I've released four projects on Itch.IO - my proudest being Mars Lander (a collaborative project), but I now want to computerise a table-top war-game. I've gotten inspiration from battleship and ironclad war-games that have markers and rulers for measuring and paper-pads with hit boxes and rules for maneuvers etc. I look at those games as something that can be fun to play and also fun for me to code. I am not an expert at game design and coding but I'm not an amateur either. I have much to learn and I learn by doing things (don't we all). A 2D top-down table-top war-game will involve much math, trigonometry and calculations. There will be individual ships, missiles, groups of ships (flotilla's), laser turrets and the usual mayhem of combat. There will be lots of objects to track and code for and I think this will be a challenge I'm ready for.

Genre: naval fleet combat - but in the future.

Ironclads, WWI and WWII had behemoths launching shells and torpedo's at each other. I'm thinking of a twist: near-future battleships that use laser-turrets and airborne missiles to engage targets.

Format: turn-based

It will be turn-based like any good war-game but it will have simultaneous movement and firing. I think this is an intriguing mechanic that forces players to try to pre-empt their opponent when maneuvering and positioning. Sometimes it will work and you'll get an amazing broadside shot off and sometimes, well, you're on the end of your opponents broadside!

PVP LAN play

I have some experience in multiplayer programming over LAN (see Mars Lander) and also in machine-learning artificial intelligence. I hope to make this game both single-player against AI and two-player head-to-head over LAN.

Development approach

I'll use an AGILE style of approach where I'll build something super basic and rudimentary with wire-frames and terrible text-on-screen GUI's and incrementally build in more functions and gradually build up graphics and GUI's and add sound.

I've learnt that I enjoy projects more when I exercise patience and planning. This means time! This won't be a rushed project. I have a real day job and family and that remains my priority, but I can invest a lot of time into this and will chip away at it.

AGILE means releasing a lot of small updates frequently. I think this is a good way to demonstrate progress and to build a community and user-base. Some updates will be meh and some updates will be exciting. I think it's a good way to engage those following project progress. I'm an experienced and disciplined project manager and I'll be bringing those qualities to this project as well.

You will read in the next paragraph how I'm not going to jump in and start coding. I'll have a plan on paper about what the code will do, the code functions, the player experience, the pseudo-code, the GUI designs etc. I'll start coding only when I feel the game is technically feasible and within my skillset.

Collaboration

Mars Lander was a community collaboration and without a doubt brought some quality and polish to that game. I'm happy to collaborate again. If anyone is experienced in graphics or sound or marketing or LUA programming (Love2D) then feel free to contact me. I have a gmail account. It starts with togfox and maybe you can work out the rest. :)

What can I offer that might interest you? Vision, discipline, project management, experience, coding experience, control, empathy (you won't be a slave), patience.

Progress

I didn't want to post a blog that says a bunch of stuff without any real evidence so I'm posting my initial pseudo-code on what will be the main move/fire/damage game loop and also the likely data-structure and functions required to execute most of the game loop. It probably won't make sense to you - it's not meant to. It's just a little insight into how I will start planning for this project. Some 'objects' I've identified already:

• a nation will have one or more flotilla's (a group of ships)
• each flotilla will have a bunch of ships
• players will move ships by moving the flotilla. That is, all ships in the flotilla will move together
• players will each plan their movements and then watch ships move around the screen simultaneously
• players will each plan their combat/targets/firing and then watch combat results simultaneously
• the them is near-future naval combat. Instead of gun batteries with shells, there will be laser turrets with ... lasers.
• missiles will act like torpedo's of old
• the theme will be cyber-punkish (but not cyber-punk). Old mechanical ships with uninteresting technology will duke it out with high-tech lasers and missiles

I've been thinking about the type of game-play I'd like this strategy naval-combat game to be. This is perhaps a small point but I think it will be a tactical game (not strategic). I say 'tactical' because it will be combat at a ship level - not a large ocean. A little more micro level but not too micro. In fact, I'm thinking a mix between formations and ships. Let me elaborate.

Reading history books about glorious naval battles in the past (which were tragic in terms of human life) naval battles were largely about clashes between FORMATIONS. Squadrons of ships would be in formation and battleships would all maneuver in unison according to that formation. For command and control reasons (and survival), battleships did not maneuver independently. They followed the flagship and stayed in formation. I'd like to try to emulate that. I'd like to see if large formations of 10 - 20 ships can be navigated around a screen following different rules and logic. The player maneuver's the squadron/formation, and the ships within do their best to keep a coherent formation. And, just like in battle, a formation that breaks down causes chaos and mayhem.  :)  You might have seen old black and white photos of flotilla's four or five 'columns' wide with dozens of ships in formation. Capital ships are in the centre and smaller screening ships are in the outer columns. I think it would be historically accurate plus good game design to maneuver at this formation level.

Image source: dailymail.co.uk

Combat will be at a ship level. Two opposing formations will engage in combat by targeting individual ships. This lets you target flagships, battleships, cruisers, destroyers etc. You will be able to concentrate fire on a single vessel or spread the damage out across the squadron. Disabling a ship in the middle of a formation will trigger that formation to reform. There combat effectiveness might be impacted until the cohesion is returned. Line-of-sight will also be a thing so formation positioning and configuration will be important. Screening vessels on the fringes will block LoS to the capital ships. 'Crossing the T' is a naval strategy used to get the most number of broadside shots on an enemy formation. I absolutely want to replicate that so gun-turrets will have facings or fire-arcs. For example, a cruiser might have two guns facing forwards but 6 guns facing sideways. Obviously, you'll want to try to get a broadside shot but that means maneuvering the formation/squadron and that will be a challenge in itself.

Damage will be simple - vessels have hit-points and 1 hit means 1 damage. Damage will impact the ability to return fire and speed. Actually sinking a large battleship will take concentrated fire. Historically, these large ships were disabled and then scuttled.

I thought about making this hex based but I've decided to go 'free form' meaning full 360 degree maneuver and fire will be possible. So - a top-down 2D tactical war-game where the player maneuvers formations (squadrons) so that individual ships can out-range and out-combat other ships.

Sounds like a coding challenge!!  :)