I hadn't thought about that explicitly, Acyl, but yes, you're quite right.
Hm. Start by refining the most complex option into something workable: What do real engineers have to cope with that we can model?
Cost
Weight
Weight distribution
Power supply and weight ratios
Shape of components
Volume
Heat buildup and dissipation
Structural integrity
Ammunition
Fuel
Crew survival
Electronics of all sorts
...and of course probably at least a few that I'm missing.
Figure out which ones can be practically included in the game, and how they should be simplified, and give-and-take between each other. Figure out how to write them in a neat block of just a few lines. Then code everything possible. Everything. Take a first pass before the engine is working to weed out the things that are obviously broken in any of the umpety dozen possible ways.
Then, once you have your engine showing duplo-mechs and supporting basic head-to-head multiplay, advertise on line. Open to all, come and try it (and help us trauma test our game vs. various systems). Datamine everything the volunteer players do, then look at what they're not doing and have your paid playtesters try that against them.
Then, after a while, once you've gotten a solid statistical base, send out a survey asking people for what they thought were the most interesting variations they'd seen. Add the list you get from that to the list of the things people used a lot, then dump the rest in a dusty file cabinet and release a new version with the truncated list. Repeat the process, with the addition of a box of 'things I miss or would like to see' on the survey sheet.
At the same time, start your art/modeling people on refining the mechanical design and send your code team (now that they know that everything in their baliwick either works properly with systems X, Y, and Z or isn't going to at any point in the foreseeable future) back to add the environmental effects.
...I've probably said something truly stupid somewhere, but this nonetheless feels like a good stopping point.
===============================================
"Reseeestunce ees fiutil. Yoo weeel bee Useemooletud. Borg Borg Borg."
===========
===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
Hm. Start by refining the most complex option into something workable: What do real engineers have to cope with that we can model?
Cost
Weight
Weight distribution
Power supply and weight ratios
Shape of components
Volume
Heat buildup and dissipation
Structural integrity
Ammunition
Fuel
Crew survival
Electronics of all sorts
...and of course probably at least a few that I'm missing.
Figure out which ones can be practically included in the game, and how they should be simplified, and give-and-take between each other. Figure out how to write them in a neat block of just a few lines. Then code everything possible. Everything. Take a first pass before the engine is working to weed out the things that are obviously broken in any of the umpety dozen possible ways.
Then, once you have your engine showing duplo-mechs and supporting basic head-to-head multiplay, advertise on line. Open to all, come and try it (and help us trauma test our game vs. various systems). Datamine everything the volunteer players do, then look at what they're not doing and have your paid playtesters try that against them.
Then, after a while, once you've gotten a solid statistical base, send out a survey asking people for what they thought were the most interesting variations they'd seen. Add the list you get from that to the list of the things people used a lot, then dump the rest in a dusty file cabinet and release a new version with the truncated list. Repeat the process, with the addition of a box of 'things I miss or would like to see' on the survey sheet.
At the same time, start your art/modeling people on refining the mechanical design and send your code team (now that they know that everything in their baliwick either works properly with systems X, Y, and Z or isn't going to at any point in the foreseeable future) back to add the environmental effects.
...I've probably said something truly stupid somewhere, but this nonetheless feels like a good stopping point.
===============================================
"Reseeestunce ees fiutil. Yoo weeel bee Useemooletud. Borg Borg Borg."
===========
===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."