Revisiting the Facebook Idea

[Cralis]

Once you complete/master the Jobs. Basically, I'm grinding XP to get to Cuba after level 12.

That is interesting, because I've never fully completed New York or Cuba and I'm already level 96. I'm still winding my way through the masteries, and while robbing is offline I've been buying up expensive properties left and right and I've made billions.

I haven't even touched Russia yet.

[BillW]

Has anyone tried Starfleet Commander on Facebook? It looks like it is a closer model to Starfire than the other types of FB games.

[PracticalM]

Starfleet Comander looks like a web based game I was playing from one of the games like Travarian/

[Cralis]

Space Wars is actually a virtual mirror of Mafia Wars but is "in space". It is actually quite a good example of that type of game I was talking about, even if it isn't Starfire-specific!

Now, I just wish the FB games weren't so dang slow as they've been the last 1-2 days.

[TerryTigre]

Im playing Starfleet Commander on facebook, it is about the same as O-Game which i played 5-6 years ago.

A Starfire Version would have to be innovative to have much of an impact, fortunately that is pretty easy.

One of the biggest limits on the game is 9 colonies total. Change that, and the dynamics change a lot already.

Next is warp links between systems. If the model is adopted that many players can populate a given system (for example by making players corporations instead of governments) the warp link knowledge limits how far they can explore for richest finds for example. The corporations could be the ones in charge of new exploration, much like how corporate worlds were founded in the novels/official Weber history.

This would give a contrast between known (law abiding) space and unknown (lawless) space.

[Glaive7]

It looks like this became a dead topic, but I was still wondering if anyone was working on a facebook application? I would have voted for #3. Keeping the application closer to the real game would make any transition easier.

[drakar]

I would agree to keep it to more based on the real game mechanics.

Now from my standpoint of being a very avid gamer I can see Starfire being a free to play game on its own domain site. Reason being even large developers such as EA and Activison/Blizzard are now moving some of their market to free to play with buyable bonuses after Zynga has proved it effective almost tripling the above studios profits yearly.

If I went that route I would almost give it more of a Real Time Strategy feel on two different scales. One on a strategic scale that would halt when a tactical engagement occured and resume after. These are just ideas though.

[AlexeiTimoshenko]

FtP would be a great way to run a persistent universe. Players could start with their homeworld and starting fleet. They could "harvest" their planets for income/resources then buy ships/pcf's/tech etc. You could have new tech trees as buyable items.

[drakar]

They also tend to have a higher pull of consistant gamers who aren't looking to deal with the bouncing between multiple limited action games(Mafia Wars, Farmville, etc..). One successful FtP that I have seen and played for a short time was the Battlefield FtP, where you could play without the bonuses and do well and if you chose to buy a bonus it timed out after 24-48 hrs and then you no longer had it and had to go back to your own skill and previous equipment.

[AlexeiTimoshenko]

DDO is another good example of a FtP game. It's actually a hybrid where subscription players have free access to all content while FtP players can buy access to certain areas/gear/character classes etc.