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[michaelgabrielr]

Hey guys,

I want to make the following game:

• The player controls a single character/hero directly
• The player explores and interacts with the game's world and its inhabitants
• Local co-op without split screen (like Contra)
• The player fights enemy minions, his combos are graded (like Devil May Cry)
• The player recruits and commands his own minions (like WarCraft 3)

Now comes the choice of picking the game's structure and here's where I need your help.
I'm basically torn between mission-based and open-world structure.

There are a few things to consider:

• Does grading combat necessiates a mission-based structure?
• Open world vs RTS elements - keeping track of your units and buildings, especially when the world is big or multi-structured. Usually RTS scenarios are confined to one map.
• Do I even need base building in unit production if most of the action is otherwhise centered on the main heroes that occupy one screen? For example, could the units be produced and summoned off-screen?
• A world with stuff to do (quests) or episodes/missions with a world in them?

That's all for now, thanks for reading!
Here's a potato:

[starsrift]

I can't possibly imagine how you're going to carry off local samescreen co-op game with RTS elements in an open world. Without channelling objectives (as in levels) you're only inviting frustration.

[michaelgabrielr]

I can't possibly imagine how you're going to carry off local samescreen co-op game with RTS elements in an open world. Without channelling objectives (as in levels) you're only inviting frustration.

I guess we can get a few pointers form the Protoss.
Their structures and units are produced off-map on their homeworld and teleported onto the battlefield when needed. In the same way, you can have a base elsewhere. I don't think it's all that necessary having to click on a building to procude units - a menu would do. The units would then arrive from off-screen. To prevent it from being broken, this could be done in specific checkpoints (bonfires?) or just dissalowed in specific locations (like you can call reinforcements in the overworld, but not deep within a dungeon or with the restriction that your forces would appear at the location's entrance).

The main bases themselves would exist on the world map - you can visit them but it's not necessary.
There could be a local and global resource count/bank, so you don't have to start from scratch with each quest/mission.

The thing is - which is better for that kind of game?
To have an open world in which you can discover objectives (like in Metroidvanias or the Elder Scrolls)
-or-
to have a more episodic-like structure that follows a campaign? (like in StarCraft or Devil May Cry)

What are the implications of choosing one over the other?

[Alec S.]

As to the graded combos:  You can grade combos in a more granular fashion (which games like Bayonetta already do in addition to giving you scores by mission).  Basically, you can make it so your resource rewards increase the higher your combo currently is, just like the halo multiplier in Bayonetta.  The more you build up the combo, the more rewards you get for defeating enemies.  You just don't get that extra bit of satisfaction from getting an and-of-mission ranking, but you can make the rankings more clear during combat (ie. make the multiplier more clear to the player)