THE SECOND WORLD
Premise:
Year 2385, the solar system is completely populated, but humanity abandons unsuccessful attempts to overcome the lightspeed barrier or to develop space-warp technology in the face of a new discovery. A tragic space-warp experiment ends with the mysterious relocation of the test ship to directly over the Sun's south and north poles simultaneously. Both manifestations of the ship and crew are instantly vaporized. Investigations of the phenomena reveal that stars are interconnected via polar array wormholes - space-time folds which allow near-instant interstellar travel.
As it turns out the interstellar array is the exclusive means of travel for all advanced life forms. This discovery leads to the first contact with an alien species.... A species, whose homeworld has been scorched through civil war. This species immediately proceeds to colonize and conduct civil war and scorch the Earth over centuries. In 2872 the solar system is starving because of the alien takeover of earth. Humanity successfully consolidates the remainder of its solar fleet and flees the home system via the interstellar array, arriving at a newly discovered solar system which contains among its otherwise barren makeup three co-orbital planets. The living conditions and the elemental makeup of the individual planets are less than ideal.
This is the setting.
The same alien species has already occupied one of the new planets fully, but has only begun to colonize the second. The third, least desirable planet becomes the operations base for the newly arrived humans, who discover that the second world can be made elementally complete with components of the third. The humans establish war industry on the third world and proceed to challenge the aliens for the second world... all the while dumping key elemental components of the third world on the second... and conducting preemptive raids on the alien occupied 1st world.
Such is the basis for the persistant worlds. Within the MMORPG format, thousands of players must assume constructive and combatant roles in order to flight the persistantly agressive (but procedurely balanced) AI alien forces. Players will have access to all three worlds, acting as soldiers, builders, farmers and merchants, either traitorous or loyal in order to seek advantage in establising fully hospitable living conditions on the second world. The persistance of gameplay should include the entire KNOWN Space of BOTH new and old solar systems in order to allow an epic range of play which includes scavaging Earth for additional resources, raiding all alien bases for technology, and building functional human bases/ ships which contribute to the overall effort of domination.
The alien AI, operating at a .01% disadvantage continuously will provide continued resistance to players until the verge of the next game release. At this point the AI will be directed to assume a higher rate of disadvantage (or advantage) precipitating a rapid demise or victory which drives either the humans or the aliens to discover another interstellar pathway, and another habitable system. This will be the continuity of the franchise.
Shoot me an email.
-Nate
Appendix:
+First person characters. You exist as a person.. not outside, above, or immune to the game.
+Infinite spectrum of tactical or practical play. You could begin as a military pilot and become a ship's captain. You could land on the second world as a seed farmer and become a mogul.
+Spacial Continuity - It makes no difference where you are.. you can get anywhere else if you have the vehicle that is space or inter-system capable. Otherwise there is real-time real-space transit either military or private.
+Military law. The backbone of human efforts will be the persistant presence of an AI military command that employs players. You can also become integrated into the command or become a private operator.
+Dynamic Outerra landscape. Every habitable world, star, dead planet and asteroid is procedural.
+The three co-orbital planets are co-orbital to the system star AND to each other. Visible to each other from each planet surface.