Ok – after spending an hour or two last night mulling over my various ideas, I had settled on my strongest idea.  The problem is that it was (in my head) set in space, which feels the complete opposite of the “Tiny World” theme.  I decided to switch up the scale and use the same core game mechanics except with viruses and bacteria, but after working up some mockups and then sleeping on it, I think I’m going to take it back out to a space game.  To fit the theme, I’m going to emphasize the self-contained nature of the giant motherships the player controls – now, they’re carrying the last chunk of their dead home planet in a self-contained eco-bubble as a spaceship.  Talk about raising the stakes for survival (hey, there’s another theme runner up that would have fit my original idea *cough*).

The basic outline for the game, with a mockup:

• The player controls a single large spacecraft through the environment
• The player has direct control over the mothership, being able to maneuver (slowly) through space
• The player can produce small computer-controlled minions (fighters, bombers, etc.). These minions swarm and automatically attack enemy minions and motherships, and by default gather around the mothership.  The player can direct the “drone cloud” to go somewhere within a certain radius of the mothership, sort of a waypoint system.  If the mothership moves too far away, all minions will return to the mothership.
• (Maybe?) Destroyed minions and motherships leave behind salvageable wreckage, which can be gathered by gatherer drones.  This limited resource would make the game a closed system (rather than an infinitely-growing collection of minions).
• (Maybe?) Mothership special powers to provide a more direct combat activity for the player.  I still want to stay away from “giant laser blast” and do more with control skills that can disable parts of an enemy minion cloud, other mothership skills, etc.
• (Maybe?) Mothership upgrade system that can upgrade minion control radius, special powers, hull strength, reduce resource costs, etc.

I’m going for a light strategy game that mixes a little bit Defense of the Ancients with Pikmin style direct/indirect hybrid minion control.  Also, I’ve never played and DotA game so I’m just making that up based on by perception of the genre from the outside  Ok – off to work, now.

Tags: gamejams, ld23