New Game Possibilities
POSTED BY: JeeJarng
UPDATED: Friday, February 24, 2006 22:28
VIEWED: 7354
PAGE 2 of 2
I think I need to get a copy of Serenity: The Official Visual Companion. I was told last night it gives a great background on the verse, government, etc. so I guess I will have to break down and get it some day soon, $$$ permitting.
Well they tell you... never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious.
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i know it would probably be hard to do as an independent project but a MMORPG like Star Wars Galaxies (just less lame.). Id be willing to pay at least 20 bucks a month playin a well made Firefly MMORPG...hell, you cant but a price for puttin yourseld in the 'verse
Of course if that doesnt work i think RPG style would be pretty cool but i would not complain for a FPS...Fireflyied Battlefront II would be pheominal.
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"There is a sense that this is still not over. It's hard to put a finger on what's so special about this project and about this group of people, but it's just one of those things you have to trust in, and relish. I am very, very proud."
---Jewel Staite on "Firefly" and "Serenity" in "Finding Serenity" (essay collection by Jane Espenson)
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@Jeejarng:
That book is only about Serenity. So, its usefulness might be a might bit limited if you are trying to keep this a Firefly affair (which I hope you are).
@TheCrazyIvan:
This is more than just difficult. Let's run some numbers to see if I'm just talking out of my 
. Just so people don't think I'm just being pessimistic; I'm just trying to lend some of my experience to people so they don't waste time on something that won't work out.
To get decently smooth movement, we'll need at least 30 frame per second (fps). Now we can trim that to 10 updates per second and use the client to approximate the inbetween frames. Nice, we just cut out updates requirements by 2/3.
Now let's just talk about positions of people moving that are already known to the client. There will have to be change-in updates of there position. To cut down on updates we can say that if something isn't moving then we just won't send the update. Yah, more bandwidth saving.
Now, the update will have to contain the change-in x,y,z coords. These will each be 16bit ints (2 bytes). So, each update per person totals, 6 bytes of information.
Thus, 60 bytes per second.
My pipe has a 30kBps upstream. I'm capable of doing this. Please keep in mind that I have a business class internet connection.
But, this is just for one other person on the server.
Let's make it more realistic.
Say there is 11 people on the server (no that's not an odd number, see below). Let's say further that they are all moving (not terribly unlikely).
Now, each of these people will have to keep track of 10 others. Which means that every client will need to have 10 updates. Using the above, each client will be getting a 600 bytes per second stream, or approx, 0.6kBps.
Now because there is 11 people on the server the server must server 11*0.6 kBps or 6.6 kBps. This will consume approx 1/5 of my pipe.
Now consider if there are 10 people that have 11 people including themselves in there general area, thus requiring updates. Then we're up to 2 times the capacity of my pipe. Now imagine 100's of people logged in and playing and consider those bandwidth requirements.
Basically, no matter how we swing it, the numbers just don't add up. And we haven't added in another 2 bytes per update to have a identifier for each update so that we know who/what's moving, etc. Now how about text (talking), and people entering and leaving the area updates? More and more bandwidth requirements.
If the project co-located the box on a T-1, then the bandwidth wouldn't be guaranteed and they'd have to pay for anything over a certain amount. And looking at the numbers, if this was anywhere near popular, even just among the people here, it would probably end up being a hefty fee even if the connection could handle it.
But, it'd probably require something better than a T-1 connection. See http://forums.speedguide.net/showthread.php?t=194246
So, this is kinda why I'm saying that a MMORPG isn't possible and anyone seriously considering making a Firefly/Serenity game should shy away from it and try to do a standalone one.
Also, as mentioned above, modding is an option and IMO, a better one than starting from scratch. That is unless there is a very good reason for starting from scratch.
For the record though. I'd love a Firefly MMORPG. It just can't come from one (or many) of us. *sigh*
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"We're in a giant car heading into a brick wall at 100 miles/hr and everybody's arguing about where they want to sit."
-David Suzuki
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I think that I might have solved the bandwidth problem. Is anyone still interested?
----
"We're in a giant car heading into a brick wall at 100 miles/hr and everybody's arguing about where they want to sit."
-David Suzuki
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Hi! I'm a long time PC Gamer (pretty much all my life), I understand the capabilities of game developing and how far games can go!
I'm an expierenced modelor/animator (see the last few pages of this post: http://www.3vilution.us/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1476&start=30 ......... Ignore the crappy first few screenshots, those were early versions of the model) and if you, your friend and I can get together I am sure we can discuss a great gameplan for a full stand-alone game client or a MOD (which would be cheaper work wise and financially, and would still get noticed).
I already have a game engine in mind if we were to go in and create a MOD instead of a Stand Alone game.
Do either of you have Industry expierence, or any expierence at all?
"Th3re !s n0 spo0Ne." -The Matricks
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I have experience with game concept design, selling the game to publishers, etc, and raising funds if necessary, but from a coding stand point, no I have very little experience there.
Well they tell you... never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious.
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I don't think that I'm part of that you guys, but programming a game is a large task. So, here's my experience.
I have a piece of paper that says that I'm a programmer. Also, I worked in industry as a web developer (PHP, Perl, etc) for a chunk of time and taught C++ at a local college for a summer (filled in for a guy that wanted to go on vacation).
I've also partially developed some game ideas that never got released to the public; one still in developement. Got some more complicated peices of code that, once the code gets cleaned up, will reach the public.
In general, I'm a nuts and bolts programmer. Don't really like doing graphics, but I live in the 'making things actually work' catagory.
Over the past couple years, I've been hobby programing (mainly Python, C/C++) and studying mathematics (victim of the dot bomb, but at any rate, the math will help).
But, what JeeJarng has just implied (please tell me I'm wrong) is that we should be developing this for profit. *shutter*
Let me explicitly state, that I'm not going to be involved in such a project. I'm pointing toward open source (license to be debated).
There is also some very good legal reasons for this decision. Corps tend to leave little fan projects alone if they don't earn any money. But, as soon as they start earning money, off a frachise that the own, these corps tend to get ornery. And then comes the cease and desist orders, and the sueing, etc.
I don't want to have to deal with any of that, and I'm certain neither does anyone here.
Also, if one was to try to develope a game for profit off the Firefly franchise, how much do you think the license fees will be? Damn straight they'd be out of any of our reach.
IMO, it's best to stick with a free game that is open source.
Hell, I've even finished some of the framework for the design (engine only) done.
----
"We're in a giant car heading into a brick wall at 100 miles/hr and everybody's arguing about where they want to sit."
-David Suzuki
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Quote:
Originally posted by SigmaNunki:
IMO, it's best to stick with a free game that is open source....
I completely agree for the same reasons and more.
"Th3re !s n0 spo0Ne." -The Matricks
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