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tuomount / Open-Realms-of-Stars

4X Strategy game
GNU General Public License v2.0
134 stars 32 forks source link

(Re)move unrelated code from SpaceRace #717

Closed BottledByte closed 10 months ago

BottledByte commented 11 months ago

Move all GUI/Music/HUE Bridge logic from SpaceRace to GuiStatics. Split Font loading and processing from GuiStatics to GuiFonts. Remove AI magic numbers from SpaceRace, replace with generic magic number in AI code. Remove "secondary race name" feature - it was badly implemented and introduced hacks. Remove "race's primary/secondary color" feature - hack for fine-tuning realm preset (that's only loosely coupled to race).

BottledByte commented 10 months ago

I understand why you set-up this Race primary/secondary color thing.

That it allows one to memorize what colors what races likely have is indeed a benefit. Plus, such feature makes game's "theming" stronger, because of the things with ships, bridges, etc. No doubt about that.

In OROS, Realm is Race. Realm cannot have a planet, where any other race live (Let's ignore theoretical possibility of several races on a planet for now). This limits possible game mechanics, like:

This design worked well before things like Governments existed, but as more mechanics are being introduced, this design assumption is getting both slightly confusing and very limiting. I think that loosening this bond between Race and Realm will turn into truly massive benefit long-term.

The Civilization series typically assumes that "people are state/civilization". This works for them well, because there are not so dramatic differences between the civilizations in terms of people. They can thus use very rigid "presets" efficiently, which can be like said "fixed color".

In 4X space games, where wildly different species can exist, in various contexts, utilizing game-changing mechanics, similar concept unification is IMHO not suitable.

But it is not impossible, as there can also be predefined "Realm presets", which are "mix" of "components", like: Race, Government, Ship/Bridge graphics, Speech Sets, Starting Scenarios, Realm colors, etc. "Race primary color" does not fit into the design, because "Color" is a Realm component, but so is Race, so is Ship/Bridge graphics...

Nonetheless, this all boils down to game design guidelines of OROS.

I believe that "proc-gen everything" is a really good idea for a single player 4X space game, because it increases replayability. With "presets" support, some negative aspects of proc-gen based gameplay will be diminished, like having realms pre-configured to be easy to understand for beginners. But proc-gen approach has often weak "theme" or "feel" (like randomly assigned colors, which are then not fully thematic).

On the other hand, having only constrained, "predefined" races/realms/maps/whatever allows game developer to introduce very strong "feel" into the game. But the price is often lower replayability.

I am proposing a hybrid design, where some things can be predefined, but emphasizing generated content for maximum replayability. For now, striving for maximum possibilities in content generation/combination should be a priority, as design can always be constrained (again) later.

tuomount commented 10 months ago

In OROS, Realm is Race. Realm cannot have a planet, where any other race live (Let's ignore theoretical possibility of several races on a planet for now). This limits possible game mechanics, like:

  • Dominated planets, where natives (of different race) have opinion on their new rulers/overlords.
  • Rebel/Independent Realms, which might split away from Realm, when planet population is very unhappy long-term...
  • Cosmopolitan Realms, where multiple races live under one government...
  • Living races building Robotic races as servants or citizens for tasks the "creator" race is not suited...

Bring all this and still having the simple population management so that it is simple to player understand would be a real challenge. But yes I have thought about something like that, but no actual plans, since I am not sure how to do this...

This design worked well before things like Governments existed, but as more mechanics are being introduced, this design assumption is getting both slightly confusing and very limiting. I think that loosening this bond between Race and Realm will turn into truly massive benefit long-term.

Governments were added since my first thought was not to do player customization for space race. Governments allowed a bit of tweaking for realm. One reason why customization was left out was that then space race does not need to be equally good and neither they don't still there is no multiplayer.

But it is not impossible, as there can also be predefined "Realm presets", which are "mix" of "components", like: Race, Government, Ship/Bridge graphics, Speech Sets, Starting Scenarios, Realm colors, etc. "Race primary color" does not fit into the design, because "Color" is a Realm component, but so is Race, so is Ship/Bridge graphics...

This would work and then always have possibility to allow randomly pick some part or everything for realm. :+1:

Nonetheless, this all boils down to game design guidelines of OROS.

I believe that "proc-gen everything" is a really good idea for a single player 4X space game, because it increases replayability. With "presets" support, some negative aspects of proc-gen based gameplay will be diminished, like having realms pre-configured to be easy to understand for beginners. But proc-gen approach has often weak "theme" or "feel" (like randomly assigned colors, which are then not fully thematic).

On the other hand, having only constrained, "predefined" races/realms/maps/whatever allows game developer to introduce very strong "feel" into the game. But the price is often lower replayability.

I am proposing a hybrid design, where some things can be predefined, but emphasizing generated content for maximum replayability. For now, striving for maximum possibilities in content generation/combination should be a priority, as design can always be constrained (again) later.

Sounds good.