I find that when it comes to multiplayer online games that I miss the oldies. Remember the heady days of the BBS when you dialed in to a local server and played games like TradeWars?
Sure, there are a lot of MUDs and MMORPGs out there, but I find that they just aren’t the same. It makes me think that maybe I should work on a TradeWar-ish game – maybe do it in turbogears. It would be good practice.
Something I always felt was lacking in TradeWars, however, was the limited “classes” (to use the RPG terminology) available. You were either a trading ship captain or a Pirate captain or a little of each. What about letting players take other roles: Police, Military, Mercenary and so on. I’m sure I could come up with more. And what about instead of just controlling one ship (and getting larger and larger ships and eventually bases and then worlds) you could go from one ship to controlling a battallion, a fleet, an armada, your own space navy? Hmm, maybe need to throw in a little Risk into the mix as well to allow large-scale actions.
Now I just need to determine the structure, and the rules, and then I can start on the development requirements. Coming soon in 2010! (Or something like that.)