Devlog #1
When I started the journey to make SoE, I had a very clear image of what I wanted the game to be and how it would play. I also had a very clear budget on how much I could spend to create the game. As development carried on, it became very clear that the full idea wasn’t going to be possible, but I could probably make a fun bullet hell as a shell and then after release I could add on to it to fill in the gaps that were left by the budget. But after some thinking about it, in order to try and reach as many people as possible I will need to add on to the game anyways. It’s pretty hard to advertise a $2 game after all. So, while the game is in it’s infancy I will leave the price as is, but as I add to the game to make it full and complete, to be the final vision I had for it, the price will also need to increase. But I do have quite a few ideas to get there in the meantime. The updates are going to be as below.
The Boss Update
One of the last things I had to cut from my original design were the bosses of the levels. While the game has certain special encounters that come up to try and break up the waves, the bosses I want to be super challenging encounters that offer permanent upgrades to the mech that you can't find anywhere else if you beat them at the end of the level. I also don't want them to be the same for each level, so have a few that the game can select randomly. A couple of small changes to the game as well, like a new level to include, new weapons, new upgrades, and a new animation to bring the mech a little more to life. And also Steam achievements.
The Multiplayer Update
I would love to have a multiplayer mode for the game as well to try and compete against friends, and have a co-operative mode as well. I think with the dynamics that the game has it would lend itself greatly to a multiplayer format. For the competitive mode, customize your mech’s weapons and face off against a friend or random to collect upgrades through a standard amount of waves and then face off against one another for glory! And then co-operative would be exactly that. Have a short adventure mode with friends through a few short events that you can vote on to try and progress to your target boss to beat. I’m thinking something similar to the old Ninja Turtles games but allow people to vote which level to go to next like the star fox 64 select screen.
The Adventure Mode
By far it will be the hardest of the modes to build. Create a whole story to try and beat. I would like the end to be accessible from the start of the adventure, and then having to get strong enough to face the end by chasing down different upgrades while trying to survive through the world. Will need to create more levels enemies, and upgrades for this. Would be the final step to the finished game.
I think once these additions are added to the game, I would be happy to move on to another game. While I'm unsure how fast these devlogs will come, I will try to update everyone as the updates come to me. But until the next one, stay cool out there pilots!
Thunderhoncho