NAME OF GAMECubeWorld
Did you read the article I quoted? Every prospective customer that comes to us we ask to see a Game-Concept before we talk to them - it's rarely possible to give meaningful answers to any specific questions unless there is a game design already on the table.
is the name of our MMOG.DESIGN HISTORYCubeWorld
is the successor to strikeNET
, our attempt of yesteryear to design a MMOG. strikeNET
underwent a plethora of revisions, from a MMOFPS in the vein of PlanetSide
, to a MMORPG that combined elements of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
, and Hitman: Contracts
into a simulation of the world of espionage. strikeNET
was an attempt to appeal to the mainstream, but we realized that no game could appeal to everyone. All games restrict freedom through goals and boundaries. strikeNET
was to be a MMOG to end all MMOGs. strikeNET
promised a world in which users could do anything, without bounds.
Although we wanted that world to be one of espionage in the current Cold War, we knew that strikeNET
lacked the ambition to deliver a world with no rules. We wanted a sandbox in which thousands could collaborate to create their own worlds in a single, massive universe. CubeWorld
was a result of our odium for conventional MMOGs.GAME OVERVIEW
A multi-user domain, or MUD, is a server that hosts a web of rooms in which clients interact with clients, items, and rooms. Clients can create items, rooms, and links to rooms. Interaction between rooms is impossible because a MUD is zoned, not seamless. Furthermore, items in a MUD serve no function.CubeWorld
is a sandbox in which thousands can collaborate to create their own worlds in a single, massive universe. CubeWorld
allows you to build whatever, whenever, wherever. You can script anything, from a battlefield in which soldiers fight for power, for glory, forever, to a city in which anyone can be an assassin.FEATURE SETCubeWorld
stresses simplicity, to the point that CubeWorld
resembles Quake III: Arena
. In Quake III: Arena
, a master server maintains a list of servers and ping. Each client queries the master server to join a server. Each server maintains its clients, items, and buildings. If a server disappears, then its clients, items, and buildings disappear.
, a master server maintains a list of servers and ping. A client can query the master server for a list of servers and ping. However, she maintains an account on her favorite server only. Her account maintains her avatar, items, and buildings, which persist after she logs off.CubeWorld
comprises a distributed network. Donors can donate servers to the distributed network. Each server adds avatars, items, and buildings to the universe that exists on the distributed network. If a server disappears, then its avatars, items, and buildings disappear from the universe that exists on the distributed network.
Each server sends multicast packets of avatars, items, and buildings to every other server. Each packet includes a header that declares where in the universe the packet occurred. If a server analyzes a packet header and discovers that the packet does not affect its avatars, items, or buildings, then the server ignores the rest of the packet.
, your avatars, items, and buildings are easy to edit. If a model is animated, then it consists of geometric primitives around the bones of a skeletal animation. If a model is unanimated, then it consists of geometric primitives. Each primitive is a solid color instead of a texture.CubeWorld
is friendly to modems. A user can download a client in no time, because the distributed network streams all models and sounds to the client. A model in the form of geometric primitives around the bones of a skeletal animation requires little bandwidth. A sound in the form of Ogg Vorbis also requires little bandwidth.THE GAME WORLD
, the universe is a massive, seamless grid. Clients can cordon off plots of land on the grid to create buildings with geometric primitives. A group of clients can share access to a plot of land, which allows collaboration in real-time. Clients can also use a scripting language, similar to UnrealScript, to bring their plots of land to life.