<Initial Rant>
When I was younger I was hooked big time on computer games. I guess I am what you can call a first generation computer gamer. That is unless you count the AT&T Bell geeks that created and played Pong during the seventies. I guess they are the real first generation.
But I was one of those kids that frequented the arcade gaming halls during the early eighties, and in the mid eighties I got my own computer, a Sony MSX quickly followed by a Commodore 64. It was official: I was hooked.
For years I gamed for far too many hours a day, neglecting all but the essential basics of life: food, sleep, girls, roleplaying and beer. When others worked, I gamed. When others studied, I gamed. Some would say I gamed too much. If I had been my own father, I'd put down some heavy restrictions, and way before I had reached that point.
Be that as it may. Suffice to say I was a major gaming junkie. Major.
But luckily for me I was curious as to how everything was glued together. So I started studying C++ and hardware and Photoshop and 3D Studio and Maya, another 3D modelling tool. I read the Games Developer Magazine and when Gamasutra.com surfaced, well, I enlisted as a member there too.
But life did not turn out the way I planned when I was 20. I got kids. I woke up and I got a job, like everyone else. The game developer career went out the window, I had grown too old, and I entered the consulting arena instead; a software mercenary. Coder for hire. Meaning I get to customize and improve our customers' applications for a loooot of cash. I got the cash but missed out on the fun.
So here I am, a dad in his mid thirties, with this insane amount of programming knowledge, with intimate knowledge of every aspect of game development, but precious little time and, honestly, a bit burnt out too.
But I want that game. I want to create a game, I can do it for sure, no problem. No problem but time.
</Initial Rant>
Technical Specifics:
Development Platform: Flash Game
Game Genre: Either post apoc or fantasy strategy rpg.
Game Type: Isometric view of map, with tactical combat simulations and leveling of main PC and his troops.
Game Goal: Secret approach that none has done before, but which will be uber cool. Reference: Old skool games like Elite, Defenders of the Crown, Ultima and Fallout.
So, I have decided upon using flash. While I lose freedom, it will be easier for everyone to play.
The game is mouse based, with different menus.
Main Game Surfaces:
- Isometric Terrain map for journeys and cities
- Close up map of combat terrain
Menus:
- PC Menu
- Troop Menu
- City Menu
- Settlement/Fort/Camp Menu
- Dungeon Menu
- Quest Menu
- Random Event response Menu
- Tactics Menu (When the hero can make tactical choices, which will be before battle and at some junctures mid-battle)
- Trade Menus (Caravan Market Menu)
Controls:
- Caravan controls when the hero is with a caravan
- Settlement controls when the hero is in a settlement he controls
- Hero and hero personal bodyguard unit control in battles
- Kingdom control when the hero is crowned king of a nation
- Faction control when the hero is elected faction leader
Battle Types:
- Full scale field battle. At first this will be limited to ten to twenty men fighting each other, but with time it may involve hundreds, if not thousands. Typically in the field and during sieges (on both sides of a siege)
- Single battle. The hero fights alone, or with a few companions. Typically in duels, arenas and dungeons.
Spice of Life:
- Custom made (not random) Quests
- Random events (life and death, boons and curses and more that affect the hero and his family)
Give me old skool or give me death.