Introduction	2
Fundamental Game Ideas	3
Player Classes	3
Security:	4
Business:	4
Media:	5
Game Balance:	5
Money:	5
Conclusions:	6

Introduction
	This is the design documentation for the sourceforge project
	currently known as 'downlink.' Upon completion of this, it
	should serve as a guide for implementation of the project.
	Until a better format is suggested, it will be kept as a word
	document for ease of tracking who made what changes when. 


Fundamental Game Ideas
	This game is based on the concept presented in the commercial
	game 'Uplink,' a single player game in which you are a hacker
	employed by others to break into computer systems for various
	reasons. Downlink expands on that by allowing you to be
	involved in not only the hacking aspect, but also the business
	aspect that consults with hackers to help them achieve goals
	and the media aspect, which reports on hacker activities as
	well as other things.  Three player classes are created from
	this: business, media, and security. The goal is that
	eventually the players on the system will create a
	self-sustaining environment, however because that won't happen
	immediately, a fourth class, sysop, is created that allows the
	player to adjust parameters of the running system from within
	the system.  The sysop class would not be selectable, but
	perhaps through in game trickery a player could attain this.
	(Administrators of the system would be able to set their class
	to sysop outside of the game environment.)  

	When logging into the downlink environment, the user would
	first authenticate to the system with a username and password,
	to establish the users' out of game identity.  Then the user
	would be presented with a login to their downlink terminal,
	asking for an identification number and a password, this would
	establish the users' in game identity.  A user can have more
	than one in game identity, and the login to the in game
	identity could possibly be hacked through in game systems.  No
	details regarding the out of game identity, including any
	correlations between in and out of games identities will be
	made available through the system.  While this is a game
	involving stylized hacking, no real world hacking of the
	system can be tolerated.  Discouraging hacking of real world
	identities is one of the prime reasons for having the two
	login systems.  Additionally, system status messages could be
	reported after the first login, so that users with many in
	game personalities would not be bothered by receiving the same
	update messages multiple times.  Further benefits will
	probably be realized as the design and implementation
	progress.  While any behaviors tracked by the system that are
	not accessible via the system will probably include the
	username as well as the identification logged into, as long as
	users are not operating outside any rules of conduct, no
	action will be taken on the logs. These rule of conduct have
	not yet been made, but will probably include such things as do
	not list real world contact information of other players, and
	don't harass (this will be defined better) people. 

Player Classes
	This section discusses each of the player classes in detail.
	Some sort of experience system will be necessary, in order to
	gauge ability of players in different areas.  The experience
	system will be broken into 3 measures, one for each of the
	normally playable classes; there will possibly be a 4th
	measure for sysop skills, that would not be visible to normal
	players, but could be gained for taking place in activities
	that better the system, if there was a need to recruit more
	sysops, this measure could be looked at to determine who would
	be a good candidate.  One of the goals of the experience
	system is to limit the availability of certain options to
	those more experienced in the system (i.e. only good business
	people can be CEO's, only good media people can directly
	report to the major newspaper, etc).  Additionally, it will
	take into account deterioration of skills due to disuse, so if
	a former media person decides to become a security person, but
	does not use their media skills anymore, if (s)he ends up
	going back to media after a fairly long period of time, the
	media skills and connections will not be as good.  However,
	there is a certain level of skill that once attained will not
	go away, and if the user really wants to, they could create a
	character good at everything, but this would require a lot of
	effort.  Without further ado, here are the player classes: 

Security:
	This is the type of player that uplink is devoted to, one who
	knows (or tries to know) the ins and outs of computer systems.
	This player could be involved in both hacking into systems and
	setting up systems to prevent hacking of them.  As this player
	increases in experience, they would be more become more likely
	to be chosen for more difficult jobs.  Additionally, software
	used in hacking and securing systems would require that its
	user have sufficient experience in security, or possibly to
	have taken courses in it.  Also, software would not be
	available for purchase from reputable stores until the player
	has more than enough experience to use it, unless the player
	is certified to use it.  After taking a course in a piece of
	software, a user would get a grade in that course; this grade
	would be semi-random, based on experience, successful use of
	this software (or previous versions), as well as the length of
	the course and other factors yet to be determined.  The grade
	on this course will determine if you can use it (with a
	passing grade) and if you are certified to use it (with a high
	enough passing grade).  A certification on a certain version
	of a piece of software does not necessarily equate to a
	certification on a higher version, but will work for a lower
	version.  If a job requires specific software, you will be
	unlikely to get the job unless you can buy the software in a
	reputable store, regardless of if have a copy of the software
	and can use it.  Software available for attack at any
	particular experience level will be able to successfully
	attack defense software available at that same level and
	possibly higher.  Experience will be gained by hacking and
	defending against hackers.  Unsuccessful, but close, attempts
	can also cause experience gain. 

Business:
	This is the type of player that is involved with management in
	a company.  At the highest level of management of a company,
	this is the CEO.  This player will have goals related to the
	company that will include budgeting, and time restrictions.
	To accomplish these goals a businessperson may need to hire
	abstracted workers, or seek the assistance of a security
	player.  Additionally, this player may need to contact a media
	person to help get publicity.  As an example, a player may be
	given a goal of developing software within some time limit and
	with some amount of money.  The player could then hire some
	coders to work on it, and additionally could consult with a
	security expert to help safeguard the work of the coders.
	Alternatively, the player could hire a smaller amount of
	coders, and consult with a security expert to steal some
	research from another company writing similar software, and
	then have his coders finish it up.  When he is done with the
	project, he could consult with a media person to have a
	product announcement.  The purpose of the business player
	class is to generate a need for hacker missions.  All of the
	employees the player hires are abstract, but the consultations
	are with other players.  Experience for a business class
	player will allow the player to hire better employees for
	fewer costs, as well as hold higher positions in the
	management hierarchy, and work for more prestigious companies.
	Some business goals may be able to be broken down and given to
	business class players under you, or may be contracted out to
	other businesses.  Experience is gained through successful
	project completion, and use of outside resources to help with
	project completion.  Unsuccessful project completion can
	result in some experience gain depending on level of
	completion.  When a project is completed, another project will
	be available, and there may be more than one to choose from.
	Possibly multiple projects can be worked on at once. 

Media:
	The media type player is involved with the news services of
	the game. The publications charge fees based on where the
	article will be placed, but pay submitters based on how many
	people click through the headline and read the full article.
	The submittal fees go down as experience level increases, and
	the pay increases with experience level.   Experience is
	gained based on exposure of the headlines and how many people
	click through for the full article.  Initially the player must
	submit articles through a wire agency, however a publication
	may make an offer of a staff position.  A staff position means
	that a user no longer has to pay a submittal fee, and news is
	more likely to be accepted, however pay decreases,
	additionally the publication may pay the submittal fee for
	articles submitted to other publications, but will take a
	percentage of the payment from that publication.
	Additionally, a media player may be involved with editing and
	would be involved in choosing which articles make it, and
	which don't. 

Game Balance:
	A goal of this game is to make a system that people will enjoy
	playing in, and will be self sustaining, only when the system
	can truly sustain itself will the creators be able to honestly
	play as regular players and have the fun they envision others
	have.  In order for the game to be fun and self-sustaining all
	types of characters must be viable, and a good mix of
	character types must be played.  In order to foster a good mix
	of characters, experience and monetary rewards will vary based
	on which classes there are too many players of and which
	classes there are not enough of.   

Money:
        The first concept for the monetary system will be inflation
        free.  Software prices will be constant; the same will be true
        for prices for the abstract people that business class users
        hire.  However money available to companies will vary, so
        business people may have different amounts of money to spend
        on security, and publications will have differing amounts of
        money to be able to spend for articles. 

Conclusions:
        This is an initial draft of the design document, and many
        things still need to be worked out.  Hopefully this will
        provide a good framework for the project to continue design
        work under, and once the design is sufficiently good,
        implementation can begin.  For the time being, the focus
        should be on design of the system as considered from the
        server side, but as soon as the server side design is fairly
        solid, work regarding the interface with the client side can
        begin. 



	Downlink Design Documentation	6 of 6