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I guess now is as good a time as any to share that I've been working on creating an RTS-based server. As of yet, I have zero graphics, zero levels, and no solid plan for a theme/gameplay. Sounds promising, right?

Well, here's what I do have:

• Surprisingly efficient pathfinding that can be applied to NPCs of any size, 16x16, 16x32, 32x32, etc
• Movement for ground and air units
• Control system for selecting and ordering units (similar to C&C)
• Enemy detection

Unfinished, but still there:

• Combat system (automatic and ordering)
• Unit creation
• Structure/building placement

Everything that is done is very customizable, and can be applied to any theme or RTS-styled gameplay. All that is needed to take a different direction with it would be graphics, ganis, changing NPC attributes, and possibly a little tweaking. Think of it almost as a very very rough RTS game engine.

Now, here's where you come in!
I've reached that point where I cannot go any further without a solid plan for the gameplay and theme. My original plan was to create some kind of C&C knockoff where players can create and join games, but I believe it would be much better if Graal's playerworld aspect was somehow tied in. The problem is, I can't think of anything that sounds like it might work (and believe me, I've been trying)...

I am pretty much up for any theme, time period, or game-style...I just enjoy RTS games in general. I also still have everything left over from the abandoned 2d-shooter/matches server (described here: http://forums.graalonline.com/forums...ad.php?t=83922) that could be applied to this server.

Basically, I want to make an interactive playerworld with RTS gameplay tied in -- somehow. I will hopefully be posting a hiring thread shortly as well, this thread is just to introduce what I have and hopefully get some ideas.

Seems interesting, Good luck :D

Sounds interesting, but a lot new servers sound interesting. It's just a matter of you will stick with the project 100% and be devoted to complete it. A lot people these days start something good, then forget it, and buy another server and try something new.

But as i said, sounds very interesting, and i hope it goes well.

Thanks. I'm usually one to finish what I start, but there's only so much I can do alone. You're also probably thinking "What kind of idiot would start a server without having an idea first?!"

The thing is, this wasn't the original plan. Once I started thinking about an RTS-based server, I became more and more interested in it. The problem was, I wasn't sure if it would work or if I had the scripting capabilities to pull it off (mainly the pathfinding). So I figured I would start on the hard stuff first, see if it was possible, and then worry about the details later.

And here I am now.

Gear your server more towards a Civilizations type gameplay (where you can build cities, expand on technologies, etc). You could ally yourself with various kingdoms or you could wage an all out war on whomever you please!

It's very impressive, I'm impressed with what Sales has done, I've never seen it on Graal before. :O

Try something pokemon style, you walk around on the overworld encounter people challenge em to duels and so forth and you get warped into the RTS match gameplay.

Include some sort of matchmaking as well for those too lazy to find opponents.

Good luck with it.

Nice idea!

Yea, that's really probably the best idea I've considered so far...would just need to come up with more things to do than walking around. Also, I'll post a video of the pathfinding/control system as soon as I figure out why the video recording isn't working