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I really love this game, the time and effort put in it really brings out the quality, but there is one major element missing there should be savable multiplayer <img src="frown.gif" border="0">

will there ever be a patch providing this or will we have to wait for STUN3 if ever ?
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What's a "savable multiplayer" game?

Not planning a multiplayer version in a patch as it would require major design changes. The game is not quite a real-time game as it pauses on certain events to let you know what's going on, making it difficult for multiplayer. It also doesn't have fixed turns, also making it difficult for multiplayer.

Of course, maybe your "savable multiplayer" game would allow this. Fill me in as it sounds interesting.

hey,

i guess it will be difficult to implement but look at it like this.

you just play like usual, the game runs like a normal game in SP, player 1 could do his share of the game and player 2 just like usual, but the moment the two players meet eachother and perform an action against eachother like attack or hail, the game would go to turnbased mode. Then when the actions are done (players ship destroyed, end of hail) the game would return to real time. If the game stops for one player to order a ship on a mission or so, the game actually stops for both sides (this is the downside cause it can be a bit annoying). Maybe you can trow in an option that causes the game never to stop in a multiplayer game (players will have to be more attentive then to the messages that appear on top, maybe you can let a 5 message screen drop down) I don't know if it's implementable, but if you ever tried imperium galactica II, they made a late patch where multiplayer was enabled only one flaw there the multigames couldn't be saved.

If you guys could figure out a gameplay for STUN2 to be played online thru TCP/IP with saving enabled i'm certain there will be a lot of intrest and this makes this game even better

Another way would simply be, make stun a turn-based game. You have your homeworld, your ship, you choose what they're gonna do for the turn. Each turn is worth a certain amount of time. When you're done the other player goes. If two or more ships engage in combat, then like usual each player enters the commands for each round of action.
The only bug is: one player can take 1 minute to enter everything he wants to do for one turn while another could require 20.
Then again you could implement a time limit to complete a turn, of course customizable before the game for the players to agree on.

But would all this be "savable"? <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

hmmmm madmax his idea is also of a good nature but if you get the real time play out of the game it can get boring, remember Master of Orion II, they tried it, and every turn had to be played in multi while in single you could skip turns, i tried this playing online and it was boring like hell. But somethimes you just have to choose i guess

In my opinion, you can't have a realtime multiplayer version of starships unlimited. As Andrew said, it would require to many design changes. It would basically become a new game... in that case, i have nothing against it <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0"> <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0"> <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

hmmm i guess if there could be found a balance between real time and turn based multiplayer is possible but let's wait on an official remark before getting further in this subject

I think that you can see, just by reading this thread, that making Stun a multiplayer game would be a real challenge and no matter which way it was done, would probably piss off the other half of people. Do you really thing I'm going to bite on this one?

I'd rather see stronger AI in a game like this before multiplayer myself. In every turn-based multiplayer game I've ever been involved with, I either feel like I'm rushed (holding everyone up) or someone else is holding ME up. Some games I'm just happier playing by myself.

Think of the pleasure you get after destroying a ship that belongs to another human player... <img src="wink.gif" border="0">
Doesn't seing his floating remains in space make you feel all releived? <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

In any case, it would be hard to make it multiplayer although there is something else that could be done with it... remember star control 3.
It wasn't a multiplayer game but you could play with a friend in melee mode just for the fun of combat simulation. Same here you could offer an extension that would allow two or more people to play a combat in a random system.They'd choose their vessel, load it up with the components of their choice, you could attribute points to each player so that the ships would be balanced. when it's over, return to the menu, you could give them some after combat stats .


<img src="tongue.gif" border="0"> <img src="wink.gif" border="0"> don't worry, it's another idea like i and probably so many players have all the time... it simply makes the game funnier. That's what making games is all about! <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

There was a game called M.A.X. released back in the mid 90's (and a subsequent sequel) that managed to pull off a form of what they called "simultaneous turn-based" that is very similar to what's described in this thread. I could see STUN working like that, but like Andrew said it would require quite a bit of work to achieve. Probably best left as a feature for a sequel.

I'm not surprised when I get my arse kicked by a human opponent, it happens all the time. I am surprised when an AI does it though. <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

okay i understand that it might be difficult and that andrew won't get further in it here, but heu next time your team of programmers meets andrew could you suggest trying to build a multiplayer for the next version of STUN , a lot of gamers would be most gratefull to you

thnx

I love the Star Control melee idea and have thought of this before as a way to add multiplayer to the game. If I ever did make a multiplayer version, I'd probably make it a true realtime game. I personally prefer turn-based myself but I can't see how it would work in this game. Anyways, this is all speculative and I don't want to lead anyone on. As always, though, your thoughts help me plan future releases.