Clients

 

 

The Clients will be run by Players who wish to enter Uplink Online. In terms of visuals, the clients will continue the themes of Uplink (moody blue) but will operate more like a simple Window Manager. You will have the same software as Uplink - Browser, Email, Files etc, but they will all run as seperate windows which can be moved around on screen. Your array of hacker tools will be accessable under some kind of "Start" button. Higher resolutions will be essential.

Clients connect to the Uplink Online world through a Gateway. At first, Uplink Corp. will run the only Gateway pool. The players hardware will be stored in these Gateways - identical to Uplink. The connection then goes from that gateway to the Server they are currently connected to, possibly through multiple servers to confuse trace attempts. These Servers will be run by real people and will be real Uplink Online sites. It will be possible for a player to have more than one Gateway, and to choose which one he uses at log in.

It would be excellent if we could have a number of real-world tie-ins to these Clients. eg Voice Communications system (so you can talk to your fellow hackers, co-ordinate attacks etc).

The clients would also need a Map of the Net - this is a very complex issue as the Uplink Online net would be very dynamic, with Servers moving ang shutting down / starting up all the time. The player needs to be able to see the links between Servers. Popular parts of the Net should glow to indicate high activity.