USG, the unnamed spaceshooting game. An open world roguelikeish 2D space exploration game with heavy focus on ship building and management. This game is not a RTS game, nor is it a 4X game. And most importantly, the text here is just a vision and a collection of miscleneous thoughts, not the definitive game design document. Some things can be contradictory as I change my mind.
Customization
In the beginning the player only has a small craft that can be modified,
expanded and completely rebuilt as the game progresses. More advanced
modules, hull pieces and systems can be installed, also in greater quantities.
Each part has several requirements such as power usage characteristics or
physical hull space required. Parts can be acquired from merchants, quests
and as loot. They can also be built with raw materials gathered from the
world after they have been obtained for the first time.
Combat
The ship can sustain damage and have parts of it either disabled or completely destroyed(exact mechanism still in consideration, also related to loot system). The damaged parts must the be repaired with raw materials or replaced completely, maybe even in different configuration. The major hazards and features of the world consist mostly of enemy ships and bases, but splitting up and gathering asteroids for raw materials is also a big part of the game.
There's more!
The ship building itself, but also module building and module interactions have more complexity than described in the brief. The functions of individual modules can also be adjusted on the fly, or while the game is paused. The game could also possibly be networked for an Artemis-like experience with the other users having control of the ship's modules(power routing, targeting systems etc.) while the primary player handles navigation and other game-world interactions.
Cool, what is the story behind the game?
Continuing the long tradition of space themed cave shooters. Like my previous incarnations of this exact same theme, it'll most likely end up being yet another umbrella project for technology development without real content or polish. But there is also a very real chance this would actually become something great. Anyway, you might want to read some background first. And for some reference, some videos.
Anything else?
The notable features USG will be built around are(very much a moving target)
- Dynamic asteroid chopping and resource acquisition
- Fully customizable spacecraft
- Layout, weapons, generators, wiring etc
- Open ended gameplay
- Dynamic map generation with several features
- Asteroid and debris fields
- Premade space station like caves
- Hostile environments: temperatures, em
- Variable enemies, both stationary and moving
- Engaging visuals via awesome particle effects
For things not listed here see usg.dump and list of pages. If you want to contribute ideas or have other concerns, please do contact me.