Phoenix Dodge City
From Flux Developer Wiki
The idea of Phoenix Dodge City came from an extensive beta testing of "Libertaria", a few years ago, where a huge chat room was developed for the site. It was just a chat-room, but users did not only chat: they wrote stories, the history of Dodge City! It was great fun. Unfortunately, they were targetting a lot of businesses and the project did not come to fruition. Now on my own, I want to resurect it (hence Phoenix DC), adding a bit more features and good images. So here is the project and its specs...
Phoenix Dodge City Project
PDC is a full 3D interactive multiplayer World on the WWW, with a virtual location in the Western area, near the Arkansas river and circa 1870.
THE USERS. Users are anyone, from any nationality, place or time. The official language of the game is English, although chats and conversations may be held in any other language. For reasons of simplicity and programming, non-european languages are not supported. The game access is free, but registration IS required, as the user has to set-up a UNIQUE identity within the game, together with a valid email address. They are represented by a Nick in texts and by an AVATAR in 3D scenes.
THE AVATARS. The avatars are the 2D jpegs 120x120pxls (in the chat) and 3D H-ANIME representations of the users in the 3D VRML interactive frame. They are defined as "cartoon type, human size" characters and can evolve during the game, but cannot be swapped or made unrecognisable. E.T.'s and fantasy characters are not advisable, but could be accepted. They must represent the identity of the user. The avatars are designed as wireframes with rendering (i.e. Blender) and are ANIMATED. In the 3D frame, all on-line players are visible as their own avatar. The user's own avatar is NOT visible, unless seen in a mirror. Avatars are able to walk, run, sit down, pick up objects and so on (i.e. playing cards at a poker table). A series of initial characters are directly available. Users with knowledge may design and download their own avatar. Clothing is changeable at any time on user's actions at the store.
THE MONEY. Although the game is free, it is made use of TWO currencies: - The VDollar (V$), which is VIRTUAL, and can be used by players to enter in commercial exchange with others, in real time. Upon registration as a resident, each player receives a random amount of V$, between 100 and 1000 V$, which is accounted for in real time in his "bank account". - The Euro (€), which is REAL and exchanged through PayPal, and accounted for, again, in the bank.
THE BUILDINGS. Initially, the town comprises a few buildings: a station, a bar, a sheriff's office, a school, a bank, a town house, a store, the newspaper "The Gazette", and a blacksmith. Each building has its own purpose. - The Station: This is where the player lands on arrival. In the hall, the latest news are displayed as "board of information". This includes software changes, town's additions, new visitors or "residents". It also displays sheriff's announcements, such as "Wanted" posters with reward values. - The Alhambra Saloon: It offers a stage where "acts" are played (videos), music is played (pianist, sort of juke box of the time), a table of Virtual poker play (interactive between on-line players) and using V$, and, back stage, a small casino, where games are played using Euros (real money). On the first floor are ten PRIVATE rooms, rented by residents to chat live. In these rooms, sound and vision interaction are possible if the user has sound and vision compatible hardware. - The Sheriff's office: The location of the "moderator" of the game. It includes a small two cells' jail where badly behavioured users can be held for a while. At the back of the prison is a CQB training area (Close Quarter Battlefield), where users can train shooting in real time. Here are presented, on a commercial basis, targetry equipment. - The School: Usually provides painting exhibitions, where real paintings from local artists can be purchased (Euros), and to hold special events, such as parties. Here are also available University White Papers (scientific and real!) and courses in Maths, Physics and Chemistry. - The Bank: At the bank, players can exchange V$ (Virtual) or Euros (Real) money. This is where each resident has his account of both VDollars and Euros. Financial transactions are at the discretion of players. Transactions of real money are done through PayPal. - The Town House: This administrative center is there to hold "court cases" where bad players or cheats are brought in for trial. Here are decided jail sentences (days of bannishment from the game), or even Death penalty: revocation of resident status. It is also where are presented requests for buildings licences: Should a player want to create a business there, a new building shall be added with the required facilities (at a small cost). - The store: The town shop provides the newly registered resident the opportunity to buy his/her avatar, clothes and other goods. Some products are payable in VDollars (i.e. avatar), while others are payable in Euros (i.e. purchase of a building, that requires programming... and real money!). - The Gazette: The gazette is the paper of the town. It relates what events have occured. Users can write their own stories and publish them in the paper. Adverts can also be put up in the paper (for a small fee in case of real ads, or free if part of the game). - The Blacksmith: He is there to "fix" the problems, reporting bugs etc...
THE GAZETTE The Gazette is the local Newspaper. It includes any article/photos residents wish to insert, together with news and events, some quizes and games. A weekly lottery is available (1 V$ a ticket). The Gazette can be read at the printer's office, the station, the bar and the county house, as a pop-up window.
THE PLAY. New commers first must register with a nick name of their choice. Other details of their registration is kept strictly confidential. Once registered, the new user receives a "blank" avatar, a 3D figure that others on-line can see. Walking through town, the player can go anywhere, talk or interact with any other visitors, visible through their avatars. Should sound be available, noises and conversations from others are audible. Support for localised sound is offered (the farther you are from a sound source, the fainter is the sound). Players can enter in poker game if there is room at the table and if other players agree. In the casino, games monies exchanged are REAL (in Euros), and must be covered by deposit to PayPal account prior any play. Winnings are paid, in return, through PayPal. For the handling of the funds and management of accounts, PDC draw a charge of 10% of monies DEPOSITED, at the time of the deposit. Essentially, there is no rules: the player can do whatever he/she wants, as long as it does not affect others liberties. "Killing" another member for no reason will probably result in a "hanging", after a short trial, and the dead will come back and the killer shall be banned. However, duels are authorised. The dead man shall loose his V$, and his Euros shall be returned to the real world. Other serious offences can entail jail sentences (a banishment for a while). However, the offender needs to be caught while on-line! Leaving the game will lead to a "WANTED" poster be displayed. All other residents have the right of arrest, which will lead to reward in V$ paid by the Sheriff, at the bank. Players can request changes in the town, such as the addition of a building or similar. These requests are made through the county house and, if approved, the implementation of the change will be made by the webmaster: this is how the town evolves. Adventures, such as a fight in the saloon, or a bank robbery, may result in damages to buildings or furnitures and will appear in the Gazette! However, in case of bank robbery, only V$ can be stolen.
THE CHAT. Two FORMS of chats are available: Written, using the keyboard and input field, or Verbal for users having sound/vision hardware. Two TYPES of chats are available: Public, where all can see or hear what others are saying, and on which an "ignore user" label can be applied, and Private, when a group of users goes to a private room in the Saloon. Conversations in these rooms are, by definition, "private". To reach these rooms, purchase in V$ must be made at the bar.
PROGRAMMING: All "Solid Objects" (house, chair, tree...) are designed using Autocad2007, in 3D. They are then converted in vector format using 3DS Max 8, as .max or .3ds files. All avatars are designed as "animated mesh", through programs similar to Blender. The final published product must be in VRML or X3D, with the availability of the download of a browser plug-in. (using Flux). Chat (written) is performed using PhP and MySQL. Financial transactions in V$ are held in MySQL database. Euro transactions are made through PAYPAL, users' accounts are held in MySQL.
Heavy? Maybe. But flux is great to publish this kind of thing and promise to offer multiplayer interaction in the near future. I did develop a fair bit using atmosphere until Adobe abandonned the product. All restarts from scratch now. Follow this page to see the steps: I'll be adding comments as I go along. You can see the old version at www.skytargets.com, Dodge City Game. Be well. JR
