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[CraterHater]

Hey everyone!

I have got this game idea which has been in my head for over a year now and I finally want to get it off the ground. Here is the general pitch;

A 2D Castle / City Builder where players start on the left side of a beautiful map and they are tasked with conquering the enemy castle on the far right. Along the way they have to build outposts to benefit from natural resources (wood, food & stone) in order to feed their population and build armies. There are additional obstacles such as oceans the player has to cross or bandits the player has to fight off. Occasionally the enemy army will attack and you will have to go in full defense mode by building mighty fortifications. The game is also a city builder so players can build houses and inns to keep the morale of the soldiers up.

Here are some images:
https://imgur.com/a/jVG3SQH

I would love to get your opinion on this game and whether or not you think it has potential to be good.

Thanks!

[TonyLi]

I think it all depends on the implementation. Why don't you graybox it and prototype the gameplay? Grayboxing it will tell you if the gameplay itself is fun without being distracted by art.

[-Ross]

Every idea has the potential to be good. Ideas are cheap. It's the few thousand hours of effort that it will take to actually make it and all the little design decisions you make along the way that are valuable, and which will determine whether the end result is good or not.

Right now your idea is: "2D side-scrolling city builder". Or maybe just "Castle defense" if the management aspects are minimized. So no, there are no "hooks" or anything particularly interesting about it at this point. But that doesn't mean in can't be a great game. If you like the idea, then go for it. Playtest it early and as much as possible.

[spruce]

Something that is interesting to me about this is that you don't really know what the enemy folks are up to. You're preparing your defenses and armies and tending to your people, but it's a bit of a gamble because you don't really know what the other side is doing. Feels kind of like poker or RTS games with fog-of-war.

[Dune]

I think if your interest is strong, you should definitely take the leap and try to make it! I agree with some of the previous comments, it's impossible to judge whether or not the final game will be "good" just from reading the original concept, a lot can happen between the game's ideation and execution. But I think what you have so far has the potential to be a fun and fulfilling game and you should go for it. Even if it doesn't work out, you can learn from it and pick apart why, or get feedback as development goes on and make changes to improve your game. Your concept art is quite pretty and I'd love to see more if you decide to go through with it.

[Demi Dawnfall]

I think if your interest is strong, you should definitely take the leap and try to make it! I agree with some of the previous comments, it's impossible to judge whether or not the final game will be "good" just from reading the original concept, a lot can happen between the game's ideation and execution. But I think what you have so far has the potential to be a fun and fulfilling game and you should go for it. Even if it doesn't work out, you can learn from it and pick apart why, or get feedback as development goes on and make changes to improve your game. Your concept art is quite pretty and I'd love to see more if you decide to go through with it.

I agree wholeheartedly with Dune. If you love the concept, then run with it even if it doesn't work out in the end, experience is always something worth accumulating.

That said, greyboxing something is a great technique, if I'm remembering the right thing. It could speed up development and help you narrow down the core gameplay so you can get to the experience sooner and start cutting out needless parts.

One thing I'd ask is 'what is your core gameplay loop?' Like what would players be doing regularly and how can you make that core gameplay loop alone enjoyable, even before you add in more and more complex elements?

[michaelplzno]

I know there are some games in this genera that are quite big, though iirc your concept art looks nicer than a lot of them. I wish I could remember the names, but you should search steam for similar games just as a reference.

My process is more "leap before you look" than Demi, I say Do It: