Sun, Aug 3rd 2008, 16:23
Accidental Sabbatical
Sun, Aug 3rd 2008, 16:23
It's two weeks overdue, but here, at last, is an update.
I spent the first week (before I lapsed) working on
the new combat design. I hate to admit that the only
reason I didn't get an update up that Sunday was
because I kept (deliberately) putting off. This was
followed by a number of distractions, including going
out of town, getting caught up in a design for another
pet project, and my internet connection is breaking.
Again. It remains broken at present. I am sad.
Now, regarding the actual project. The new combat is
neat, but it (like everything else, it seems) just
doesn't feel right. So, I've been toying with a lot
of different ideas, hoping to find something that
really clicks.
A brief history of the combat system:
The original intent of this game was to have a light
strategy game woven into some white-knuckle action
sequences. While the original combat would have
accomplished this, it was doomed to being either
too hardcore to pick up, or too easy to have been
worth including at all. Neither of these was
acceptable and a middle-ground would've just made
the whole experience feel watered-down.
A whole smorgasbord of new combat system plans
followed, the more recent of which are the
falling-blocks puzzle and the as-of-yet unmentioned
large-scale tactical warfare. While each of these
has their merits, they were all too complex,
requiring a mountain of menus for the player to
navigate just to get to the action.
So, I've stripped it down with simplicity and
accessibility as my primary goals. As it stands
right now, in combat you get one vessel. You use
that vessel to destroy a single other enemy
vessel. You'll have the ability to trick out
your ship with a number of parts and gadgets
to keep things interesting, but the essentials
are all very simple and straightforward.
Provided I haven't changed my mind yet again,
next week I will offer more details about the system
and what progress has been made with it.
