Hello everybody,

I would like to know your opinion of the concept of my game. Basically, it is a multiplayer team game. Every player builds its own spaceship and then they fight until all ships of one team are destroyed.

Now, spaceships are composed of blocks. Basic block is a cube of unit size, but you can rotate it, scale it and deform it to any hexahedron (e.g. paralleliped), so you are not so limited like in Minecraft. Every block has its function in ship -- there are energy sources, engines and maneuvering devices, shields, weapons etc. By adding blocks together you can create any kind of spaceship you like. Also, when the block is hit by enemy ship, it will stop functioning, so you must place blocks strategically, cover energy sources with shields etc.

The dynamics of the ship is quite simple. I calculate the center of gravity of the ship and then find the force and torque of each engine. It's simple composition of forces.

The cool part of this concept is that everybody can build entirely different ship, small or big, fast or slow, whatever they like. It is also self-balancing -- if the ship has lots of shield blocks, it is more difficult to destroy, but it is also heavier, so in order to fly it needs more engines and more energy sources, so it will be bigger. And the bigger it is, the easier it is to hit.

On the other hand, I am afraid that it will be difficult to construct spaceship that can be easily controlled. I would like people to focus on fight and destroying enemy ships, not struggling with gravity.

What do you think? Any feedback will be highly appreciated.

I have played a prototype of something like that (completely forgot the title) but it was not so thrilling to me. I find Starship Corporation model more entertaining (you are able see everything at once in a 2D view, which helps designing the ship).

Anyway, I suggest checking the existing games of that style first (exspecially since there are not so many of these). Also check Galaxy Trucker (boardgame), it has one of the funniest ship building mechanic I have seen :)

I'm kinda thinking that part of the fun would be the potential for building "bad" designs and seeing how they respond in different situations. It makes me think a bit of those mechanical-physics games where you have a shape to move from one point to another and a variety of pieces to put together to get it done. Often the machine you build goes nowhere or falls off the screen but it's fun trying out different things.

I think the key might be providing an opportunity for design experimentation before dropping the player into combat or whatever situations you have planned.

Acharis, was it GOD Factory?

The idea is cool on paper, but not that great in practice.

I'm going to learn towards a Starship Corporation approach as far as ship building is concerned. It has a lot more depth.

Acharis, was it GOD Factory?

The idea is cool on paper, but not that great in practice.

I'm going to learn towards a Starship Corporation approach as far as ship building is concerned. It has a lot more depth.

Not, it was a minecraft like game where you were supposed to build a starship in space from cubes (the controls were really crappy), I think I saw it on indiemod database or it was in some bundle.