Untitled Soda Brewing Game: Code name "Super Soda"While travelling in the US during 2016, I was trying to think of ideas for a game I could create after my first commercial PC release Fort Meow. I was playing a lot of idle-games at the time on my mobile (literally just upgrading things every few hours, with larger and larger numbers), and was always left a bit wanting after playing them for awhile. The main driver in these types of game are upgrades that are hidden behind ever increasing costs. However, the amount you "earn" from the upgrades ends up supplementing the costs of them and the only thing you really end up spending is time.
Upgrades in general are a great way to design a single goal that is always driving players forward. I also noticed that the idle games I was playing didn't really tend to focus on narrative and were purely a loop of bigger numbers and more upgrades. What if you could combine the two?
So I started thinking of a nice idle-type loop and a way to integrate narrative into the design. Figuring it would be a management style game I looked at games that have tackled similar mechanics. Back when I played World of Warcraft they introduced a mission management system in one of the expansion packs. You managed a group of "followers" and would send them out to complete missions. This cost you an amount of resources to start, and the missions provided upgrades for both your followers and your character. The missions had a time cost, and provided a retention mechanic to supplement the rest of the expansion content by compelling you to come back each day to check how the missions went and to start new ones. The thing I liked about them is how they were also tied into the player levelling experience. You recruited new followers from quest rewards, and also had to complete follower missions as quest objectives.
Early notes from travel! Terrible handwriting
Could this maybe work in a similar way in an idle type game? Eventually the answer was no...I prototyped a 2D version when I returned from the trip, but realised that PC / console players expect a different type of experience than mobile. They want to sit down after school or work and play a game for however long they want as a form of escapism. Mobile gamers however, play in bursts when they have short periods of downtime. It's more of a distraction or time-filler than escapism.
So the idle part was scrapped. I still wanted to explore the upgrade / management style game but with a narrative touch to tie things together. A lot of pure management games don't really explore narrative either besides the really early tutorial type objectives. So it had to have upgrades and narrative. A narrative based games shares very similar linearity to the upgrade path found in the idle games. Sounds like it could definitely work!
I decided that brewing soda was a fun choice for the upgrade path and the narrative could mold itself around it. In a game-jam game I made called Halls of the Occult the player controlled a prisoner. The idea of controlling a prisoner was still appealing to me, especially in terms of back story building and character development. So the player would control a prisoner, and brew soda...? I guess next is how to tie that together. The answer...reality TV of course! The prisoner would be part of a reality TV show that follows a group of prisoners as they manage a business of their own. The public would be heavily involved and prisoners would gain fans, and ultimately votes towards supporting them and bumping them up the leaderboards. I don't want to get into further spoilers, but I'm planning on having a bunch of fun with prisoner rivals, challenges and reality tv style interviews. The end reward ultimately being your character getting pardoned and released from prison (plus a bunch of prizes!). Doing terribly...? I haven't really locked down anything solid yet, but they're definitely getting a few more months on their prison term.
Layout designs for warehouse and garden
Back to the game as it currently stands! My friend Jon Hulse is doing all the programming, and he's smashing it so far! The old idle game prototype was done in Fusion 2.5 and was really limited and cobbled together by myself. I've always really wanted to collaberate with someone for a game and I've known Jon for ages now, so it was an easy yes when he asked if I wanted to make a game with him. We have been working for a few months now (since last year sometime) and both work full-time jobs. So it's a lot of 2-3 hours a night here and there when we can. We have an early Alpha version we would love feedback on and if you want to check it out, please let me know on twitter at @rhysdee, via email at
[email protected] or by leaving a reply in this thread.
Stay tuned for the next devblog and thanks for reading! Have some more images!
Early art tests in complete 3D...ended up scrapping it for a more 2D style.
Early player controller tests - Featuring temporary Wilson!
New player style. The final game will have character customization.
New style for the soda brewer
How the warehouse is laid out. The camera is very low FOV to give a slight 3D effect to the 2D view.
How it looks at the current stage!
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