My ultimate aim is to make some money of this game if possible because my day job is due to come to an end at around about June next year when the game the company is working on is released on XBox 360, and my biggest ambition in life is to become an 'indie' developer like my another ex-Lionhead co-worker Cliff (www.cliffski.blogspot.com - go and buy a copy of Kudos or Democracy!).
Now, as I mention below the engine is totally data driven which means by altering the main event script they could effectively turn the game I release into a totally different game. However, I also like the idea that people could mod the game and release their own levels - creating a sort of mini-community (I can dream can't I?)
There is also the issue of online scoring - if anyone alters the scripts they can make the game easier to achieve a higher score. One possible solution to this is to somehow checksum the released script and if the script the game ran with does not match the released script then the score doesn't go to the online boards... but then that screws up any (*ahem*) patches that are needed.
Just in case anybody is interested here is the script I am using to develop the game (its not a long game at the moment - been concentrating on finishing the core tech):
# --------------------------------------------------------------------# Global stuff# --------------------------------------------------------------------# Turn on fogEnableFog# --------------------------------------------------------------------# Debug zone# --------------------------------------------------------------------#Goto LevelTwo# --------------------------------------------------------------------# Level One## --------------------------------------------------------------------# Mark the chapterChapter LevelOne# set the transition typeSetTransitionType FOGPresetForTransitionIn# Clear out the previous level dataClearActors# Install actorsInstallActor FirstInstallActor PlayerBulletBasicInstallPlayer PlayerInstallActor AlienBullet# Set the overlaysBitmapOverlay 0.0 0.0 1024.0 32.0 Game\Textures\ScoreBanner.tga# Set our background#SetScrollingBackground Game\Textures\Wires1024.png 0.0 -0.36 0.0 0.0 3.0 3.0SetScrollingBackground Game\Textures\BlueLava1024.png 0.0 -0.06 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.5# Place the playerPlacePlayer 0.0 0.0 0.0TransitionInWaitForTransitionCompleteResetClock# Set the emitters to spawnSpawnEmitter 0.0 1.0 10 Path_1 Path_2 Path_1 FirstActor# Attach some firing patterns to the last emitterFire 0 ONE_SHOT 1.0 0.0Fire 1 ONE_SHOT 0.8 3.0Fire 5 ONE_SHOT 1.5 3.0WaitForAllActorsDead 1.0TransitionOutWaitForTransitionCompleteResetClockTransitionInWaitForTransitionCompleteResetClockSpawnEmitter 0.0 1.0 10 Path_2 NULL NULL FirstActor# Attach some firing patterns to the last emitterFire 0 CONTINUOUS 0.3 0.0Fire 1 CONTINUOUS 0.3 0.0Fire 2 CONTINUOUS 0.3 0.0Fire 3 CONTINUOUS 0.3 0.0Fire 4 CONTINUOUS 0.3 0.0Fire 5 CONTINUOUS 0.3 0.0Fire 6 CONTINUOUS 0.3 0.0Fire 7 CONTINUOUS 0.3 0.0Fire 8 CONTINUOUS 0.3 0.0Fire 9 CONTINUOUS 0.3 0.0# Dont proceed untill everything before us is deadWaitForAllActorsDead 1.0TransitionOutWaitForTransitionCompleteResetClock# --------------------------------------------------------------------# The end chapter## --------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter End# End of list