Star Trek: The C++ Game ideas
After a thread hijack in the beginner's forum ( http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/beginner/282332/2/ ) I thought it best to drag the discussion of C++ game ideas to the Lounge.
I am planning on having Romulans and Klingons, with one or two "Super Enemies" from each enemy that when they first encounter your ship they will pursue it across sector boundaries. Like a terminator in space. The "regular" enemy ships wander around for a short distance within a sector even when they detect your ship, never going far.
Another reason of having a container of Space Objects so movement is doable.
The original game encoded what each sector contained and randomly placed each object every time a sector was entered.
At game start you choose between a TOS or TNG game, the crew babble then becomes tied to the appropriate era. Spock/Data, Bones/Crusher, etc. This is for the most part just cosmetic, the core of the game is the same. Find and destroy the enemy fleet(s) in a certain amount of time.
Plus a small chance of having Trelane/Q show up and randomly do weird things that could benefit or harm the ship/crew/you.
Stars have different "sizes", though visually on a scan they don't appear different without a detailed scan.
Time travel would have a very small chance of happening, only if the ship warped close to, not at, a certain type of star. Big honkin' star.
Ship systems can be damaged, and take time to repair. A damaged system may have partial functionality. A damaged short range scanner can "kinda" detect there/show are objects within scan range, but not what they are.
I don't have a clue what Discovery has done, I haven't watched any of it.
I am planning on having Romulans and Klingons, with one or two "Super Enemies" from each enemy that when they first encounter your ship they will pursue it across sector boundaries. Like a terminator in space. The "regular" enemy ships wander around for a short distance within a sector even when they detect your ship, never going far.
Another reason of having a container of Space Objects so movement is doable.
The original game encoded what each sector contained and randomly placed each object every time a sector was entered.
At game start you choose between a TOS or TNG game, the crew babble then becomes tied to the appropriate era. Spock/Data, Bones/Crusher, etc. This is for the most part just cosmetic, the core of the game is the same. Find and destroy the enemy fleet(s) in a certain amount of time.
Plus a small chance of having Trelane/Q show up and randomly do weird things that could benefit or harm the ship/crew/you.
Stars have different "sizes", though visually on a scan they don't appear different without a detailed scan.
Time travel would have a very small chance of happening, only if the ship warped close to, not at, a certain type of star. Big honkin' star.
Ship systems can be damaged, and take time to repair. A damaged system may have partial functionality. A damaged short range scanner can "kinda" detect there/show are objects within scan range, but not what they are.
I don't have a clue what Discovery has done, I haven't watched any of it.
It sounds like a rogue-like like Yahtzee's The Consuming Shadow, where you move from location to location in a world map and each location has a chance of being something different that you have to resolve to move forward. The problem I'm seeing is that there doesn't seem to be any end to it or progression of any kind. For example if I'm watching a recording taken at an arbitrary point I could not tell if the player has been playing for five minutes or five days.
The original BASIC Star Trek game had an 8 x 8 2D matrix, each element was a galactic quadrant. Within each quadrant the stars, bases and enemies in that quadrant were encoded in a 3 digit number at game start up. 003 was no enemies, no bases, 3 stars. 214 was two enemies, 1 base and 4 stars.
Each time your ship entered a quadrant the locations of the stars, bases and enemies was randomly selected.
The code kept track of the number of enemies destroyed and updated the quadrant number. Those numbers showed up in the galactic map and the long range scan.
The galactic map isn't fully revealed at the start of the game, you have to go traveling around the galaxy to find the enemies. You know the total number of enemies at the start, you don't know where.
With a couple of mobile enemies where an undestroyed Super Klingon was last recorded in the galactic map and long-range scan might not be were they are now, but you still know you have X enemies to eradicate in a set time-frame. Plus the Super enemies don't move that fast. And are lousy trackers.
Regular Ks don't move across quadrant boundaries.
The original game structure of a quadrant on short range scan, it shows where the stars, bases and enemies are identified and located. The quadrant has hard barriers.
Say your ship is next to the edge or corner of a quadrant, You ship is shown as being at an edge or corner. You can't see across into the next quadrant. And you can see all the way across the quadrant no matter where you are located within the quadrant.
I know it is an easy way to program it, but I don't find it realistic even for a game.
To get an idea of what I am talking about, here's an online version of the game:
https://www.myabandonware.com/game/super-star-trek-2et/play-2et
Each time your ship entered a quadrant the locations of the stars, bases and enemies was randomly selected.
The code kept track of the number of enemies destroyed and updated the quadrant number. Those numbers showed up in the galactic map and the long range scan.
The galactic map isn't fully revealed at the start of the game, you have to go traveling around the galaxy to find the enemies. You know the total number of enemies at the start, you don't know where.
With a couple of mobile enemies where an undestroyed Super Klingon was last recorded in the galactic map and long-range scan might not be were they are now, but you still know you have X enemies to eradicate in a set time-frame. Plus the Super enemies don't move that fast. And are lousy trackers.
Regular Ks don't move across quadrant boundaries.
The original game structure of a quadrant on short range scan, it shows where the stars, bases and enemies are identified and located. The quadrant has hard barriers.
Say your ship is next to the edge or corner of a quadrant, You ship is shown as being at an edge or corner. You can't see across into the next quadrant. And you can see all the way across the quadrant no matter where you are located within the quadrant.
I know it is an easy way to program it, but I don't find it realistic even for a game.
To get an idea of what I am talking about, here's an online version of the game:
https://www.myabandonware.com/game/super-star-trek-2et/play-2et
On the game I 'used', a star base only showed on long range scans once you had visited a quadrant that contained a star base - once found, they didn't move. The Klingon's, of course, moved so that their positions changed in the quadrants in which you weren't currently located. The stars were also fixed - once you had visited the quadrant.
So if you were in a particular quadrant with no Klingons and you left that quadrant and re-entered it then there might be Klingons there then. Long range scans for Klingons weren't accurate - as the Klingons had cloaking technology.
Are, those were the days!
The teletype terminal was located in the French book store cupboard (don't ask). You never left the Startrek printouts laying around for a teacher to find. As we all shared the same logon id/password, if some 'evidence' was found, we all claimed complete ignorance... The teletype was moved into an open area which could be monitored. Usage of that program suddenly stopped. The school had a dial-up connection to the computer used - and paid for the telephone call as well as a usage cost per minute.
So if you were in a particular quadrant with no Klingons and you left that quadrant and re-entered it then there might be Klingons there then. Long range scans for Klingons weren't accurate - as the Klingons had cloaking technology.
Are, those were the days!
The teletype terminal was located in the French book store cupboard (don't ask). You never left the Startrek printouts laying around for a teacher to find. As we all shared the same logon id/password, if some 'evidence' was found, we all claimed complete ignorance... The teletype was moved into an open area which could be monitored. Usage of that program suddenly stopped. The school had a dial-up connection to the computer used - and paid for the telephone call as well as a usage cost per minute.
The version of the game you played was more sophisticated than the one I played.
It sounds closer to what I have in mind for my rewrite.
The teletypes my school used were hard-wired to the mainframe, so all someone had to do was login. Each student had their own ID and password.
It sounds closer to what I have in mind for my rewrite.
The teletypes my school used were hard-wired to the mainframe, so all someone had to do was login. Each student had their own ID and password.
BTW, this terminal picture looks vaguely like the one I remember using, paper tape for storage.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/ASR-33_at_CHM.agr.jpg
I had programs stored on HUGE spools of punched tape. The reader was twitchy at best.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/ASR-33_at_CHM.agr.jpg
I had programs stored on HUGE spools of punched tape. The reader was twitchy at best.
This looks like what we used:
http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/16226/Data-Dynamics-390-Teletype/
As I said, we used a modem to connect to the HP 2000 F computer running TSB (Time Shared Basic) - which was located many miles from my school. Thinking back, I think one of the operators (who was 'into' Startrek) 'tinkered' with the program and added extra features. As it was kept in the library account, only the operators had the ability to change it. I seem to remember it changing a few times during my time at the school.
Yes, we used paper tape as a program backup storage medium. We also used it to enter programs and program changes. As the school was charged for both telephone and computer time, everything that could was typed onto paper tape 'off-line' was, so that when we connected and went on-line we loaded the tape(s). For the serious aspects of using the computer (exam grading etc) we had to punch onto tape all the marks first - so if we made a mistake in typing we had to start again! And yes, we the computer students did the punching and ran the programs - no admin support! The school had only 2 typists/telephone.
http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/16226/Data-Dynamics-390-Teletype/
As I said, we used a modem to connect to the HP 2000 F computer running TSB (Time Shared Basic) - which was located many miles from my school. Thinking back, I think one of the operators (who was 'into' Startrek) 'tinkered' with the program and added extra features. As it was kept in the library account, only the operators had the ability to change it. I seem to remember it changing a few times during my time at the school.
Yes, we used paper tape as a program backup storage medium. We also used it to enter programs and program changes. As the school was charged for both telephone and computer time, everything that could was typed onto paper tape 'off-line' was, so that when we connected and went on-line we loaded the tape(s). For the serious aspects of using the computer (exam grading etc) we had to punch onto tape all the marks first - so if we made a mistake in typing we had to start again! And yes, we the computer students did the punching and ran the programs - no admin support! The school had only 2 typists/telephone.
The school had only the one - shared by all those doing computer studies. On-line access was only allowed after 1pm as the phone-call costs reduced then. We also had to use cast-off ribbons from the school secretaries - so nearly all of our printouts were in red!
My high school only had one small class for computer studies, about 4 or so students IIRC. 3 terminals, but I was the only one who spent any real time on one.
I used learning to program to overcome my inability to understand trigonometry and other "higher" math.
The teacher showed me the Star Trek game, and told me to play around with it.
Just don't be TOO obvious, especially if another teacher/an administrator was in the room.
The classroom was two rooms actually, with a dividing wall having several huge plate glass windows the length of the wall so people could see the terminals from the classroom where instruction happened.
I kept the door to the terminal room open so I could hear what the teacher was talking about or ask questions if I needed some help.
I used learning to program to overcome my inability to understand trigonometry and other "higher" math.
The teacher showed me the Star Trek game, and told me to play around with it.
Just don't be TOO obvious, especially if another teacher/an administrator was in the room.
The classroom was two rooms actually, with a dividing wall having several huge plate glass windows the length of the wall so people could see the terminals from the classroom where instruction happened.
I kept the door to the terminal room open so I could hear what the teacher was talking about or ask questions if I needed some help.
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