Flutterby Meta
2001-12-01 19:16:13+00 by
TC
11 comments
Ok I put this as a seperate entry with hopes of feedback from the Community (that would be you reading this) about directions to take or what sounds cool. Assuming Dan's good health, we are going to meet weds for lunch to talk about writting an online game for the flutterby community. We have talked about some of the great games of the past like Zork, venture etc etc but are leaning to more social game styles like lemonade stand, taipan, trade wars, galacticwars etc etc. What are your favorites? What do you think would be cool?
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comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:33:29+00 by:
babar
I enjoyed a lot of old BBS door games back in the day, like Solar/Barren Realms Elite, Operation Overkill, The Pit, and the more adventure-type games. My favorite, and I might not be able to defend it now, was Land of Devastation. The only inter-player communication was asynchronous, of course, but you had a clear goal to race towards.
What is really interesting to me is that these games haven't completely died out yet:
http://rebel-tech.com/ooii.html
http://www.landofdev.com/
http://www.johndaileysoftware.com/bre/index.htm
Although some web-based versions of the same style of function-optimization games has been created:
http://www.magewar.com/
I think finding the right balance of being fun for the occasional player and the more dedicated players is important.
#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:33:29+00 by:
Larry Burton
If you liked tradewars check out http://sourceforge.net/projects/blacknova. If I can just get Dan to install PHP this one might make a decent candidate.
#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:33:29+00 by:
Diane Reese
I may be coming into this discussion unaware of something important, if so, my apologies. It sounds as if you're looking for social games for an online community, is that right? If so, my current favorite is PsychoBabble (http://www.popcap.com). One constructs sentences using fridge magnet words, then each person in the room votes on their favorite, and points are awarded. I'm part of an international community that has formed around this game, and the chat is half the fun (not to mention the erudition of the players and their sentences!). This has all the best aspects of community, and is fun to play. There's also iSketch (http://www.isketch.net), which is an online pictionary-type game, but since players are so busy calling out possible correct answers, there's less time for the chat, which is so integral to forming a tight-knit community around games like these.
Another set of games that my whole family used to love to play was a trio of commodity trading games set in outer space: Gazillionaire, Zapitalism, and Profitania. My kids could play these before they were 8, but my 45YO spouse enjoyed them too. They were turn-based but could become community-driven, and that might make them more interesting. (http://www.lavamind.com)
And of course there are what we know in our household as "the German board games" -- Settlers of Catan, Acquire, and especially Carcassonne. Haven't found anything like these tile-placing games online, but it might be fun to engage in an online version of them someday.
I hope those weren't too far afield. Me, I'm just a pinball wizard from 'way back. (I had carpal tunnel problems from those flippers long before there was any "carpal tunnel syndrome" label to apply to it!)
Diane Reese/mootmom
#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:33:29+00 by:
starbreeze
legend of the red dragon!
#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:33:29+00 by:
meuon
Once upon a time 'TradeWars' was a favorite,
but I think the 'occaisional' player factor is important
for a 'community game' to be successful.
#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:33:30+00 by:
skrubly
Whoa. Lands of Devestation. I'd almost forgotten about that one..
Trade Wars seems better for casual play versus LoD.
Although something simple like Lemonade Stand might be really fun, too...
Skrubly
#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:33:30+00 by:
TC
Yeah, I think we are looking for a balance here where the game draws additional interest but I am rather opposed to 10 logins a day to micromanage you way to becoming god-emperor of the known universe. I suspect that means it will be turns based perhaps once a day or week with taunting in between turns. Thanks for the links gang!
#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:33:30+00 by:
shmuel
Back when I played BBS games, I was partial to Legend of the Red Dragon myself. (Well, that and Scrabble, but you can't get too many players into one Scrabble game.)
#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:33:31+00 by:
TC
Sort of related to the subject Lord British has his own project going.
#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:33:36+00 by:
John Abbe
Something like a Nomic Game -- e.g., Dvorak:
http://uncertain.org/~kevan/dvorak/
Or something like the Kenning Game:
http://kennexions.ludism.org/old/kenning.html
(maybe not quite that complex?)
#Comment made: 2002-02-21 05:33:36+00 by:
Mike Gunderloy
Ah, the good old days. I hate to think how much time & money I wasted running a 10-line MajorBBS system with a batch of doors games. Fortunately for me, I no longer remember what any of them are, though I still have a hideously expensive Galacticomm multi-modem box sitting in my closet.
Now apparently you can run a MajorBBS clone on a Linux box (http://www.buede.com/fusion/default.htm). This makes my head ache.