SHW said:
Hello everyone!
I am making an RTS game. And I am trying to find out what features people love and hate.
Currently I am making the very core. Which is a lot of programming haha.
The game takes place in the (near) future.
I have a basic idea of the main factions. More factions are possible (note: these are NOT their names, but basic descriptions):
- (Normal) Humans
- Religious mass murdering acolytes
- Stealthy rogue AI-implemented bad guys
I have some ideas myself. Please let me know what you think of these.
- A Research tree (faction orientated, minimal "common-type" research)
- A Unit-Creator (Create your own unit to throw into the fight)
More information is coming, but this is a free-time project.So I work on it when I have the time.
I would love to know what you people would like to see in an RTS. Or better yet, what you do not want to see. So I know what to work on and what to drop. Any feedback is welcome!
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I am new here, so if I made a (fatal) error in some way. Please do not throw tomatoes at me! Please?
I'm a bit of a turtle player, so I tend to like a lot of base-building, an an option for Co-op, because, hey... I like playing with my friends a lot. I like to be the big force that holds the line, while my friends soup up the big armies.
One thing concerns me though, your idea of a unit creator. I've noticed that StarDrive tried this a while back. Like with Mutant said, this might be something that is less suited for "Real Time" depending on how you implement it.
That being said... Here's my suggestions.
Paper! PAPER!
PAPER! Plan everything out first. Get your basic prototype off the ground, and make sure your engine works the way you want it before you get into the technicalities and balancing. You want a system where you, yourself can easily code units into the game and adjust any variables, before you deal with a lot of what you're worrying about.
Plan it out, how you're going to do it. Logic diagrams, understanding how time flows in your simulation, all of this stuff needs to hit paper before you type your first semicolon.
Also, play a lot of games. I know, it sounds fucking stupid, but trust me on this. The more games you play that pertains to your genre, the more you know about what ideas work, and what ideas don't. If I'm making a turn based squad management game, will X-Com's cover system work better? Or will a system similar to Front Mission 3 work better? Shadowrun had a cover system for a 2D battlefield, how did that work for them? What am I looking to achieve? What can I possibly innovate? Maybe having characters similar to that of Peggle, with their own abilities will work in a Tetris style game?
Second, make sure your engine is capable of what you want it to do. How are you coding the game? can it handle this? I done goofed with a game idea when I chose an engine that I couldn't make a proper link-list with. All of the time I had spent... Total waste.
Get a prototype going for your engine, and then show it to your friends. You're not working on anything until you have something to show for it. There is a psychological reason for this. Do not question it. Unless someone can install something on their computer and see some super basic functionality such as moving units around, you're not working on a RTS unless you're asking for help integrating a function, or resource. Trust me.
Once you've got your prototype, now's the time to work on a story, and a set of factions that will complement what your engine can do. Don't think about the cloaking abilities of your Faction 3 cyber-sniper unless you're coding a cloak/detection function for your units Mechanical work first, cool stuff after.
Don't work hard, work smart. Get in the habit of spending a few hours a day, and think everything through. And don't forget... This is a big project. But you can do it. Trust me, you got dis.