Mod Idea (Involves the net, but not multiplayer)

Ideas for future addons and sequels

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D1Hazel
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Mod Idea (Involves the net, but not multiplayer)

Postby D1Hazel » Fri Dec 26, 2008 8:24 am

Before starting, I would like to point out that this idea is NOT Uplink Online. It is not online, but rather uses the internet.

Ever played Uplink on your account with every program, the best computer, and loads of money when you make a stupid mistake and get disavowed? Well, I had an idea that I want to throw out here before I start asking around the developer's forum about how to implement it. Here it goes.

Instead of being disavowed, you're jailed. Then someone can try to break in and rescue you. How would they rescue you? Pause Uplink, launch an external application (say, a text adventure, write weather you won or lost to a file, exit the app, then resume Uplink and return the value of the file.

So who would rescue you? Well, you could start a new account, work your way up, and break in to rescue your old account. Or, you could check who needs rescuing from the mod's internet database or whatever, and break them out, then the database file will be updated. The only time the internet will be accessed will be when you start up Uplink (to see if any jailed characters have been rescued), when you check the arrested list, when you succeed (updates their record) or fail (updates your record).

But why bust people out of jail if they aren't you? Because you get a slice of their pie. Of course, you can get millions easily in Uplink (well, I can't, but a lot of people can), so I'd have to come up with something better.

I don't know exactly how the database thing would work. I'll need help with that.

One thing I'm thinking about is being able to buy knives and guns and that kind of stuff for the external app from within Uplink. It's not final, though. Heck, nothing's final.

And yes, there are already "break someone out of jail" missions in vanilla Uplink. However, it just needs to make sense, not prefect sense.

Thank you for reading.
Rkiver
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Postby Rkiver » Fri Dec 26, 2008 8:38 am

The FBI mod have the option to release people from jail. However every new character/user is unique, in it's own generated world. One user does not affect another at all. To alter this to impliment what you suggest would involve a major recoding of the game to say the least.

In short it's not feasible without extensive programming knowledge.
Uplink help: Read the FAQ
D1Hazel
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Postby D1Hazel » Fri Dec 26, 2008 9:48 am

I'm not suggesting that the player files themselves would have any interaction. Essentially, there are a few variables put on a server that can be retrieved by an instance of the modded game. It wouldn't be that one player is modifying another's file so much as one player is modifying an online record and another player is checking an online record to see if anyone has modified that record.

Ex.
****

Jeff Higgins, who has an IP of 123.132.231.12, creates an Uplink account called JeffRow. Then he gets arrested before doing any missions. A record on server blah.com is created called JeffRow123_132_231_12 and is set to 1. A backup record, JeffRow, in the directory /records, is set to 1.

Billy Bob at IP 128.0.0.2, who has done every mission except the last Revelation one, rescues him from jail. That sets JeffRow123_132_231_12 to 0. This has no bearing on Billy Bob's local backup.

Jeff Higgins logs in again with no profiles except his jailed agent, JeffRow. The computer accesses the JeffRow123_132_231_12 record and sees if it is 0. In this case, it is, so he is not in jail anymore. Also the local JeffRow record is modified to 0.

Note that if Jeff were not connected to the internet, JeffRow would still be disavowed, since the local copy is 1, and the internet copy is useless without internet. He could, however, make a new profile and break himself out of jail.

****

However, this system still requires a new system for handling being disavowed, since the current system erases all information except the reason you were busted.

P.S. Keep in mind that the jail instead of disavow thing is so there can be an external app, which is something I'd like to try out. It doesn't really have anything to do with the existing jail systems.

P.P.S. Cheating is not really that much of a concern to me. It's weak security, but it's not like it's hirting anyone.
Axoren
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Postby Axoren » Sat Apr 18, 2009 1:37 am

I like it, but who's gonna run the server indefinitely? You'll probably have someone who'll do it for a day then relinquish the responsibility. Also, how easy should it be for them to do this? Should they also be able to set the value from Active to Jailed? In turn, making this more of a weapon against other players?

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