Over the past week I’ve been jotting down notes and trying to come up with some solid ideas on Desktop Wars. I’ve realized there is a lot to it… the following is my first draft of some of the basic concepts.
Multiplayer
In multiplayer mode, the game is played with another player on your network or over the internet. DW should use Bonjour for discovery of other players on your local network and use a central server to locate other opponents over the internet. Of course, manually specifying an address to locate another player is also allowed.
When an opponent is found, a challenge is issued. Each player will then be presented with a notification with the proposed game type and a thumbnail of the opponents desktop and the proposed game options:
Each player needs to choose either “Accept” or “Decline”. If the challenge is declined, an optional quick reason can be sent in response such as: “give me 5 mins” and an option to automatically renew the challenge after the specified time. The player could then arrange his desktop and be ready for the challenge.
After both parties have accepted the terms, simple battle options are selected, and the battle begins.
Basic Game Concepts and Options
The players will also be given the option to choose the battleground layout options. The two desktops can be arranged next to each other to create one larger canvas such as:
Or, the players can choose mirrored mode. In this mode, two adjacent sides are protected, the other two sides are open for exchange of battle. A unit sent out the left side of one desktop would attack coming from the left of the other desktop:
(yellow is protected, no units can exit or enter from these sides)
Game Types
1. Last Man
The goal of Last Man is to destroy all of your opponents army. (soldiers, vehicles, etc)
2. Capture the Flag
The goal of CTF is to obtain the flag from the opponents base and return it to your own base without being killed in the process.
3. Destroy the Base
The goal of Destroy the Base is to destroy your opponents base.
Battle Options
After the terms are accepted and before the battle starts, you specify the balance between how much you want to aggressively attack your opponent and how much you want to defend your territory. (offense vs. defense) This is also where you choose your “Base”. The base is the spawn/starting point for your army and the goal of some of the game types. Various other options would be chosen here too.
The Armies
In the initial version, I think two armies that look different, but are the same under the hood is the best plan. In future versions, this could be expanded to allow “races” with different abilities etc. But balancing those would be a pain….
The Battle
The battle commences with the army being deployed from the Base. Here is where some good AI takes over. The army needs to use the various icons and their types (more on that later) and begin advancing toward the enemy territory. After your units have left your screen, you’ll need to switch to Opponent View to check the progress.
Whiz! Pop! Bang! and KaBoom!!! … mayhem commences on your desktop with support and bonus help from your icon types and placement. Desktop Warring away your afternoon, yeehaw!
NOTES:
1. I am not sure how changes to the Desktop during the battle should be handled. I don’t think it’s technically feasible/possible to not allow them at all. Ideally there shouldn’t be any changes, but realistically, the idea is to let this war be fought without much interaction. e.g. You can continue surfing the net.. err, working… while the war is played out. Any changes that happen after the battle has started can possibly be given a special negative influence … or weakened influence?
2. When looking at a list of available hosts, the list should include a simple comparison rating. When starting DW and making yourself available for play, your current desktop will be saved and rated to find a suitable opponent. (a player with 3 icons on his desktop would not match up well against one with 30) Any two players can still choose to engage in combat regardless of their rating differences.
3. and a whole lot more that I’ll save for another post. :)
