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SO I have been away for the past week or two. Trying to pop in and out as much as possible BUT my away time has not been for naught!

Firstly as you know I have moved to a new state. Got a Farm in Wichita with lots of room and even my own Studio. I have had to put down development for about 2 weeks or so but in the mean time I have been working on a dream and finally I think I can pursue.

One of my very first posts in a game development forum was I wanted to make a Rifts or Palladium game. I was quickly blasted about how I should be more creative and I would never get permission and all that jazz.

Well I am currently speaking with the creator of Palladium and it sounds like this dream will come true. I am going to get permission to build a Palladium fantasy MUD!

I need anyone passionate about the game but also anyone knowledable about the game and/or MUDs. This will be a semi graphical mud and fully multiplayer. All web based using HTML5 and Nodejs. I am dropping ALL other projects except for some tutorials I need to finish. I have no doubt with the HUGE Palladium fan base this will be a instant hit if done right.

Sounds awesome! What are you actually needing help with?

Wow, permission from Kevin, eh? Nice!

I know the Rifts system very well, which is pretty much the Palladium system.

Would it be real time battles? Or turn based, using mini instances like some game do (I think Dofus does that)? I think if you're going for the table top feel it aught to be turn based, because that's how we play at table top (even if the turns have a time limit for game purposes).

Was hoping to hear more about this, Halls? What have you got in mind?

Sorry this move has killed me on internet time. Plus leaving my old job i lost my laptop so had to buy a new one.

I know I left a lot off the original post but that is basically where I stand. Hoping to recruit from the base level of "we got permission now what?"

I mean I have the basic idea and plan. i just want more ideas than my own. Want to start this thing from all angles instead of getting half way through then trying to change it.


Here is a snippet from my proposal

My plans are to take the ideas of several of my games into one engine and they are as follow:
Living Breathing World - Plants grow and die with time. All harvestable and/or craftable. (not sure if those are real words but they are now)
Massive World - Each single map is capable of holding 500 movable locations(basically each movable location can hold a tree, item, creature, ect...) Each zone is capable of holding and infinite number of maps and the world is capable of infinite zones. So lets say we have 10 zones in the world each with 200 maps. That's 1 million movable locations! Now we of course will not start out with that many but you get the picture on growth and expanding with new areas.
Player Run Economy - Shops and markets will all be tied to a central table in the DB for their location that factors supply and demand. If lumber is short in an area because players are building defenses against a coalition attack then lumber will spike in that area. If players harvest a certain area to death then that commodity will be very cheap. If you want crafting then that too will affect the area.
Event System - A large event system that can be custom triggered. For instance "The Coalition is moving through the Town of New Florence this week so watch for more encounters" or "Visit Chi Town this week as the Wandering market is in town".
Player Owned and build shops and towns - Players will be able to build their own houses, shops, and even towns if enough people build in the area.
Multiplayer - Players will have chat, will see each other moving on the map and interact. They will have PVP areas, auctions, and a party system.
Combat System - This includes Spells, Melee, and Ranged system.
Skills System - Based off of Palladium of course but players will need their skills to survive.
Quest/Campaign System - Have some quests in places to help players level up. Was also thinking of custom quests. Players can build quests. You could actually charge for this feature.
Auction System - Everyone loves Auctions!!
Inventory Management - Backpack, Equip weapons and armor, ect..

And much more to come....


Some Features that would depend on if it really was wanted or fit
Crafting System - Can build a massive crafting system. Weapons, armor, food, drinks, ect
Job System - Players can hire other players for their shops or as mercenaries.
Marriage System - Some like it as an added.


example of map style I am shooting for(not my work)



This gives the basic idea of showing NPCS, Players, Towns, Harvestables, ect.. You move with graphical arrows or even WASD keys in real time if we wanted. The point is it is simplistic but still nice. It is easy to work with and not so difficult that it takes days to make a map. The map will actually be build dynamically by the Server when the map is loaded.

The engine is capable of real time 2d Final Fantasy style but I want to keep it MUD style as much as possible. Nothing crazy but nothing too simple.

Looks very interesting. I will definately be keeping a eye on your progress.

Halls

If you need any help just let me no.

Even no I am not good at anything....


grats on the new home.

TheElk

I think this would be a great starting point for a web based semi graphical mud engine. One where people can build their own mud type games and maybe even make them cross game compatible.

As a feature I would like to see a staged plan, the first stage for a very small game, then latter stages expanding it out. And I mean really small to begin with, not a million features.

As a suggestion for the small game to start with, perhaps gathering of food from the wild as well as planting crops. Avoid snakes and nettles as you gather food and spot bugs on your crop and crush 'em!

Better to be small and fun rather than plan big and...never finish it and no one plays it (because it can't be played until it's finished).

In latter stages I'd like to see food actually matter - like if you don't eat, you don't starve to death, but you do suffer a penalty (say - 40%) to hit. And perhaps some auto food purchase toggle you can set, that will buy food from some player at random (at a fixed price) who's offering it for sale.

But I stress starting small as a feature I want to see. A small game completed. Something we can play and talk about here on the forums.

Hope that was a possitive feedback.

Edit: Actually I don't know HTML5 and Nodejs, but I could code a mock up of what I mean in game maker, if it'd help inspire the project.

I know exactly what you mean and agree Callan. Tonight I am making a small forums for discussion and a place to lay out some plans. I will send out invites when I get it done. Might be tomorrow.