Hello chaps,
This game idea is currently in the planning stages - I've been thinking about it for a while and have doodled out some concept art (which I may possibly use directly as tiles) but haven't actually started coding in earnest. Before I do, I thought I'd run the basic idea by you wise people so that you can point out any horrendous design mistakes which I have completely overlooked and so that I can generally get feedback on the idea.
Elevator Pitch:Multi-Character, Chess-Like, Abstract Tactical Roguelike
Huh-Why-Has-The-Elevator-Stopped-Oh-God-We're-Stuck-And-Why-Won't-This-Guy-Stop-Talking Pitch:Story:In Retinue, you play as the ruler of a small kingdom. You awake one day to find that all of your faithful subjects have been abducted in the night and dragged off by monsters to a nearby dungeon to be sacrificed to dark and terrible elder gods. Realising that this puts a crimp in your own plans to be waited on hand and foot for the rest of your life, you take up the holy scepter of light that is the sign of your office and head off to rescue some plebs.
Gameplay:The objective of each floor is to get your King to the down stairs. While you are personally represented by the King - should he die, the game is over - once you have liberated* some of your subjects they then become part of your retinue and can also be deployed and controlled. Each turn you select and move one of your units (as in Chess).
*from the enemy, at least...
Combat:Each unit has its own attack pattern which determines which of the surrounding tiles it can attack. For example; for the King, Swordsmen, Knights etc. this pattern simply consists of the adjacent tiles in the cardinal directions:
X
X@X
X
For a spearman, it is one square further away in each of the cardinal directions:
X
X @ X
X
Rogues, thieves, assasins etc. can only attack diagonally:
X X
@
X X
And so on. Each unit also has an attack strength (usually 1, but sometimes 0.5 for weak monsters like rats and sometimes 2 for powerful units). Each unit also has a defense value (1 for most creatures, 2 for armoured knights, 3 for huge monsters and so on). Combat is simple - if the combined attack score of enemy units on the tile that you're in equals or exceeds your defense, you die. So to kill tougher monsters you'll need to combine the attacks of more than one unit by positioning them so that their attack patterns overlap, while simultanously keeping them out of harms way.
For example: A knight (defense 2, attack 1) facing an Orc warrior (defense 2, attack 1) will result in a stalemate. To defeat the Orc, you need to also move a spearman up behind the Knight, or a rogue to his side, so that their attacks can be combined.
The King himself has an attack of 2, but only 1 defense point, meaning that he can be useful for taking out big monsters but that he's vulnerable and needs to be protected by his underlings.
Movement:Each friendly unit casts light around itself within a certain radius. For most this will just be one tile, for some (such as the king, priests etc.) it could be two or three tiles. When you move a unit, you may place him on any tile that has an uninterrupted path of lit tiles leading to it from the current position (regardless of how far away it is). So as an additional layer of tactics, you must be sure to position your units carefully so that you maintain continuous patches of light through which your troops can move easily. Monsters have a similar movement logic, only instead of light they have magic auras, or 'miasma' or something (whatever the flavour, it works the same way).
Abilities:Some units have certain passive special abilities (or limitations). Spies and Assasins are used to lurking in the shadows, and so can move one tile out beyond the lit radius (though they cast no light themselves). Apothecaries cannot attack - instead they boost the defense of adjacent troops by 1. Archers have a long attack range, but cannot attack on the same turn they move. Posionous creatures reduce the defense of enemy units in their attack range for a certain number of turns after they have moved out of their attack range. Etcetera.
Miscellaneous ideas:- When you first rescue them, units will be one of a number of 'base' types - Noble, Peasant, Ruffian etc. Units can be upgraded provided they have enough experience points and the right piece of equipment. Give a bow to a Peasant to upgrade him to an archer, or a spear to make him a spearman. Nobles can be upgraded to Knights, Ruffians can become Thieves or Assasins, etc.
- Potions can be used to temporarily boost units' attack or defense stats.
- Dungeons can have several different features which can be made tactical use of. Traps have a permanent zone of effect which counts as an attack against both player and enemy units. Torches can be lit to create zones of light.
- Instead of a hunger clock, each deployed unit requires a certain amount of money each turn for upkeep. When you start to run out of money to pay them, units may leave your service or even defect to the enemy. Units in reserve do not cost anything, so there's a reason not to deploy everyone at once, but you can only put units into reserve or take them out at the up stairs.
So; what do you think? Does this sound like something you would want to play? Do the rules make sense and are they easy to understand? I'm slightly worried about the deterministic combat rules resulting in there being unwinnable situations or conversely exploits that will win every time, so if anybody has any ideas on how to mitigate those possibilities I'm all ears.
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