![]() ![]() Resource gathering will be in fits and starts. I specifically want to create a strategy game in which a constant flow of income is not to be expected. I went into this above, but let me state again: one main theme of this game will be resource pressure. So, we have a setting in which a number of machines have gained sentience on a planet left barren by the constant warring of Protoss and Terran forces, trying desperately to survive. Ideally, I have other plans, but this is sufficient for the time being. In the context of this being a StarCraft 2 Arcade title, I’m allowing that these ‘higher civilizations’ are in fact the Terrans and the Protoss, since for the time being I have to use SC2 models for terrain, units, doodads, structures etc. Let’s collect all of these things above to produce an elevator pitch of sorts for the setting: a small group of social machines, cobbled together from the leavings of a higher civilization, struggling against resource scarcity in the context of a post-apocalyptic world. All weapons and creatures encountered are cobbled together out of the leftovers of a previous civilization that is little understood by the current inheritors of the world.Īlso, the 2008 WALL-E contained some scenes in the early minutes of WALL-E repairing himself with pieces of his broken-down garbage compacting comrades, and clear indications of his programming mutating over the years, giving him something closely approaching sentience. In the film 9, we witness the struggle of a small group of social, intelligent machines mostly intent on survival against the monstrous threat of a single artificial intelligence intent on harvesting their unique power source as a resource for its continued production. Now, this doesn’t translate well into RTS mechanics, but its pressures are something I very much am interested in exploring. In The Road, we’re far enough into the apocalypse to see stores picked bare and homes looted years long past, and merely finding sustenance on a day to day basis is nigh-impossible. ![]() The Road is notable in a number of ways, especially for being set in a post-apocalypse scenario in which all readily available resources (in its case, mostly food) have long since been removed from obvious places like stores and private homes, a huge contrast from settings like the Walking Dead in which it is relatively easy to find sustenance and weapons, only procuring them is difficult thanks to hordes of zombie Walkers. 2 of my original inspirations were in fact Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road, and by Tim Burton’s film 9. Being a ‘scarce resource’ RTS, it seemed fitting that the setting be post-apocalyptic. The working title of this mod is Remnants, by the way. Hopefully the fact that I’ve sourced it will be sufficient. Should the original author express frustration in my copying of his work in this location, I will happily take it down. ![]() I am given to understand that these are two common approaches to games design, but have yet to grok the second approach in a meaningful way. As much as I fancy myself an ersatz game designer, I fancy myself one who starts with a thematic or story concept and builds mechanics around that, instead of starting with a mechanical system and building a story around those parts. I’m going to approach this in what is a logical order for me: starting with the game’s setting and inspirations, moving on to the themes I’m hoping to capture mechanically, then on to the game’s salient systems, factions and faction design, and the conclusion which will contain a rough timeline for implementation. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this and/or shares their feedback. I won’t be sharing this widely on social media, since again this is mostly for me. Mostly for my own edification, I’m going to write up a brief and broad overview of the project, outlining the theme, salient features, inspirations, and my overall goals for the project. A couple months ago, I wrote up a thought experiment about a strategy game in which no resource was plentiful, a so-called “ scarce-resource RTS.” Since then, I’ve been working on a mod for StarCraft 2 intended to prototype and experiment with this idea. ![]()
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