Asking the swarm for help news - Star Apocalypse

Hello there!

It's been a while since our last news post. Work hasn't been at standstill all that time. It has been going slowly but steadily. Main limitations were though due to other constraints, like my job and my work at the Piratenpartij (Pirate Party). That's why I wanted to talk about an idea here.

Currently, the game will not finish in a reasonable time due to my job and some other constraints (more on this later in this post). That's why I wanted to ask how you'd think about crowdsourcing the game? Effectively, 15000 euros would allow me to develop the game fulltime for 15 months. I'm thinking of a scheme like this:

• 15000 euros: basic contributors get the game and get noted in the credits. Big contributors get a chance at visiting a LANParty which will be hosted by me (needs capability to travel to the netherlands).
• 30000 euros: the game will be released for free, and basic contributors get noted in the credits and big contributors get a big note in the game.
• 45000 euros: the game will be 100% open-source, and will be maintained by me for several years.

Speaking about the other constraints. It IS within my skills to make a game like described above. But the final result might be disappointing. So that's why I'm asking you to have a look at the following concept, which shortly describes a game.

concept wrote:
Introduction & inspiration

PPB is a 4X strategy about civilization. It has a time range from prehistoric times till the distant future. As such, players will firstly be confined to their continent. Then to the planet. Once they manage to invent space flight, the race for exploring space will begin. Players will have to establish colonies on the moons and planets of their solar system, and try to find the most prized resource in the home system: Element 150. Only a few deposits of it exist. Once found, interstellar travel will be entirely feasible, and the race for the galaxy can begin. There's a single planet in the galaxy which will keep producing Element 150, causing it to become a center of warfare.

The galaxy is not the easiest place to survive though... Resources will eventually deplete, forcing you to expand or use the power of science to invent strange contraptions which can produce resources. Speaking of science, the entire mechanic of science in games like these is changed. Also, the cities concept is removed, making way for a much more elegant system.

Another nifty feature will be that your unit and structure properties will be defined at random at invention, with some possibilities to influence it. This creates a system where the tide of a war can change tremendously within a certain period of time, if given enough opportunities and luck. The goal of this is to step away from usual mechanics, and add a twist to matches for extra enjoyment.

There is only one victory condition: galactic peace for x number of turns. This means, that all empires must be allied with eachother during that period. If there’s only one full empire left, it automatically wins. The victory condition can only set in once interstellar travel has been achieved. This has a special reason, since ‘eliminated’ empires aren’t really eliminated. They go into guerrilla warfare mode, where they will gain points to buy guerrilla units with. These guerrilla units are often a powerful foe when properly used. If an eliminated empire manages to retake an area 10% the size of its original territory, it may declare itself as a new empire. Doing so removes the capability to get guerrilla units, but allows you to build improvements and normal units. The limit of territory which you can claim through guerrilla is max 100% of your original empire. This way of not really entirely eliminating players will add another twist to the game.

The intention of the game is to provide a rich 4X universe within a single match, where you’re forced to think about your decisions, as making a severe error could easily put you out of the game. Also, another goal is to add excitement through ‘twists’ in the game. The game will be 100% multiplayer oriented, with a singleplayer version later in mind. Graphics will be 2D.

Our game engine is currently generic enough to be able to go in any direction between these 2 concepts. Let me know what you think through a comment here, an email to evilteddyxl at gmail dot com with the topic starting with "star apocalypse"!

You're also always free to visit us on our IRC chat channel, which has the following connection info's:
server: irc.pirateirc.net
channel: #gamedev
live chat available at Webchat.pirateirc.net

I'm usually online during European evenings (GMT +2 19:00 - 01:00) under the nickname robske.

I hope to get some feedback on this! Thanks in advance!

PS: There's a good chance that both concepts are easy to merge. Your thoughts on this too!