This is a game idea from 1997, created during a time of playing on self-organized LAN-parties and modding for Quake 1.
Description:
Each clan of players manages a castle by using resources to build new structures, place traps or hire creatures.
Resources are accumulated over time. Food from fields, building materials from mines. Grain fields are placed on the landscape around the castle. Peasants gather resources and should be defended during attacks. Gold is gathered by raiding KI-dungeons.
Attacks on other clan’s castles are sheduled so that the attackers and defenders can play with full teams. Goal is to capture a flag, raid gold from the treasures and destroy or kill built up stuff. Each player can command groups of KI-creatures. Basically use a special “command-weapon” to select a group and assign them a place to move-to or to attack. Defenders under siege cannot call on reinforcements, attacker can up to a certain limit to even out the advantage of the defenders.
Visual:
Visual style is similar to the Quake 1 style with a slight shift toward a medieval theme. Textures and creatures are reused from Quake 1. Knights and grunts build the main force. Groups of knights defending doors, arrow shooters on the walls, charging dogs and fiends should be the typical fight. The Zombie-Peasants work in the fields. Monsters are chained to guard places. Traps range from pits to spike shooters and crush plate.
Tech:
Base engine is Quake 1. Each castle is placed in an instanced map. Resources and configuration are coordinated by a master server. Extensions like walls or gates are BSP objects that can be placed freely and are fully physical. . A basic layout of the castle foundations is given by the base maps. Rock cliffs with tunnels and other occluders keep the maps renderable. Grain fields are made from a few criss-crossing rows of alpha mapped plants.
Inspirations:
Quake1, Quake1 Killer Mod -> Arrows, Team Fortress Mod, Purge Mod, some turn based strategy games with a medieval theme including castles, Dungeon Keeper previews, A coincidence in Quake 1 when a Fiend choose to follow the player arround but attack only enemies, Dungeon Creepers idea
