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Project Ghost FAQ.

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What is it (long version):

Project Ghost is an interactive online Client/Server system for creating and playing Old School 2D RPG style adventures for groups of up to 4 players.  The backbone of the system is an SQL Database containing everything from user-profiles, audio-visual data to user-created items and storylines.  A StoryTeller registers their group and begins a process of creating their own adventure using settings and entities provided by the system.  The adventure is persistent and thus a grand story unfolds with every player-interaction with other players and non-player characters.  Another important feature of the system is the ability to automatically update adventures and players who use the same world-settings with new items/modifications created by other player-groups.

How did it start, and why:

Honestly, I was bored and after finishing the excellent RPG, VTM:Bloodlines, I felt like trying to create my own side-quest for it.  However, due to the design of Bloodlines, I found myself unable to create and add new items to be used in my new quests and was forced to abandon the idea for the time being.  As a bored programmer who always wanted to write games (or at least try), I started to think about this concept.  The idea was to first and foremost promote Role Playing, and not Player .vs. Player shoot-outs (First Person Shooters are great, but honestly, all but a few bore me, especially those with multiplayer-online game-play which to me is usually a poor excuse for mindless frag-fests, then again, that's just my opinion of course).

What's included:

Ideally the system is divided into several components.  There's the Server which runs all the Database code and provides content on demand.  The Server itself would be developed in Java using Java Servlets and JDBC.  The Client, at least at first, would be a Java Applet that lets the player register, manage their account and of course join games and role-play.  The StoryTeller's edition of the Client Applet is a bit different since it exposes parts of the system required for creating content for new adventures.  This set of editors and tools would not be accessible to the other players in the group.  The most basic part of the system however is inaccessible to both players and StoryTellers since it involves the creation of game-world-settings.  The first game-world I am going to try and reproduce (with varying accuracy) is Vampire The Masquerade.  Hopefully, if all goes well, I will be able to add even more game-world settings and eventually maybe open this part of the system to StoryTellers as well.

What about Troika, Activision and WhiteWolf:

Well, if you happen to be reading this and you are an employee of one (or more?) of these companies, I wish to thank you for creating VTM:Bloodlines which I enjoyed and to treat this as homage to your creations rather than a violation of copyright laws.  It is not my intent to compete with games like VTM:Redemption or Bloodlines, nor am I going to use any copyrighted material.  The only thing I am using in this system is my trusty old WhiteWolf Vampire The Masquerade Rule Book.  If there is a copyright problem please email me.

First of all, you could read through the site, check out the demo page and participate in the discussions.  Next, if you really want to help, I do need ideas, graphic designs and in the future sound effects and music.  As you probably realize, this isn't for money but for the love of role-playing and computer games, so I can not pay anyone for their work and contribution as much as I appreciate it.  However, if you contribute to this project, and things change, I'll let you know.

In that case, email me, we'll talk, however, the project is written and developed in Java, please keep that in mind.

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