Endgame- Google Maps RTS (beta)

jshanman writes "Play the first Google Maps RTS! Online players (2-25) randomly receive a set of countries with troop hitpoints based on real world population data. To play: attack neutral and enemy countries in an effort to try to take over the world. You have a 20% chance of receiving more troops when you overtake an enemy country. More features to come! (currently in public beta status)."

Winner: Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

Nuff said.

New Server

[Anonymous Coward]

http://s173754370.onlinehome.us/endgame/news.php [onlinehome.us]

After a good slashdot thrashin' I decided it was finally time to break down and get a host, at least for this application. Let's just hope I don't use up the 500GB bandwidth too fast...

Re:New Server...API key.

[aapold]

new server requires new google maps API key.

Currently /.

[Anonymous Coward]

All your maps are belong to us !

Re:Currently /.

[snaptography]

Fast Company Magazine actually just posted an article regarding Google Mashups being used for Games. Check it on out! http://blog.fastcompany.com/archives/2006/08/10/go ogle_games.html?partner=rss [fastcompany.com]

Re:Currently /.

[ooMissioNoo]

yes... all your maps... and 19.999999999% of your armys. MWAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA

Already slashdotted

[rminsk]

The site is already slashdotted.

Re:Already slashdotted

[moresheth]

Perhaps we can look at some other games using Google Maps.

http://moloko.itc.it/trustmetricswiki/moin.cgi/Gam esOnGoogleMaps [moloko.itc.it]

Re:Already slashdotted

[morie]

they suggest a "marathon of New York" game. I had some flashbacks to the left-richt keying.joystick-movements on the summer games variants of the Tandy TRS-80 or C64. 100m was quite enough.

Re:Already slashdotted

[creimer]

You would think for a Google Beta product that wouldn't happen. Maybe they're losing their edge?

Re:Already slashdotted

[j_snare]

I hate to point out that it's not a Google product here, it's a third party who uses Google Maps, and it is in beta.

Re:Already slashdotted

[andrewman327]

Beta? I thought that was copyrighted by Google. It is their software development arm. You know, they produced GMail Beta, Google Video Beta, Google Maps Beta, you get the picture.

Re:Already slashdotted

[Anonymous Coward]

Well I removed the CMS, so only guest accounts based on cookies will work. I guess I knew that it would probably take my site down, but I really wanted to get the word out. Soon, I'll get a real host.

I've been contacted by a few people offering to host mirrors, but the application uses a database and such, so it would be complicated to transfer.

Good luck, and I hope it continues to work.

- JS

Re:Already slashdotted

[budgenator]

posted at 6:30 and it got slashdoted, five hours later its still slashdotted.

Re:Already slashdotted

[budgenator]

Now I'm impressed, after five minutes of spinning on the hosted server, a text only static page gave a link to an alternate server, a personal server in his basement and it works, a bit slow but it works!

No matter what i'm taking Lebannon

[EmperorKagato]

I'm in your base, killing your doods!

Re:No matter what i'm taking Lebannon

[FinchWorld]

Also see this [weebls-stuff.com] for more dood killing.

Re:Special Rules for the Player Playing "Islam:"

[RobotRunAmok]

that should even things up a little

Sorry, I'm afraid you're way behind:

Post As An AC: Deduct 2 Points

Be Un-Funny: Deduct 5 Points

Credit The UN With Any Relevance: Lose a Turn

Gee, you sure you still want to play? Your heart just doesn't seem to be in the game...

Re:Special Rules for the Player Playing "Islam:"

[WilliamSChips]

Post As An AC: Deduct 2 Points

That one I can agree with.

Be Un-Funny: Deduct 5 Points

Call kettle black while being pot: Deduct 3 points

Gee, you sure you still want to play? Your heart just doesn't seem to be in the game...

Again losing three points...are you sure you want to do this?

Re:Special Rules for the Player Playing "Islam:"

[WilliamSChips]

Overrated? It looks like the Israel-can-do-no-wrong crew is out in full force today

nuclear launch detected

[saiha]

sounds cool, though perhaps they should have kept it in closed beta

How about a game of Chess?

[Anonymous Coward]

No. Lets play Global (ThermoNuclear) War.

Re:How about a game of Chess?

[Rockenreno]

No. Lets play Global (ThermoNuclear) War.

Let's [everyone-dies.com]

Re:How about a game of Chess?

[sho222]

The only winning move is not to play.

Re:How about a game of Chess?

[doti]

There's no winning move.
Everybody dies, including the non-playing ones.

Re:How about a game of Chess?

[spezz]

Funny you should bring that up. The Darwinia developers have gone ahead and made a loving tribute to WarGames and the WOPR with Defcon. [everyone-dies.com]

Game Over

[Anonymous Coward]

Wellp, after the first round of play, it appears that winner of the first ever Google Maps RTS is Slashdot and the loser is the endeavorpub.com server.

By any chance was the beta test ...

[monopole]

...Held at the White House?

Re:By any chance was the beta test ...

[Foofoobar]

Yes and it was played by a bunch of monkeys.

Good idea!

[peterfa]

Excellent idea posting a link to a MMORPG with the word 'Google' in there somewhere, on a freakin' nerds' site... poor, poor server.

Missed /. game opportunity!

[rts008]

Here is where /. is dropping the ball. We could be even more entertained here if /. would take advantage of this. (would require streaming video in a small window on the /. page)

WTF? you ask? Glad you asked, 'cause here goes:

Redo /.'s website (have another contest!) to display a small video window on the main page that plays 5-10 second clips from the "/. Server's a Smokin' WebCam" for each story on the main page, (would cycle through all the vid's for each story on the main page) then on each article's pag

Re:Missed /. game opportunity!

[peterfa]

You can send the /. crew your idea... you can even get the source yourself and code something for them. They have a lot of work on their hands, they'll appreciate this.

Re:Good idea!

[knifey]

Well, we could post articles with inventive links to see which servers we can overload. A kind of slashdot nerd powered DoS with a game behind it.
Of course coming up with suitable text to get enough people to follow the links would be the hard part of the game.
I think I have a start on some rules at www.knifey.org [microsoft.com]. :-)

Slashdotted?

[indiancowboy]

Wait a minute, does that mean people are now reading the story?

Re:Slashdotted?

[EmperorKagato]

If you are a subscriber, you had an opportunity to.

I had just enough time to create my account and finish creating my profile. Looks like i won't be playing anytime soon.

Mirrorless?

[EmperorKagato]

I was thinking about creating a mirror and posting the link to my host. I'm not risking my server blowing up.

That's fast

[Pykasye]

Zero to Slashdotted in 10 minutes!

Re:That's fast

[peterfa]

No, seconds... there very first post is a reference to the fact that it was /.ed... you know how long it takes for the first post to appear...

Re:That's fast

[GrumblyStuff]

So, what, are you saying we can do better?

Diplomacy

[Speare]

The game of Diplomacy, except 80 years in the future. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005EBA0 [amazon.com]

Re:Diplomacy

[flooey]

The game of Diplomacy, except 80 years in the future. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005EBA0 [amazon.com]

You can play it over e-mail as well. www.diplom.org [diplom.org] is a good place to start.

Re:Diplomacy

[roscivs]

I haven't been able to figure out how to get somebody else to be a judge on www.diplom.org (so that me and six other friends can play a game over email). Any pointers?

Re:Diplomacy

[flooey]

I haven't been able to figure out how to get somebody else to be a judge on www.diplom.org (so that me and six other friends can play a game over email). Any pointers?

Just in terms of terminology, judges are computers that run software to determine the results of moves and so forth. You're probably looking for a GM, which is a neutral person who does the administrative work of setting up and running a game on a judge. If you've got six friends together who want to play, feel free to e-mail me at flooey

Re:Diplomacy

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm working on keeping the site up! But it's a computer in my basement on my DSL connection! Please keep checking back often and I'll try to keep it up :)

When it does work again, please contribute your ideas on the forum. Thanks!

- JS

Voyager?

[Anonymous Coward]

Phew. From the title I was afraid it was based on the Worst Episode Ever.

Dick

[Punboy]

Whoever posted this to slashdot is a dick. He says he's running it off a home server.

Re:Dick

[C-Shalom]

Yea, IP lookup shows it's DSL by Ameritech

Re:Dick

[murphball]

lol, oh well... at least my home server is doing fine

It seems to be able to handle what little traffic is driven through my slashdot comments alright, but I'll make a note to not post any articles here or it probably will be a smouldering pile of melted PC when I get home from work :)

Re:Dick

[edmudama]

Look at the email address of the submitter, it appears to be the owner of the server.

Guess he wanted to test the smoke alarm in his home office.

Re:Dick

[operagost]

Hey, that sounds like a great idea? Can you help a brother out [galtrader.com]?

Re:Dick

[kevin_conaway]

Relax, it was the author himself that submitted it.

jshanman ([e-mail]) writes "Play the first Google Maps RTS ! Online players (http://www.endeavorpub.com/endgame)

He should have known better

Re:Dick

[TheRaven64]

Considering the article submitter doesn't know the difference between overtaking and taking over, I don't hold out much hope for the game if the author and submitter are one and the same.

Re:Dick

[ack154]

Even beyond that... submitting a DSL hosted game to Slashdot isn't very intelligent.

Kamchatka!

[Kreisler]

How do I get Kamchatka on Google maps! I have to have Kamchatka to r00lz the W0|2ld!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re:Kamchatka!

[Clever7Devil]

Kamchatka is the best! Asian entry through the back door for the win!

yes..

[konigstein]

but can it find sarah connor?

Re:yes..

[Footix]

Dude, Fark is thataway.

Re:yes..

[mgblst]

Don't listen to him, its a trap!

0% chance

[hoggoth]

> You have a 20% chance of receiving more troops when you overtake an enemy country

You have a 0% chance of getting through to the server.

Re:0% chance

[operagost]

Getting your web server slashdotted is truly an honor. Kind of a Klingon honor, though, as your crispy CPU is whisked off to Sto-vo-kor [wikipedia.org].

First nothing!

[bunbuntheminilop]

RISK using the google API. [slashdot.org]

Granted, its not REAL TIME. Then again, the game in this post doesn't exactly sound like its real time does it? Not that I could see, because the poor server has probably burst into flames.

Actually, now that I think about it, maybe its the same developer. Can someone confirm/deny?

If that's the first Google Maps-based RTS...

[Ant P.]

What's this? [cybernations.net]

Re:If that's the first Google Maps-based RTS...

[WilliamSChips]

A poor ripoff of NationStates(which fell down the tube about a year ago) with Google Maps.

Yes!!

[nascarguy27]

Risk for nerds!! Awesome! Oh wait.....

/. editors:

[snib]

Perhaps when a story is submitted for /. the person looking at it should look around for something like...

DISCLAIMER: This is currently hosted on my personal server in my basement. Uptime cannot be guaranteed.

When are they going to set up a mirror system for the story articles??

Re:/. editors:

[Millenniumman]

They can't set one up until it is written. The code for Slashdot is open source, so if you want a mirror system, write one.

It should be named Slashcache.

Re:/. editors:

[EmperorKagato]

no
SlashdotSave [slashdotsave.com]

Coming Soon!

FAQ http://slashdot.org/faq/suggestions.shtml#su90

[peterfa]

Slashdot should cache pages to prevent the Slashdot Effect!

Sure, it's a great idea, but it has a lot of implications. For example, commercial sites rely on their banner ads to generate revenue. If I cache one of their pages, this will mess with their statistics, and mess with their banner ads. In other words, this will piss them off.

Of course, most of the time, the commercial sites that actually have income from banner ads easily withstand the Slashdot Effect. So perhaps we could draw the line at sites

Re:FAQ http://slashdot.org/faq/suggestions.shtml#s

[mastapch]

How about enabling the activation of the caching feature only if the submitter is the owner of the site and whishes to do so... Most of the stories about sites hosted on own, small servers are posted by their owners. Stories submitted by others are often related to bigger (meaning better hosted) websites and they don't need caching...

Re:FAQ http://slashdot.org/faq/suggestions.shtml#s

[peterfa]

Submit that to the /. admins.

Must be a slow news day...

[creimer]

Forget Google. I'm more concern about the actual events going on in the Middle East. With the latest "we broke this major terrorist plot" splashed on the U.S. front page, news out of the Middle East is being drown out.

Re:Must be a slow news day...

[charlesbakerharris]

OH NOES! The news in the middle east has been drowned out for a day! Will it ever come back?

Google Maps Flight Simulator + GE Games

[Lord Satri]

http://www.gewar.net/ [gewar.net]
http://www.googleearthing.com/ [googleearthing.com]
and
http://googleearthgame.com/ [googleearthgame.com]

And the strangest... the Google Maps Flight Simulator [isoma.net]

Re:Google Maps Flight Simulator + GE Games

[advocate_one]

And the strangest... the Google Maps Flight Simulator

and the saddest comment on current times is in his FAQ...

WON'T TERRORISTS USE THIS TO PLAN 9/11 TYPE ATTACKS?
They could. or they could use google maps, yahoo maps, msn mapping etc
While i realise its a sensitive issue even including New York in there it's up to
individuals to treat it as it's intended: a game about flying.

Webmaster Sabbotage

[Czaries]

Judging by the email address given before the quote in this article, the author of this game submitted the article to /. himself. I can understand wanting some free advertising and traffic, but posting something like this on /. is just asking for your server to be brought down. This webmaster sabbotaged his own servers, probably without even knowing it.

Melted Router: the game.

[neo]

Yes, you've drawn the attention of hundreds of thousands of net savy game players... and your $100 linksys router has all the LEDs melted off the front and there is smoke coming from the ethernet cable. Good job. You're well on your way to returning us to the 1999 when people said they could do anything on the web and then failed to be able to keep up with demand.

You've just relived the dot-com bomb.

Best Google Earth flight "sim" I've seen

[DavidV]

http://www.isoma.net/games/goggles.html

Play Risk for Free, and no ads

[bryanbrunton]

I recently released my version of web-based Risk, called Grand Strategy.

It features team games, leader board and a variety of game styles.

What's more it is free and there are no ads. It is an Ajax app so it runs very smooth. Check it out here:

Grand Strategy [denizengames.com]

My God! Google got Slashdotted!!

[bobosity]

Maybe Slashdot should be looking at that IPO. Remember: You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning.

Google should mirror google api!

[hardaker]

Then it wouldn't have gotten slashdotted... you could google for google games and click the google cache link instead!

Used for practice

[Kwesadilo]

I'll bet the higher-level employees at Google use this to practice for project It's Not A Game (working title).

Slashdotted already?

[dapho]

Bah! I was looking forward to some hardcore Google Maps action!

So much for the interesting commentary.

[Mike Peel]

I came here looking for comments on the moral aspects of the game - is it right to let people practice war on real-life maps, with points based on how much of civilization you flatten? - or otherwise decent, interesting comments. Instead, I read a series of "The site is already slashdotted." Not quite what I was after...

I guess I must be new here.

Re:So much for the interesting commentary.

[torqer]

It's kind of hard to have insightful commentary when the site is slashdotted. No one (well maybe the first 3 people had a chance to look at it) has been able to witness the game's dynmanics. No one has any insight, because no one's played it.

You don't have anything meaningful to say, so just complain. I guess you aren't new here.

Re:So much for the interesting commentary.

[brkello]

What moral aspect of the game. People have been playing Risk forever. This is just using google maps.

It's people like you that scare the living crap out of me. Do you actually believe playing a strategy game like this promotes violence? Because it is on "real-life maps" are we actally training people to conduct war? Do you cry when someone takes your knight in chess because it is animal abuse? If you really are concerned about the moral aspects of this game, then you are flat out nuts. I can under

They have alternate hosting!

[hashar2]

The site is alternatively hosted at http://s173754370.onlinehome.us/endgame/news.php [onlinehome.us]. The link in the article redirects to this page.

Osama

[Thanatos69]

I wonder if GW will bring this up in his next public address. "I have personally put 5 dinosaurs in Afghanistan to look for Osama, we should expect results any day now."

Re:slashdotted before first post

[tpjunkie]

you must be new here...

Re:slashdotted before first post

[Millenniumman]

Ironically, your UID is a lot higher than his.

Re:slashdotted before first post

[lokiomega]

And ironically yours is higher than his.

Re:slashdotted before first post

[Millenniumman]

How is that ironic? He suggested that the original poster was new, while he has a far higher UID. I was just pointing that out.

Beyond that, his is a lot higher than the person he replied to, while mine is only a little higher than his.

Re:slashdotted before first post

[famikon]

Maybe he meant "Alanis Morrisette" ironic...