No new pics since the last update. I’m now rethinking my design.

The original design was very much along the lines of Sins of a Solar Empire mixed with a more traditional RTS and a dash of MOO (special planets). At this point, though, I’m really not confident of pulling off an enemy AI in the time I have left, and it was kind of going off-theme. So here’s the new plan – a dash of SAIS, a pinch of Sins, a smidgen of Star Control, and a liberal sprinkling of MOO2:

- The player is on a mission to this star cluster to find the Relics of the Ancestors. When you bring them together, something is supposed to happen.

- The player can colonize planets with a colony ship. I may remove the idea of building up the planets. Possibly the number of cities on the planet merely increases over time, leading to faster production and more income?

- The relics can be found by exploring the star cluster and conducting archaeological digs on planets with Ancestor ruins. First you must colonize those planets.

- Some planets are defended by hostile giant creatures (Space Crystal, anyone?). Those planets usually have good stuff and/or a relic.

- The player’s steps are dogged by these nasty aliens who drop out of a pocket dimension now and then. They will start arriving when the player reaches a certain level of power. The alien attacks come in waves which get stronger over time.

- Normally, each wave will contain a Virus Bomb – a special alien ship. If allowed to reach a player-owned planet and re-enter the atmosphere unmolested, the bomb will destroy all life on the planet, returning it to an uncolonized state.

- I may raise the stakes by turning the Virus Bomb into a Planet Buster that not only destroys all life but turns the planet into a molten wasteland – it can still be re-colonized but will produce no income.

- The aliens may also have other tricks up their slimy sleeves…

Will be going off to church in about an hour – good to clear my head. When I get back I shall have to go quite frankly nuts.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 12th, 2009 at 4:36 pm and is filed under LD #16 - Exploration - 2009. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.