Keep in mind that the prototype demo is super rough, so don't expect it to be polished or balanced. It's more about getting a feel for the game could turn into. Also, I've been notified of a bug where - the longer you wait to hit the "fight" button, the more enemies will rush your base. So don't stall for long if you don't want to get obliterated haha
Some ideas: Neutral monsters. Sort of like jungle creeps in LoL or what have you. Some option for players to get resources not through defeating enemies directly. Enemy Kings. Fighting a tower doesn't feel as cool as defeating a boss of some sort, some additional threat you have to overcome to actually attack an enemy vs defending from it. As it seems as if defense = attack atm. Travelling merchants. You could have merchants come in time-gated fashion to have options for the player to trade. Roguelike? You could possibly make this into a roguelike, considering the amount of variety that could be added to this. THIS is the best prototype!
Great game concept! I think I'd like to see the defeated islands stay as part of your island, or there's a gameplay decision to determine whether you keep an island that attacked you (because it had a special terrain or unit feature) or sink the attached island once it's defeated and claim an island building piece. You're a big inspiration! 👏
So I have to say, I see lots of vids and ads for indie games that look great, but I never feel like I want to play. But this, this has stayed with me. I want to play this. Definitely on to something here. Awesome work!
Seems like a good direction to explore! Maybe keep the bridge building as a special "engineer" unit the player can choose (or pass on) over other units. Then it's a sort of tradeoff between the strategic utility of terrain manipulation and the raw power of dedicated combat units. Some situations will call for one vs the other.
Hey Thomas, I’ve been following you for a while now but this is the first time I’ve felt very compelled to leave a comment: I really think this is a GREAT prototype to pursue, I’d certainly be eager to pay for a more flushed out version of this! I love the idea of conquest + floating islands. Very excited to see what the future holds for this prototype! Great work, and keep going!
the enemy island idea sounds great. but one thing i like RTS is the formation system that makes player to feel like a general/commander. with the bridge and island setting that you have, i feel like the space to manuever is limited, hence decrease the variety of tactics choices avaliable to the player.
"VMAGTWIHMSMPSHBFOPSHCLAMTPTB". I just swapped out the T for Thomas with a V for Vail as you could have totally been talking about me (17 concepts at some stage of dev). I think we could start a support group, or a new movement. Anyway, I really like this Island War prototype. This concept is definitely more up my alley, as it appears to be a simplified 4x game. Can't wait to see where you go from here.
I think the prototype is great! I would certainly enjoy the polished version! The way the defeated island sinks with my guys still on it makes me panic slightly every time haha. I'd assume you would change that as development continues.
For me personally this is the most interesting prototype that makes more sense working on (after releasing bridges and docks and already having that good foundation). I like your initial idea and it indeed promotes the risk vs reward excitement. In a way it reminds me of polytopia as well (excelent strategy game check it out for inspiration if you don't know it) which I really like! Cheers!
This looks pretty great. I love Bad North, and I remember this single-row-RTS kind of games used to do well on Flash - which means its kind of already a proven concept. The way it branches out really feels like it adds something; sort of Bed Wars vibes. I really like the Tetrimino-style land additions too, especially if there is some way of using the land to block projectiles and so on.
Actually, the more I look at this, the more I think that Bad Wars (on the various platforms it's been made of) would be a good place to look for proven concepts for this.
This wins for me. I'm biased toward strategy games. I've been playing a bunch of diplomacy is not an option lately. I've always wanted a smaller tactical game that's like bad north but less tower defense and more of an RTS feel
From a bird's eye view. It feels like it's difficult seeing who is fighting who. Could be cool to differentiate friendly units from enemy units with different health bar colours. I see the health bars way before the different tunic colours from far away.
I am very interested in the ships ccg as I just love those types of games but there's no doubt that this idea is the one with the most legs. It's an original concept with satisfying mechanics. It has tons of work put into the base of the game already too. If executed well I think this has the highest ceiling of the three by far. There are so many different cool mechanics you expand this with. I think it has a ton of potential.
This definitely sounds like the best of the three to me, although I did like the name for the first one, and the art for the second. I have been thinking about an old PS3 game called "Fat Princess" on and off lately. That game had some interesting mechanics not often seen in other games. Might be a good source of inspiration.
While this seems like your best prototype yet, this as a competitive multiplayer game sounds way more exciting to me. Lots more effort for you, but just an idea if you have the resources :)
Out of your three prototypes. I like this the most. Idea: change the islands to battleships and the soldiers to pirates. Then islands floating out of no where and sinking makes more sense. And it would be a warship defence game. Maybe you could use the name warship in the title. Good luck
probably the safest idea, steam gamers love this genre, just look at the Jonas' game. The mechanic to slowly build your island is neat and probably can be explored further
its a winner, kept wanting to play another round and liked having to leave some behind to guard while others went out to attack. lots of scope for mechanics and game modes. could even do a clash of clans style pvp mode so that you have to build your island with both defense and offence in mind
Honestly there's a million new tower defence games coming out at the moment, will be hard to make this feel unique and good enough to compete Seems ok potential wise though, good luck!
To me the mechanic where new islands come into view takes me out of the immersion. That also makes it that bridges are a must and it all becomes about some straight lines between big tetris blocks. I'm not sure how hard it would be rather than bringing islands into view, to have some sort of progressive disclosure behind the fog of war. Have more mainland with different paths and verticality and than bridges that would be less common than right now would be an important strategic aspect that is maybe more exposed but faster to get places.
Definitely the lowest risk of all three prototypes. It feels like you could focus on something unique about this game vs other games. Perhaps double down on archery? This has the potential to have too many features but nothing remarkable, so be careful with getting lost in RTS features.
Keep in mind that the prototype demo is super rough, so don't expect it to be polished or balanced. It's more about getting a feel for the game could turn into.
Also, I've been notified of a bug where - the longer you wait to hit the "fight" button, the more enemies will rush your base. So don't stall for long if you don't want to get obliterated haha
this seems like the winner, gj Thomas.
Some ideas:
Neutral monsters. Sort of like jungle creeps in LoL or what have you. Some option for players to get resources not through defeating enemies directly.
Enemy Kings. Fighting a tower doesn't feel as cool as defeating a boss of some sort, some additional threat you have to overcome to actually attack an enemy vs defending from it. As it seems as if defense = attack atm.
Travelling merchants. You could have merchants come in time-gated fashion to have options for the player to trade.
Roguelike? You could possibly make this into a roguelike, considering the amount of variety that could be added to this.
THIS is the best prototype!
Yes, this looks so cool! Absolutely loved Bad North, really excited to play the demo, seems like a super promising concept!
Great game concept! I think I'd like to see the defeated islands stay as part of your island, or there's a gameplay decision to determine whether you keep an island that attacked you (because it had a special terrain or unit feature) or sink the attached island once it's defeated and claim an island building piece.
You're a big inspiration! 👏
So I have to say, I see lots of vids and ads for indie games that look great, but I never feel like I want to play. But this, this has stayed with me. I want to play this. Definitely on to something here. Awesome work!
Seems like a good direction to explore!
Maybe keep the bridge building as a special "engineer" unit the player can choose (or pass on) over other units. Then it's a sort of tradeoff between the strategic utility of terrain manipulation and the raw power of dedicated combat units. Some situations will call for one vs the other.
Hey Thomas, I’ve been following you for a while now but this is the first time I’ve felt very compelled to leave a comment: I really think this is a GREAT prototype to pursue, I’d certainly be eager to pay for a more flushed out version of this! I love the idea of conquest + floating islands. Very excited to see what the future holds for this prototype! Great work, and keep going!
the enemy island idea sounds great. but one thing i like RTS is the formation system that makes player to feel like a general/commander.
with the bridge and island setting that you have, i feel like the space to manuever is limited, hence decrease the variety of tactics choices avaliable to the player.
"VMAGTWIHMSMPSHBFOPSHCLAMTPTB". I just swapped out the T for Thomas with a V for Vail as you could have totally been talking about me (17 concepts at some stage of dev). I think we could start a support group, or a new movement. Anyway, I really like this Island War prototype. This concept is definitely more up my alley, as it appears to be a simplified 4x game. Can't wait to see where you go from here.
This is a great idea, it’s like tower defense, real time strategy and tetris mixed together
I think the prototype is great! I would certainly enjoy the polished version!
The way the defeated island sinks with my guys still on it makes me panic slightly every time haha. I'd assume you would change that as development continues.
For me personally this is the most interesting prototype that makes more sense working on (after releasing bridges and docks and already having that good foundation). I like your initial idea and it indeed promotes the risk vs reward excitement. In a way it reminds me of polytopia as well (excelent strategy game check it out for inspiration if you don't know it) which I really like! Cheers!
Can you make a video comparing all three?
Nice work Thomas! And I just start making minimalist space shooter 🙃
It's awesome to see you working on a new prototype! You're an example of constancy and perseverance Thomas, keep it up🤙🏼🙌🏼
I love how the arrows follow the enemies and always hit them 😋
W prototype, I really think that as long as it continues to have a unique game loop, this is definitely the winner
This looks pretty great. I love Bad North, and I remember this single-row-RTS kind of games used to do well on Flash - which means its kind of already a proven concept. The way it branches out really feels like it adds something; sort of Bed Wars vibes.
I really like the Tetrimino-style land additions too, especially if there is some way of using the land to block projectiles and so on.
Actually, the more I look at this, the more I think that Bad Wars (on the various platforms it's been made of) would be a good place to look for proven concepts for this.
I like discovering game dev channels at the perfect time like this. Just swoop in and enjoy the demo.
This game looks fun! I'll check it out this afternoon!
Love these videos. I’ll try to check this out. I just started a one week group game jam, so no promises! Hehe
This wins for me. I'm biased toward strategy games. I've been playing a bunch of diplomacy is not an option lately.
I've always wanted a smaller tactical game that's like bad north but less tower defense and more of an RTS feel
That bug when archers shoots homans - sounds like a great way to "jump" over tall enemy walls/objects
This looks great. I wonder instead if the enemy base sinking, you can take over the base.
From a bird's eye view. It feels like it's difficult seeing who is fighting who.
Could be cool to differentiate friendly units from enemy units with different health bar colours. I see the health bars way before the different tunic colours from far away.
I'll definetely gonna give this a try and will give feedback!
This is my favorite for sure!
I am very interested in the ships ccg as I just love those types of games but there's no doubt that this idea is the one with the most legs. It's an original concept with satisfying mechanics. It has tons of work put into the base of the game already too. If executed well I think this has the highest ceiling of the three by far. There are so many different cool mechanics you expand this with. I think it has a ton of potential.
This definitely sounds like the best of the three to me, although I did like the name for the first one, and the art for the second.
I have been thinking about an old PS3 game called "Fat Princess" on and off lately. That game had some interesting mechanics not often seen in other games. Might be a good source of inspiration.
I feel this is solid idea! Can't wait to see how it progresses
While this seems like your best prototype yet, this as a competitive multiplayer game sounds way more exciting to me. Lots more effort for you, but just an idea if you have the resources :)
Should make the islands look like the floating structures of WaterWorld (movie) so when they float over and expand it feels more realistic.
Archers shooting archers could be a feature lol, if they run out of arrows and this is their last possible way to fight. Prototype looks nice!
Go with this one. Reusing previous work is smart
Nice, like that too. This or the cave one. Depends on which of the potential gameplay you implement.
Looks great so far! How much time do you think you spent on this prototype?
Out of your three prototypes. I like this the most. Idea: change the islands to battleships and the soldiers to pirates. Then islands floating out of no where and sinking makes more sense. And it would be a warship defence game. Maybe you could use the name warship in the title. Good luck
This is also a mashup idea from the battle ship game and this game.
I think we all have learned that you really like archery
on windows the back button doesn't work when you go in the options.
It looks like a super fun game and it's already well polished !
Sounds great!
probably the safest idea, steam gamers love this genre, just look at the Jonas' game. The mechanic to slowly build your island is neat and probably can be explored further
its a winner, kept wanting to play another round and liked having to leave some behind to guard while others went out to attack. lots of scope for mechanics and game modes. could even do a clash of clans style pvp mode so that you have to build your island with both defense and offence in mind
I'm voting for this one, it's already perfect
I killed my own tower
Honestly there's a million new tower defence games coming out at the moment, will be hard to make this feel unique and good enough to compete
Seems ok potential wise though, good luck!
definitivamente este es el ganador!!
Bro woke up and choose violence, literally 😮
VIOLENCE
I can already see that this one is the winner!!!!! ...lots of money to be made, hopefully.
Thematically they should be *flying* islands
i have the same desk lamp, on your desk
It kind of reminds me of footman frenzy from wc3, maybe you should lean into that
This game looks great!
This one looks super good :D
the last game was pretty good, but...
*VIOLENCE*
To me the mechanic where new islands come into view takes me out of the immersion. That also makes it that bridges are a must and it all becomes about some straight lines between big tetris blocks.
I'm not sure how hard it would be rather than bringing islands into view, to have some sort of progressive disclosure behind the fog of war. Have more mainland with different paths and verticality and than bridges that would be less common than right now would be an important strategic aspect that is maybe more exposed but faster to get places.
This prototype is definitely a winner.
I speak for everyone when I say, we need a tutorial of how to build this :(
Definitely the lowest risk of all three prototypes.
It feels like you could focus on something unique about this game vs other games. Perhaps double down on archery? This has the potential to have too many features but nothing remarkable, so be careful with getting lost in RTS features.
W