X-com Squads::: Mm Domination Game

[JoeJoe]

Hello, I created this post to start discussion on a possible dominatino style of game to be played at X-Com Squads ( http://ebfangame.bizhat.com/home.swf )

 

If you look at the Geoscape map (linked from the homepage) you will see that it is divided up into "ZONES" (the circles).

 

The Squads that are a part of XCS can battle each other for control of these zones. This is what I like to call the Domination game.

 

There are many issues when trying to start a game like this. First and formost: How is the system going to work? Written below I have proposed a few of my ideas, as well as ideas that I have taken from others. This is my proposed version of the Domination game.

 

 

The zones:

-There are a number of Zones on the map (the big circles).

-Each zone consists of "regions" (not actually depicted on the map).

-The squad that controls the most regions in a zone, controls that zone.

 

 

Squads:

-Each Squad (alien and human) will consist of players. These players will face off VS each other (of different squad) in battles for control over regions and zones.

-Squads can be Human, Sectoid, or Muton.

-The size of the squad is not limited.

 

Course of the game:

-The game will be divided into week long segments, called "Turns". Each turn will represent 1 Month in game time.

-At the begining of each TURN, ONE ZONE will be selected at random.

-This selected Zone will be known as the HOT ZONE

-During this week (turn) the Squads fight for control of the regions in this zone

-At the end of the week (turn) the Squad that has control over the most regions, gains control of that zone

 

Gaining Control of Regions and Zones

-Any squad member may challenge any other squad member to a battle. (must be in different squads)

-The winner of this battle is awarded 5 CONTROL POINTS

-Both parties must notify the game master (Joe) of the outcome, Via E-mail or hopefully a simple post in a sticky thred here () HONESTY is required for this to work.

-At the end of the week (turn) the battles are compiled. Control of the HOT ZONE is given with this equation:

 

NOTE:: the equation applies to the combined efforts (wins and losses) of the whole squad.

 

The number of CONTROL POINTS (CPs) X THE WIN RATIO (WR)

 

CP= the number of wins X 5

WR= The number of wins, divided by the number of games played.

 

FOR EXAMPLE: Your squad has played 5 games this Turn.

Your squad won 4 of the 5 games.

 

5CPs X 4 games = 20CPs Total determins the # of CPs total

4wins / 5games = 0.8WR determins your Win Ratio

 

20Cps X 0.8WR = 16Cps determins your final control

 

Therefor: You would have taken control of 16 regions.

 

This system favors those who win, and those who win a lot. However, losing has a big effect on your control. If you play a lot, but dont win, you will not gain much control. Likewise, if you hardly ever play, but always win, you will gain control, but its limited to the amount that you play.

 

This system is dependent on the parties involved to be honest and curtious. As well, it is up to them to notify me of the battles and their results.

 

BENEFITS OF THIS SYSTEM:

- You can play when you want, with who you want! there is no set time to play, and you are not required to play at all.

- The power of each squad does not lie in number, persay. If you have a LOT of members, but none of who are any good, then it does you no good.

You can be an effective 1 man team. Aswell, you can be an effective team of players, where it doesnt rely on 1 person.

-The game will be lasting. Domination will take as many weeks as there are zones.

-Other elements can be added later. THis system leaves room for other elements to be added later if needed.

-You can never lose. You always have the opportunity to gain control of a zone, despite the power and size of other squads.

 

CONS:

-It is based on the honesty of its players. This is good, but can sometimes cause problems.

 

 

Let me know what you think. It may sound a little confusing, but it isnt ment to be. If there are any questions please ask.

Edited May 4, 2005 by JoeJoe

[MadRat]

Seems interesting. Where are you planning to keep data about squads, battles, etc? There are battle results at the ufo2000 servers so it's not necessary to depend on the honesty completely.

[CopyBass]

Hmmm.... There's a BIG black bar at the bottom of the screen when I load it up (It also takes FOREVER to start up....) Still, It's cool... Can't read all the stuff I need to give you tho Edited May 4, 2005 by CopyBass

[JoeJoe]

Thats odd Copybass. Are you on dial up or broad band?

 

As for the battle results, how/where does one access those?

 

 

also a hint on the pages. If they appear small in your broswer, RIGHT click and "Zoom IN". Then you can see the page as its suppose to be viewed.

[CopyBass]

Oh yeah, forgot it was Flash. I'm on Shaw Highspeed so it shouldnt take so long. You can find results at:

 

http://ufo2000.lxnt.info/results.php

[MadRat]

As for the battle results, how/where does one access those?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

As CopyBass said you can see it at the http://ufo2000.lxnt.info/results.php. But there is another interesting possibility - to make your flash to interact with ufo2000 server (i think it may be something like http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/...izards_04.html). If you are interested we can try to describe protocol of interaction. But I can't tell pricesly how difficlult it is and how much time it will take.

[JoeJoe]

Thank you for the link to the statistics, although I dont see my name up there .

 

There are many ways to integrate a data system into flash. This is part of why I opted to use flash for my site. I am using an older version of flash (Flash 5) because I dont have the $400 to shell out for the new version (MX 2004). I had hoped that this would not limit the possibilities, but it may.

 

Although I dont completly understand how to use a data system with flash, it was my goal to eventually do this.

 

I will admit that I am new to Action script and data transfer stuff. But I have a strong interest in learning (thats what Im trying to do now). Unfortunitly the Flash course that I took this semester only covered the basic stuff that I already knew how to do. (at least I got an A).

 

Anyway, MadRat if you would like to try to do something like you mentioned, I'm very interested. Like I said, I was going to give it a shot on my own. Having others to work with on this would be great.

[meodai]

lirn to code HTML and CSS2 its free and your page will look better

[JoeJoe]

No no, flash is too easy to build a site with .

 

 

BUT, if you (or anyone) knows how to use http and css2, the rankings and results page does not have to be in flash.

[MadRat]

Well, JoeJoe I can't help you in the flash part at all due of my poor knowledges in it. I could only try to provide a working with server data at the server part. For example: new player had signed up for participation in the tournament or in the geoscape game. You are sending data about it to the server, something like http request:

 

http://lxnt.info:2001?action=adduser&user=JoeJoe

 

Since with moment server counts that any battle between this player and any other participant is a tournament battle. Next we need send data about battle results to the flash:

 

http://lxnt.info:2001?action=gettournamentresults

 

Server will send xml document containing tournament battle results. I'm not sure what data we need to put there exactly.

Implementation of the requests like mentioned two at the server is not too hard i think. So main difficulties will be at the flash part - xml parsing, etc.

[MadRat]

Well, links in the last post don't work at this moment, it was just an example.

[JoeJoe]

Ok, very excited over here on this end.

 

Turns out, there is a open source software that takes the place of what I would need to have date integrated w/ flash 5. Its called JGenerator. It uses XML data! I think we just might pull this off. Here is the site where I found JGenerator http://www.flashgap.com/download.shtml

 

Check it out and see if it is something you can work with. I have downloaded it and Im playing around w/ it.

 

 

EDIT:

I have been able to load variables (displayed information text and numbers) from a simple txt file. Im not sure how this helps, but it lets me know that its possible to bring external data into the flash movie.

 

Found a very good tutorial for using xml with flash 5.

 

http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/3rd_Part...m-213/more7.php

Edited May 5, 2005 by JoeJoe

[JoeJoe]

I think this link ( http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/Dynamic_..._-759/more2.php ) explains how to do everything.

 

It seems simple enough. I think it can be done quite easily (once we figure it out).

 

 

 

Whooops. the post above this one is more up to date. The tutorial i found there seems to be the best.

Edited May 5, 2005 by JoeJoe

[MadRat]

Check it out and see if it is something you can work with. I have downloaded it and Im playing around w/ it.

 

You can choose any way to work with it in the flash. I need only to know what requests will flash send to the server and what responses will it expect to receive. Try to write out what data do you need to implement your tournament or geoscape model. Sample xml documents would be nice. And one important thing more - I'm not the owner of the lxnt.info server so I can't guarantee it will be accepted at the "official" servers. Well, really I can't guarantee anything at all, so may be it will be better if you should just describe data intreface, after that I'll try to say if its server implementation is real.

[JoeJoe]

What Flash would need is the XML file loaded to where ever the SWF (the flash file it's self) is located. Right now that is my www.ebfangames.bizhat.com/yaddy yaddy yadda

 

Thats it. All the scripting would be in flash.

 

Flash refrences the xml file, searches for the desired information, and displays it in a text field.

 

As for the exact script, I am not sure what that would look like yet.

[MadRat]

What Flash would need is the XML file loaded to where ever the SWF (the flash file it's self) is located. Right now that is my www.ebfangames.bizhat.com/yaddy yaddy yadda

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

But can't you load xml document through http? Something like

 

urlXML.load("http://lxnt.ufo:2001?action=getresults");

 

?

 

(for exmaple: http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/3rd_Part...-213/more5.php)

Edited May 5, 2005 by MadRat

[JoeJoe]

I suppose you can. From what ive read it says that the xml had to be on the same server as flash. But I could be wrong.

[MadRat]

Yes, sorry, you are right, there are some problems with it.

 

http://livedocs.macromedia.com/flash/mx200...e=00001097.html

[Kratos]

I would be nice to see more areas in other parts of the world.

[JoeJoe]

DOMINATION IS COMING!

 

 

http://ebfangame.bizhat.com/home.swf To find out what exactly DOMINATION is.

 

(you may need to refresh your browser once the site is loaded)

(Approx 1.4 MB so it may take a moment to load)

 

 

 

DOMINATION IS COMING!

[Kratos]

Just to make everything clear, my previous post was concerning DOMINATION:

 

I would be nice to see more areas in other parts of the world.

Edited May 8, 2005 by Kratos

[JoeJoe]

The zones will cover the map. The 3 shown are just an example.

[CopyBass]

Why does my clan have 61 in one area...?

[Kratos]

Why does my clan have 61 in one area...?

It is really nothing to worry about right now...joejoe is still working on DOMINATION, so it is probably just an example.

[JoeJoe]

Ahy, Kratos hit the nail on the head.

 

 

Any Ideas/comments/questions you guys have about the site is welcome!

 

 

I'm not promising anything, but if there is a good idea I would like to at least hear it.

 

Here are some things that I hope to get up in the near future:

 

1) Rank, Wins, and Loss displayed for each member.

 

2) More zones on the map

 

3) A form to fill out and send (on site) for new members/squads.

(This cant be done w/out php, I was hoping a simple HTML doc would suffice, but I would need helpe with that)

 

4) and other stuff (im too drunk/tired to think of it all i should be in bed )

 

anyway I have some questions for you helpful people:

 

1) Is the Domination game explained?

Its not a hard concept to grasp, but I could understand it if someone had some confusion.

 

2) What else do you want to see?

(aside from avars, ranks, stats)

 

3) What do you like about the site most?

 

4) How can we get more people to join?

 

5) The first tournement will start this week. When should we give Domination a shot? After the first tourny?

 

Edit:

6) For the Domination game, the players would have to post their game. Meaning, whenever you fight someone in a battle, the winner would have to post the names of the ppl involved, clan name, and the outcome. Posting would be done here.

Each fight can be verified so cheating wouldnt be a problem. Its just inconvenient for both the players and myself (or whoever) would be checking the validity of the games. ANY IDEAS? XML was looked at, and would not work at this time. I dont know what information comes from the player ratings data, so i cant make any judments based on that.

 

thats all for now. Thanks!

Edited May 8, 2005 by JoeJoe

[Tursiops]

I must say that I am intrigued by domination and I think that it is going to be a great experiment as a potential geoscape for ufo2000. Having said that I have a few questions/comments.

 

It seems that the scoring system (calculation of control points) is inherently biased against people who play fewer games. Perhaps this is by design to encourage more games, or perhaps it an alternate scoring system could be arranged.

 

I was thinking along the lines of: Each player starts with 50k. The number of control points awarded/subtracted is equal to the number of k in your opponents squad. For this to work, rules would need to be changed to allow more than 5k squads per game.

 

Example: Game rules set a 20k limit.

 

At the beginning players A and B have 50k.

 

Player A challenges Player B in hot zone.

 

Player A uses a squad that costs 10k

Player B uses a squad that costs 15k

 

Player A somehow manages to defeat player B.

Player A wins 15 control points and player B loses 15 control points.

Also, Player A now has 65k, while Player B now has 35k.

 

This will add an element of strategy to the control game other than win as many battles in the hot zone, as well as open up the possibility for strategic non-hot zone games at a later date (think raiding another player's base).

 

Just my $0.02

 

Also, what happens in the event that two clans have the same number of control points when the time comes to award control?

 

.

 

 

 

Player B wins, and

[JoeJoe]

It seems that the scoring system (calculation of control points) is inherently biased against people who play fewer games.  Perhaps this is by design to encourage more games, or perhaps it an alternate scoring system could be arranged. 

 

It is bias towards those who play often, and win often. However, it allows people who can only play a few games the ability to do so and compete with the others. For example:

player A plays 2 games and wins both: Player A gets 10 contol points

 

Player B plays 4 games and win 2: Player B gets 10 points as well

 

This way it's not completly reliant on how much you play, but how much you win. With a negative effect for losing.

 

 

I was thinking along the lines of: Each player starts with 50k.  The number of control points awarded/subtracted is equal to the number of k in your opponents squad. For this to work, rules would need to be changed to allow more than 5k squads per game.

 

A system somewhat like this was looked into. And I'm going to admit that I like it. However, problems came when one player runs out of points. Without points you can't play the game.

 

Also, players would be forced to spend high amounts of points to compete with those who play w/ a high amount. Losing 2 or 3 games would essentually knock you out of the game.

 

Also, keeping track of these points IS possible, but NOT at this time. . It would require php or something like that, which I do not have. Also, who/how would control/know how much each member spends per battle? It would take more integration with UFO2k to acheive a working model of this.

 

 

This will add an element of strategy to the control game other than win as many battles in the hot zone, as well as open up the possibility for strategic non-hot zone games at a later date (think raiding another player's base).

 

I would agree, this would add strategy, and I love the idea! The Massive Multiplayer game this I am going to pitch (probably soon) is going to include some similar ideas.

 

 

Also, what happens in the event that two clans have the same number of control points when the time comes to award control?

 

Good point! Didn't think of that. Perhaps they share control, OR the zone remains disputed until it is again the HOT ZONE.

 

 

I was throwing the idea of having the HOT ZONEs alter the amount of points the players can use in their battles. The effect would not be great, maybe a few hundred or so at most, but enough to give a very slight advantage.

 

For example:

 

Squad A control Zone 1, they get an extra 50 points, so their max would be 8,050 instead of the 8,000 limit

 

Squad B controls Zones 2 and 3, they get an extra 150 Points. so their max would be 8,150.

 

AND

 

The idea of opening the weekend for players to challege others to a "bet" of control if you will. For example, Player A challenges Player B. They bet 25 control in Zone 3 on the match. Winner takes all. These matches would have to be a little more scheduled , and could not be any time any player as the regular domination battles are.

 

 

I appreciate your input. I hope to hear more.

[Tursiops]

I was thinking along the lines of: Each player starts with 50k. The number of control points awarded/subtracted is equal to the number of k in your opponents squad. For this to work, rules would need to be changed to allow more than 5k squads per game.

 

A system somewhat like this was looked into. And I'm going to admit that I like it. However, problems came when one player runs out of points. Without points you can't play the game.

 

Also, players would be forced to spend high amounts of points to compete with those who play w/ a high amount. Losing 2 or 3 games would essentually knock you out of the game.

 

I think the above statements actually highlight the importance of joining a clan, as well as forming strategic alliances with other players. I think the ability to trade points (like money) would really allow for intricate strategies and relationships between players and clans. If you run out of points, your clanmates can give you more points. If you are a free agent and are running low on points, you can solicit your services to a clan in exchange for points.

 

Also, keeping track of these points IS possible, but NOT at this time. . It would require php or something like that, which I do not have. Also, who/how would control/know how much each member spends per battle? It would take more integration with UFO2k to acheive a working model of this.

 

Right, I am aware of this, but if domination proves to be a fun game, then I am all for integrating it with ufo2k. A little bit of work doesn't scare me.

 

 

This will add an element of strategy to the control game other than win as many battles in the hot zone, as well as open up the possibility for strategic non-hot zone games at a later date (think raiding another player's base).

I would agree, this would add strategy, and I love the idea! The Massive Multiplayer game this I am going to pitch (probably soon) is going to include some similar ideas.

 

Is this massive multiplayer game a derivative of ufo2000? Because that would be awesome!

 

 

I was throwing the idea of having the HOT ZONEs alter the amount of points the players can use in their battles. The effect would not be great, maybe a few hundred or so at most, but enough to give a very slight advantage.

 

For example:

 

Squad A control Zone 1, they get an extra 50 points, so their max would be 8,050 instead of the 8,000 limit

 

Squad B controls Zones 2 and 3, they get an extra 150 Points. so their max would be 8,150.

 

I like the basis of this idea. Even better, assign each zone a "bonus" rating. So the bonus for zone 1 would be 100 points, while the bonus for zone 2 is 500 points. This would make control of zone 2 more desirable. This would add slightly to the strategy needed to win. Maybe this is what you said above, but somehow this seems a bit different than above.

Edited May 12, 2005 by Tursiops