Side scrolling, hack n' slash tower defense mech game.

That is the idea I hope to dedicate the next 4 months to. Originally I planned on only doing 3 months for a project but there's no better argument for extending that time than the fact that I thought 3 months was the right amount, meaning it surely wasn't. 4 months is not the hard and fast cut off but is when I want to have an MVP ready to be uploaded to my page. The exact scope and required features will be layed out in the first devlog but this blog will cover some of that.

The inspiration:

Army Of Darkness Defense

The core inspiration. I'm a sucker for a good tower defense, they really don't make em like they use to. This is the only game I've personally played that puts the player physically into a tower defense in this manner (I know there are games that do that, basically bloons but you are monkey, but I haven't played them). The core concept is as follows: Player must defend spawn point from finite enemy waves, having the abliity to personally fight, gaining currency from slain enemies to, order different troops and use special abilities. AODD also has a pretty rewarding upgrade tree, with several tactile and visually represented upgrades although the standard buff upgrade does exist

Big piloted suits of metal that wack enemies with comically large weapons and blast enemies with comically large ordinance. The player character, will be the pilot of a mech suit with similar size and philosophy. The mech suit will be a half broken relic, a glorified exo-skeleton until the player is able to gradually upgrade the mech to be more formidable.

The Loop

There is nothing more important to a game than the core loop, what the player spends the most time doing, the following is what must be completed for an MVP, all else being important, but secondary. The player fights waves of enemies, collecting currency to be used for immediate troops and abilities, and a second currency for upgrades that carry over. After each battle the player is brought to a store upgrades screen and then to a new level with increased stakes, troop do not carry over but that is an interesting option to be considered, perhaps more elite units like tanks can be retreated to retain veterancy but that is not an MVP goal. 

The Style

In terms of direct art style, I have no idea although I am considering 2.5d, with 2d sprites in a 3d environment. I am however considering the stylistic concept of the game. Do I want sci-fi soldiers vs zombies? Near future vs demons? I haven't entirely decided but I do find the idea that the player is a "strange man in a strange land", the player could be some sort of interstellar soldier that is stranded on a far away planet that comes under attack by infernal enemies. The player finds and repurposes an old mech exoskeleton to fight the hordes. The planet would be a backwater, practically medieval, slowly upgrading to more modern equipment as the player progresses.

The Next

That concludes what I have layed out for now, the game concept will  expand and change as it is developed. My philosophy is always to sacrifice nearly anything to ensure a finished product so to start I'm going to use asset packs (no AI don't worry) for all game art until I can either figure it out myself or find someone with actual talent, likely the latter. The next post will be Dev Log 0 where I create a game design document and set deadlines, I also hope to include in engine screen shots to start.