Hi there,

I would like to use this topic to gather ideas, tips and comments for the game i'm working on called: H4CKED
http://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/ejfrqmersewvyncti4ccow/h4cked-still-in-development

It would be easier to come to one specific topic to find what people are requesting, the bugs found, etc...
Also, I would use this topic to ask questions to the players to then use the feedback to improve the game.


Thanks to all in advance!

This second post will hold questions to find out the players preferences regarding the topics:

Question 1:
The plan is to create a realistic (read: believable) environment in the game. The goal is to have the player forget they're playing a game.
However, sometimes realism becomes very hard. Some real commands are long and complicated for people who do not know them.
Currently, the game uses "COM ENABLE/DISABLE" to enable or disable the network adapter and gain access to the internet.
However, the real-life command for this would be: "netsh interface set interface name="networkadapter" admin=enable (or disable)"

Long story short: Should I go for the realistic command (with the possibility that some players might find the game too hard) or should I stay with the simple command (with the possibility that hardcore players might not like it?)

Question 2:
What do you personally believe should be in a game such as this one? What kind of features are you hoping for when you're playing games like this or similar.

maybe you could make 2 difficulty settings one with the simple commands and one with realistic

I agree with adammadam. The only hacker game I enjoyed playing was Uplink, Until the trackers caught you fairly quickly.

Will there be a manual to explain what commands the player is able to use if they have no knowledge about this sort of thing?

adammadam wrote:maybe you could make 2 difficulty settings one with the simple commands and one with realistic

Not sure how to do the difficulty setting, but I could create two commands with the same outcome maybe?

InfectedBehaviour wrote:I agree with adammadam. The only hacker game I enjoyed playing was Uplink, Until the trackers caught you fairly quickly.

Will there be a manual to explain what commands the player is able to use if they have no knowledge about this sort of thing?

Yes, you can already find it in the current build when you type "help".
In the future the game will also have a tracking feature, the more proxies you relay your connection through the longer the tracking takes (basically as it is in Uplink).

I'm also planning on putting other NPC hackers in the game, so at times if the player is not carefull they might get hacked themselves. But that feature might take some time to do.

With respect to your question, I think "realistic" and "believable" don't necessarily have to imply "the same syntax as what Windows actually uses" - unless your'e saying this is a Windows system, and so the player should have the expectation of things being identical. I think you could have a perfectly *realistic* system without it being Windows-like (Linux is an example). I personally would go with a reasonable syntax that can make sense for the player.

@Jaynabonne
You're right, however, I started with the windows commands because a great majority of home computers run on it and I believe that the Windows commands might be a bit more popular (read: known) for those people (I'll probably add linux-based commands in the future though).
But I'm pretty sure that i'll have to add custom commands for certain things, i'll make sure they're fairly easy to understand

DGNXFoxN wrote:

"adammadam"

maybe you could make 2 difficulty settings one with the simple commands and one with realistic

Not sure how to do the difficulty setting, but I could create two commands with the same outcome maybe?

I'm not 100% sure how to either tbh but I'm sure it could be done. well like for example, at the start of the game you could have a menu saying choose difficulty.. then you could have a flag that sets at the start of the game "easy" or "realistic" depending on what they chose, then have the commands work depending which flag is set.
like "COM ENABLE/DISABLE" if player flag = easy then enable network else (nothing)
"netsh interface set interface name="networkadapter" admin=enable" if playerflag = realistic then enable network else..... (nothing)

And yes you could also just make the two different commands and give the player the choice which to use throughout the game and to switch between them as they like.

1. This goes back to a question I posted a long time ago. Who are you making the game for? If you are making it for yourself or for the "masses"? It sounds like you want to make it realistic. If you're making it for yourself (personal accomplishment, then go realistic. If you are making it for as many people to play and enjoy as possible, go simple. Simply can also be believable, it doesn't have to be "real". I say that because there are few people who'll really understand the commands needed to enjoy and succeed. Could you create a pane on the screen with commands that are always visible? I know it takes away from "real", but it'll save players the hassle of always typing help, help, help?

2. There has to be levels or accomplishments or a sense of game. Hack in, get information, upload that secret info to the highest bidder. Rack up money! Update a leaderboard. I don't know but there HAS to be a feeling of... "Oh yeah! I just hacked the shit out of the KGB or Pentagon or India's nuclear weapons silo"!

@adammadam
That's a good idea, I'll see what I'll come up with thx!

@XanMag
Well obviously the game is for everyone to play. However, the game will somehow remain challenging for everyone.
- Missions will be part of the game.
- For those who don't fancy doing missions, there's the exploration and freedom.
- There will be all kinds of unmentioned/hidden stuff to find aswell.
- The sense of accomplishments is one of the things that got me starting this. Hacking something like the KGB or Pentagon isn't supposed to be easy... So I'm most likely going to make it so that a lot of conditions need to be met before one gains access to these game-changing servers.
- I believe the "News Website" will also give you that "I DID THAT!!" feeling when you read up on how the authorities are still investigating what happened with some company/authority server.

Well, I have given my suggestions in your old post, but I could add a few more, right?
Speaking of the realistic side, I think you need to have 2 command patterns for one command: the simple and the realistic version. Remember that you can separate 2 command patterns in a command using ;
For features, Idealistically speaking, I would expect a similarity to my old game, but it should have:
1. Computer Directories (with cd and dir)
2. Some ways to hack the system (Not just one method)
3. Usage of ping is increased (you will be shocked on how important ping is to hacking)
4. Server Securities like firewalls and IP Block to make the game challenging (firewalls are a MUST to a hacking game)
There's still much more to say, but you probably wanted to absorb that first before I continued

obviously, it's a ton more work to do (at least being two games in one), but you can always do this:

at game start, they choose what state flag (realistic vs simplistic:noob-friendly) to set as, for example:

<game name="xxx">
  <start type="script">
    show menu ("Do you want to use and see real code syntax or do you want to use and see noob code syntax?", split ("real;noob", ";"), false) {
      if (result = "real") {
        game.real = true
      } else if (result = "noob") {
        game.real = false
      }
    }
  </start>
</game>

all actions~events (scripting~scripts) would then need, for example: if (game.real) { scripts, showing~using and requiring real syntax input by the person playing the game } else if (not game.real) { scripts: showing~using and requiring noob-friendly syntax for the inputs of person playing the game }

and, further, you can make commands, that would toggle the state, so they can at any time (should they get stuck or want a challenge), be able to switch to having to use real syntax or noob-friendly syntax for their inputs and what is shown+used, for example:

<command name="real_command">
  <pattern>real</pattern>
  <script>
    game.real = true
  </script>
</command>

<command name="noob_command">
  <pattern>noob</pattern>
  <script>
    game.real = false
  </script>
</command>

I don't think that you would need to have such system, HK. You can have 2 command patterns for one command and thus one function, right? So why don't we just use that?
Like this (for example, for the server connection connect/disconnect):

~Create a command~
Command Name: connect
Command Pattern: com #text#; netsh interface set interface name="networkadapter" admin="#text#"
Command Script: If...
If text="enable"
Then (Script to connect to server)
Elseif text="disable"
Then (Script to disconnect from server)
Else (Script that sprung a parameter error)