@All
The only problem with the "one owns the project - while all others help" is what i experienced while working on a computer project years ago: one (the owner) is doing all the hard work while all others (the helpers) just stand there, staring and yelling orders to "the owner".
@Cyrus
cool answer, i appreciate that opinion! just wanted to write a grim post about how this thread develops. But I guess its better to focus on the real thing and start rocking!
@All (or is it just me and @Cyrus?)
So, after my introductory opening post i would like to go more into detail about what a possible semi-open-source project could actually be.
Building up on my first idea of a galactic empire building game i like to present you a few possible scenarios, concentrating on the background / grand theme for now and discussing possible mechanics later. and of course you are welcome to throw your own ideas into the mix - as long as you concentrate on creative and productive comments instead of thread-disassembly.
Scenario #1:
A space wargame with heavy focus on combat and less focus on empire building. this game could support multiplayer games where every player is the leader of a alien race of his choice. there could be race or faction cards the players choose from, each with their own technology, fighting style, advantages and disadvantages. the games point of view would be quite "zoomed out" - concentrating on whole planets instead of countries and buildings. the resource system would consider the productivity of a whole planet and not a single facility or patch of minerals on a planet. being combat heavy, this scenario would allow a wide variety of spaceships and weapons and even some system to customize them (like attaching weapon systems to a chassis).
Scenario #2:
This would be more like a space opera and include more micro-management and non-battle thematics as the first scenario. Imagine a world like star trek or babylon 5, where there is also lot of room for diplomacy, intrigue and politics. the scale of the game would also be interplanetary, focusing on solar systems instead of single planets. this approach would allow much more theatrical grand-scale actions like political factions, diplomatic contracts, conspiracies, racism/racial war / religious war, as well as solar system wide economics, riots and plagues. Think of this approach like a "Sid Meiers Civilisation in space" - but instead of controlling single cities, you would control whole planets. game mechanics would have to be simplified in order to correctly display the macroversum without slowing the game down too much.
Scenario #3:
Unlike the first two sencarios, this one would take place only on a single planet. Imagine two alien races meet on a desolate planet to fight over resources. there would be flying units and maybe spacecraft to support the ground troops, but all in all this scenario does not take into account the universe around the planet at all. Remember "Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri"? This scenario would be somewhat similar: A planet-based civ-building game in distant future with a solid mix of combat and non-combat themed mechanics.
Imagine the three scenarios as different "zoom levels" or scale of the map. When scenario 3 is a close-up, scenario 1 is the medium zoom level and Scenario 2 would be the "zoomed out" version.
There are many more ideas for a game scenario and parts of all three could be mixed. The question to our appreciated community is now on wich scale we should agree and how many focus we put on combat or other concepts.
@All (or is it just me and @Cyrus?)
Regarding Yudencow's resource system (the one in the other thread, if you meant that): This could well be adapted to a space game, where your "mana" represents the captains power in different tiers like "military", "command" and "leadership". Then you can distribute theese "mana-points" onto your ships to give them orders every turn.
BRAINSTORM EDIT 1: Actually this idea could be expanded even further. You are not a captain, you represent your whole race as stated on your "faction card" and the different tiers represent the pillars of society like "military", "economy", "culture" and so on. maybe 5 or 7 tiers to satisfy the law of fives (or seven:
http://umop.com/rps7.htm). during your turn you can decide how to distribute your points in order to generate certain effects like attacking your enemy (requires military) or building new starships and bases (requires economy), or advancing your culture to achieve your agenda (requires culture).
BRAINSTORM EDIT 2: thinking about from where your rescoures come, we could take this idea even further like: your faction card provides you with a basic "income" (e.g. 2 military, 2 economy, 1 culture) every turn. but planets add to your resources (like planet Xanlith gains you another 1 military point while Venus grants you another 1 culture). then you add it all up (3 military, 2 economy, 2 culture in this example) and start distributing it on on fleets, planets or even your faction card. putting points on fleets lets them move or attack, putting points on planets lets you build new fleets or increases your culture (or whatever), and putting points on your faction card generates a faction specific special effect.
BRAINSTORM EDIT 3: Theese edits render the first part of my post obsolete, but i guess that is the way how brainstorming works. so, the overall picture of the game is still quite cozy - but i can already see some card types at the horizon:
1. faction cards - representing your nation as whole, you start with exactly one card in play that represents a sentient, intelligent race. this can be anything from humans to insectoids, lizardmen, amoeba, ugly aliens or parasites.
2. planet cards - a player should start with at least one planet in play and loose play once his last planet is lost. planets grant additional resources and provide ways to spend resource in order to generate effects. planets also host and launch fleets.
3. landmark cards - big, monumental sites or buildings on a planet. we do not bother with factories or cannon towers here. this card type represents planetary shields, epical worshipping sites or even orbital attachments like space stations. landmarks increase production or provide bonus or ways to spend resources.
4. fleet cards - maybe this category can be broken down into different ship types. where larger ship types are represented by a single craft and the smaller ones by a squadron of fighters or bombers. fleets are the main force to attack and conquer enemy planets.
5. technology cards - not attached to planets they represent global achiements of your nation that can be done by spending enough points of the tier the technology belongs to. some technology increase attack or defense of your fleets, while others generate special effects.
BRAINSTORM EDIT 4: A final edit for today, this shows a RPS-7 distribution of possible "pillars of society" or "tiers" for the faction cards. should be enough for a game foundation. each tier could be tied to a mechanic, as well to certain resource production and spending methods and tied to a victory conditions as well. (names, positions and influence arrows are just for testing purposes - nothing is fixed here as this is just a very basic idea).
is that enough for the moment?