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[Chris Pavia]

Intel

Agents look for Intel to pinpoint the location of the player's Lair. I hadn't decided until now how Intel was gained:

- Regions hold a number of Assets that the player can attempt to steal (money, missiles, data, etc).
- Every X Turns, an Intel Asset will spawn in a random Region (the player will be alerted).
- If the player can locate and Steal the Asset before Agents get to it, their location is protected.
- If an Agent gets to it first, it is added to their cumulative total.
- When the Agents collect 5 Intel, they have the location of the player's Lair.


The game has taken on more of a puzzle / board game feel than a pure Visual Novel, so I may remove that from the description. I still want the player's interaction with the henchmen be in a VN style, though I may make that skippable for people who are into the mechanics more than the narrative.


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Progress wise, I'm working on the first draft of the Agents now. Then the big final content task is the master list of missions. After that is designing the UI and data model.

[Chris Pavia]

Finished my enumeration of all the missions I'll initially need for the game, which comes to 94 missions. The player will only see a small number of these in any single playthrough though. I'm planning on reducing it to ~50 through generalizing some missions and cutting content that doesn't add enough to the game. This week will be spent filling out all the gameplay details for the missions, then next week start UI design.

[nathy after dark]

Saw this yesterday and I think it looks promising. Here are my comments/questions, since I didn't have time to write them up till now:

• I know I'd appreciate this kind of game more if there were a good spread of diversity in the characters. Not just "henchmen," but half of them be women, some nonconforming to gender norms, etc. as well as making sure the characters come from a wide variety of race/class/ability (a henchman in a wheelchair or blind/deaf, but don't turn those aspects into jokes, just let them exist, to show that any kind of person can be an evil spy if they put their mind to it )
• To apply that same diversity to the player, I'd say rather than giving the player options to configure physical appearance/gender/etc., just leave the player unseen (since after all, they are always behind a computer screen) and make sure NPCs only refer to the character in gender-neutral terms. That way the player character can become a blank slate to be imagined however the player wants, and no one is excluded by limitations in the character customization system.
  
• It would be awesome to see henchpeople outright betray the player after being converted to another side. That character might suddenly have a trait "Acting suspicious" and then later betray your plans to an enemy. Or, since the player sometimes captures NPCs for ransom, why not have the player's lackies get captured, and as long as they are, there's a risk every round of crucial player decisions being "leaked" by that prisoner? That kind of stuff would be fun and dramatic as far as emergent story moments.
  
• So far I can't really tell what the tone of your game is supposed to be. I think you should make a solid decision early on: is it funny? Serious? Political/satirical? Over-the-top espionage absurdity? Looking at the list of traits and stats you're planning, I think it would help to think about them in terms of how they add to the tone of the game. Traits that are humorous/quirky/weird, to give the game personality. I think getting a cohesive personality across will be one of the most important parts in pulling off your idea.
  

Anyway that's all for now, good luck!

[Chris Pavia]

Thanks for the great feedback! My comments are below:

I know I'd appreciate this kind of game more if there were a good spread of diversity in the characters. Not just "henchmen," but half of them be women, some nonconforming to gender norms, etc. as well as making sure the characters come from a wide variety of race/class/ability (a henchman in a wheelchair or blind/deaf, but don't turn those aspects into jokes, just let them exist, to show that any kind of person can be an evil spy if they put their mind to it )

Yep I completely agree, the term "Henchmen" is just used as a shorthand for any character the player hires and sends out on missions. Representation and diversity are always important to me.

To apply that same diversity to the player, I'd say rather than giving the player options to configure physical appearance/gender/etc., just leave the player unseen (since after all, they are always behind a computer screen) and make sure NPCs only refer to the character in gender-neutral terms. That way the player character can become a blank slate to be imagined however the player wants, and no one is excluded by limitations in the character customization system.

That's the plan, the player will always be unseen. The player can play either from an "over the shoulder" POV where they are in the room and can see the back of the chair with a shadowy figure sitting in it, or just full-screen the view screen UI if they want that to take up all available room.

It would be awesome to see henchpeople outright betray the player after being converted to another side. That character might suddenly have a trait "Acting suspicious" and then later betray your plans to an enemy. Or, since the player sometimes captures NPCs for ransom, why not have the player's lackies get captured, and as long as they are, there's a risk every round of crucial player decisions being "leaked" by that prisoner? That kind of stuff would be fun and dramatic as far as emergent story moments.

Hoping to do this as well, through a few channels. Some henchmen will have a faults such as "unreliable", "greed", "coward" etc through which they can intentionally fail a mission, or give out Intel to the Agents via a bribe (or being captured and interrogated). Definitely want to foster rivalries between henchmen as well.

So far I can't really tell what the tone of your game is supposed to be. I think you should make a solid decision early on: is it funny? Serious? Political/satirical? Over-the-top espionage absurdity? Looking at the list of traits and stats you're planning, I think it would help to think about them in terms of how they add to the tone of the game. Traits that are humorous/quirky/weird, to give the game personality. I think getting a cohesive personality across will be one of the most important parts in pulling off your idea.

I haven't settled on a tone yet, but it's something I should do soon. I tend to lean toward humor, but for a game that's meant to be short but repayable I imagine the "jokes" would get repetitive pretty quickly. If you have any suggestions or reference material, let me know!

[Chris Pavia]

Here's a quick enumeration of the individual steps required to complete each Omega Plan (all of which will change drastically during testing I imagine):

MILITARY DOMINATION
1. Hire a Mercenary
2. Acquire Soldiers
3. Acquire Tanks
4. Acquire Jets
5. Take Control of all Military CP in Russia
6. Take Control of all Military CP in USA
7. Take Control of all Military CP in Babylonia
8. Take Control of all Military CP in China
9. Threaten The World
10. Decide The World’s Fate

DEVELOP A SUPER VIRUS
1. Acquire a Virus
2. Acquire a Scientist
3. Build a Lab
4. Create a Super Virus
5. Infect all Economic CP in Babylonia
6. Infect all Economic CP in California Republic
7. Infect all Economic CP in Russia
8. Infect all Economic CP in China
9. Threaten The World
10. Decide The World’s Fate

UNLEASH HELL ON EARTH
1. Acquire Relic 1
2. Acquire Relic 2
3. Acquire Relic 3
4. Acquire The Sacrifice
5. Hire a Mercenary
6. Seize Control of an Unholy Altar CP
7. Hire a Scientist
8. Open The Portal
9. Threaten The World
10. Decide The World’s Fate

NUKE THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
1. Acquire a Nuclear Missile
2. Acquire a Mega-Laser
3. Acquire Technology
4. Hire an Engineer
5. Build a Workshop
6. Build a Mega-Laser Drilling Rig
7. Acquire Workers
8. Drill Hole
9. Threaten The World
10. Decide The World’s Fate

BUILD AN ORBITAL LASER CANNON
1. Acquire a Satellite
2. Acquire Mega Laser
3. Hire an Engineer
4. Build a Workshop
5. Build OLC
6. Acquire a Rocket
7. Orbital Strike any Political CP
9. Threaten the World
10. Decide The World’s Fate

CREATE A NEW WORLD ORDER
1. Acquire Satellite
2. Acquire Laser
3. Acquire Mind Control Device
4. Build Mind Control Satellite
5. Acquire Rocket
6. Launch Satellite into orbit
7. Mind Control all Politics Control Points in Russia
8. Mind Control all Politics Control Points in USA
9. Mind Control all Politics Control Points in China
10. Decide The World’s Fate

BUILD A WEATHER DOMINATOR
1. Acquire a Satellite
2. Acquire Technology
3. Acquire a Rocket
4. Hire an Engineer
5. Build a Workshop
6. Build the WD
7. Build a Control Room
8. Launch the WD into Orbit
9. Threaten The World
10. Decide The World’s Fate

CREATE A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
1. Acquire a Virus
2. Build a Lab
3. Acquire a Scientist
4. Create Z Virus
5. Use Z Virus with Workers to create Zombies
6. Zombify all Economic Control Points in California Republic
7. Zombify all Economic Control Points in Russia
8. Zombify all Economic Control Points in China
9. Zombify all Economic Control Points in Babylonia
10. Decide The World’s Fate

STEER AN ASTEROID INTO THE EARTH
1. Acquire a Satellite
2. Acquire a Mega Laser
3. Acquire a Mega Magnet
4. Hire an Engineer
5. Build a Workshop
6. Build the Laser Magnet
7. Acquire a Rocket
8. Launch the LM into orbit
9. Threaten The World
10. Decide The World’s Fate

JUDGEMENT DAY
1. Acquire Data
2. Acquire Technology
3. Hire a Scientist
4. Build a Lab
5. Use Data and Technology to build an AI
6. Use AI to Take Control of all Military Control Points in China
7. Use AI to Take Control of all Military Control Points in USA
8. Use AI to Take Control of all Military Control Points in Russia
9. Threaten The World
10. Decide The World’s Fate



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One remaining question is if the player should able to take on quests for Omega Plans they don't have in this play through. For example, should the player be able to still create Zombies and infect regions even if they don't have that OP? It wouldn't count toward a Win, and would mostly just slow down the player's progress toward the OP they do have, but it could make the world feel more "alive." On the flip side of the coin, being able to see / do missions that don't bring them closer to winning the game could be confusing, and makes it harder to figure out which missions will help them win. Any suggestions?

[Chris Pavia]

Turn Sequencing

My first pass at enumerating all the steps that take place in a single turn, and dividing them up into Game States. I normally just jump right into the code without doing any technical design, so I'm trying to break that habit this time so I can write some cleaner code.

GameState_BeginTurn
     1. Player’s Command Pool refills

GameState_BeginPlayerPhase
      1. Command Points are paid to currently employed henchmen
         a. If a henchman cannot be paid, they are set to “Gone Rogue”
              i. Any Mission the henchman was on is Disrupted

GameState_PlayerPhase
     1. Player receives the Summary from the previous Turn
          a. Mission activity
          b. Agent activity
          c. World activity
     2. Begin Player Input
     3. Player hires henchman and assigns missions
     4. When finished, the player hits the “Execute” Button

GameState_MissionPhase
     1. Resolve Missions
     2. Check for Win State

GameState_RegionPhase
     1. For each Region not under player control:
         a. Manage Policies
              i. Resolve any special Policy Effects
              ii. Attempt to Cancel a current Policy
              iii. Attempt to Pass a new Policy
          b. Manage Control Points
          c. Manage Assets
     2. Manage World Flavor

GameState_AgentPhase
     1. For each Agent
         a. Search for any Henchmen in the current Region
              i. Attempt to Capture / Kill / Bribe any Henchmen found
          b. If Intel exists, move toward it
          c. If no other actions are taken, chance for Agent to move to a new Region
      2. Spawn new Agents (based on current Wanted Level) in a random Region



I imagine there are still some things to resolve here. For instance, resolving missions and checking for win state happen in the middle of the turn instead of the end. This is to ensure that the state of the world when missions are resolved is the same as when the player set the mission. It would be pretty frustrating if missions became invalidated before they start because the state of the world changed (an agent moved out of the region, or captured an Asset the player was going for, etc).

This comes with its own issues though, because a mission may attempt to reveal all Agents in a selected Region, but then the Agent could move out of the Region during their phase.

I'll have to contemplate this a bit more to see if there is a better solution.

[Chris Pavia]

Finished up all the gameplay related variables for the 96 first-pass missions. No actual dialogue yet, just the stuff needed to determine if any mission succeeds for fails.

This week's goals are to upgrade to Unity 5 (for this and another project), and start wire framing the view screen UI.

Also last night I watched Moonraker for "research." I don't know if I'd seen it before, but it is by far the most campy Bond film I've seen. A whole squadron of US astronauts / soldiers engaging in a space laser battle with Drax's goons! So cheesy. Next up on my list is You Only Live Twice. If you've got any other recommended spy movies I should watch, let me know! The campier the better.

[Chris Pavia]

Initial wireframe, trying to divide out the major areas of the UI:



- There is a persistent tabbed menu pane along the left side with various tabs for sorting through the data sources that make up the game (Henchmen, Missions, Omega Plans, etc).
- The middle content pane displays the information associated with the currently selected tab.
- The tray along the right side of the content pane displays any sorting controls, such as filtering between henchman the player currently employs vs henchmen available for hire.
- Along the right edge of the screen is an activity pane that scrolls on screen during mouse-over (covers the sorting tray), which displays more granular data associated with that view.

The content view feels too cramped currently, so I'll add more columns into my UI grid and make the right and left panes thinner. I want the game to be playable on touchscreen though, so the touch areas need to be pretty forgiving.

[Chris Pavia]

Updated the layout a bit:



- Added more rows and columns to the grid so the right / left panes could be a bit thinner
- extended the content area horizontally
- moved the Execute Turn button into the menu pane with the other persistent elements

The right area is still a bit messy, so I'll probably continue iterating on that.

[Chris Pavia]

Cleaned up the right side a bit, now the sort pane can be removed in favor of extra content space if the tab doesn't need sorting functionality:



I've been itching to actually start development, so over the last couple days I:
- Upgraded to Unity 5
- Started a new project
- Set up version control
- Got a test scene building to my iPhone
- Moved up the progress meter to 10%

I've got a lot of data entry to do since I'm planning to use Unity's ScriptableObjects to handle most of the data (henchmen, regions, missions, etc). I tried Xml with a previous project but it was too tedious to set up for my tastes (and inexperience).

[Chris Pavia]

Random game design musings:

I currently have a system where the player can build "rooms" onto their lair, and henchmen can use them to gain new traits for a cost. Gaining new traits increases their ability to complete missions. This system is functional but kind of boring. Also, henchmen don't directly interact with one another in the game yet, they are just following your orders.

In order to create some dynamics between henchman, I'm thinking of making the following changes:
- Up to 2 henchmen can take part in any mission (currently it's 1 henchmen per mission only)
     - Saves time so the player doesn't have to "train up" a henchmen for a specific mission as much
- Upon completion of a mission, there is a chance for a "story beat" to occur between the henchmen, which can result in one or both henchmen gaining or losing a trait

The player doesn't have as much direct control over how henchmen develop, but maybe that's a good thing? Could make them feel like they have their own wills, like dwarfs in Dwarf Fortress.

[voidSkipper]

I bet the Kiwis think they're smart for taking half of Australia, but most of us probably would pay them to take
WA off our hands 

[Chris Pavia]

I bet the Kiwis think they're smart for taking half of Australia, but most of us probably would pay them to take
WA off our hands 

Haha    I'm sure the map will change considerably over the course of development and play testing.

[Chris Pavia]

Reserved some space at the top for system level buttons and notifications, started mocking up henchmen cells.

[Chris Pavia]

Had a very productive weekend:
- implemented all the henchmen data into the game
- implemented all the region / territory data into the game
- stubbed in Omega Plans, AI Director, and some other systems
- implemented most of the functionality for starting a new game / generating the world state
- implemented the framework for the main game loop (it currently goes through all the various phases of gameplay, but nothing happens in them yet)
- implemented the UI from the mockups shown above into Unity (no functionality yet though, but it all scales correctly with screen size)

My plans for this week are:
- Get input handling working (separated by input type: touch, m&k, controller)
- Get the "Henchmen" tab working (can see & scroll through a list of henchmen available for hire)
- Get the "World" tab working (can see & scroll through a list of all the territories in the game)

[Chris Pavia]

It's not too pretty yet, but I've got the Henchmen and World tabs functioning. You can hire henchmen, but I haven't implemented Missions yet so there's not much for them to do.  Working on the Omega Plan tab now.

[Chris Pavia]

I added some placeholder images for all the henchmen portraits:



I also pulled out some of the info that was on the "Lair" tab and put it at the top of the screen (icons are placeholder) for greater persistence. The stats are:
- Current Turn (self explanatory)
- Infamy (creeps up each turn, and increases based on the success or failure of missions henchmen are sent on)
- Wanted Level (when Infamy reaches 100, the Wanted Level ticks up by 1. Each time the WL increases, a new Agent is dispatched to track down the player)
- Intel (Intel spawns in the world periodically, if the Agents get to it before the player and collect 5 Intel, they find the location of the player's Lair and can infiltrate it)

Some additional improvements:
- Player can have multiple (currently up to 3) Omega Plans active at once, though only 1 needs to be completed to win the game
- The "Activity" tab now correctly lists all turn activity, and the player can sort through previous turns as well
- There is a slide-in panel on the right side that displays more granular activity that pertains to the tab the player currently has active

[ambo100]

I love the concept and it sounds like a fun game. You seem to have many, many ideas which is great but I worry it might be a bit overwhelming to a new player, it would be good to introduce new features/henchmen/regions/etc are eased into the game slowly to keep people wanting to play more.

I think it would be good to use humour in this game considering evil considerations don't exist in the real world outside of films (although you could say some corporations are evil).

[Chris Pavia]

I love the concept and it sounds like a fun game. You seem to have many, many ideas which is great but I worry it might be a bit overwhelming to a new player, it would be good to introduce new features/henchmen/regions/etc are eased into the game slowly to keep people wanting to play more.

Yeah I agree that there is a lot going on right now, I expect things to get simplified / streamlined / removed throughout the playtesting process. Since I have set a goal of a game session being under 2 hours from start to finish, I'll have to remove anything that makes the game drag on.

I think it would be good to use humour in this game considering evil considerations don't exist in the real world outside of films (although you could say some corporations are evil).

Since the goal of the game is "dominate the world in a single sitting" using humor and cartoony visuals will probably be best in helping the player's suspension of disbelief.

Thanks for the comments!

[Chris Pavia]

Since there are a lot of design musings in the thread, I'll attempt to solidify the gameplay experience in simpler terms:

1. The player wins the game by completing an Omega Plan
- Each OP is a series of 9 tasks the player must complete. Tasks are usually along the lines of: Steal Asset X, Hire Henchmen Y, Build Contraption Z, etc.
- The player starts the game with 1 Omega Plan. 2 more can be researched during gameplay

2. To complete the tasks of an Omega Plan, the player must hire Henchmen and assign them missions
- Henchmen do all the actual work in the game, the player's goal is to manage them wisely based on their strengths & weaknesses

3. Agents exist in the world to prevent the player from completing an Omega Plan
- Agents look for Intel to pinpoint the location of the player's Lair. If they find 5 pieces of Intel, they learn the location of the player's Lair.
- If they make it into the Lair and through any defenses the player has built, the game is immediately over.

The game itself is pretty simple in terms of player interaction (hire henchmen, choose which missions to send them on), I think it's all the behind the scenes systems that make it seem more complex than it is from the player's POV.