Moving Forward

After a short and busy senior year there is again time to work on other projects and come up with different ideas. Among these goals are a revisit to Project SAND, as well as testing out some of the other design ideas I have been stockpiling for the past several months.

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Project SAND has come a long way from being just an idea of what it would take to make a decent Rogue-Like, but it still has a long way to go. Among the first things on my plate to implement combat and the item systems. The combat system will allow the different types of enemies to stand out, with the basic triangular enemies being melee focused, the stationary prisms acting as turrets, and the split enemies acting as support. To add to this the split enemies need a better method to run away from the player, so they can more reliably gain distance between themselves and the player.

The item system is already partially in the game. The player already holds one in each hand and I will only need to add an output to the items so 'using' them is possible. Currently the level, the enemies, the chest, and the items in the chest all contain 'elements.' These elements build a network of weaknesses, strengths, and unique attributes. The hope of this system is that players can always mix up what items they are using in order to create interesting game-play. The polish for these systems will begin once both are fully implemented, then additional systems will begin work.

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There are several side prototypes that could prove interesting to work on as well. The first project, currently titled "Ouroboros" is an abstract environment simulation where I plan to create basic AI that strive to survive in a dynamic environment. This project will also include more research into ecosystems in order to produce a relatively realistic representation of energy flow in the environment.

Another project I have in mind is based solely around the controls. This project, that has no current title, is based around high speed and precision (similar to that of some of the highest difficulty bullet-hells) and uses the mouse to both control the players precise movement, but also their attacks and defense. Currently the idea is the player works with this high speed and a small, but quickly recharging energy pool, to both avoid incoming attacks and defeat enemies in a top down dungeon crawler. The current plan for targeting is based around using WASD to alter which target the player is facing, with each directional shifting focus to the next target that is in that direction.

Last of the main ideas is a UI design challenge of creating and balancing a 3d progression tree. This tree will allow users to begin from one of several 'roots' and work their way up the tree. The exact layout of the skills, what they do, what kind of a game they are grounded in, exc., are all to be determined, but the primary objective for this step is creating the framework to build this tree and navigate it. The second goal of this project is to develop a dynamic way to add progress to this tree. Rather than selecting individual skills to work along my plan is skills you use open up paths to other skills on the tree. The more you use these skills the more these doors open. You progress then by preforming given activities to allow exp. to 'flow' to the skills that your actions open, and to keep these skills progressing you keep using them. The end goal of this system is to make it so players can create a build around their play style, without bringing them out of character while trying to develop additional skills.

I aim to begin work on these projects as soon as possible and will begin populating the "Prototypes" tab with design updates. Progress will be reported here and I expect that won't be far off.

Happy Designing;