the Universal Community Grounds - UCG

[Sirrus]

Okay, I don't know how far-fetched this would be, but I have a small proposition to re-work how the game operates on an online community level.

My idea, while it would be hard to be re-worked, is a simple one. Create a new mode called the UCG where there would be a world where everyone spawns. It would be either the construct, or a massive terraform map, that everyone builds in. There would be a pre-made city for all game related matters, like a building where you could apply for a building permit. A building where you could buy weapons, a place where you can work for money, apply for a clan to help build and be rewarded money. But out from this central city, it there would be near limitless building area for someone to build a house. A clan could start a small town and grow it up to a massive city, and connect it via roads and highways to surrounding towns, in other words, a massive dedicated RPG server with new systems including money, and justice (i.e. shooting someone outside of say a war zone [clan rivalry anyone?])

Maybe this is kind of out there. Maybe the requirements far outweigh the rewards of a new type of building community, but I think we can make it work.

Requirements:

• At the very minimum, a new mode and a terraformed map.
• New systems inluding money, justice, and building zones.
• Changes in the code of this server to cut down on the massive lag that's probable.

Pros:

• A new kind of online community that the internet has never seen before.
• A massive RPG, almost second-life esqe, interactive online building experience.

Cons:

• Would take forever to re-work code and game systems to allow something like this to function well.

How to get it done:

• Create the said systems and set up game to include UCG option on main menu, in addition to the option do regular online play.
• Hype the system and advertise it to make the idea seam worth $20 to everyone else on the internet, Badspot prophets and the UCG flourishes.

Again, this might just be a thing of dreams, but I think if we pull together as a community we can make it work, do all the coding, the mapping, and then all we need to do is get Badspot to implement it into V8.

So, what do you think?

[Ad Bot]

[General Omega]

massive super lag.

[Sirrus]

massive super lag.

Changes in the code of this server at least to drastically  cut down the massive lag that's probable.

[Reactor Worker]

In regards to the lag, I believe that most of the trouble is the result of the host(s) having a terrible internet connection. Something along these lines would at the very least need broadband, but with a dedicated server and an upgraded connection you could support up to 32 players.

Pretty much what your suggesting is an MMORPG. While it won't have all of the scale your asking for, I have heard that Ephi's RPG (yet to be opened to the public) will have many of those features and probably more you haven't even thought of.

[jungemann]

Would be a great idea but it would take a team of atleast 100 people to develop this game. That is if you want it in the next couple years.

[Sirrus]

Would be a great idea but it would take a team of atleast 100 people to develop this game. That is if you want it in the next couple years.

Really?
If you split up the work between let's say 15 people, 5 doing the map and 10 doing to coding, I suspect it wouldn't take more than 4-5 months, or is there something I'm missing? All the work after the map was done, and the code was created, would be  adding the mode into the game (a week, tops) beta testing it (okay, maybe a month if it was buggy) bundling all of the basic weapons and vehicles ( a lot more than what's packed with the download now, maybe a week as well) and then finally, doing a dry-run with the server. (let's say a 64 person server, the only one that's open at the time, and then everyone gets in for like a week and builds and tests out all the systems, as mentioned above, a week.)

On top of the 4 months needed for the map and coding, we have... 5 months and 3 weeks.

In regards to the lag, I believe that most of the trouble is the result of the host(s) having a terrible internet connection. Something along these lines would at the very least need broadband, but with a dedicated server and an upgraded connection you could support up to 32 players.

This would, of course, require some financial investment of Badspot or maybe a fund drive to get money donated to buy a large-scale hosting server, I'm sure it would require at least T3, which I believe is a little bit under 50 Mbps, while broadband is anything over 768Kbps.

What you would need to do something like this and have support for a large number of players (in theory, every single person who has the ability to play blockland online) is like one of the servers that runs a large online service, like MapleStory or Second-Life.

[General Omega]

The best way would be to have a centural hub for the computing as far as I know and that would caulse massive super lag.

[Toadzard]

Here's a goal for you:
When you get enough experience coding, make your own game, or a mod.

I love the way it would work. How about a huge flatgrass style map dotted with hills and forests and oceans?

[Reactor Worker]

I don't think it would take months or even weeks, and I doubt you would need more than 1 or 2 people. It's all a matter of talent and persistence (and technical limitations of course).

You can have a persistent world right now. It's called a dedicated server. Everything else you asked for should be handled by scripting.

The highest number of players I have ever seen in one server at a time was 24 in a server with 32 slots. Usually it's only about 10 players per server. Asking for 100 or 1000 players on one server in TGE is a stretch and would not be possible from your home.

[jungemann]

This also reminds me of block realm, which is very similar to what he is suggesting.

[Gloppy]

One thing that would probably make less lag that the cities or towns would be far enough from each other so the only the cities where you are would be drawn.
Of course there probably couldn't be more than about 20 players in one server.
But, I like your idea, I hope it can be made.

[Sirrus]

Had a new idea, one regarding lag and one regarding a game idea.

Lag: To cut out the lag, there would be pre-made provinces that towns and cities would start up in. Each province would be maybe six times the size of Bedroom, making it square.. In between these provinces would be walls that are just high enough that you can't see over them (Jetpack would be cut out, and if you try and fly over you either get shot down, or you run into an invisible wall) . To pass from province from province, you would follow the road that passes along the wall until you come to a gate, you open the gate, and there is a small lounge. A loading bar appears at the top. You can't pass from the lounge until the next province loads. While you're in the lounge, you can exchange currencies, buy food, and update permits for in the next province.

So to summarize, each province is more or less a server within a server, and when you travel in-between them, you get stopped for pre-loading while you prepare to enter the next province.

(roads and highways would be handled similarly, instead of a lounge, it might be a toll-booth?)


Game idea:
One (or a clan) could build a small building and pay a fee to set up a shop. They could then add their own weapons, cars, and items, into the game and people could come by and buy them. Unlike the current way the vehicle, weapon, and item system works, instead of simply spawning the item, a shop would have to pay money to get each unit manufactured (which would take time) and you have to store the item within the shop, or run the risk of it getting stolen.

[General Omega]

Had a new idea, one regarding lag and one regarding a game idea.

Lag: To cut out the lag, there would be pre-made provinces that towns and cities would start up in. Each province would be maybe six times the size of Bedroom, making it square.. In between these provinces would be walls that are just high enough that you can't see over them (Jetpack would be cut out, and if you try and fly over you either get shot down, or you run into an invisible wall) . To pass from province from province, you would follow the road that passes along the wall until you come to a gate, you open the gate, and there is a small lounge. A loading bar appears at the top. You can't pass from the lounge until the next province loads. While you're in the lounge, you can exchange

That would not cut lag. If I am correct in saying the best way would be to have a centeral computing hub then we would have lag from the trafic that has info going to hundreds of diffrent players and that would caulse the massive super lag. Plus again if you want to play this as an MMO then get a loving MMO and stop annoying us by trying to get the game chainged for some stupid mod.

[Nitramtj]

One server would not be able to handle all of the people no matter what, that would require an engine change. Yet one thing that is closer to reality would be eliminating the need to reload datablocks and having a bunch of servers connected. You could go through a certain area and then be teleported to another server. All servers sharing the same chat has been done before too. I personally wouldn't mind the datablock load, that was only a problem in the old rtb. The main issue is that to do this we would need client commands to almost auto join other servers which could be taken advantage of. - On another note, if Badspot thought this was possible in a not so gimicky way, I'm sure he would have been eager to implent it already

[Sirrus]

Had a new idea, one regarding lag and one regarding a game idea.

Lag: To cut out the lag, there would be pre-made provinces that towns and cities would start up in. Each province would be maybe six times the size of Bedroom, making it square.. In between these provinces would be walls that are just high enough that you can't see over them (Jetpack would be cut out, and if you try and fly over you either get shot down, or you run into an invisible wall) . To pass from province from province, you would follow the road that passes along the wall until you come to a gate, you open the gate, and there is a small lounge. A loading bar appears at the top. You can't pass from the lounge until the next province loads. While you're in the lounge, you can exchange

That would not cut lag. If I am correct in saying the best way would be to have a centeral computing hub then we would have lag from the trafic that has info going to hundreds of diffrent players and that would caulse the massive super lag. Plus again if you want to play this as an MMO then get a loving MMO and stop annoying us by trying to get the game chainged for some stupid mod.

Yes, I said that it would take a large-scale server to host this thing. I also said that this idea is somewhat far-fetched. If you notice, this section is called SUGGESTIONS & Requests. There's been some support for this idea, so I'm trying to SUGGEST things to make it work. I'm not going to be modest. This is a good idea. People are supporting it, and maybe because you don't like it, or I'm stupid for suggesting it, you don't need to come in here and be all brown town and shoot down my ideas just because you say it would cause lag. If you don't like the loving idea, say you don't like the idea, don't come in here and go "Stupid, it'll never work, go play a loving MMO noob."