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[Windybeard]

I wouldn't worry too much about another similar project. Yours looks to be further along anyway, and the mortality rate for portfolio projects is very high.

Besides, if people killed their projects every time someone else started doing something slightly close nothing would ever get released

Fully agreed, its almost impossible to make a game that is completly different from every other game, just make sure yours is fun, it already looks awesome! Get these 2 things right and it wont matter at all!

Good luck, game is looking great

[JimmyRobo]

Thanks for the encouragement/sanity, it means a lot. I decided shortly afterwards to just throw myself at it and see what happens. This has been a problem with working alone, the feedback from fellow developers is certainly useful.

I think you're absolutely right regarding the "fun" factor - so have started fleshing out the actual game mechanics.

[Windybeard]

This has been a problem with working alone, the feedback from fellow developers is certainly useful.

I know exactly what you mean, im a lonely developer too, sitting in my "office" all alone constantly criticising my own work until i almost persuade myself to bin it. Bad chain of thought but ive been there many times, luckily its places like these where you can get honest encouragement and feedback that genuinely help.

Plus your game looks awesome!

[JimmyRobo]

Plus your game looks awesome!

As does yours, sir.

I really appreciate all the help guys, thank you.

[JimmyRobo]

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update on this week’s progress:

• Droids now only have one “hand” (To simplify the controls, droids now only hold one item at a time in their hands)
• AI Improvements (Enemies now path around each other, and now have to turn 180 degrees in two steps rather than one)
• Lots of UI work (whole new UI redesign)
• Plugin windows added (Droid plugins will now appear on top of the screen)
• Character creation (Droids insert either blank or pre-generated personality chips)
• Shelves that hold randomly generated items
• Depth of field effects

What’s next

Character creation
At the start of the game, you will connect to the droids as they awaken in a closed storage room. On the shelf will be a selection of blank, and randomly pre-generated personality chips. Plugging one into a droid will either prompt you to fill in a name, and assign skill points, or, if using a pre-grenerated chip, will assign the randomly rolled character traits to that droid.

Shops
I’m hoping to add rather “roguelike” shops to the game, where shops occupy a special room and have a shopkeeper who keeps track of what you’re picking up - you can either honestly pay for these items, or attempt to steal/kill the shopkeeper for them.

Enemy design
I’ve started putting some thought into new enemies that you might encounter. Some examples are “pit monster”-type creatures that have multiple tentacles that reach out of a hole and roam the corridors - forcing you to fight/sever them, and a “Boomer” type creature that explodes with corrosive gas on death.

Plugins
Droids will be able to install plugins that will run a variety of UI programs in the top bar, such as maps, damage meters, pathing, hacking, etc. You will be able to turn these on and off as the need arises, but all plugins consume energy while they are running.

Skill assignment
Skill points will probably be assigned to a variety of “perks” that are all available at any given time, rather than being a tree.

I've also started a blog, here: http://droidnaught.tumblr.com/

[Dugan]

this looks great - i did love captive/hiredguns etc back in the day.
This even reminds me a bit of Corporation by Core, in the clean officey look it has

looking forward to seeing how it develops.

[JimmyRobo]

Man.. I loved Corporation. I remember it being a lot more scary than it probably was.

[JimmyRobo]

I've had to hang up development on the project for a couple of months due to personal matters, but it's time to get back to it.

Here's a

from back in december, showing on-the-fly level gen and some other combat/UI stuff.