So, I'm trying to reinvent the classic real-time strategy game by myself, in Game Maker...
I have a tech demo, of a sort; it's not high on gameplay features, but represents the rough form of the interface, as well as the camera/navigation system.
Try it here.Some of the tenets I'm exploring:
* Long-form gameplay - rather than a fast-as-possible buildup to a single climactic battle, my goal is to have a more measured pace, with as many as 16 settlements to conquer (~12 of them under AI control) and games taking as long as two or three hours to play through.
* Empire building - you should only be able to directly control one city, but any cities you conquer should become your vassals, providing you with a tribute of military units, resources, or a combination of both, while contributing to your war effort. Each player's score at the end of the game is determined not only by whether they ultimately won, but by if the side that they were part of won. This way, the top players gain control of larger armies and larger regions of the map, while conquered players stay engaged in the game.
* City building - rather than being population-cap increasers, civilian houses now contribute much more to gameplay. Every building needs workers, and houses provide them. Houses have needs and wants, which when fulfilled make them more effective workers, and raise the morale of any units spawned from those houses.
* Indirect economy control - Anno style. You don't tell your citizens to go mine copper; you build a miner's lodge nearby and staff it with workers, and they'll mine copper for you.
* DIY factions - rather than being locked into control of the Egyptians, Greeks, or Yamato, I intend to make your choices on the technology tree determine the path and eventual form of your civilization. This means a complex web of dependencies and alternate technologies, as well as, for instance, not crippling a player who starts with the Babylonians on an island map.
* Naturally-sized maps - ten square miles. This contributes to the slow-form gameplay, as well as making empires more possible/plausible. And, in accompaniment to this...
* Cinematic camera - the native viewpoint for this game should be an almost first-person view, in which the player can see the sky. This is made possible by a pronounced emphasis on LOD technology, and allows a new form of navigation via on-screen icons: Any village, city, or army that is off-screen or far away will be represented by an icon along the sides of the view, or on the horizon. Double-clicking that icon should warp you to that location, or it can be used to order units around. This makes the minimap almost a secondary feature, which helps tremendously considering the size of the maps.
I'd consider the project a success if either I finish the game in some form or another or can use it as a prototype to successfully put together a team to recreate it professionally.
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