All Skills start at 0 and can be raised to Max. 15 (in my example..), only one Skill in every Thread can be raised to 15 and only 3 in all threads can be higher than 10.

I need some more ideas on ways to visually customize one's character. Any ideas? What I had so far was maybe changing the thrust color, obviously we have the visual weapons etc but something like personal to you.

I've seen ship tinting in other games and it looks ridiculous. I also thought that it was a good idea until I actually saw a screenshot. Here's an example. Look's horrid to me. It's like Willy Wonka's worst nightmare!

I will have a forum setup by tomorrow. If you could just give me 12 hours we'll be outta your hair.

Well, any story writers, graphic artists, etc. are welcome to input anything into the game and will be paid accordingly.

Unfortunately, I obviously cannot make this game free. The servers alone are going to cost quite a bit of money. I wish that I COULD make this a non-subscription game but we just can't.

Tig

Since you are making this game similar to EV Nova, there is a feature in the game that allows you to open fire on anyone within that planet/system. If this same stuff happens on your game, it would be a slaughter-world because most of the people would just like to destroy stuff just like other MMORPGS and would always attack the new people or eachother. Maybe you can let them shoot other players freely but put in a consequence. Like make some AI's come out of the planet and return fire at the person who shoots. And then you can make a planet where you can fight other players without being caught by local "patrols" like the Federation for example. Or you can make a uninhabited system. To tell you the truth...I can't really help you in the makings of this game...I'm sorry...
P.S. Would you have to download the game to get to it or would you have to load it from the website like Runscape?

At least he started it. More admirable than doing nothing.

I can't believe he said half of the code was finished and quit working on it. What caused it to go dead?

There's a third rather nasty, but sadly quite common possibility - he realized that his half-finished code would never be able to achieve what he wanted, and was forced to scrap most of it. Practically any major project gets utterly re-written at least once before making it to production; knowing this helps soften the blow a bit, but it's still hard to retain motivation after it happens.

Looking at the board, there is only one thing for me to do, though I hate to do it. But, projects like this make me sad.

Like Jive said, using a class system wouldn't seem like Nova or EV at all. I'd like a system like this:

Don't have "levels" in the way it's mostly used, but base the "Skills" a player has on the way he plays.
EX: Let's say you have following skill-threads:

Combat raised every time a subskill get's better. Allows you to buy "Combat"-Class ships
->Missile weapons (increases the effectivity of: Rockets, Missiles, Bombs etc)
->Energy weapons (increases the effectivity of: Blasters, Beams etc)
->Defensive tech. (increases the effectivity of: Scan/Missile Jammers, Shield upgrades, "Stun"<f.i. ionizing>)
Trading raised every time a subskill get's better. Allows you to buy "Trading"-Class ships
->Bargaining (buy/sell trade goods for better Profit- only works with Trade Goods, not with Equipment)
->Traveling (increases the effectivity of: Travel upgrades, also slightly increases the Speed while Hyperspace traveling)
->Mining (increases the effectivity of: Resource gaining equipment)
Diplomatics raised every time a subskill get's better. Allows you to buy "Interceptor/Diplomatics"-Class ships
->Scanning Tech (increases the effectivity of: Scanners etc)
->[Diplomatics, don't know a name ] (let's you fly through all Territories in which you are not KoS <even if you are disliked>)
->Something else...
Illegal raised every time a subskill get's better. Allows you to buy "Pirate"-Class ships and some other licensed ships, but more expensive than if you had the right license, and only at certain stations.
-> [Player can equip Scanners that scan another player's cargo hold] Is set to 1 when the Player is KoS with at least 1 Govt.
-> Something else...
-> Something else...

Now, if a player often uses a Light Blaster(successfully, shooting into nowhere is useless), his "Energy Weapons" Skill is being increased. All Skills start at 0 and can be raised to Max. 15 (in my example..), only one Skill in every Thread can be raised to 15 and only 3 in all threads can be higher than 10.
There are no "Skill Trainers", skills can only be raised by using them. Exception could be the Illegal skills that could be "bought" at Pirate Stations.

Equipment could have a "level", if your Skill is lower than this level, you can still use the weapon, but with big Mali, like, on a weapon, slower reload, more energy drain, worse aiming...

You could prevent special Items from being bought by new players by making them require a higher rating at the government.

Ok, that's it for now. I hope that wasn't too much, but i guess Tips are always welcome

-Lukas