World of Algodoo.

[JDKmedeng]

So for a while I've been wondering how nice it would be to have an entire World of Algodoo.

I know some others like this idea, but we've all realized that with the current edition of Algodoo, lag would be a serious issue.
I know some of you might just go off right ahead and say that this is a stupid idea, and I respect your opinion.
But just take a look, and I'll try to explain what I mean by an "Algodoo World," and then imagine what we as a growing community could build and imagine how our world would develop over time.



Here's my idea.
-Emil and Algoryx design an online realm, consisting merely of a circle. A large, large circle. This would be our globe. There could also be empty outer space, and maybe a moon and a couple other planets (see "The AASA..." in What kind of things would people do here). All they really need is a proper color and gravity, and orbit where necessary.
-This circle can be split up into different sections, each of which would be on one distinct server. These servers would be based on people's computers. How to organize the placement of the sections and dealing with the limit in the number of servers that can fit on the globe is still not completely thought out, though I'm sure it can be grappled with.
-When a person has their own server-section, they can do anything inside of it, much like you would do in the singleplayer Algodoo we have today, except that it is on the surface of a globe.
-People can join the server-sections - but only if the server host allows you, i.e. set to Public if you want to allow anyone to come in, or Private if you want only people who know a password to come in. This works the same way as many multiplayer worlds/games/simulations already in existence.
-Inside the World of Algodoo, users' cameras follow the creations they choose to put inside the world. For example, if someone wants to drive a car, they can "import a phunlet" of the car, and their camera would automatically follow the car, allowing them to drive their car around.
-Users can only modify their own "phunlets."
-Hosts and their appointed Administrators can kick/ban people for unruly or undesired behavior.
-Hosts can specify a limit on the total number of geometries allowed in a guest's phunlet inside their server, to manage lag.
-When people want to switch from server to server, they can either move their phunlet across a boundary into the neighboring server, or they can just choose from a list of servers, which will transport them directly to the chosen server.
-The server can have a chat box, with which all people in the server can communicate.


What kind of things would people do here?
-People can generally do anything they want. It is just like the singleplayer Algodoo we are familiar with, but in a world setting.
-For example, a person with a reasonable computer makes a large server and decides to establish a city, or even a small country. They can make the basic infrastructure (roads, buildings, etc.), and build off of that as the weeks go by and as he makes changes where he sees fit. Some people decide to become "citizens" of this city or small country. They go into the city and look for a company - let's say a guy is interested in developing fighter jets with missiles, for the "government's" military: he picks up a newspaper (if the server is large enough to actually need one...), he sees a small advertisement in it for the Northrop Grumman of Algodoo, headed by someone like Kilinich or someone else who is good at making planes , and visits its location, and lands a job there. He will from then on, until he decides to quit, be collaborating with the rest of the company to build the next stealth aircraft capable of holding dozens of air-to-surface missiles.
-The AASA (Algodoo Aeronautics and Space Administration) would build a space shuttle for the mission to inhabit the Algomoon (moon in Algodoo ) and establish a civilization.
-A little bit closer to home... some engineers can get together to make buildings and bridges for a city.
-Or for someone who is a bit more laid back and just wants to fool around and make his own things without being in a company, he can just buy a home from the market, or build his own if he wants, buy a car from a local dealership, and do whatever he wants, like go into his garage and build his own motorcycle. He can also talk with friends, collaborate with them on simple projects, etc.
-It may or may not be a good idea to have a virtual money system where people can profit off the things they make and decide to give away. On the one hand, it would be nice to have an incentive to building so many things, but on the other hand, it might take away from the joy if you have to spend money to obtain your desired car.
-(Another country is made by someone else, but on the other side of the globe.)
-Who knows what will happen next in the technological breakthroughs of Algodoo...


The purpose, you ask?
-First and foremost, the main purpose of this is to apply the scenes we already make (in other words, use them in some effective way, instead of just making them and letting them sit in our computer folders). We see a lot of cars on Algobox, don't we? I think it would be a good idea to have a world where we can admire them more and actually use them for some purpose. Another thing is the guns we see on Algobox: a government could contact you, and they could ask you to ship them 500 of your assault rifles for their standard army issue.
-We would be able to achieve a custom real life experience inside a simulation that we design.
-Collaboration would be easier with an Algodoo world, as opposed to having to keep posting a scene on Algobox to share with whoever else you're working with.
-Also, wouldn't it be interesting to see how a world would develop in Algodoo? After a year, the globe could be bustling with activity. You could visit some distant country via a commercial airliner and see other advanced cities, etc.
-Finally, this all would be a fun, enjoyable experience.

Benefits...
-This would most likely attract a lot more people to Algodoo.
-Collaboration would accelerate the increase in complexity of the things we make over time.
-One thing especially that would be made easier, apart from collaboration, is the game of war. You could participate in things like World War Doo by just connecting to a server with other people on it - the turn-by-turn war would become a live war.
-Plain old phun




So tell me what you think. I respect all of your ideas and hope you respect mine, too

JDKmedeng

[Mystery]

Kind of skim read it but i like the idea. I understand what your getting at and to be honest i can see it working feels like more of a mod or an add on to algodoo would be sweet though.

[Chronos]

I remember that something like this was suggested on the old forums. Supported it then, still do now.

Although it's basically Algodoo multiplayer.

[Mystery]

Really its like little big planet scene sharing thing. But better somehow.

[Chronos]

It's better because it's Algodoo.

[RicH]

This "circle" looks like a room with server lists.

[JDKmedeng]

This "circle" looks like a room with server lists.

Yeah, but it's a circle with servers all connected together, so you can, let's say, fly a plane from one server to the next. You don't have to choose the neighboring server on any sort of list.

[RA2lover]

k, but someone will send a giant ball in orbit, smashing through the whole continent...

btw, how can those machines still avoid lag? only an not-so-long intranet is able to do it with a lag smaller than one spookstep...
also, what if the "guy with the supercomputer" logs out?

[JDKmedeng]

My guess is that someone who sends that giant ball into orbit is pretty much the equivalent of a hacker in Call of Duty, for example: they mess people up, but they can just be kicked or banned from the server, and the affected people can just reset their things (if they were working on a machine with breakable parts, I guess the server memory (what your computer sends out every 0.1 seconds or so to create the multiplayer simulation) can give you back the machine before it was messed up). I don't know if this is the best idea, but it's just something I thought up I'm sure Emil can think of something better.

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot to answer your other questions... if the guy with the supercomputer logs out, then whatever he put there (like a city or whatever) just disappears, and the people that were inside it just sit on bare ground, incapable of seeing anyone else or anything. They can still just move over to another server though.

And about the lag: I'm not really sure about that, but maybe Algodoo can be made to operate at higher speeds..

[Ivanlul]

I remember that something like this was suggested on the old forums. Supported it then, still do now.

Although it's basically Algodoo multiplayer.

Found it: http://www.phunland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=8147&p=1

[RicH]

I believe that person that "messes up everything" could be called a griefer

The problem I may point out in this idea is that not all machines are compatible with one another. Collision groups, scale, just to name a few.

[Mystery]

Are those the things from minecraft the deleted everything?

[RicH]

Absolutely! But not limited to that.

[Mystery]

Eh Minecraft confuses me don't get why they don't make it only owners can edit.

[RicH]

Eh Minecraft confuses me don't get why they don't make it only owners can edit.

Ever seen a spawn prison?

[Mystery]

Thats the thing where you spawn into server and your stuck right? I'm guessing you use the grievers to destroy that?

[RicH]

Spawn prisons can stop simple griefers. The more advanced ones though(those that use hacks and such) will find this easy to get through. Anyway, the point is, making it so that only the owners can edit seems kind of far from the idea, and it could also be abused. How would you like it if someone built OVER your creations, therefore messing it up? You aren't able to fix since you can't delete what the griefer made

[izacque]

I REALLY can't see this as working out. And It wouldn't really be implemented for a long time. but, as It sounds like fun, I'll support.

[niffirg1]

Would be very cool

[JDKmedeng]

Can anyone think of any reason why this idea wouldn't work?

[Sonic]

We'd all need freakin fast computers, Algoryx would have to buy a crap load of servers, and they'd basically have to make a completely new game.

[Mystery]

Algoryx wouldn't have to buy servers we would buy our own like the do in minecraft or we could host on our computers..

[JDKmedeng]

-This circle can be split up into different sections, each of which would be on one distinct server. These servers would be based on people's computers. How to organize the placement of the sections and dealing with the limit in the number of servers that can fit on the globe is still not completely thought out, though I'm sure it can be grappled with.

We'd all need freakin fast computers, Algoryx would have to buy a crap load of servers, and they'd basically have to make a completely new game.

Already clarified =P

Anyway, you said we'd need fast computers. But there could be options that Algoryx can add like sim.frequency to help the simulation run faster or slower, depending on your computer.

[izacque]

Can anyone think of any reason why this idea wouldn't work?

algodoo is an educational software for physics.

World of algodoo is about as educational for physics as Drawball is for art.

[JDKmedeng]

Can anyone think of any reason why this idea wouldn't work?

algodoo is an educational software for physics.

World of algodoo is about as educational for physics as Drawball is for art.

I agree, but I still think World of Algodoo is at least a bit educational, since you can still design and create things while collaborating with others. Let's not forget that there would still be a singleplayer mode along with the multiplayer mode