Hello everyone, this is Benjamin Baker, Davids son. I was thinking about a way to combine science and the gaming community through a science RPG (Role Playing Game). For those of you that do not know, an RPG is a game in which you have an avatar that moves through maps, and basically completes certain tasks, goes on adventures, etc. My vision for the Rosetta@Home game is a RPG which involves solving these puzzles. People could unlock certain features such as custom graphics packages (having an avatar with a flaming cloak for example) when they get enough credits. They would get a smaller amount of credits for solving the easier puzzles, and more credits for solving the harder ones. The way they would get to these puzzles is by encountering them in this map. The puzzles would be hovering in the air, and people would click on them and try to solve them. They could get badges for solving hard puzzles. People could interact through a message system. Their could be an additional feature that sorts through the IP's and puts people close to each other in the world close to each other in the game.

I think that this type of a game would attract vast numbers of people to the game, for proof look at some other games like this, such as Runescape. I talked to my dad about this, and he is interested in getting together a team of programmers including maybe a select few 8th graders who have created RPGs of their own, plus some experienced programmers. I will be putting together a freewebs site on this. Please tell us whether you think this is a good idea.
Thank you, Benjamin.

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Hello everyone, this is Benjamin Baker, Davids son. I was thinking about a way to combine science and the gaming community through a science RPG (Role Playing Game). For those of you that do not know, an RPG is a game in which you have an avatar that moves through maps, and basically completes certain tasks, goes on adventures, etc. My vision for the Rosetta@Home game is a RPG which involves solving these puzzles. People could unlock certain features such as custom graphics packages (having an avatar with a flaming cloak for example) when they get enough credits. They would get a smaller amount of credits for solving the easier puzzles, and more credits for solving the harder ones. The way they would get to these puzzles is by encountering them in this map. The puzzles would be hovering in the air, and people would click on them and try to solve them. They could get badges for solving hard puzzles. People could interact through a message system. Their could be an additional feature that sorts through the IP's and puts people close to each other in the world close to each other in the game.

I think that this type of a game would attract vast numbers of people to the game, for proof look at some other games like this, such as Runescape. I talked to my dad about this, and he is interested in getting together a team of programmers including maybe a select few 8th graders who have created RPGs of their own, plus some experienced programmers. I will be putting together a freewebs site on this. Please tell us whether you think this is a good idea.
Thank you, Benjamin.

Wow! He's actually considering my idea about an RPG combined with it? And of spending credits on extra stuff?

Hey, here's the message I sent to David Baker with my ideas, including the RPG. What do ya'll think?

Hey, just some stuff about the game:

Just jotting down, a new intro to the game?

Androgen receptor (green) is out of control, causing a cancerous tumor! You have to design another protein (yellow) to block it and stop the cancer. Find the side chain that fits neatly inside the hole (outlined by grey dots) without poking outside of it.

1. Cycle through the choices by pressing the <- and -> 'animate' buttons.
2. Your current choice is outlined in orange.
3. When you think you've found a side chain that fits inside the hole, click and drag around it to make sure it isn't poking out.
4. If it is completely inside the cavity, check the 'Answer' box.
5. You've defeated cancer!


Also, some stuff for multiplayer:

Instead of cycling through choices, have just a bunch of boxes (one for each side chain) that the player can click on. That way, if it's an easy one, it won't just be a race between players over who can click the 'next' button fastest. Each box could have a little picture of the side chain it puts in on it.


I think you should have less of the 'stray' chains. They make the game screen look confusing, and you don't really need them. Also, on slow computers (like mine), it causes bad lag.

And when you win, maybe:

window.alert("Congradulations, you have defeated cancer!")

Credits:

I think it would be really cool if you could use the credits you earn to buy things. Not, like real objects, but maybe the ability to upload an avatar for your forum account, or access to fun little mini-games or cool looking screensavers. Not that it doesn't already look awesome. But if you could actually buy things with what you earn, it would really encourage people to play more.

A totally rad but very improbable idea:

Maybe an 'rpg mode'? Have you ever heard of runescape? It's a cool online multiplayer java game, and I was thinking you could make a really stripped-down version of something like that (maybe not even color) and you could battle other players in an 'arena' or something. So you could pit your skills on solving the puzzles against other players, while playing a fun RPG, while curing cancer. And with the credits you earn, you could buy upgrades that would make it easier to defeat other players, like maybe being able to see some of what your opponent is doing. And then the winner's solution is saved to the database.

An even more improbable idea (an improbable improbable idea)

Bosses. I love games where you do small fights for a while, getting stronger, and then BOOM boss fight. You would fight against the computer, so it wouldn't really accomplish anything. But it would encourage people to play more. So maybe every 10 battles or something, there would be a boss fight which, unless the player is really good and solves it easily, won't be any faster than the computer.

Well, those are my ideas. Hope they help, and I'll email more if I think of them.

Michael

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Don't underestimate the amount of work involved in creating and running such an RPG. The time might be better spend looking for ways to optimize the application; especially since there's no hint as to how many new people this might attract.

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I think there is a point to be made that there is programming talent available, that is unable to contribute to the science of Rosetta, but they know how to make an RPG. So, much as I do by trying to help on the message boards, it is simply a way to apply that talent to help the project.

If the "puzzles" to solve were molecular and protein models, then this would tie in nicely to Ian's "help me explain Rosetta" efforts. Perhaps you could choose a pathway full of truely "Rosetta-related" puzzles, and other pathways with more general logic type puzzles.

If Rosetta could be crunching in your browser while you participate in the game, then you'd run a good chance of attracting a LOT more then the current ~13000 from online organizations like ESL (which has ...can't find the website just now, but I recall about 500,000 participants)! ...at least for as long as the game is complex enough to keep their interest. That's more hosts that Rosetta has right now, and that's just from a single online gaming network.

Benjamin, you might consider designing a framework for an RPG (or perhaps that's already been done??). By this I mean design a game with a lot of black boxes in it that say "puzzle to be inserted here, with xx possible points". So this framework would have the infrastructure for the avitars, the registration, the point tracking, the online presence, the message boards... then anyone in the world could follow your protocol (you'll have to document it completely) to build their own plug-in to it. It would help more people get more involved in your RPG project, and you will be amazed at how creative some of their puzzles will be. You will need a large number of puzzles and clues to keep people interested in the game, and so this would be a way to bring in scores of people to make puzzles and help meet that goal.

This would also make your architecture rather similar to BOINC! BOINC is the framework, it handles the message boards, credit tracking, work scheduling etc. and then Project Teams like Dr. Baker's come along and fill in the applications that use it.

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Rosetta Moderator: Mod.Sense

Yeah, I've been working on that. See, ben and I know each other IRL, so we already started planning it out.

I think there is a point to be made that there is programming talent available, that is unable to contribute to the science of Rosetta, but they know how to make an RPG. So, much as I do by trying to help on the message boards, it is simply a way to apply that talent to help the project.

If the "puzzles" to solve were molecular and protein models, then this would tie in nicely to Ian's "help me explain Rosetta" efforts. Perhaps you could choose a pathway full of truely "Rosetta-related" puzzles, and other pathways with more general logic type puzzles.

If Rosetta could be crunching in your browser while you participate in the game, then you'd run a good chance of attracting a LOT more then the current ~13000 from online organizations like ESL (which has ...can't find the website just now, but I recall about 500,000 participants)! ...at least for as long as the game is complex enough to keep their interest. That's more hosts that Rosetta has right now, and that's just from a single online gaming network.

Benjamin, you might consider designing a framework for an RPG (or perhaps that's already been done??). By this I mean design a game with a lot of black boxes in it that say "puzzle to be inserted here, with xx possible points". So this framework would have the infrastructure for the avitars, the registration, the point tracking, the online presence, the message boards... then anyone in the world could follow your protocol (you'll have to document it completely) to build their own plug-in to it. It would help more people get more involved in your RPG project, and you will be amazed at how creative some of their puzzles will be. You will need a large number of puzzles and clues to keep people interested in the game, and so this would be a way to bring in scores of people to make puzzles and help meet that goal.

This would also make your architecture rather similar to BOINC! BOINC is the framework, it handles the message boards, credit tracking, work scheduling etc. and then Project Teams like Dr. Baker's come along and fill in the applications that use it.

Actually, my idea was to have the puzzles in the RPG be the ones that they are using in the game they are testing right now. This would be a project that would take some time, but I think it is well worth it. I was also thinking of having this directly involved with rosetta@home, using the puzzles from the rosetta@home game. I am sure that if we could get this type of game going it would start gaining members very fast, and also it would be a completely new idea, having science in games like this could inspire many people, for example say I was a person who didnt know much about science, but loved playing video games (as many people are like), I could actually play a game for a good cause.

The RPG will have to be designed by someone who knows how to make good maps for games.

Thanks, Ben

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Hi everyone, this is Ben, and this is my account. I will work on the details, and will recruit some good game programmers from school. The whole issue of the server is yet to be decided, but instead of something seperate I was thinking of this as a different version of the rosetta game (see prototype of rosetta game on the message boards). Im not sure wether the server for this would be the same as rosetta@home's server, but the RPG would be using the same.

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Hey, ok I'm working on the game system and also an overview map right now.

Hey, ok I'm working on the game system and also an overview map right now.

Great. How are you making it? If it is a file type that you can send over e-mail please e-mail me when you have something. Also you dont have to worry to much about the graphics, we will find someone for that, unless you think you can make some professional looking graphics. Also dont worry about the puzzles. We should go through a developmental stage, where we plan it out, before we actually start it.

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