer my reasons. I would love feedbakc and I know this is almost a dead community but the ones left are those who know what they want most and Slocket and myself put in our effort for you guys. So here goes:

The few things that I decided to add or change about the original are listed here:

• The ability to add, remove and alter your universe, units, and possibly missions/research tree
  
• The ability to play in resolutions designed for newer generation monitors/PC's
  
• 3D Galaxy Map with the removal of the jump anywhere approach.
  
• New Interface Additions such as Planet List, Unit List etc etc.
  
• Defectable Characters

The big problem I am having at the moment is to do with the 3D Galaxy Map. Sure it looks cool but I think compared to the original, usability is down. I have tried to make up for this with the ability of zoom in and out removing some information so you don't get crowded at max zoom but its probably still not ideal. The addition of the new interface screens are meant to help that as a quick reference for your planets and what they are building but still once again, not ideal. I would like feedback on what people think aobut the 3D without jump anywhere. It looks a bit like a cross between Sins and Rebellion in its play but the problem is Star Wars is designed to play over many more planets, and the sectors dont really feel definable anymore.

The next big thing is monetary systems. Some people want more complex, some want more simple. I want a fully fleshed out idea that is easy to implement. At the moment I am simply using a system like Rebellions where you have a cost with building and a cost with upkeep. No maintenance points its all based off the almighty dollar(or credit if you prefer) concept.

I havent really come across anything else that I wanted to add. I considered having experience for units however it would have expanded memory usage for no real benefit for me.

Thats all I can think of for now but hit me up guys

When the player captures an enemy, he can ensure that the captured unit can never escape by having him and an agent constantly planet hopping. For instance, if I am an Imperial and I capture Han Solo, I could train up a new Commando and have them constantly in transit by moving them between planets 90 turns away.

So what can we do to fix this? Let me have some ideas here please

Cause, I may need to recode so the program will read the display info format (get xhorizontal) you know, then auto adjust the images so they fit the resolution that is being run.

Or I can place inside the INI file a 'windows' mode so you run the game at 1024*768 whilst your destop LCD can run in another mode.

THX for input.

But then I think about it -- and I decide I really kinda dislike the old system of mines and refineries. It wasn't very intuitive and very hard to calculate on hand. Thus, it needs modifying, and that's where I need you.

So if you guys could, hit me with some ideas. Anything at all. Try to be simplistic though nothing too fancy -- remember we don't want to give the player TOO much to micromanage!

Similiar to those gold old days of rolling dice and taking hits ala StarFleet Battles.

Plus a addition layer with a player field board (somewhat like Might and Magic games) to move you ship counters around on. Like a neat chess game so to speak. I think it would add a more cerebral component to the game. After all, Star Wars Empire at War does the RTS thing any way.

What do you think? It is a bit radical departure, but do you think it would be cool?

I want to add in some basic battle engine rendered cutscenes showing the the ships firing on each other and stuff to add in that 'real time' movie feeling. Plus I would like to to do this for the Planet Assaults with Defense batteries firing at incoming ships, and troopers shooting at each other. Neat little animated cutscenes.

I need to know this answer. I think maybe due to limitations possibly, of the game engine, the maximum number to make the game still fun. For a single 3D battle, 100 capital ships and 1000 fighters per side?

I really want ships NOT to be spammed -diplomacy missions, sobatage, espinoige, and troops are going to be of importance morever from just brute force. Your ships are to be valued and tough, not just a pure war RTS game.

If it turns out to be a problem, make the fighter back into sprites? (yuck)..Maybe just low polygon models. So far, I figure it will not be a problem for the above.

I have made the sprite explosions, a basic panel showing what ship you click on, hull and shield , ship status. I will show a picture in the old thread I am mostly posting in. I would like to show the detail status as a new button pop-up. I am trying to give the most GUI feedback with the old style flavor without hogging up all the pretty pictures.

As for task forces, we will see, I never used them that much, but I can give the groups (then some kind of more intelligent commands to make it worth while). I figure with more resolution, I can place lets say 24 types of capital ships hot buttons / groups; maybe 8 fighter types/groups?

Opinions please, I am at that point. Been a busy bee with all this Iowa Katrina Storms from Hades here in Iowa (clean up) had to repair/replace my whole roof froma 110 mph wind gust...tornadoes...

Oh yes, ships and fighters will have limited protons topedoes to slug around as research upgrades, so you may decide to research 'advanced' proton torpedoes or a gravity well interdector quicker -flavor of Master of Orion.

Edit: typo 24 capital ship types instead of 12 for each side (I forgot to double the number ) over the basic starting force, so 32 in total. That is 2x the original game.

I invision seeing the hyperspace routes, and somewhat realtime /trun based action. To see you fleets moving to a system and zooming in for the action, plus watching realtime ground assaults and planetary batteries firing.

Sins of a Solar Empire kind of does this, and so did EAW. I just wonder if it would really work in Rebellion type game, messing up the basic gameplay mechanics too much.

The game will be multiplayer only, and by multiplayer I mean many players. Depending on the size of the galaxy it could be anywhere from 2 - hundreds. Before you all freak out: "OMG a hundred players? That game would take forever", let me assure you this isn't the case - at least not exactly.

The game will be turn-based and asynchronous. By asynchronous I mean that players will submit their moves in their own time. Not every player has to be playing the game at the same time. Players will experience the game in bite-sized chunks at times that suit their schedule. So, players will not have to wait for other players. Turns will be run at regular intervals (defined by the host). For example: turns will be processed every 12hrs, 24hrs, or 1 week. Obviously, these games will take some time. Weeks, though possible many months. It all depends on how the game is configured.

This game won't be for everyone, especially if you want snazzy 3d graphics and real-time interaction. But if you're craving an EPIC, immersive, space-opera empire-building strategy game, and you have patience, then this game is for you.

On to the actual point of this post:

How should multiplayer work? This is where I need the SWRebellion community's input.

Rebellion was 2-player only, which made sense in the theme: Empire vs Rebellion. How can this be expanded to include more than 2 players? Here are some options to get the discussion started:

Idea 1

Players all start out with the same amount of planets, resources, and units, but spread around the Galaxy.

This is an obvious choice, but part of SWRebellion's charm is the Empire's obvious advantage and the Rebellion's guerilla tactics.

I would really like to promote player interaction in this game, asides from the standard "fly your fleets in and assault his planets", so perhaps a Diplomacy or Co-op system as discussed in this thread.

While this sounds good in theory, wouldn't it result in a bunch of infighting as the players vied for control of their faction?

Option 2

Perhaps the same social, inter-player diplomacy features, but between factions, where each player has their own faction? That way players could still do diplomacy missions on neutral systems, but could also form alliances with other factions. While one faction might claim several systems, an alliance could claim entire sectors! The idea being that one faction doesn't have enough power to defend an entire sector, but a group of similiarly minded factions could in fact do so.

Of course other inter-player features will have to be added to encourage cooperation, such as trading items or resources.

Victory Conditions?

This sounds cool in theory, but there is another question: What are the victory conditions? Should they be customizable, i.e., annihilation, race to control 75% of the galaxy, etc?

Annihilation would take forever with a large number of players! I like the racing idea, because alliances could band together to take out opposition, but as the 75% nears they would turn on eachother! Alternatively, they could choose to end the game together and share the win.

Maybe there should be no Victory Conditions? What if it was an open-ended MMO type game. New players could even start up in "newly" discovered portions of the galaxy.

What do you all think?

First, I have chosen XNA Game Studio to be my dev platform (though I don't know if I'm going to use 2.0 or 3.0... I'm leaning towards 3.0). I want to use a very common file format for everything (images, 3D models, sounds, XML) and editors for files that can't work the same way (maps, scripts). My main goal with this game is not only to bring out the best from engines like Empire at Wars and SWRebellion, but to have the possibility of expansion and modification in the coming months/years. If a new feature could be implemented in the future, it will be. And anybody with the game can simply download an update to gain that new feature without losing ANY of the new/old files already attached to the game.

For units (troops, vehicles, fighters, ships, etc.) I want to have no limit (of course if there is too much going on at one time on the screen somebody's computer will crash...) and anyone can add or take out certain units to tweak gameplay. There will be an editor that will create XML files for new units. There will also be a simple tag in the XML file that says whether or not the unit is used. If true, the unit is in the game and all the rest of the code is read. If false, the unit is completely ignored by the engine.

I also want a wide range of players to have fun playing the game. In Rebellion, for example, resources to create and maintain units were more complicated than just credits (like in EaW) and added more depth to the gameplay. Some players don't like, some do. To solve this problem, I will write a simple formula that equates more complicated resources to credits. Exmaple:

100k Durasteel + 20k Electronics = 2 AT-ST

7,000 Credits = 2 AT-ST

Of course that is just an example and probably won't be exactly how the game will function.

I am also toying with the idea of full 3D space battles. In the movies, Ships flew underneath ememy vessels and laid waste to the underside of their hull. I've yet to see this in a Star Wars game. Though EaW was in 3D (as was Rebellion during space fights) the battles were basically fought in 2D. Rebellion could have been fought in full 3D but the ships always eventually leveled out.

Also, hero units will be included. Though stats will be more realistic than other Star Wars games (Rebellion got as close as I can remember). Han Solo can't take on multiple squads of Stormtroopers. But if you look at games like Battlefront, he can almost fight the battle by himself.

Though I would like to see it implemented, it will probably not be put in first: "porting missions out to other games like Jedi Academy". But, instead we should just write the whole game internally. Porting out would be chaos and no way that I can see to tell if the mission was a success. So, Somewhere down the line, I would love to see other games like Battlefront, Jedi Academy, etc. be rewritten to play along side of Dominance. Of course, units, characters, and everything else in the game would have to be recreated in the side games. It would be chaos, would be the biggest game I've ever seen, but would be all worth it in the end.

I know I'm not the first to present ideas like this, and this isn't the first time I've said I would do this either, but now I at least have the programming experience t start a project like this.

I need some ideas or thoughts on ways to redo the UI. Ive kept it pretty similar to the original Rebellion however this latest problem is a hard one to deal with. I could possibly go with a list box of each unit however will probably look pretty ugly and you still have to consider how you would go about transferring units between systems and fleets.

I am not interested in capping the number of units a player can have each so the old way is totally unusable to me. Ideas please?

Of course, that's a programming nightmare.

I've also wished that you could play any character, not just the All Seeing Gods-eye ruler, and that characters (like Moffs and Admirals) were "active" in that they steal, have private fleets, try to topple the leader every once in awhile.

Also a programming nightmare.

So if you had to pick 5 REALISTIC changes, what would they be?

My main desires for Reb2:

1) Basically if there is ANYWAY to fix the AI, please! I now create two different TCs when I play... and tilt the balance against myself. I'd play online, but I have a poor conneciton and chaotic schedule.

2) If there were actually more empires/"active" independent planets (like MOO) that'd be an incredible boost to the game's realism. It makes no sense that these worlds are dead, with no troops, no fleets, etc.

3) Also, Shouldn't the Empire control... I dunno, at least half of the core at the beginning? An editor that allowed us to customize the ebginning world ownership and attributes would be ideal and may actually be easier for you!

4) Ability to seize ships + ship-to-ship combat.

5) And of course, more character cards, ships, fighters, etc.

THANKS!

(PS - If I had to add one more: Change espionage to be an ongoing mission. I personally get rid of the "espionage" special forces, because there's no way to have them continue without a clickfest. If you could make their mission more like the diplomat or research (perpetually ongoing) that'd help with the interface. Or just remove the special forces altogether (I use expensive Bounty Hunters with Norghi Abilities for the Rebellion and expensive Reborn characters with ~100 combat ability for the Empire)). But now I'm cheating against my own rules

After considerable planning and polishing, though, my data and script engines are complete.

All game data is stored in XML files and all game scripts are written in Python.

Both are really easy to navigate and work with. Even for non-programmers.

But anyway. I'm now going through each section and creating/completing the game data itself.

As I go through each section, I will likely make a post requesting suggestions.

This time, specifically, I am looking for starship and starfighter suggestions.

While a lot of the previous game's data can remain, some ships (e.g. the Bulwark) could use retooling.

If you have any suggestions, feel free to post them here or (better yet) email me: djadams2007@gmail.com

The current goal is to have at least 7-8 starfighters and 12-15+ capital ships per faction.

After a number of engine switches (and switches back), I've finally settled on an engine I like. I've been working on a tactical game, and have coded the basics for everything I need. However, I wanted to bounce a couple of questions off of all of you. I'll be periodically posting questions in this thread.

(1) Movement Behavior. After experimenting with a number of different movement styles, I've decided to take a step backward, so to speak.

Rather than moving and turning at the same time, ships turn towards the desired position, move to the desired position, and then turn to the desired heading (fighters behave differently). That is, they move more like rotary wing aircraft than wheeled vehicles.

I did this because I felt that it was too difficult to effectively control units that turned and moved at the same time. It's much more difficult to control units in Empire at War or Sins of a Solar Empire than it is in, say, Starcraft. How strongly do people feel about turn-and-move as opposed to turn-then-move? Don't worry about implementation. It's trivial to code either. (In fact, turn-and-move makes pathfinding easier since it can be done through steering behaviors.)

Because you guys have been so patient and awesome, I've decided to post a screenshot of what I've got thus far:

((Take note that what you see is not an indication of what's completed, only those INTERFACE features which are completed.))

((Oh, and also... this interface isn't canon and is likely to change. ESPECIALLY those boxes representing the planets. What was I thinking?))

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/6489/reb2ss.th.png

• 1. The character, regiment (ground forces), building, starship, and starfighter classes are COMPLETELY FINISHED!!
  
• 2. And, as the picture shows, the information for each character, regiment, building, and so on has been COMPLETED AS WELL!!!
  
• 3. A NewGame class is almost finished as well. Currently it gives each side their main characters, planets, and the lists of things you can build
  
• 4. Although not all planets and systems are shown/completed, a great deal of progress has been made (as, as you can see, planets can hold objects)
  
• 5. Also, some of the smaller things (such as multiple unit selection) are on their way as well.

Come the 29th of April, I will have officially been working on this game for a year. I'm extremely proud of what I have thus far... especially considering the fact that I've done this in my free time and have been the only programmer Without getting too mushy, though, I want to thank you guys for your support. Certainly it's taken a grueling @$$load of work to get this far and will take three times that to finish, but your all's patience and support has gone a looonnggg way. I've really appreciated it, guys! *Coughs* But erm... anywho...

At the moment I'm starting on the missions. Getting the 'Move' and 'Build" functions to work will really be a huge grand-slam in terms of progress. Sadly, though, while the 'Move' class may not be too much trouble, the 'Build' will be because it requires me to do the one thing I hate more than ANYTHING else: making more in-game windows. Either way, I will be posting up all my code thus far soon. So be looking for that!

Have a wonderful day kiddos!

I want to move away from the original window-style UI and move to something a bit less heavy handed. I currently have a planetary zoom system in place, similar to the one in Empire at War.

The problem I'm facing is in designing the planetary screen. In order to be effective, the UI needs to be designed to facilitate moving forces: between planets and fleet, between fleets in the same system, and between fleets and other systems. Ideally, it should be easy to move forces between specific ships. Yet, I haven't been able to put anything satisfying together.

What ideas do people have?

Since a picture's worth a thousand words, here's my first pass effort: http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1503/mockup.gif

The planetary screen is a black overlay on the main screen with six panels. Players can set these panels to be 'orbital forces', 'planetary forces', or 'manufacturing panels'. Players can also select panels from other planets. If you wanted to, say, transfer troops from one fleet to another.

This is what we have planned:

1. Ground Units - We would like to see all combat units, not just main characters, gain experience upon success. We would like for you to be able to name your units, too.

2. Starships - You will be able to add main characters to flight groups. For instance, you can attach Wedge to an X-Wing, and that X-Wing will gain a significant bonus. You will also be able to set which fighters will be in which flight groups now, too. And yes, we're also adding Gunboats.

3. Capital Ships - We want to add more (maybe 4-5 for each side). Also, you'll be able to set up their formation and which flight group they will belong to beforehand. Other suggestions?

4. Resource Management - Each planet will now display how much of a given resource it produces per turn and we will have a separate window to tell you where those resources are going. Sadly, no more limited minerals. There's a essay's worth in why, so if you want to know just PM me.

The code itself will be posted by mid-June on our SourceForge page for the game. I will announce it at that time but for now:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/swrebellion2/

Is the official link!

Nice to se a Rebellion 2 game.

We have a similar game and is using java to and is web based (applet).

The Rebellion is a great game but only 2 in multiplayer

The game spaceraze have diffrent game world and one of them is a star wars based game.

http://www.spaceraze.com

The game world SpaceRaze Expanded is a Star wars based game world.

The world have 4 faction and you play against other players on diffrent maps.

If you want shields, cannons try out the game worlds 'Universe Year 3051' or 'The Last Great War'. The Last Great War using troops.

A good ide is to start with playing in game world 'SpaceRaze Expanded'

Hope that I see you in the game!

Join it at http://www.spaceraze.com/webb2/Master.jsp?action=register

Galalmyn

Region: Core Worlds

Climate: Temperate, dry

Gravity: Standard

Moons: none

Length of Day: 19 standard hours

Length of Year: 240 local days

Sapient Species: 93% Human, 2% Kel Dor, 1% Ithorian, 4% other species

44 million

Government: Participatory democracy

Affiliation: member of Empire

Capital: Top Rif

Major Exports: labor

Major Imports: labor, technology

Knowledge (galactic lore)

DC Result

10 Galalmyn is dominated by a massive cityscape, featuring several layers of urbanization and towering skyscrapers. Galalmyn's economy is primarily driven by the export of natural resources.

15 Galalmyn has limited starport facilities, but most fuel and services are more expensive here due to their scarcity. Docking bays are equipped to handle nothing larger than a Colossal space transport. The starport is lightly patrolled and guarded by poorly trained (sometimes volunteer) security personnel.

20 A government astronomical observatory is located on Galalmyn. It is rumored to have a secret purpose.

Knowledge (bureaucracy)

DC Result

15 Laws here are fairly strict, so individuals cannot acquire licenses for Restricted, Military, or Illegal items. Increase the DC by 5 for all Gather Information checks to acquire items through the black market.

Knowledge (technology)

DC Result

15 Electronics, nuclear energy, and basic spacecraft are produced locally, but droids and repulsorlift vehicles cannot be built given their technological complexity.

http://www.gmsarligames.com/planetgenerator.php

World Maker, GeoControl,EarthSculptor, ...opps lost my links for pics. But it makes cool computer graphics generated alien terrian and 3D world sphere planets. Makes it easier to put together 300 or so major SW game planet pics made to order.

Galalmyn using the physics data from above

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5893/p10dd.th.png

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/8906/galalmyn1.th.jpg

Dry Temperate Nitrogen atmosphere

Uploaded with ImageShack.us