Thursday, August 12, 2010

[Concept] Gameplay Breakdown

ZX Project will play similarly to a Super Robot Wars game:
  • The game will be divided into numerous "Scenarios". In each Scenario, you will have to achieve one or more of a variety of goals (such as defeating all enemy units or protecting an allied unit) in order to proceed.
  • Scenarios are divided into Turns. The order goes as follows:
    1) Player
    2) Allies (units that work with you but aren't under your control)
    3) Enemies
    4) Others (units that are neither Allies nor Enemies)
  • A Turn consists of moving units around on the field and performing actions (such as attacking or using special abilities) with them. The Turn ends when all units have moved and performed an action (a unit that doesn't move is considered to have moved zero and inaction counts as an action). You may end a Turn prematurely.
  • Each Scenario takes place on a gridded battlefield. Units move around from grid square to grid square.
  • Units are like RPG characters. They have unique stats and gain Experience through battle. Gaining enough Experience levels that unit up and increases its stats.
    HP (Health Points) - Fairly self-explanatory
    EP (Energy Points) - All units require EP to attack. EP costs vary per attack.
    POW (Power) - The unit's power. The higher its POW, the more damage it deals.
    DEF (Defense) - The unit's defense. The higher its DEF, the less damage it takes.
    SPD (Speed) - The unit's speed. The higher its SPD, the better chance it can dodge.
    CRI (Critical) - Determines how often the unit lands a critical hit. This stat does not increase through leveling up like the other stats.
  • All units possess what are called "Special Abilities", or "SAs" for short. SAs are situational stat modifiers. For instance, a unit could have a SA that temporarily raises its POW stat when its HP falls below a certain amount. Most all units possess a SA from the start and all of them can learn new ones over the course of the game.
  • When units are felled in battle (their HP hits zero), they are not gone forever.
  • The battle formula is simple. The attacking unit attacks, then, if applicable, the attacked unit retaliates.
Depending on how development turns out, anything is subject to change. Hopefully, there will be no need to deviate too much from the plans. And, if everything goes completely smooth, the game may even incorporate one or both of the following:
  • Battle animations. Each unit will have animated sprites during battle.
  • Voice acting. Most all units will have voice acting during combat and perhaps during dialog cut-scenes as well.
An ambitious project to say the least, it is my hope that I can successfully make this game in a reasonable time frame. If you have any skills in computer programming or sprite art, drop me a line and let me know! I could always use a larger dev team. Just be willing to work for free.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The ZX Project Begins

I've been a huge fan of Super Robot Wars for a long time and have always lamented my inability to read and comprehend Japanese. One of my biggest desires is to play a SRW game but alas, I probably never will. However, I've decided that if I can't play the existing ones, I'll just make my own.

I'm an uber mecha fan. I like giant robots for some inexplicable reason. I'm also a fan of LEGO® models. In the past years, I've combined those two loves. I pretty much spend a good chunk of my free time creating LEGO® mechas. Comparatively, they may not be super impressive (ever seen that meter tall Gundam model?), but I take pride in my models because they are my own creations and they reflect my mecha-filled soul.

Some while back, I started designing a concept that was basically a mecha-only BrikWars. It fell through. The game was too complicated for anybody to feasibly play. It required too much math and keeping track of too many values to make the game any fun. However, in my efforts, I had built a PHP-based battle simulator to test battle algorithms. This inspired my new idea: creating an actual video game based on the SRW series using units based off LEGO® models. The game itself would have no reference to LEGO® at all, of course.

And so, here I am. I don't know how long it'll take but I'm going to attempt to write a video game in some C-derivative language (probably). This blog is where I'm going to coalesce all of my thoughts and progress alongside various game-related informations (characters, units, etc).