After more than a year of thinking about how to freshen up the Rougelite genre (which is ubiquitously loved and has some great mechanics). As it gained massive popularity with Binding of Isaac and again with Hades and indie-er games like Vampire Survivor and became a sort of a staple mechanic even for silly mobile games, it seems like a good idea to try and use it as a guide for my new pet project.
Problem is, everything has been done already. Or so I thought.
I've been pondering mechanics for a while. Personally, I don't like Roguelike games. I dislike doing runs over and over just to die after failing to get to the end after 20+ minutes of hectic gameplay just to redo it, hoping I'll get better randomized upgrades. What I did like is the progression mechanics of the Roguelite variety, compounded with some story, exploration and a very clear goal. The other thing I liked is when the game mitigates the randomness by allowing more choices before a run and during. Hades is really exquisite in that regard.
After about a year (Maybe more? Time runs differently after the pandemic has struck), it finally dawned on me. I sat down and wrote about 10 pages of the basic premise of a game I thought could maybe do to the Roguelite genre what Vampire Survivor has done before. It's inventive, interesting, and haven't been done before. It could very well be a mobile game, but I think it would be better as a pay-to-own mobile/console game. I might try to go the Vampire Survivor path by putting it up on twitch as a "Lite" version and if it gains some love, create a full version on steam.
I am working right now full-time on another game. So I'll have to find bits and pieces of time to create it on my free time. Which I don't have, but that's another story.
This devlog - I think - is a motivational tool. This is the first time I felt so sure about a game/prototype in years. Many years. I want to finish this. So, I'm writing this with the hope of me actually getting this idea from a shower-induced-fever-dream to a fully-fledged game.
Wish me luck.
