Starting Fire Platoon

We have decided to write a real-time cooperative fire fighting game with the new Torque 2D engine. We have written some real-time games for the touch table before, but so far we have only written real-time action games (like Bubble Defender, Space Shooter and TropicalTreasure). Real-time games are a bit harder on the touch table because the touch accuracy and response time is not quite good enough for a game to depend on quick button pressing. This game will not be an action game and will instead be a strategic board game that plays in real-time.

To implement our real-time board game, we are going to use the “Move” system that we used in Hansa Teutonica. All player actions will be a Move that is applied to the game board. In this game, the board will change on its own as time passes. These time based changes will also be implemented as Moves. The game will maintain a timeline of when Moves should be executed. This will allow a Move or event to schedule another Move at some later time. Player moves can also be scheduled the same way so that a player could queue up moves.

To keep the game from being an action game where the reaction time of the players is the important factor, we are going to use an “Action Point” system. The players will build up action points over time and all the actions that a player can perform will use those Action Points. The player will be able to build up a limited “savings account” of action points by waiting. This is a common mechanic in board games where each player gets limited action points to spend before it is the next player’s turn. In our game, all the players will be earning and spending action points at the same time, but the fire will spread as the players earn action points.