I’ve been doing 7DRL every year since 2011. In the past I have usually really worked like a mad-man, but last year I took it easy. This year I plan to take the middle path: Actually accomplish something, but also not lose any sleep over it.
So, I went to bed thinking of ideas and woke up with a new interpretation of a recent design I was working on. It’s not going to be a roguelike, maybe more of a RLLL… turn-based and grid-based, but that’s about it.
It’s going to be a strategic space-fleet battle game. Players move their spaceships around a small battlefield. There are three different sizes of ships, and each kind does bonus damage against one of the other kinds, in a rock-paper-scissors sort of set-up.
I’ve been wanting to test something like this for a while, to see if it’s a viable idea, and if it’s *fun*.
Day One should be setting up the map, creating data files and sprites, and hopefully trying some player interaction and ship movement, maybe even some target shooting…
If I decide to include obstacles like asteroids or nebula, then I’ll need fog of war / line of sight. Those things would certainly add to the strategy aspect…
Then I’ll need to tackle AI. I already have plans for a “look at every possible move and evaluate it based on certain conditions” approach.
Finally, I intend to give it some nice graphical touches. People like it when spaceships explode, so I’ll see what I can do there. Of course, “nice graphics” is a relative term. Graphics are usually my least concern…
Anyway, that’s my plan for this year. I think I have gotten steadily less roguelike each year, but I’m fine with that.
Good luck everyone!
Bob
Well of enchantments was crazy (in the best way). Looking forward to what you make this year.