Gameplay/Archive/Gameplay1 design notes
From Rise: The Vieneo Province
Historical design source — not current gameplay instructions. This is the text extracted from Gameplay1.doc, supplied by Jason Reskin on 24 October 2026 for reconciliation into Gameplay. The original file is RTF despite its .doc extension; its unchanged copy and extracted text are retained in the local consolidation archive. The source file's last-modified timestamp is 14 February 2007. That timestamp does not establish authorship or the composition date of every passage.
The text below retains the source's wording, spelling, proposed interfaces, numbers, and old names. Rich-text formatting is not reproduced. These are historical musings, not instructions to implement features or statements that they exist. Current references include ARJs, T-19 Stratomaster, and Demo Limits; consult the reconciliation in Gameplay rather than substituting current names into old capacity or compatibility assumptions.
Original file SHA-256: 1D7ED0B381933B62CC8A5DBF37A84A5FB1B7AF2819058361830157A7F6AB3AEB.
Extracted source text
Stages of gameplay are multiplied whenever the player reaches a new level. They are capable of performing the tasks of a lower level as well as new tasks attributed to the next level. It’s never like a new level seals off what you’ve already been through. Action and adventure get higher and higher the further you go. Action and mission complexity increases with new vessels and environments. INTRODUCTION When they load the program they should get an ACCESS screen. To begin with they will have the code given to them when they purchase the program. But just like an ATM they can change it once they’re in. But if they forget we can arrange for them to answer a couple of confirmation questions to gain access temporarily, such as date of birth combined with mother’s maiden name or pet’s name, etc. If they gain access they are given an ACCESS GRANTED screen, then SPLASH SCREEN explaining the game’s concept for the future (skipable) and then the PERSONAL MANAGEMENT screen. This is the heart of their false world identity. Because they have purchased the program from us, they have already given us their pertinent info like name and email address because we’ve emailed them their code by this point. So the computer will know their name and state it in welcome. This is where they start the game, this is where they can return to during the course of the game to check on their other characters, check for messages to those characters, or switch characters. A person can only be one person at any one time, so we don’t have to worry about them multiplying the apparent number of users. PERSONAL DATA MANAGEMENT This menu will have several items. If they have never played before, or if they wish to create a new character they can do so. When activated this part of the program will take a few entries from the user that they want such as sex, and age then randomly generate a character with several BEING factors. These numbers are created by us, but to give the user a little input we can give them a pool of points they can allocate to the areas they wish to customize their character to a point, but that way we are the ones who create a baseline person without letting them be superman. If they don’t like the numbers we’ve given them, we can re-roll them, by giving them a back button, which can return them all the way back to where they decide on the sex and age etc. Once a person’s being is created, they are given an area for personal appearance. Even though we can’t see people directly, we should be able to see pop-ups of their faces when speaking to/from them, during communications, wanted signs, etc. In latter generations I imagine that we’d give them a chance for different clothing and so forth but for right now the only they really need to see/design is the face. We can provide noses, eyes, chins, hair, etc, as well as the upper shoulder’s worth of clothes to give them the ability to form a person. Once all is said and done, the user is asked to give them a name. If they can’t think of one right then, they can have one issued to them from out random name generator, they can save their person’s file to their computer to be recalled at the beginning of this tutorial section, or they can name it right then. If they have played before, having character(s) in their holdings, they can select from their list which character they wish to activate. There should be a display here of that character’s standard numbers to help a user decide which one to use. They select it, commit?, if yes, then…. Listed characters should have something graphical about them to represent their state, Red if they are in trouble or health is down, Yellow caution, etc. There should be a message indicator to show if someone has left them a message. A place also for awards/medals. Their character box doesn’t tell all, but gives a quick synopsis of what kind of player they are. Because their characters are to be real individuals, info and inventory is not shared between characters. Maps known by one are not known by another. Now, if the characters get together in Deois and swap stuff or transfer inventory, then that would be allowed. This could cause a problem if one guy is swindler and thief and hands off goods to his other character who everyone thinks is a good guy. Then he’d have the best of both worlds. The way to catch this is for someone to scan them for proper ownership data of particular objects or inventory. If they are holding stolen items it will be counted against them, even if they weren’t the ones doing the stealing ( possession of stolen property). There should be a section to check/access their personal Unistellar account. In here they can change their password, password clues, get UI messages, see how much longer their subscription lasts, A LOG OUT button FOUNDATIONS RE-HAB CONCEPT Please note I’m just writing out what’s spinning around in my mind, so all text here is subject to changeJ Prisoner no more. Everyone gets a second chance. Even you. The year is 2205. The world hasn’t ended. Yet. There is still love, still hope, still hate, still crime. While some crimes are still punished by death, there is given, to those who choose it, the opportunity to wipe their slate clean. It’s not easy. It’s not predictable. But for those marked to pay for their transgressions, receiving a new future is worth their past. ____ The Game: Those criminals, once deemed to be unforgivable and unreachable, are now able to take part in a program called Re-HAB, which completely and selectively erases from their memories, any and all criminally related matters from their minds. They are required therefore to leave their old life behind, all contacts, all families, all friends, and all that they once knew. Those selected for the program are only those truly seeking rehabilitation and forgiveness. When the program is initiated the subject is “cleared” and is taken via DIHV-ship to a selected space body, where their new-found freedom is put to the test. The United Stellar Republic has many un-colonized moon and planets, but they take special interest in those areas that seem to have been occupied in the past and have lost their population. It is in one of these systems, Yonmara, that we find Vieneo, the moon of Iomere, where life is beginning again. Of course, Unistellar Industries, in conjunction with the U.S.R., is keeping careful watch over the moon to keep the peace. However, being out in the wilderness of space, there will be occasional unchecked conflict, and having their past erased will not keep them from making mistakes in the future. However, this is the price to be paid for the human will. Colonists will have the opportunity to own, develop, and protect their own property. They will have a multitude of careers and even develop ones of their own. There are cities to build and investigate, orbital stations to commute, trade with, and defend. There are hundreds of thousands of miles of terrain to explore, and allies to help you explore it. Rain falls cold and hard, desert wastes burn hot and fast, and the glittering blue seas roll with the warm waves of redemption. This is Re-HAB. The player’s screen surges from black into bright white like they are going outside from within a dark room, the white dies down into the normal colors of their first scene. SCREEN LAYOUT The bottom of the screen contains a personal HUD and MIDAS system. It monitors your BIO readouts to keep you aware of your health. It keeps track of your communications. By itself the com system has a certain range, but can tap into and become a mic/speaker for the com system of whatever vessel you’re in, that way we can keep the same com arrangement and still have it’s ability change depending on what you’re sitting in. The PERSONAL area of the screen keeps track of your inventory, the inventory of your inventory, your bank account, your trade options, your personal stats, your heath (heartbeat, hitpoints,) The rest of the screen has a HUD which is carried with the user, it is linked to the MIDAS which in turn can be vehicle linked. If you aren’t linked with a vessel, the MIDAS displays only its standard options. If linked with a ship, it gains a range, detail, info etc. however, the personal HUD can be distracting and so can be shut off for clarity especially when the info is better displayed on monitors and so forth within, say, a cockpit environment. It is an OPTION for users, who need that kind of info, and can be deactivated for those users who don’t need a HUD in their eye. In fact it can be like in the movie “I-Spy” where they used a contact lens which acted like a camera transmitting to a computer. We can reverse it for displaying. Multi-Integrated Data Access System (MIDAS) HEALTH The Health is linked up to a body monitor similar to what astronauts wear that monitors blood pressure, pulse etc. It can show a beat, show how tired you are, if you need to eat. Eating foods can get your health back. The longer you live without “dying” will increase your maximum physcial health amount so you can take great hits in the future. It won’t go up forever to avoid the supermen. Resting in your home can increase your mental health. People can have differing agilities to allow for talents. As you suggested, we don’t have to let them know all their stats. They’ll simply learn that their agility is higher than others because their ships seem to turn faster than others. Their apparent skill is really a manipulation of the vessel dynamics, increasing or decreasing based on how they are. COMMUNICATIONS Displaying – There must be a larger area for the text of the communication. User handles are printed to the side, with check boxes for alliances, Also, I think that they should be able to click somehow on single person to see the face they have designed for themselves. It’d be nice to see them all, but the room won’t allow for it. However, I can design special environments later on, like conference rooms, that are more or less a large menu screen, with a picture of conference room in the background that the people’s faces that be displayed on top of. It’ll allow the feeling of a conference room, and let the people see another in a way. As long as it is kept as a menu styled feature, it’s realism shouldn’t be questioned, as opposed to having 2-d faces floating above chairs in a “real” 3d conference room environment. Target Based – Uses a target for communication. The target can be listed and tagged based on what scan equipment you have at your disposal. If your tactical system onboard is locked on a certain vessel that you do not know, you can tag it for communication so when you open a Hailing signal, only the target will receive the hail. A selected target has the option of being Relationship-tagged (R-tag) for the MIDAS list for quick lookup. This is only possible if the vessel has its VPT on, or if the user has made a class 1 scan of the vessel, so that the computer can search for its particular signature in the future (only available while when scanning) Frequency Based- Uses a frequency, or a band of frequencies for communication. This allows the user to talk to a wide range of people at once, for a group discussion, or to broadcast on an emergency frequency. User I.Ds displayed during communications can be R-tagged for quick look/link up later on. List Based- Uses your MIDAS list as a basis for communication. Here you can select individual ships for communications based on your R-tag list. It’s more or less like ringing their phone number. As an added feature that I have not seen in other games, you should be able to quickly double-click or something on an individual to temporarily isolate their communication to speak a line to only them, like whispering, and then click off again. Because in general you may want everyone to hear, but there is the occasion for secrecy. This is probably more for the fact that we can’t speak as person to person, but as people trapped in vehicles where whispering to each other is impossible. The Communications should also have range setting. It should have an range, intensity, and available energy indicator. You can set a long range, but it’s intensity will be spread thin, so you should increase its intensity if you want it to remain a strong signal. Alternatively, its range can be short, and weaker to maintain the same level of clarity. Communications ship to ship are generally not an issue, unless the ship is severely damaged. It is more of an issue when you are aboard a smaller craft, or a ground vehicle. All communications are dependant of transmitters and receivers. If there are no signal boost stations like we spoke of with the satellites or with ground based stations, then the signal output is dependant on the individual users capacity. If you are within range of booster station, your range will increase. Adding a booster station to your home base might be the way to go. The communications portion also has an interlaced data stream which can be “decrypted” by the user’s computer. In this stream the user receives things like classified ads, inventory sales, advertisements, etc. Ads and sales are titled by the sellers as a sort of subject line. If someone is interested they can select a particular ad for viewing. The list can be brought up and examined. The seller’s contact handle is broadcast with their contact data, which you can flag for listing or immediate contact. If you speak to them, it is transferred to the com screen where you can speak to them only. The COM and TRADECOM screen are separate so you can keep sight of the Inventory Sales list and talk about it at the same time. Electronic Classified Ads Buying In the Classified section there is a buying section. These are people who have sent a request (SEE TRADE) for a certain item(s), and here is where you see different title lines and handles for contact. If you see something requested that you want to sell, you can tag if for listing, or immediate contact. When contact is made, as opposed to a general broadcast frequency, you are targeting them using their number. In this more formal case, it is a request for communications. If they are there they have the option to open the line at whatever scramble frequency you are on. Your Selling list can also be sent to them to see what you have for sale (SEE TRADE) Selling The selling section is for those people who are looking to sell certain items they have in their possession. Similar to buying there is a handle and contact number. Contact is made in a similar fashion as buying. Your buying list can be sent to them as well ( SEE TRADE) INVENTORY All inventory lists should have a T-tag section which allows you to flag an item for TRADE, which can be accessed by the TRADE portion of the menu. The gathering of inventory, like all actions in the universe, are partially governed by proximity. Some actions can take place at a distance, like shooting a plasma grenade. Some require immediate proximity between two people or objects, like picking up an item. To collect things in your inventory whether by trade or finding, you must be within a certain range to physically gather an item. Many items when found laying about, do not have ownership data associated with it. And these thing can be picked up without legal repercussions. However, larger items (ships ground vessels) or dangerous items (Phase plasma pulse rifles) do have papers associated with it. Without proper identification, when you are targeted for inquiry on these items, a fine or repossession may occur. Inventory lists are created depending on what you are in command of at the time. If you are alone in a runabout that carries only you, then you have only your personal inventory. If you are in a MuVER you have your personal inventory, and the MuVER inventory. If you have a PODS container on the MuVER you have that inventory and if they whole deal is in an E-10 you have all previous lists and the E-10 list to look at. The Inventory should have the price you got it for on it. It should also have its appraised price on it. And the price you are selling it for. 3 columns. This way you can set the price you want for an object in advance so that trade is more swift when you come up on a person looking for something. You can have an item appraised by taking it to an official government appraisal office, or have an “official” come out to you. You won’t see the official, but they will arrive at your location as requested and for a small fee appraise an item (see Electronic Classified Ads). There should be tag which you set on items that you are allowing to be appraised for when people want to buy from you. Only those items so tagged can be appraised, because you are free to protect your property from prying eyes. In the column with the price you are setting for sale- you don’t have to set a price. Haggling is always fun, and then you’ll know if the person buying knows the real price of the item or not J In any case, all items in the inventory can be slated for sale, but are initially not T-tagged (Trade Tagged). But as soon as you check the box for trade, it will allow you put an amount in if you wish, otherwise it will leave it with a blank line. Parts for ships and cars can be slated for sale as well, (SEE VESSEL MANAGEMENT) However, parts or inventory items which are critical for proper functioning will be highlighted so show that if you sell it, you will be removing a critical part. Such as one of your MuVER wheels. The entirety of your inventory can be seen at any time, whether it be in your vessel, or car, or whatever. It is merely data. However, actual physical trade will not be possible without the afore mentioned proximity. Picking up an item requires proximity to the item, but selling it does not ( SEE TRADE) Personal Inventory- this is what you are carrying on your person all the time, no matter what vessel you’re in. You can only hold a certain weight of materials at any one time. You can hold a greater weight if you carry something with you like satchel, case, or backpack. You can hold anything from a bottle of vodka to a laser cannon. When you reach a limit on personal items it will tell you to lighten the load. You can TRANSFER the item to make more room. The transfer can occur to a selected allowable target, depending on its proximity. The ground under your feet is always allowable. If you are aboard a vessel and drop it, it will go to your vessel’s inventory automatically. If you’re standing outside your vessel (in a car), and you are within the set range, you can transfer it to a target (the car, the e-10, etc, or even to a nearby person which will come up on the list if they are within range.) The Personal Inventory should also include any medals, awards, or certificates that a person receives as they proceed through the gameworld. If they get awards for successful repairs, if they don’t die often, if they make successful landings even during storms. There should also be an indicator of their ranking in the TRADE world, similar to how EBAY lets you rank a person for trade. If we allow people to have multiple characters, they will not be allowed to give themselves merits or commendations. Vessel Inventory – this the inventory of whatever vessel you are traveling in, and is independent of you and where you go. The amount that can be held depends on the vessel it is in. We can use a weight amount, but then would allow you to hold a million balloons in the cargo hold which is not volumetrically possible but possible through weight limits, or volume but not weight, which doesn’t work for ultra dense items. Maybe we should create an Containment Point list which is of our own determination to take into account both without having to calculate it all out. In any case, Vessel Inventory works the same as personal inventory and can be manipulated bought and sold. TRADE This portion allows the user to buy and sell items and service for some amount, or no amount if they wish. Trade usually occurs between two parties within proximity of each other to actually execute the trade in person. However it is possible to trade with a person and not be there, though it is more complicated and risky. In TRADING a person can sell something they have, or request something they don’t have. Buying: If buying, they are offered a check-marking list which they can indicate the general items they are searching for. These are categories only because they you don’t always know what you might need or want. However, if you know exactly what you want, such as a part for your ship, then you can include your inventory list, where you can select items that you need more of. (when checking an item it automatically puts up a 1, then you can enter the number of items you want). When you complete your Request list, you add a subject line, then choose where you want the request to be sent. You can send it to the ECA (Electronic Classified Ads, run by the United Stellar Republic), or to a selected target, such as those in your MIDAS lists, targets in your science, tactical system, etc. If you send a list to a person and they are not on line or not in open communications with you, the list will be sent as a form of Email, where it can be waiting for you when you get back on. We will not make bulk mailing possible, so people shouldn’t have to worry about spam. Requests are sent without desired price. Selling: It is similar to buying, except they don’t get a check-markable category list, because they can’t sell what isn’t in their possession. So they can select from their inventory lists those things which are T-tagged for trade. When the list is sent the pricing is sent with it. If there’s no price, it shows no price. Trade should isolate Good and Services for simplicity. The T-tag list include the following: The menu is split into different portions: Goods: This is where items in your inventory can be moved to and from yourself and others. When the Goods list comes up, it is linked to your inventory list and to those items which you have T-tagged as open for trade. You will get the whole T-tag list for your entire inventory, including vessels and vehicles, probably in the form of drop down menus. However while the whole list is there, you may not want to or need to give the entire list to the person you are speaking to. Therefore, you can further tag the items in the trade list to create a TRADE PACKAGE, which you can show the person. When you DISPLAY the package, your trade items are keyed into a menu portion similar to the COM menu. However, instead of broadcasting your messages, you are broadcasting data, the inventory data. This way, you can land your ship at the market, broadcast a general inventory data sheet for people to receive, but carry on a conversation with a specific person at the same time. Or alternatively you can give the data to only one specific person, while speaking to a crowd of people. The data is broadcast on the Electronic Classified Ads (See COMMUNICATIONS) Services: This is the area where you can choose services which you are capable of providing. The Service list is not something you can just make up as a user. It is based on what you can actually do and not just say you can do. Therefore it is tied integrally into the Logic of the gameplay. (SEE GAMEPLAY) Service indicators show official duties that you are capable of doing and what class of service you can provide. These are all check-markable and are sent as part of your TRADE PACKAGE. Any awards and certificates can be sent as well to show your ability. TRADEFLOOR: When contact is made between two people for trading, they proceed to the TRADEFLOOR. There are two modes for TRADE. One is PROXIMITY based, one is HANDS-OFF based. Depending on which is is activated, certain portions of the menu will be active. Proximity based: It is a menu which acts as a message board that can be active until the transaction is complete, even if it takes several days to get the messages back and forth between two people who may not be able to get to their computers often. The screen will probably be split graphically, with three main columns. A user on the left and right, and a TRADEFLOOR column in the middle. On the left and right are more or less the message areas. The middle section is the common ground where the item/s to be traded are listed/placed and the amounts. In the TRADE there is always someone selling and someone buying. Therefore If the TRADE item is a GOOD then the object(s) are listed, and the price which they are being sold at, listed on the side of the person doing the selling. On the side of the Buyer, the requested sell price is defaultly listed, with arrows and cursor for increasing/decreasing the price on the part of the Buyer. When the buyer chooses a price they set it then SEND. The sent price is placed in the center. The SELLER then counters it with their price and SENDS it. The price appears in the center above or below a central box where the final price will eventually be placed. This continues as long as they want, with text messages being placed on their respective sides until the FINAL OFFER button is pressed under the SEND button. The FINAL OFFER indicates that if the other person does not accept in the subsequent round that the interaction between the two parties will be terminated. The ACCEPT button goes from grey to active whenever the decision to be made is in your court. If the price is finally accepted, the money is transferred electronically, and the good is transferred to the person’s vehicle. If the item cannot be contained the vehicle it will indicate that before the transfer occurs, and will cancel the transaction until the user has a vessel of proper size. After the transaction both parties will have an opportunity to rate the other for satisfaction (similar to EBAY). Hands-off: This is similar to PROXIMITY based trading. However, it is more complicated because it requires the drop-off of the goods in its own container which can be left at a site to be accessed by the other user. If a person wishes to perform this function, first they must go to the location where the transfer of goods will take place, transfer the goods to the PODS unit for drop off, lock it, and waypoint it. Then, while in the HANDS-OFF mode, they enter the waypoint using a dropdown menu based on waypoints. The actual longitude and latitude are not printed to avoid the other user flying there without paying, but a waypoint number is displayed instead. This waypoint is to be a guaranteed position where the item/s are located. The TRADE proceeds as normal. However in addition to the earlier PROXIMITY based rules, there is an additional PICK-UP TIME which is the amount of time that the SELLER allows for the retrieval of the goods. This is to keep the deal manageable in time, without letting it drag on for years and years where the trade was never actually complted. It is bartered the same way the price is bartered. If the TRADE is successful, then the funds are transferred electronically, and the BUYER proceeds to the transmitted waypoint position, which is placed in their WAYPOINT list automatically. I envision that the lock mechanism for the pod is not a purely a physical one with a key, or combo, but an electronic “lock”, very much like a garage door opener, which will respond to the presence of the owner’s MIDAS signal. The user never needs to remember this number, just as you don’t have to remember the frequency of the garage door opener. When you set the goods down before the TRADE occurs to mark the waypoint, you lock the POD using a TRADELOCK code, which will allow the official BUYER to open the PODS container for the transfer of GOODS. The code, in essence, allows the BUYER to act as the temporary owner of the POD for opening it, NOT FOR TAKING IT. It’s not a real ownership. The POD will therefore remain unlocked until the owner returns to re-encrypt the lock and seal the doors. If all goes well, the person shows up, gets the goods, and leaves the container empty. However, the Seller could have lied, sent the waypoint to the Buyer without any goods actually being there, and try to take the money. This is where the FUNDS come in… Funds Transfer Inside the TRADEFLOOR area, there is an indicator of price to be paid/received as stated earlier. However, in addition, there must a place for type of funds being transferred. Normally people will only accept a Debit account payment, which is a secured amount. This amount can be taken back by the First Bank of Deois and given back to the Buyer if the goods are not at the location. There will also be an automatic money penalty to the seller for having defaulted on the exchange. The funds selected can also use CASH for exchange. It will not be highlighted unless the two parties are within proximity of each other. The proximity is required for the physical exchange of CASH, even if the TRADE will be done at a distance. The two parties can agree that the monies will be in CASH during their communications without SELECTING the CASH option which will be grayed out until they are close to each other. This way their bartering can continue while they’re busy doing other things. So the danger of using CASH is that it cannot be a secured amount and that once the deal is done, the Seller doesn’t have to return it. It’s untraceable. The advantage is the same, it’s untraceable. That if you are dealing with selling less than legal items the purchase cannot be tracked by the bank. So sure a guy goes and rips another guy off, but then the poor fellow “B” who got ripped can spread the word that Fellow “A” is cheat. Of course if they’re both bad guys, they might not want to say anything anyway. J TECH GPS The MIDAS system has an onboard GPS nav system which works whether or not it is connected to a vehicle. Of course all we have is vehicles, but there is standard GPS precision that is unchanged despite vehicle type. It allows the user, as long as enough orbiting satellites are being picked up, to know their exact location on the globe and will have a display showing the current location Long/lat and map. The moon has had an initial topographical scan done by USR Corps of Engineers but does not have the detail that a ground based scan gives. Therefore, they receive a lower Res image of the map, so they know where they are relative to major land forms. They can receive, through TRADE, a higher res map of perhaps certain areas, or maps that others have made. A map can be made, not by MIDAS, but through scanning equipment. Equipment like this can be purchased for hand held use, or for vehicles/vessels. When it is in the inventory and is utilized, they will be able to “reveal” a higher res image of the areas they are exploring, but only those areas they have “recorded” it is similar to how Starcraft does their mapping system, where it shows you a more detailed and lit map when you have actually been through an area. The Map that you have can be sold as an inventory data item, like waypoints. The GPS should show you your location but any further detail must be provided with extra equipment like a scanner, etc. That way by purchasing other pieces they will have a souped up version that perhaps can act more like a motion tracker/ tricorder, etc. Support There should be section within MIDAS where a user can look up meanings on things, abbreviations, keyboard layout stuff etc. Data There should be an area, which can be contained on the user’s computer of course, data entries for when they want to take notes, make a memo, and make little text notions. It will just be helpful for their gameplay to keep track of things without needing to write them down in pencil. It can just be some sort of TXT file or something if possible. GAMEPLAY STAGE 1 The player’s screen surges from black into bright white like they are going outside from within a dark room, the white dies down into the normal colors of their first scene. They are in an apartment room, this is their domicile. The people here on the moon are no longer considered criminals by many. They actually receive support on occasion and when they begin, they are sponsored by people all over the USR in addition to the government grant they get. The support they get is not much, but it will be enough to live off of. When they receive a deposit in their account they will be informed through the MIDAS. When they look at the account they will see their support fund having gone up. The support is just to keep them from hitting rock bottom. There is the chance that they are crummy players, but who really want to do good and are trying, but still failing for one bad luck reason or another, so that way they can still get funds to eat, and keep moving. Okay, so they are in their domicile. It is little more than a room that they can return to at the end of the day, where they can get their health back up. Nothing much here, but it’s still cool. The first order of business- 1) Orientation- the computer runs through a short tutorial, like at the beginning of HALO, testing their movement and so forth. Because they are in their apartment, they can walk about, and move their head to view different angles. In the past I’ve enjoyed this version of movement: the forward back left right are controlled by ASWD, and the diagonals are controlled by QEZX, while the looking about is controlled by the mouse, with an exponential increase in movement the further away from center you get, and only when you are holding the mouse button down, similar to how the Makeship works when you’re spinning an object around on its axis. So you can spin about real fast if you hard over, or you can get it really fine if you just lean a little off center. And when you stop controlling your LOOK pointer your view should stay locked until you control it again or you snap back to position by rightclicking somewhere in the scene, just not on an activateable item. The snap back position should be the line running through the middle of your body pointing directly away from your chest. As soon as you stop holding the mouse down the control pointer disappears, and if you’re moving forward, you keep moving in whatever direction you’re translating to. If you’re using a joystick it’d be easier to translate in a diagonal then. By not activating the LOOK pointer it instead remains a SELECT pointer, which you can use within the scene to left click on objects to activate or use, or you can let it go off the scene onto the MIDAS display to activate menus there more quickly than perhaps hotkeying the menu and having to arrow down, etc. To reactivate the head-look you just HOLD the left down instead of clicking it. Right clicking an object, item, or MIDAS button can perhaps allow menus for the object’s use to be activated. I think that perhaps they can start with nothing in their inventory and have to pick up their MIDAS off a table or something. Because no one else is allowed in the apartment, we don’t have to worry about anyone else seeing it, so they drop it, pick it up, where ever they want. In anycase, their second order of business is to get the MIDAS. They shouldn’t really be allowed to get rid of it though, since it is their life line to the rest of the game. It’s really for practice that they pick it up. They get a message from Support on their MIDAS. If they look at their MIDAS communications area, they see a message indicator. They should mouse over the message area, select, get a message listing, here only with 1 unread message. Their message area should be limited too, so they can’t hold a ton of junk that we have to keep in memory. Just a few lines or something. The message is from UI and a congratulations. They need to start earning a living now. But we should mention that they are probably hungry and should get something from the nutrient dispenser, a mod in their apartment, they walk up to, get a small indicator over it when the mouse on it that it is useable, right click for menu, left to click to activate. The right click menu shows several different foods, and how many raw food compounds are left in the unit. Choose food (which shows its health value), left click to activate and consume, they do, their health goes up to normal. Now time for them to go. Walk to door to leave. Left click door. As door is opening, surge to white, white back down to normal color, and we are inside the AUTOVALET car moving unit at the entry into the garage, the door opens, they proceed out. Every stage of development pretty much corresponds with each vehicle they obtain. So to get them proceeding through the stage, they are given a bit of hint, automatically ONLY at the beginning of a vehicle/experience stage, and then whenever they request help in what they need to be doing. For instance, in this case, when they begin moving about in the MuVER the computer will soon send them a message over the communicator which says in essence, Glad you found the MuVER . It’ll help you get on your feet. Drive about the city and stop off at buildings. They usually have something that needs done. Some pay pretty well. Just be careful when you’re driving through residential and factory districts. So then they’ll know to go by some buildings. If they direction or whatever, they can look in their MIDAS under SUPPORT and it’ll have a listing of things they can do as suggestions. Of course we won’t put everything down on there so they’ll have to search for themselves to find the more exciting missions. The MuVER. The controls should be simple. Just as in a real car, the steering mechanism should always roll back to center position. I think there should be two different options for driving. Mode 1: Looking about is the same, hold left click mouse to move the head, click the right button on neutral scene to return to center. WASD to control movement of car, with W as full acceleration and S and standard, Q and E can increase and decrease the upper speed limit, so that a person can set it to the “transmitted” limit when they’re within city limits. This is because using the keypad has not variable so a controlled acceleration is going to be more difficult. This way they aren’t just tearing into the accelerator at full force all the time. The space bar can be the brake. This way we can isolate the driving into one hand while the right hand can control the mouse, which is for looking. Mode2: I was thinking about how James Bond drove his car via an augmented cell phone in one of his movies and we could do a similar trick with the mouse. Instead of the default drive with the keyboard feature, we would allow the user to left click on the steering wheel(not holding it down which might be read as a LOOK move), which would “activate” it. By doing so, the Mouse now becomes the steering wheel, moving forward and backwards causing forward and reverse in the car at a controlled rate based on its distance from the zero-return position, the center of the steering wheel. This way, going around corners and maneuvering is more precise as well as the acceleration, simulating more of how a car actually feels. The WASD now becomes the motion for the head, tilt and pivot. To deactivate the mouse as steering feature they right click on the steering wheel. The MuVER is not a liquid fueled vessel, but utilizes low-temperature, Super-conducting batteries, charged through induction plates when at a re-charge center, or it can re-charge itself through high-efficiency solar exchangers and Thermal Variance Electro Generators (transforming thermal differences in the skin of the vehicle itself directly into electrical energy) The self-recharge mode is very slow, but will allow a vehicle to drive indefinitely, albeit at a slow pace, well after its primary Charge Cells are used up. 4) Mission 1: It’s wherever they find it. They drive up to a building and come with a range of it. Building 27 for instance. They pull up. Maybe we’ve named it too. IF so, then Building 27, the Blackstone Building. There should be a part of the MIDAS Classified section that comes up automatically when you are within immediate range of a building or entity which is transmitting. It is listed under a Proximity Ad. If you drive out of range the warning will go off, and you able to shut of the auto Proximity alert whenever they want. Click on the warning, the full text comes up and states, “We have a class 1 job to be done. We have 50 units of Silicon Sandwiches we need sent to the Seller. Take them across town to Building 204 in 10 minutes and we’ll give you 50 credits. Do it in 10 and you’ll get 20. If you don’t do it in 30, just drop it, and we’ll get someone else to do it.” If you choose yes, the SUPPORT hint will say to left click on the hoist activator to bring the cargo on board. The timer will begin, shown on the HUD and proximity map will appear, using just the building footprints, the HUD will show the direction to go, and the Waypoint will be automatically loaded into Navlist. The computer will know this is the first time they’ve done this, so they’ll walk the user through it a bit for this first go around. It will state, Select Nav by pressing __, Choose your waypoint, Proceeed to the drop-off area, you don’t have much time! There should always be a transmitted speed limit within developed areas like cities and towns. Deserts and the wilderness don’t need them. But here it should be shown on the HUD, and when you break the limit, a warning should come up, “You are in violation of the transmitted limit”, The SUPPORT message will state that if they are caught by the authorities that they could get fined. For the first offense, they’ll let you off if it’s only speeding. SEE RULES & REGULATIONS. So they proceed turning and twisting through the streets until they reach the destination. When they get there, the computer says, you’ve succeeded in the mission in only ___ minutes. Left click on the hoist to release the cargo.” You’ll do so and the message center will say “You have received ___ credits” If you don’t make it in the minimum time requested the computer will say, “You have exceeded the minimum time required. Please release the cargo container, or face fines.” Something like that. The different classes of missions will determine the type of equipment necessary. For example, a class 1 cargo mission might only require the use of MuVER with standard gear. A class 2 might require the same but with a certain number of successful missions. A class 3 might require the use of a cargo container. (SEE MISSIONS) The container therefore needs to be picked and the user can be told that it must go to get one at a dealership, however they must prep their car by going back to their garage to dismount the standard MuVER parts. Click this to enter PODS dealer into the Waypoint list, When they return to their garage, all fades to black and then a menu comes up as if they are in a custom garage. You see the MuVER in outline and a list of standard options that can purchased for MuVER, which may require the addition of certain modules to get to that stage, like in Starcraft if you want to update your buildings. So you look up the MuVER with POD in a CUSTOMIZER menu and see that you must remove certain parts to make room for the POD. You select which part you want to swap out/in. This is done in conjuction with the inventory of the garage. You can see the inventory list of part names, their prices and so forth. So when you look at the Customizer menu you see which variants you can create using the parts you have, these types will be predetermined by us, as the manufacturers, but can be executed by the user in this robotic AUTOgarage. The garage is not owned by them, and so can contains only very limited number of parts which can be stored. As the game proceeds and they want to store more parts/inventory goods, they are give the message that they must remove some of the items, or purchase their own property where a garage can be built. The POD version is available. It is selected. The version is shown on the screen. Somewhere it says what class missions it can now be available for, and what it can do. Additional modifiers are shown to the side in a list-like form , with a pool of modifier numbers, based on the user’s mechanic skill, vessel type, and expertise. These are used to increase acceleration, control, energy efficiency, etc. At the beginning these bonus modifiers are grayed out because of ability, and also the fact some modifiers are not available in this public garage, but will become active when you have your own facility where the equipment is better. When they’ve chosen all the modifications, it asks if they want to execute, choose yes. We hear some noises and sparks around the edge of the monitor as if it’s happening right on the other side of the monitor. The vehicle is now shown in color on the screen, rotating about, instead of the wire frame. Modification complete, then they choose if they wish to continue modifications or to return to the road. If return to the road, flash to white, back in the cockpit. Now they have the Flatbed MUVER, and the waypoint, They can now go on missions that require the pick up and delivery of whole PODS, or they can use the POD themselves to pick up large amounts of something from a building even if that particular business doesn’t have their own POD. Like 2 tons of fresh fish ;) So if they encounter one of these without a POD they ‘ll say “Hey buddy, you need a cargo container to carry this stuff around.” And maybe if you keep bugging them, after 3 times or so in a row with no container and within a certain amount of time it can say,”You want trouble? I’ll call the cops the next time.” Then if they do it again, he say, “You asked for it buddy,” then the Prowlers will come around.:) Okay I got off track- So they need a POD or cargo container of some sort. The POD is brand name, but I was thinking we could have a lesser quality unit that’s cheaper, but it’ll fall apart easier, or it’s not as safe or something, or doesn’t stay locked as easily or something. Okay- so they select NAV, waypoint on the PODS dealership, and they have a direction and proximity map. They proceed. If they need recharging at any time, they can look at the inventory on board and see if they have any ZipZap cells that will tide them over, if not, they need to find one, they can look in SUPPORT under a sort of Good-to-know numbers. They look up Cell Recharge, when they see the list they can waypoint which one they want. Then they choose on the waypoint list the location and proceed there. They go there. I’ll have to choose a small building type that can be used for this an update the CTY file. When they go there, it is similar to the Proximity ad, only you must be stopped next to it to recharge. It asks how much they want to spend, or they can choose to fill it up. And then choose what form of payment they want to use. If cash, will take it from case in hand, or if debit will take it from the account. Fuel is up. They proceed to the POD dealer. A building is designated a POD dealer with some PODS out front, but you don’t buy outside. You pull up to the garage, Prox Ad, do you wish to enter, yes, the door opens, and it sucks you in, I imagine all garages ask you if you wish to enter, only if you are in the right location, then it aligns you properly and it pulls you in, that way you can’t sit there and block the door for other users. We can apply this to all entry/exitways. You enter the garage, fade to black, Menu comes up, (If there’s time, I can make a cool background that can pop up first in the back ground before the semi-opaque menu is placed on top), The POD dealership expains the advantages of PODS over other containers and then shows you a purchase/sell screen. I imagine that the user can sell their POD back if they find one, get one cheap, or just don’t need one anymore. All purchase/selling is different than the TRADE between users. These official places have their own screens and since most involve vessel augmentation or creation it will eliminate the need for everyone to see what’s happening. OKAy..so you see their different POD types, one is for Passengers, one is for Cargo, one is for fuel, one is for Ore, etc…, They all have different prices. You can get kits also that can change your current POD type into another POD type on site, but it won’t be as nice as the actual POD type you’re wanting. Such as a modified cargo container that was never meant as passenger POD will hold, say 8 people instead of the 12 people the real Passenger container would hold. The Pod types are listed with a 3d POD display nearby. I suppose we can use a similar layout as the MOD garage screen. You can see the POD prices and any current “sales” You choose a Pod, payment type, and submit, then if your debit is good, then the sale is complete, the POD is loaded. Anything else they can do for you? Mods and so forth. If yes, back to menu, if fade back to black and back in the MuVEr, lights up, door opens you move out onto the road, door shuts. Now you have a POD and MuVER. Now more options are open to you. If you look on the SUPPORT section will tell you new things that you can do, as well as other experience based activities that you can do. This includes the purchase of a class one TGraD vehicle, and a class one aircraft. The prerequisites are experience, and money. You need enough successful mission to gain experience points, when you get enough you can proceed to an airyard similar to the how you went to a POD dealer. So…the procession is… GV 1: (Ground Vehicle) MuVER, runabout, Sportcar, SUV Gv 2: MuVER cargo truck, Off Road Vehicle with attachments/weapons TGraD 1: (Tangential Gravity Drive) vehicle like a hovercar GV 3: Car hauler, Heavy Armament Vehicle TGrad2: Bladerunner Spinner ability- skyscraper height maximum Tow vehicle Aircraft1 TGrad 2, Aircraft2,3 TGrad 3, Aircraft4,5,6, Spacecraft (I’m done with the list but I’m sending it to you right now because it’s 11:00)