27 Sep, 2010, Dean wrote in the 1st comment:
Votes: 0
The Project - Just what is Maelstrom: Galaxy at War?
Maelstrom: GAW is a scifi MUD set in the not too distant future (around the year 3500 AD!). Humans have left Earth and spread out across the Milky Way Galaxy, becoming one of the most dominant factions in the process. But it hasn't been easy. Everywhere they've gone, Humans have found Alien species' that will to be simply put, allow them to become dominant and in this time, they have also suffered their greatest "civil" war. The Galaxy is a grim hostile place, threatening to swallow up anyone who isn't strong enough to survive. Humanity aren't the only faction vying for control of the galaxy, there are others with similar goals. Then are those like the Orks whose only goal is to fight and they don't care who with! Further still are the Factions that desire to wipe out all organic life in the Milky Way.

Faction Orientated: Which Faction you pick will ultimately determine the choice of races you can play (Some Factions only have one race choice, while others have several). The goal is to band together with other players in your Faction and try to make it the dominant force in the Galaxy by defending Worlds or attempting to conquer those of another faction.

Squad(group) Over Solo: One of the things I hope can be emphasised is the need to band together with fellow Faction members to improve your survival in what is a dangerous and grim time, with features that take grouping beyond "Hey, follow me so we can group" scenario where the only benefit might be bonus XP. Helped by no one build being able to do everything, or rather, do everything well. Solo play will still be viable of course and in fact some setups are certainly better that way. Humans are soft and squishy and they aren't the jack of all trades that some MUDs portray them as; one of the last places you want to be caught in as a Republic Rifleman is in melee (so grouping together to be able to pool firepower against a particularly tough opponent would be wise).

Vehicle Combat: In addition to space combat (which is close to a given in a SciFi MUD, I suppose!) the ability to take control of vehicles to decimate your enemies will be possible. Think tanks, APCs and others. Given that these weapons would be quite powerful in nature, I would see them limited either by only being loaded rarely, only being able to be built by Engineers (or equivalent) or a combination of both.

Blasters AREN'T Swords: I think this point is pretty obvious. Ranged weapons should be just that and I shouldn't be able to shoot my opponent with ease if he is standing right in front of me trying to lop my head off with an axe!

Codebase of Choice
Is NakedMUD, primarily because there is no Diku-like License and that it is bare bones. I do intend on a pay-for-perks system (Or better put, you pay for special currency which can then go and be spent on things that can only be bought with it) and I will tack on that personally I am against pay-for-perks that give distinct and/or permanent advantages over "free" players (As such, I hope to avoid doing this). The intent of this is to supplement the cost of the server in the future and, if it should exceed that, would be discussed amongst staff as to what it be used on. At this point, as nothing of note has been done on the MUD itself yet, I'm not averse to a change of codebase if a compelling enough case is made (so long as the license of the codebase allows for a pay-for-perks system). The choice of codebase will ultimately decide which language I learn also (as I don't intend to just have someone come and do ALL the work for me) and should it remain as NakedMUD then it'll be python.

About Me
I'll start off by saying this isn't my first rodeo. I've failed in the past and I've also been successful when it comes to MUDs. This project in particular has been something I've wanted to do for sometime now, it's something that I'm really passionate about as a result. Warhammer 40k has been a huge inspiration for this so far (which will no doubt be noticeable to some), as well as other settings (Not all the lore or explanations for how things work I have floating around in my head have been committed to text just yet). I'm not adverse to rolling up my sleeves and doing the hard work and I'm not a slave driver (I lost my whip back in '03 and as a result, lost my job!).

I'm looking for a partner as opposed to someone who would be 'working for me'. It's a two way street and I don't expect anyone to put in more work than what I do.

Lore and more ideas on game play can be found at the following links for the adventurous:
www.maelstromgaw.com
www.maelstromgaw.com/forum (I think most of the forum is viewable to guests, if not, it will be)

Questions and applications are welcome either in this thread or via PM.

PS: I'm not sure whether this is an indication of my excitement for the project or not but I suffered a blood nose while writing this post.
27 Sep, 2010, Rudha wrote in the 2nd comment:
Votes: 0
You might want to reconsider the name Maelstrom; it's been used for similar games before and there could be trademark issues related.

Maya/Rudha
27 Sep, 2010, Dean wrote in the 3rd comment:
Votes: 0
Rudha said:
You might want to reconsider the name Maelstrom; it's been used for similar games before and there could be trademark issues related.

Maya/Rudha


I decided to take a gander at the USPTO site and as far as I can tell, there was a trademark for Maelstrom under "computer game software" (This being the closest description to "being a game" on their records) which was cancelled in 2005, so I think that I should be safe on that front. However, the name is a working title and I feel no particular sentiments towards it that would make changing it difficult if push came to shove.

Thanks for the advice.
27 Sep, 2010, Rudha wrote in the 4th comment:
Votes: 0
Not trying to be pushy, just know there's at least two computer games that have held that name before, so yeah.

Maya/Rudha
0.0/4