01/06 Concept Begins

This blog will act as the dev diary for our new mobile game. I [Jazz] will be keeping track with development by posting updates here, through pre-production to release, with input and feedback from the rest of the team. 

Chris Leyshon has joined the party! [As Lead Programmer]

 

Concept

Based on the market research I blogged about earlier, I came up with a small concept for a F2P phone game. The player-character would enter an endless labyrinth, where they would have to survive enemy attacks.
The breakdown for this game would be as follows:

• The game will be divided into ‘levels’ that would be separate mini-mazes.
• Number of enemies that spawn will increase as the player progresses
• Killing all enemies in a maze will give the player access to the next level
• Procedurally generated top-down 2D mazes. Edit: After talking with Chris, we have decided that creating modular rooms and paths would be a better way to move forward.
• At the base-level the game flow would be:

1.     Enter game

2.     Fight monsters

3.     Continue to the next level

4.     Survive as long as possible

5.     Repeat

Monetisation

To minimise removing the player from the experience, the game will be monetised through 'buffs' that can be accessed from the overlay that appears before games/between levels/after death. The player will be able to spend a single F2P currency to add the buff to their character. These buffs will be persistent through a single playthrough.

The main thing I will have to consider next is player retention

Level Design

Examples of grid sections. 

At the moment we are not sure on maze/level size/shape; first thoughts are that the full maze wouldn't have to be a perfect grid. The shape of the individual levels will not necessarily be important, but the numbers of rooms and overall size may increment difficult, therefore we will need to be careful with how we generate mazes. This will likely be easier to decide on once some of the base mechanics are in place.

 Procedurally generated dungeons from 'Dark cloud'

The maze itself will be randomly generated from modular pieces we create. Of course, all grid pieces would need to be connected directly with the starting grid piece and be passable, the square areas would be considered 'rooms'. And all grid sections could be any rotation [0, 90, 180, 270].

Art

We do not yet have an artist on our team, though we would like the game to be played with a classic Zelda-style top-down pixel art if possible. 

Dungeons of Dredmor

A great, modern example of the view and dungeon-style game we are looking for is Dungeons of Dredmor. It is an extensive game in comparison to the type of game I have in mind, though it has turn-based monster attacks which could be easier than fast-paced fights for mobile.