Brainstorm Game Idea #2

The next idea for a game I'd like to create is called Adapt. Now I know this game idea is highly unlikely I'll ever do anything like it, however I've always wanted to try and formulate the idea as a game.

The basic idea for the game is that the premise for each game is always the same. However, each game should be very different as user created content should be as important as in the communities in Blizzard games, where most of the best content is actually created by the excellent map creator tools in the games.

Story
The story is fairly simple: In a strategy/turn-based/civilization styled game, a group of survivors crash-land onto an unknown planet which supports life and development. On this new planet, the group of survivors must adapt to their new conditions and develop a civilization that's uniquely defined by the conditions of the particular instance of the game. For example, a very story-driven game might contain the group of survivors moving through the planet at different sites of mythology in order to unlock a secret to escaping. In another scenario, the survivors settle down and strive to build a civilization in the middle of a harsh jungle. In a third scenario, survivors battle other civilizations and acquire their technology through warfare. In any scenario, there might be victory conditions (like 5 generations of survivors, or escape the planet etc.) or the scenario might let the user expand as far as he/she likes.

Gameplay
The gameplay is at the heart of the game, and by definition must be very complex. However, first versions of the game could be simple. The gameplay should contain two parts: One part, in which the player plays scenarios created by others/the developer. The other part allows the player to create new content in a very flexible way. Users could create resources or use predefined ones that set a particular pace of the game. For example, a standard approach would be that players of the scenario had to mine wood and harvest food in order to survive. Each cycle of buildings and developments unlocks a new ressource to be harvested in an Age of Empire style lifetime. The user can also create new resources and define rules for them ingame. For example make a new resource called Greed which might fluctuate based on the level of gold accumulated. The ideal setting for the user created content would be a mix of a programming like environment, where the user can program new limits and ressources - and a drag'n'drop setting where pre-defined resources can be selected (such as Sploder).

Technology
Ideally, this is an Unreal technology based game with 3d like graphics in the style of Starcraft 2 or other new RTS games. However, as this is also very unlikely in this course a basic version could be made in the browser. All graphics are imported from other sources. This basic version should not contain the map creation part but only contain pre defined scenarios.