Game idea: Space agency Director

Game Development
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A little of both

Planning represents how well you cope with things like administration issues as well as planning the construction and logistics of getting your rocket in the air. I plan on it affecting how soon you can launch your rockets (or SSTO or other vehicles). It won’t affect missions unless they are manned or require long-term guidance like say a remote mine on an astroid. (Which can reduce your total planning level)

Most missions will be based on chapter. Planning won’t come into it but the other expertise stats will.

Ex. A university is offering to work together to make a orbital bio lab won’t offer it until your level 4 bio

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22

So idea time can any one think of ways (preferably real theory) to get to orbit?

Using the following format
Rocket - staged
Cost 20000 per LB
Dependancy:
Fuel (chemistry)
Hull (engineering)

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Air-launched spaceplane
12000 per LB
Dependancy:
Fuel ( chemistry )
Hull ( engineering )
Planning level 4

SSTO
15000 per LB
Dependancy :
Fuel ( chemistry )
Hull ( engineering )
Trajectory (physics)

Ballon launch platform
5000 per LB
Dependancy :
Hull (engineering)
Planning level 6
Max payload weight 1 ton

Sorry for any mistakes typing on my phone

24

I love this idea! I think CoG should have more games targeted towards kids (or at least targeted towards the general public while remaining appropriate for kids). The interactive fiction format definitely has a lot of potential for educational games, and I’m really happy to see that you’re taking advantage of that. :smile:

For the cities, I think you should add somewhere in Eastern Europe, Australia, and a small American city. We have so many of them, we might as well put them to use! And maybe the Middle East, too. By “origin points,” do you mean hometowns or places to start up your business?

I like the idea of random variables being used to determine whether bad crap happens. And if you upgrade your equipment and stuff, it could maybe reduce the chance of rolling a bad result on random variables?

Since you are going into such detail about the MC’s personal history, I think you should add a business partner or best friend that will serve as their second-in-command and add a small boost to one of the stats. For example, in college you majored in Business and met your best friend who was studying Chemistry and is now helping you out.

The partner could also provide someone to talk to or seek advice from, especially since you’re targeting the game towards kids. During the tutorial or whatever, they could explain how everything works to you instead of just reading a big chunk of text that explains everything. And whenever the reader is stuck on something, they can go ask the partner for some advice. He/she can also be a source of comedy to add some variety to the story.

Edit: If you decide not to go with the “friend from college” thing, maybe a robot or something? It is the future, after all.

I’m really looking forward to seeing where this goes! Can’t wait for a demo. :slight_smile:

1 Like
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I agree :slight_smile: my nephew already loves to read and I remember loving those chose your own adventure books when I was his age, so why not? :smile:

Originally it was going to be simply the town you came from but now it’s the place you are when you are asked to become the new director. I’ve actually decided against having a choice of which space program the MC heads up. (mainly because to work properly I would need a much more detailed knowledge of the inner workings of NASA and the CNSA neither of which I have more than a passing knowledge. Instead, the MC is tasked with getting a Global Space program going. and the UN Committee responsible for its creation chose the leader of a successful commercial space company namely the MC.

the game mechanic I’m writing it basically this.
Roll (Level of device to 10) + (Event Mastery Rounded down) - (Event Difficulty)
If Roll < 2 then Fail
If Roll > 1 then Pass
If Roll = Fail and Redundancy > 0 then Redundancy - 1 and Pass
If Rol = Fail and Redundancy = 0 then Fail.

so a level 4 device has a roll of 4 to 10 and a min roll of 4
if the Difficulty of the task is rated 5 then there is a 33.3% chance of Failure)
If the Difficulty of the Task is rated 3 then there is 16.6% chance of failure.
if the Difficulty of the task is rated 2 then there is 0% chance of failure

Every point above the device level gets added as redundancy, so a level 4 Engineering device would have a built in redundancy of 2 if your level is 6.

Event Mastery is repetition. you gain one point every time you fail and Half a point for every success up to 10. You learn more from your mistakes than you do from your successes. so spending money and resources on setting up trial runs and testing systems works to increase reliability.

Hey, when did you sneak into my house and look at the game plans ? :slight_smile:

lol actually I hit on the perfect was to explain most of the mechanics during a story driven tutorial. The player starts the story with the MC at 10 years old. as the youngest contestant at a national rocket fair. as you progress towards building and launching your rocket you had gotten expert advice from the relevant people, all of which is explained in ways an admittedly advanced 10-year-old can understand.

And they basically carry the stats they generate here with the addition of two more levels (based on company and partner) to their GSA (Global Space Agency)

I’m against a robot for two reasons First, the story’s world is just recovering from 15 years of economic depression, so robots/AI/VI/human-like interfaces, shouldn’t exist. Second if they could build robots like that then why send people to Saturn?

Anyway thanks for reading and posting!

2 Likes
26

I would make all your random variables and such are on a different page than when the player finds out the result of the random roll as I haven’t tested it but I read somewhere that if you go into the stats page you can reroll random variables. Unless you want the player to be able to do that.

Also I think it would be really cool if there was some sort of competition. Maybe North Korea? But they are too broke to have a space program so idk but I would enjoy competition between space companies/organizations if you would to and can figure out how.

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27

I’ll have to test this. but people who cheat will do so regardless on how hard/cumbersome it is to do so. so I’m not overly worried.

I’m not dropping NASA and CNSA from the game, both countries would go it alone to try and recover the “Object” before anyone else to try and get an advantage over everyone else. I’m just not having the MC work for them anymore.

although how I’m going to set it up is still … nebulous. :wink:

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28

I wasn’t so worried about cheaters as 1 I totally agree with you and 2 it isn’t like I’m competing with them or anything it’s all single player. What I meant was the people who do it by accident. They might get upset if it is rerolling. That would definitely break immersion.

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I see what you mean.

but I doubt it will be an issue since I’m calling and then returning from the Roll script.

meh still will have to test it extensively to make sure thou. thanks for bringing it up.

btw does anyone have a link on how to build a glossary?

1 Like
30

To make a glossary I would go to the stats page and I would put

*choice
 #Go to glossary
  *goto glossary

At the bottom then have this below it

*label glossary
Stuff

And if you wanted to you could add

*choice
 #Return
  *goto stats

To the bottom of that and add

*label stats

To the top of your stats

31

Thanks! I’ll try it out when I get home today

1 Like
32

Kebab in space, Kebab in space. He will get rekt by Serbs in space. Kebab in space!

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33

Is not better to code the glossary submenu as an scene? So you can work on it werever you like without have to mess with the stats screen?

Also, i remember you said your system was kinda turn based…

How aboult flag events such an competitor angency executing an suceful/catastrofic mission solely on the turns that trigger it?

I know it would kill replaybility but simpler is better, and code an opponent AI is time consuming…

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@Nahim_Kerman I’m not sure how writing it in as a scene is easier than writing it in the stats screen. Plus in stats it would always be available to the player.

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@Nahim_Kerman

I only asked because i remember seeing a glossary page in choice of pedal throne. And as this game is ment to be about education as much as about fun I thought it would be a good idea to have a glossary included.

Also for the competition there is no ai just a if statement list in the clock code.

Basicly my thought is that NASA and CNSA will have their own path. That they always try and follow. They get a random roll every time the clock code is called to see if their latest mission or activity was a success. And will keep tring if not. If certain failure conditions are meet then NASA or the CNSA may be shut down.

Also as a note I’ve finally nailed down how public opinion works (just not the math yet). All three agencies share the same PO. Your success helps your competitors and your failures hurt them. And the same goes for them. Their success helps you and their failures hurt your PO. Funding is based on PO.

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36

So how do they get shut down and you don’t? If the perform poorly doesn’t that mean you would end up performing poorly as well? That seems like it could spiral out of control really fast.

37

@Kelvin

Mainly because the failure conditions are not tied directly PO only Funding is.

NASA Failure conditions so far are
IF CNSA = False And PO < 50 then
IF NASADeaths > 5 and If NASAFailCount > 20 then
NASA is shut down, The US throws its full support behind the GSA
IF CNSA = True and PO < 50 Then
IF NASADeaths > 5 And NASAFailCount > 40 Then
NASA is shut down, The US throws its full support behind the GSA

China’s Failure conditions so far are
IF NASA = False and PO < 30 Then
IF CNSADeaths > 10 and If CNSAFailCountConsecutive > 5 and Funding < 2 Then
CNSA is shut down, China throws its full support behind the GSA
IF NASA = True and PO < 30 Then
IF CNSAFailCount > 50 and CNSAFailcountConsecutive > 5 then
CNSA is shut down, China throws its full support behind the GSA

The GSA’s Failure Conditions so far are
If PO < 25 and GSAFailCountConsecutive > 5 then
The GSA director has been charged with negligence and malfeasance and has relieved of duty pending trial…
If PO < 25 and GSADeaths > 10 then
The GSA director has been charged with negligence and malfeasance and has relieved of duty pending trial…

Basically, so long as CNSA or NASA are in the race the other will last longer, but once the first one is shut down the other will likely follow. Either way, when NASA or CNSA are shut down the GSA gets a 25% bonus to their funding. (round down) basically coded like this

If CNSA = True then
CNSAMod = 0
Else
CNSAMod = 40

If NASA = True then
NASAMod = 0
Else
NASAMod = 40

Funding = rounddown(PO/10) + Rounddown(PO/CNSAMod) + Rounddown(PO/NASAMod) + CorpMod

So if GSA is alone because of NASA and CNSA shutdown then they stand to make a Base of 15 Funding before adding in any deals from corporations (that’s the CorpMod)

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