I'm always a fan of RTS games (though they're very hard to make right). I know this is your first post, but what sort of mechanics will set your game apart from the other tug-of-war style games you mentioned? Will you be able to choose certain compositions/orderings of units to send in each lane (ex: 2 warriors, archer, then mage, repeat) that can be set on repeat? Will the 3D aspect of your game play into the mechanics? Making a game in 3D can be a lot of work (hence why many indie games are 2D).
Thanks for showing interest! All great questions too -
In terms of mechanics, I currently plan to have 3 cornerstones, which are Units (soldiers), Spells and Traps.
As for units, there will be a loadout screen where you can select 4 different unit types from your list of unlocked units. You will unlock more unit types by leveling up, and different Kings have a different special unit type each that can be used.
Similarly with spells, there will be 1-2 default spells given to every king, and then 1 spell that is king-specific. These unique spells will be based on the backstory of that particular King. (This is where 3D mechanics take place) For example, a human king may have a flame strike type of spell, that would affect both lanes around it. On the other hand an undead king could have a disease spell, that you could put on one enemy, and could spread to allies if they were 1 cell away, but would die if it couldn't spread in a certain time.
As for traps, well I know I want 3 basic types of 'traps', one that attacks enemies that walk over them, one that slows enemies that walk over them and one that acts as a blockade and stops the enemies proceeding, until it's been destroyed.
So essentially, I believe my game mechanics are going to revolve a lot more around strategy and putting together these different combinations to test their effectiveness in different situations. There will be a lot more happening on the board than games such as Age of War, which will make it a challenge. I like your idea of spawning different combinations of units, like set pieces, but I think this is way to big of an advantage for players, I want to make it as mechanically intensive and fast-paced as possible, whilst still keeping it fun.
I definitely agree that making a 3D game can be a lot more taxing than a 2D one, but in my case the heavier workload is only going to stem from needing good quality 3D models and animations. The way I'm coding it, alot of behaviours work in a 2D manner, so it doesn't give me too much extra work in that department. I'm confident that I should be able to have all the basic mechanics I mentioned here, done in around a month or less.