About a year ago, I realized this game project was unsustainable. I should have been aiming for a minimum viable product, so I could play through it and evaluate the ideas I was putting into the game. Instead, I kept changing the features on a whim, and re-balancing the minutiae despite not having an idea of the bigger picture. This game would never be finished.
So, I decided to make three games instead of one.
And then there were three
In a way, it’s more work – but it’s a necessary step to releasing a finished project. Each game concept is focused. By completing smaller projects and working my way up in complexity, I’ll be able to learn how to successfully complete a game without feature bloat.
Here are my concepts:
1. The Club
In this world, there are cliques and cliches.
The DJ at your local gay club is possessed by a demon!
… Or something like that.
The point is, he won’t accept your song suggestions.
Win as many people onto your side as possible and confront the DJ!
Style
Comedic, irreverent
Neon colours
Chiptune dance music
Gameplay
Goal: Recruit as many party members as you can, and then challenge the boss
Start with a randomized party
1 of each class
random character names
random equipment
Item descriptions are silly
Recruit new party members
By winning them over with a rock-paper-scissors dialog system
Or recruit them in battle (on the dance floor) by using moves that boost their Climax
Combat
Simple, turn-based
Recruit enemies by boosting their Climax
Or quickly send them home by chipping away at their Stamina
4 character classes
Jock
Twink
Bear
Queen
Play time: 10~20 minutes
2. The Mountain
In this world, city states cling to the world’s peaks, and the lands below are swamped with choking miasma.
For short periods, storms sweep away the toxic air. At these times, scavengers from each kingdom must forage for supplies.
Gather 10 rations and 10 salvage. Then return to the mountain plateau before the miasma returns.
Battles with enemies and journeying between areas will each take 1 hour. You have 24 hours to complete your mission.
Style
Light on story, heavy on mechanics
Bright, fantasy palette
Humanity will be run-down, but nature will be thriving
Music that evokes mystery
Gameplay
Focused on a tight time-limit, and meaningful mechanical choices
Every meaningful action takes 1 hour from your total 24 hour limit
The item economy is tight: you can use a Ration to heal your party, but you need to keep at least 10 rations to complete the game
Journey down a mountain through a small series of maps, making choices about whether to battle or avoid enemies
In future: Possibly expand into a rogue-lite style where you start from scratch at the beginning of the run after each failure – but with character EXP saved
In future: Possibly build more maps than absolutely required, so they can randomly shuffled at the beginning of each run, creating a more unique experience
On-map enemy encounters
Transfer to the battle scene when touched
Some sort of naturalistic behaviour, not exclusively rushing the player
You can hear them before you see them
In future: positional sound
On-map points of interest
Luck-based objectives, eg. you encounter a well and can’t tell if it’s dry or not; choose whether to spend 1 hour seeing if there’s anything useful in it
Treasure chests
Have a chance to be locked and require 1 hour to open
Have a chance to be a mimic monster
Have a chance to be a straight-up reward at no cost
Frequently surrounded by enemies
Item descriptions hint to a greater backstory of the world
Combat
Turn-based, Action Point (AP) system where characters can take multiple actions per turn
Battles will heavily utilize a vertically stacked row system
Players can change between rows at any time with a small AP cost
Some classes are close-ranged and need to be on the same row as an enemy, while other classes prefer not to be
5 character classes
Knight – can defend allies on the same row (by drawing enemy aggro and passively reducing damage taken by allies), and knock enemies up or down to other rows
Archer – want to climb higher than foes because they get bonus damage from being higher than their targets
Mage – has situational spells, like lightning that strikes only the top row; possibility of friendly fire to units on those rows
Scholar – causes persistent debuffs to entire rows
Medic – heals and supports allies
Play time: 45~60 minutes
3. The Mines
(aka Silent Ashpit, formerly Four Corners Quest)
In this world…
criminals are used as forced labour.
Descend the mines.
Pay your debt.
Style
Atmosphere of dread and futility
Ooky-spooky aesthetic – washed out with pops of red
Ambient soundtrack
Gameplay
Combat
Turn-based, Action Point (AP) system where characters can take multiple actions per turn
Can manipulate the stage: eg. spilling oil, then lighting it on fire
4 characters, each with a back-story and narrative goal
Focused on money, loyalty, and a buried ancient evil
Character loyalty system for making choices that line up with the character’s motivations
With rewards for making characters loyal to you OR fear you, so it’s not too prescriptive
Possibly also an insanity system, so characters you’ve abused too much will have a more negative description of how their lives turned out at the end
Get to the end via a number of different routes
Individualist: Pay off your debt
Nihilist: Side with the cultists and unleash a great evil
Revolution: Defeat the guards and break out of the work camp
Traditionalist: defeat the great evil and lock it away for one more generation
4 base character classes, which each have 2 specialized subclasses, for 12 total
Cultist (Glass-cannon magic class)
Dark Priest
Necromancer
Sellsword (Well-rounded physical class)
Iron Fist
Berserker
Sawbones (Healing/support class)
Mastermind
Puppetmaster
Thief (Debuffer and pickpocket)
Rogue
Assassin
Estus-like healing system
You can get 4 rations free each time you exit the dungeon and return to town
Can request any combination of healing potions or power-up potions until to 4 total
This creates a risk-reward system where players can either power themselves up or heal themselves
Money is your primary tool for advancement
Is used for unlocking plot on one particular path, but it will provide useful rewards even if you’re not perusing that ending
EXP may still be used for regular level-ups, but those will be weighted less important than equipment, which will be expensive
If you find weapons in the mines, you have to pay to have them identified before they can be used
