I can't help but be reminded of the old game Gorrilas were players each control a gorilla on opposite sides of a city and try and defeat the other player by throwing exploding bananas.



Game play ideas:

each player has a number of tiles to build improvements on placed randomly in their territory. The winner is the first to destroy all of the other player tiles.

3 kinds of structures. Techs, Defence, Attack.

Tech buildings unlock and enable other buildings and but don't provide offensive or defensive benefits. For example construction yard allows you to place an extra improvement each turn. A munitions factory allows you to build tri-missile launcher capable of firing 3 missiles a turn and unlock high explosive missles.


Defensive buildings would either blocker types or anti missile systems. Blocks can stop missiles that hit them but are only protect against so many hits turn and you can still take blast damage. Anti missile system have an area of effect and aren't always successful. For example em shield surrounds your country and detonates the first unshielded missile each turn. Flak cannon has a 25% chance to shoot down any missile in range.

Offensive buildings would consist of different kinds of launchers or missile platforms. A standard launcher fire 1 missile based on angle a turn. Others fire 3 or missiles a turn at variations of the same angle. Having the right combination of buildings would even allow you to build a nuclear missile capable of destroying most of the other country in a single turn.

I'd like to see it turn based where players build and plan in secret then have their moves executed simultaneously.

But real-time would be fun if it was more bullet hell type situation with a gesture base interface. In that case I see players gearing up huge missile salvoes to rain down on the other player while quickly switch to defence mode to direct their own defences. you could even have a macross style pinpoint shield that stops any attack but you have to manually move to block each individual missile.

Ooo! You could have a hybrid system for firing the missiles.

As in, you can build up your base little by little with what resources you have in real time for the entire game. Your missiles start out really weak though and they need to be "developed" over time. Couple this with like a prep time clock (a limited amount of time you can't fire in the beginning of the match), and the game becomes something like a cold war. Each player will be on edge, worrying that the enemy will fire any second, that their missiles aren't strong enough yet, that their defenses might not be able to stop their missiles.

In order to encourage players to play this way, you could have a charge up system that takes maybe 30 seconds to charge but give the player the option to fire right away (after the prep clock), but with a less damage. Then, as they charge their missiles, they have to fire them off to get more powerful ones. Kind of like building experience with every shot taken.

I'm just kind of snow-balling at this point and maybe pushing some scope-creep, but yeah, just throwing some ideas out.

I'm just kind of snow-balling at this point and maybe pushing some scope-creep, but yeah, just throwing some ideas out.

Ha, I guarantee we're in feature creep right now... I think it's just as important to pare down until you have what you want the core gameplay figured out.

Turn-based vs Real Time definitely fits into that "core" so I would consider the advantages/disadvantages of each before making a decision. Turn-based would give players more time to plan complicated strategies, but real-time keeps players enganged in the details of using the weapons/defenses (i.e., aiming). Personally, I think the chaos of real-time would be more interesting to play.

Dave's idea of having time to build up your base to a degree before missiles start flying I think would be a good idea regardless of style.