What the fuck's with Salt Lake Roasting Company?

Seriously, I love the location, the space, the wi-fi, and especially the free parking.

But their coffee is terrible, consistently, every time I go. They make you buy 5$ worth of stuff if you want to pay with card, and there's no way to leave a tip on the card. The lady who took my money abandoned me the moment our transaction was complete, without so much as a "have a nice day." The cookie, kept in an open air case, is stale. The croissant looks strange but tastes ok. And they only have splenda for the non-sugar crowd.

This feels like the old world of coffee shops. Elitist, sub-par, and uninviting. I wouldn't be here at all except that it's close to the university of utah, has free parking, and is big enough that I don't have worry about any one bothering me while I write.

Oh well.

A game idea that occurred to me today.

I was playing "Get Medieval" which is a network-capable clone of Gauntlet, and it occured to me that Gauntlet would be awesome if done as an arena shooter. A network capable, co-op arena shooter.

Here's the idea...

- Every level consists of several waves.
- Waves consist of bases spewing forth badguys
- The heroes are tanks, with turrets capable of shooting in any direction
- The heroes are furthermore protected by proximity defenses
- The heroes may also make use of super-weapons, which deals damage to everyone nearby
- These 3 weapons (the standard cannon, proximity defenses, and super-weapon) would be statted out, with different classes of tanks having different stats.
- The tanks would also have armor and speed differences, based on their class. The faster the tank, the worse its armor.
- The object of every level is to eliminate the waves.
- The terrain of every level would change, randomly, making every game unique
- Upgrades would spawn, and grabbing them would recharge health, recharge super-weapons, or provide temporary boosts to stats. Booster upgrades would last only a little while.
- The game would be multiplayer, tcp/ip playable. <-- This part I have no idea how to do.
- The game could be played with keyboard/mouse or duel-stick joysticks (x-box controllers and the like). The keys would control movement, the mouse direction of fire.

That's my idea, anyways. I don't have enough programming experience or time to make it happen, but it's fun to think about.

:)
--Joe