So I figured I would talk a bit about how the items are going to work in the game. We were talking it over a bit and thought it would be really cool to do a system where, as you collect more components for your robot, you could dynamically equip them in different ways.
This wouldn't be customizable to the point where you could grab a set of wheels and replace his legs with wheels, and then attach an extra head to him. More like, you could get multiple different types of components for his different body sections which act differently and use different amounts of power. For example, you may have multiple leg pieces, some which allow you to run more quickly, some which give you an extra boost when jumping, perhaps even rocket lets that allow you to jet across the sky for a short amount of time.
So, different components use different amounts of energy, which means you have to be a little bit strategic when figuring out how you're going to get past specific points of the game. At one point, you, may want to attach a grappling hook and also a body hull that allows you to swim under water without malfunctioning. These parts may use up more energy than your normal parts, so you can only use them for a short amount of time before they stop working.
We're not totally sure how energy will be regained yet, but a few ideas we've been tossing around as we discuss with other developers include things like plugging the robot into certain plants to suck the life out of them (ties in very well with our story which I don't want to talk about yet), or maybe being able to pick up power cells here and there. You could also potentially automatically restore energy slowly over time (maybe the best solution?).
One thing we need to make sure of though, is that the energy/components thing doesn't restrict the gameplay and make it frustrating. We don't want someone just sitting around waiting for their energy to refill to get up a hill or something - that would be a boring game. So it's gonna require some thought ....
Also, here are a bunch of old player mockups just for fun. Oldest on the left to most recent on the right
Still needs a ton of improving (obviously, haha).
