Blocky Space

I have a little time off now for my study break at university and I’m coming up with an idea for my next project that will commence next week. I have put a lot of effort into thinking about how to make the game enjoyable for an extended period of time and how it will take monetization into account as it is a major part of the 2nd project of the course I’m currently studying.

Essentially this Idea is an isometric game developed for mobile (android & iOS possibly with nvidia shield support) where players control a single Voxel Mech and travel through space shooting other voxel mechs in traditional shoot ‘em up format. The most enjoyable part of this game will be the ability to change parts before embarking on a journey. For example changing an arm will change the attack pattern and fire rate of one of your 2 weapons, changing the body/Cockpit will change the HUD and the visuals of the game. Players will occasionally receive in-game currency for a random piece of equipment to keep them hooked similarly to “crossy roads” and will also be able to purchase any piece of equipment of their choice for a fair price (possibly $0.99 but will require testing). Parts will be balanced to prevent the game from being a pay to win situation.

Characters

There is no real story or backstory to the game to have anyone considered a character, at least not at this point. But players will control huge awesome blocky mechs similar to the ones shown below (which I do not own nor did I create, they are used entirely as reference images).

(Animated Gifs: http://38.media.tumblr.com/3e46fde5bcd47d1845a46ddd23360f4e/tumblr_milgjd3bDW1rx4aplo1_400.gif & http://33.media.tumblr.com/ed1a0642ddb032c898bf1be6240f6dce/tumblr_mijqyrxckL1rx4aplo1_400.gif )

The designs would have to be a bit more colourful and flashy to prevent them from looking too grey and boring.

Parts

As explained earlier these mechs consist of different parts that the player can mix and match to make their own unique model. They will consist of a body, a right arm and left arm weapon and a set of wings.

Body will change the visuals of the game such as the HUD

For example one body will make the visuals the default like the left whereas another will add a blue tint and change the HUD to feel like you’re controlling a different machine on the right

Right arm and Left arm will change the weapons that the player uses

Weapons will vary in attack pattern and damage, for example one weapon can be a long never-ending beam that deals little damage that accumulates over time and another one can shoot small bullets in very random directions that deal more damage. Both arms will have the same available weapons and can use duplicates of the same weapon if they pleas

Wings will be your secondary weapon which have very limited ammunition but are also extremely powerful.

Players must carefully decide when to use these powerful weapons as they will only get additional ammunition for their wing weapons rarely (for example every 5 minutes or upon picking up a certain kind of item). Wings will also change the mech’s trail colour to add a bit more visual flare.

Below is a very simple mockup of what the part change screen will look like. It will be a lot more colourful and may be based on the visuals of the body part shown.

Item Pickups

Players will be able to pick up an in-game currency which will be collected very often to feel gratifying but prices for parts will be fairly high to prevent players from being able to purchase them too often which would remove the main income the game would produce through the monetization of purchasing of parts. This currency will be something related to space or mechanics like scrap for example.

Level generation

There are no levels in the game per se, but the game is essentially just one endless scrolling level made up of several randomly selected nodes that contain different enemies, obstacles and backgrounds. The challenge in this endless game is that as time goes on, the player increases in speed which may result in colliding with enemies, enemy bullets or obstacles. Different backgrounds will be used for each node to make the game more visually appealing.

Backgrounds

Backgrounds will be slightly faded at the top to allow blending between nodes and preventing the visuals from being jarring

Side by side:

Example of background fading

Obstacles

Static pieces of space junk will be scattered across level nodes that the player must avoid. Collision will result in instant death.

Meteorites act similarly to the space junk except they move forward slowly to make gameplay vary

Enemies

Colliding with enemies or their bullets destroy the player instantly

Normal enemies- these are the little wimpy mechs that you want to blow up just because they are so pathetic. They move slowly in a straight line and shoot very basic bullets that travel forward

Fast enemies- enemies that move very fast in comparison to the normal enemies and travel in a wavy pattern. They shoot crescent bullets that are fast and wide but they do not shoot them very often.

Heavy enemies- they are large, static and have lots of hitpoints. On occasion they will charge up energy for a while (players will be given visual feedback when they are charging) and release a long beam of energy for a short time.

Controls

Phone controls

Players will constantly move forward with the camera focused in on them.

Over time their speed will increase.

Players will need to avoid enemies and obstacles by tilting their device to move.

To fire their primary weapons they will tap the touchscreen or hold it to continuously fire.

To fire their secondary weapon they will tap the top right of their screen.

To access the options they will tap the top left of their screen

Shield Controls

Movement- left analogue joystick

Fire primary weapon- hold right trigger

Fire secondary weapon- press right bumper

Options- back button

Monetization

Possible to play game without ever purchasing anything

Player gets rewarded with mech parts

Over time rewards become less common

Randomization limits access to parts they want

Player has the option to purchase the parts they want if they want to