Omegapolis Devlog #3 - Prototype

Omegapolis Devlog #0 - The plan, history and goals of the project.
Omegapolis Devlog #1 - Character design process and some initial art.
Omegapolis Devlog #2 - Drones

Uploaded a short video of the gameplay for the prototype. 😅 Not my best run, that's for sure, but shows what the game looks like so far. I am pretty happy with it. When I started this game I made 3 'major milestones' to divide up my target goals. This is the first, Prototype Milestone. The goal was to get the very basics of the game settled. The basics of the look, the simplest gameplay, the technology I am going to use to create it. So what all am I showing here?

Gameplay Loop

So most people that know of games like Vampires Survivors will recognize the inspiration, it is definitely a bit 'survivors-like' with the way the enemies just constantly hound the player. But I am trying to blend elements from some of my other favorite genres, like action RPG and twin stick shooters, which I'll talk about a bit later. The absolute minimum of the core gameplay loop is that in this area of the city, there is technology in place that grants full invulnerability for 12 minutes. As can be seen, there is no health bar on the player's character. Instead, if a character would normally take damage, this transfers feedback into the invulnerability system causing the time limit to drop. In the future there will also be ways to increase the time limit.

For now, I added a drone destruction counter so the player has a goal. Destroy as many drones as s you can before the time runs out. In the future there will be more to it, specific goals to accomplish inside the time limit but for now this achieves my prototype level goals.

Wade Watson

There will be multiple characters for players to collect in the game. The first one I am working with is named Wade Watson. I plan to do a little 'character spotlight' blog on him next so I won't get too deep into his story or anything here. But he is a detective that has cybernetic implants that give him a few unique magnetic abilities. In the video is the first two. Magnet Strike and Magnet Storm.

Magnet Stike is his main ability, he shoots out an electromagnetic disc that deals damage to everything it hits as it moves, then stops. Once he shoots them all (or if he stops shooting long enough) all of the discs will return to him, dealing damage again.

Magnet Storm is his first passive ability. Electromagnets swirl around him picking up debris and hitting anything that tries to get near him. This is essentially a small damage over time effect that constantly follows him around.

Drones

The drones attack pretty relentlessly. Saw Drones deal damage over time if they reach the player. Drill Drones do a massive amount of damage if the hit when they're charging forward. All this will definitely need tweaked in the future but it is in place now so I'm pretty happy so far.

What's Next?

I mentioned 3 major milestones. With this, the first is actually complete. The last milestone is essentially the full game. Before that however, I want to produce what I am calling a 'marketable demo'. This demo will have the majority, if not all of the major systems the full game will have. The biggest difference will be the amount of content. Once the major systems are in place, it should just be a matter of adding more and more content until it is a full game. The demo is planned to have 4 main characters, 7 drones. There are about 3 more major systems I need to finish. So yeah! Still a lot to do. But making progress.