Good Lords, fair Ladies!
We continue our story about the objectives of story missions in Diplomacy is Not an Option.
There is perhaps the most controversial game mechanic you may remember from classic RTSs of the past. We are talking about collecting a certain amount of resources.
We got it thanks to the plot. It's that rare case when the script got ahead of the game design. Later, while bringing this idea to life, we encountered something that the mentioned creators of classic RTSs probably encountered as well. Namely - this objective is absolutely boring.
But we really wanted to pay tribute to the games of the past, therefore we did our best. As a result, instead of the emotion you may have felt before, which can be roughly described as "When will this end already", you are going to feel something like "Haven't I collected everything yet? How am I going to get through the next day?".
To complete a mission, you must accumulate a certain amount of a specific, unique resource. A resource that is not needed by your economy and has no other function, but has some importance in the game's story. You can get it by killing certain enemies or destroying buildings of a particular type.
The key to figuring out how to make these missions fun lies in finding the balance. By tying the collection of this resource to combat, we made it more relevant compared to the regular mining of wood, iron, and stones. And of course, when, in the words of the classic, "people are dying for the metal", and the enemy continues to attack you (and your people are dying once again, but no longer for the metal), you begin to feel the value of the loot on your fingertips and can even express it in human lives. Speaking of which... Do you know who causes players to suffer the most casualties in battle? Bosses. But we'll talk about them next time.
Thanks for your attention, see you soon!
Yours, the Door 407 dev team