Good morning all,
As a part of an assignment for class, I need to seek some feedback concerning some concept ideas I have for a game I am designing. I greatly appreciate the feedback. I fumbled the ball a bit and waited until the last minute to post this, so the quicker someone can respond, the better. Sorry for trying to rush everyone, I'll be a bit more up on deadlines in the future.
Premise:
Earth is no longer habitable, humanity must escape the clutches of a dying planet. There are five factions of people who fight to gather resources and knowledge to make an extra solar trip and try their luck among the cosmos. After acquiring the needed knowledge and resources finding a planet suitable for human life is the next step, but things are never as easy or straight forward as they might seem. Upon landing at the newly discovered homeworld for the human species the task of rebuilding human society is placed in direct conflict with alien terrain and dangers unknown.
Each faction will have strengths and weaknesses. A balanced approach to unit/resource development will help prevent one faction over the other (from a design perspective)
Design concepts (this is the part that needs the feedback, primarily. I will gladly accept feedback on other parts of it as well):
- Seamless interface, unlike other RTS style games this game will not feature a great deal of menus separate from the main play screen. Building/training queues, resource distribution, political uprisings, and the like will all be managed from the main screen.
- Each faction will feature a unique design to the look and functionality of the playscreen as well as the menu system, unit/tech trees, and the like. Within one of the few menus separate from the main game screen will be a themed menu tree, where if players want to get specific information about a given topic they can seek it out, however the screen will also act as a warning system of sorts for incoming dangers; growing political strife, incoming attacks, lack of resources, weather situations, and the like.
- Waypoint system. Unlike other RTS games the waypoint system will allow for automated patrols to be set up. Coupled with the defensive/offensive posturing system this can be used in many styles of play. Contrary to many other RTS games the resource collection will not be automatic per the unit. The player has to select the unit, the path to/from the resource gathering point. This allows for the creation of trade routes and "game trails" so to speak to avoid detection from foreign units and other natural obstacles. By allowing the player to designate the units to do the task this also allows for a customization in the economy of the game. In faster units players can receive influxes of resources more quickly, but the units are weaker in armor and storage capacity to the more traditional units.
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Incoming focus brings camera attention to any incoming threats. Threats are defined as offensive attacks from outside of the camp or internal areas of concern such as disease or fire outbreak. Task is accomplished by pressing the I button.
I've included a screen shot. Now this is NOT anything that I own any rights to, it is not a game screen and is only being used as a reference point for what I want the main window to look like (roughly speaking anyhow). The image itself was taken from a screen shot of someone's augmented desktop through the use of Rainmeter. I've added some arrows to point out areas where I would include different informational segments. This would be a valid representation of one of the more well to do factions.
I can include additional information if it is requested. I am open to feedback of all sorts.
