Completely overhauling my game
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- čas přidán 5. 08. 2024
- WISHLIST Star Mining Co. on STEAM:
store.steampowered.com/app/25...
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Chapters:
0:00 Why it sucked
1:48 THE DRILL
2:56 Lessons learned
3:49 Other updates
5:27 Wishlist NOW!
I'd originally intended my game to be a deck-builder, but I've realised that it's just not a good fit :( In this devlog I completely change the direction of the game and I'd love to hear your thoughts!
#devlog #indiegame - Hry
WISHLIST Star Mining Co. on STEAM:
store.steampowered.com/app/2584800/Star_Mining_Co/
Ngl this seems like a really fun concept for a game. I think you've hit on a great design when ideas (like for modules) start flowing naturally and it's not hard to come up with a bunch.
Thanks so much! It's a great feeling, especially when I was struggling so much with the previous design!
One thing that might be fun is to have drill inertia be an important thing to balance. So you could drill nothing which makes it start spinning faster and dealing more damage for harder ores. But drilling through items slow it down depending on the hardness. That way you could integrate some different modules for maximum inertia you can store, how fast it charges, and how quickly it transfers damage to the rocks at expense of it's inertia
So you could have a slow drill that churns along reliably, or you can have a fast and explosive one that plunges you through the rock for short bursts!
This is a really interesting idea! I've made quite a few changes since this devlog (I'll make another one at some point soon I think!), and one of those changes is to make the drill run off air instead of money, and there are drill parts that can reduce that cost. I wonder if I could sort of combine the air with a similar thing to the inertia, so that you can charge up the air (build up pressure?) to do a big blast all at once?
Something to think about, thanks so much for the suggestion!
You could add explosive and corrosive materials, where you would have to take them into considerations. Maybe a normally solid acid that melts when you drill around it because of the heat or a highly explosive powder found in asteroids. If you risked it, you could try to scoop it up and use it as a placable explosive, but you would risk getting hurt and destroying fragile resources. There could be crystals which break if not careful. There is also potential for material alchemy which could be extremely fun, like mixing acid and crystals making more crystals + corrosive gas whcih you have to avoid. And if you added something to the gas, it could either freeze or turn explosive, providing you with even more of an insane system. Of all the ideas I have, alchemy is by far the best. If you provide a good enough sandbox, the players will surely come stay. Chaos is really fun. If you give the players the power to turn the whole asteroid into acid, they will do it. And we will enjoy every second of it. Check out OE Cake
Might have posted the same comment twice. Not sure, but youtube often deletes my comments. I must be on its naughty list
Alchemy would be a LOT of fun to add! Unfortunately I don't think my game is really set up to handle anything like that :( I really like your ideas though, some really good ones!
I can imagine liquids and powders to be a pain to simlate on a spherical world, unless you made it so that everything outside a small radius freezes because of the cold, but it would still be problematic.
Idk if this you would want this, but I think adding enemies may make things more interesting
And they needn't damage you, they may even help you if you can change their behaviour with mechanics.
For example, an enemy that eats rocks but poops out higher precious rock, they may be scared of sounds since it is an enemy that digs and mostly rely on vibrations.
Another one could be enemies that crawl around the tunnels like ants, moving rocks to their nest. If they were left alone and they see a valuable item, they will take it to their nest, so keep track of them.
One that tries to crawl on top of you and collapse a part of the tunnel, may be useful if your drill digs down faster.
One that lives in the core of the asteroid, it may burrow up and go back to steal your rocks, but if you were determined to drill down, they have a special ability as money for "upgrades" or even temporary secondary weapons like constant grenades (could be a nod to your past vision).
That is all I could think for now. I hope you can come up with more interactions especially in a physics based engine.
All feedback is very welcome! These are some great ideas! I really like the idea of adding some more dynamics to the asteroids and breathing a bit of life into them, I'll have to see what I can do without letting the scope creep get out of hand though hahaha 😅
Thanks so much for the comment!
You could even hide enemies until you actually detect them, being digging into their tunnels or using tools (radar?), or by having make them noise when digging themselves
And the cards, has a "one time per asteroid" mechanic doesn't have to be scrapped totally, you could find strong power ups that help you secure a location, or increase the value of ores around a beacon that you can only place once
But otherwise, it looks promising already and the video was super insightful!
Some more excellent ideas! I've been hesitant to add enemies because I don't really want to make the game about killing, but the idea of having some neutral mobs is really interesting!
That's a good point about the cards too, I'll see about adding some one-time buffs!
Thanks for the comment!
Looks pretty rad, kinda reminds me of Cortex Command in a way! I definitely think pivoting was the right move here for sure
Thanks! I had to look up Cortex Command, but I can definitely see where you're coming from!
I think the pivot opens up a lot more opportunities for interesting gameplay for sure!
I believe that the card system could still be re-implemented alongside the drill. Some of the cards (depth charge) and the card upgrading system could still make each "run" exciting because they could add a bit more variety. You still get to choose when to use your card powers, without them completely locking out any additional gameplay after they are gone
Interesting idea! Definitely could see some sort of power ups being added! I think cards were just a bit boring when they were the sole focus, but could definitely add some flavour to the gameplay!
Yeah, the drill is cool, but having some big, punchy explosions a few times per asteroid could be fun.
Looks really neat! Have you considered a mechanic where parts of the asteroid interior are not known/visible to the player from the start, and needing to do scanning, surveying, or depth charges?
Thanks! I have thought about it but haven't gotten around to trying it out yet, would definitely add a lot more options for upgrades/power ups!
@@BarneyCodesan idle thought, but with that "fog of war" you could even introduce dangers like gas pockets or volatile areas that asplode if you hit them. Perhaps instead of outright killing you they blast off a chunk of the asteroid, losing you the ability to mine that chunk.
The Game remindes me off "To The Core", not sure if you've heard of it before? It might be a good reference :)
Thanks, yea I got a few comments on an earlier devlog about it, it looks really interesting! I think this will end up being quite different from To The Core, but still nice to see what other asteroid mining games are doing :)
An itresting power up would have been something like:
you drill bigger area but you get less resources - and reversed
a drill specialized in mining certain resources while making it harder to drill trough other / making other give less of resource
a drill needing to heat up (making it faster the longer it is running) while costing the same amount of money the whole time (which would be increased by this upgrade)
a secondary drill that would mine behind you which would increase the cost by 40%-75%
a heavier drill wich would make it easier to go down to the core but not up to the surface
These are some cool ideas, thanks for sharing!
I've already got some parts that do similar things to what you mention (stronger drilling straight down than up, drills that specialise in certain materials), but there are some other really good ones in here!
Hey, this the first of your videos on this game I watch. If you haven't played Motherload (Goldium Edition included with Super Motherload on Steam), you might want to. It's incredibly addictive - Perhaps you can steal some of it's "feel"? ;)
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out!
Wait… I think I saw the exact same idea being made before…
Oh really! Do you remember the name of it by any chance? I don't want to copy any one
This is the first I've seen from this project, but "Pixel-based terrain that you can drill through in a deck building game" sounds a lot like Noita
I haven't actually played Noita, but I suppose the concept is a little similar when you put it like that. I do think they're quite different games though, and there is no chance my game will be anywhere near as good as Noita!
It was a good decision ! But having to ask you something that important may reveal you should take more time to design your game
You should maybe give you one or more weeks trying to imagine your mechanics in depth
Unfortunately I don't feel like I've got the luxury of taking so much time with decisions if I want to get things done on this project. Having said that, I try not to do things on a whim as well! I did plan out this change before making it!
I think it's good to follow your inspirations, as long as the development is fun. otherwise, it's work (which it can be for some)
Question: what happens if you run out of money? do you just lose bc the drill doesn't work anymore?
he said in the video that if your money runs out you lose so yeah
It's slightly more nuanced than what I said in the video. At the end of each asteroid, you sell the resources you've mined back to Star Mining Co. (the mega-corporation you work for), and they take a slice of the profits for themselves. If you can't afford to pay the corporate cut, then it's game over
If you run out of money in your bank while mining an asteroid your drill will stop working (although there are some drill parts I've got planned that will help you out there), but if you've mined enough resources to cover the corporate cost you'll be okay!