Design outline for the default game (Ad Hoc Wars)

Narts · **Joined:** Tue May 08, 2007 6:19 am **Posts:** 1363

NOTE: THE FULL DESIGN DOCUMENT IS NOW CONTAINED ON THE WIKI MAKING THIS POST OBSOLETE: http://www.customwars.com/wiki/index.php?title=Ad_Hoc_Wars_design_document

Ad Hoc Wars is merely a working title. Any suggestions for naming of the default game are welcome.
As are any suggestions really (especially if you see something crucial missing). My intention is to keep things simple and basic however, so very ambitious or innovative features should be left for extensions, sequels and other future projects using the CW engine. This game will basically just be a demo intended to showcase the engine's abilities and will be designed with this in mind.

Also if anyone wants to take over maintaining this document I will gladly step aside as I would definitely prefer focusing on the graphical aspects of the project.

This document will evolve while the designer adds details and makes changes over time. The version you see here is by no means final and intentionally makes omissions where there is uncertainty, as well as where the solution is believed to be obvious.

Code:

Units include all the basic units of a wars game.

Ground units: Infantry, Heavy infantry, Recon, Artillery, Rocket, Tank, Heavy Tank, Anti-Air, Missile, APC
Air units: Gunship, Helicopter, Fighter, Bomber
Naval units: Transport, Submarine, Cruiser, Battleship.

Officers: There are no officers in the gameplay sense, but there may be characters for story purposes.

Terrain: These basic terrain types should be included:

Plains, Road, Forest, Mountain, River, City, Headquarters, Base, Port, Airport, Sea, Beach, Reef, Void

Void is the terrain type that cannot be traversed by any unit. Graphically it would be represented by a chasm showing the emptiness of space and stars below.

There are four armies: Mars (Red), Saturn (Blue), Venus (Green) and Jupiter (Yellow)
There may be additional armies for purposes of online play but only these four would be featured in the single player campaign.

chom_chom · **Joined:** Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:51 am **Posts:** 121

As a base we spoke about aiming at something similar to the AD1 functionality in units.
I like the idea of maybe starting with the simplicity of different coloured units and the idea that the teams originate from different planets. We don't have to tie ourselves to any existing universe like dune or anything, we can just use the themes of different planets as their backdrop against which to evolve. In fact we could decide on what enviromental attributes the planets have and then design the technology. So many options. Just as long as they are different colours to begin with that's cool.

Narts · **Joined:** Tue May 08, 2007 6:19 am **Posts:** 1363

The army names are currently meant to be just that - names. They don't imply the factions originate from different planets. Also these names are kinda placeholders, until someone maybe comes up with something better.

Though of course, the addition of "space battles" fought over the Void terrain could make an interesting basis for a sci-fi style addon, but I'm leaving that for modders.

Design outline for the default game (Ad Hoc Wars)

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