Can A Web Based Game Be Made?

[Atrocities]

Do any of you know about Planetarion? If you do then you know what I am about to talk about if you do not, well try and follow along.

I was wondering what it would take to make a web based game simular to Planetarion but based on SE IV?

You know, just something simple that people who buy SEIV can log onto and play. A build an empire, expanding your boarders, exploring the unknown, and exterminating those who stand in your way.

The game would only require the most basic images, and would handle combat like most web based games currently do.

So what would it take to make a web based game like this, and can it be done cheaply, effectively, and without to much huss and fuss?

The reason for it is simple enough, to give people something to do when they are waiting for their PBW turns to process. Since it is web based, and you would only get X amount of turns each day, you can play it for a very very long time. The appeal would be that you can play it many times in the day, as turns accumulate, and from anywhere without the need to have the game on your computer.

I think it would be a great addition to this Community, and wish I had the skill and knowledge needed to make such a game.

[se5a]

I was thinking something like this but using the SE4 engine.
if yoiu could make engines have a decimal speed it would work....

basicly I thouhgt if yoiu made everything move realy slow you could have the turns tick over twice a day and it wouldent matter if you missed a turn or three (unless somone sent you a message)
so every 4 or 5 turns were equivilent of 1 normal game month.
maybe aaron could make somehting like this possable for SEV?

[Fyron]

There was the SE Universe Ladder at one point that was vaguely similar to this, though it had heavy roleplaying elements involved. It is certainly doable.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

it sounds interesting. i'd play.

for things like this, look on the internet for 'StarKnights' and 'Metalknights'. both good strategy games and the turns in starknights work like you describe.

[Paul1980au]

Sounds interesting - could be done but it would have to be pay for play and attract enough players to make it commercial - idea is solid though

[dogscoff]

What would be really cool is some kind of singleplayer "Sim Planet" that lets you pick a colonised planet inside your se4 empire and play with it. It would read in data from the SE4 game about what facilities/ units are on the planet, whether or not it's just taken damage from combat or if it's plagued and any other pertinent information. Then you can re-organise things and make little improvements, or just snoop around and see what life is like down there- all while you're waiting for your next PBW turn.

To stop this becoming just a tedious layer of micromangement, what you do to your planet in this little sub-game wouldn't have any effect on the main se4 game whatsoever- it would be just for fun and entirely optional. However it would make your empire seem that little bit more alive.

[Roanon]

There are a lot of web-based games, currently of course most of them from the fantasy genre. Nearly everything can be done, a lot has been done, but it is not that simple and easy to programm - if you want to make it good.
The main problem/difference between web-based and SEIV is the turn-based principle. Web-based games are pseudo-realtime, i.e. you have a certain number of minutes/hours and then the game advances to the next turn. There usually lies the weakness of these games: if you cannot attend them 24/7 you are just cannon fodder. You could do a game with long intervalls, like 24 hours, between turns, but what would the difference to PBW be then ?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

can't be to complex if it's for playing between PBW turns. you could give units a +50% to defence if the player is offline so they wouldn't be at to bad a disadvantage.

[Atrocities]

Now we just have to figure out how to do it.

[Suicide Junkie]

Better yet would be a program that converts the SE4 savegame into a SF galaxy.