Starting a new game
The only way to be successful is to keep trying new paths.
The main reason why indie/solo developers failed is that they put too much hope in the only passionate game they had ever dreamed of in their lives. They spent years and money developing The Game, and if the game fails, or the game has little success, i.e. doesn't make enough money, they need to close down and find a job to live on.
So, after the failure of my first game, Reaper's Iterin Program, I decide to make a game that rounded for my mind for years. A strategy game.
My view of the genre
Lets start with a familiar definitions.
The 4x games is defined in the wikipedia as:
The 4X game genre has come to be defined as having the four following gameplay conventions:
Explore means players send scouts across a map to reveal surrounding territories.
Expand means players claim new territory by creating new settlements, or sometimes by extending the influence of existing settlements.
Exploit means players gather and use resources in areas they control, and improve the efficiency of that usage.
Exterminate means attacking and eliminating rival players. Since in some games all territory is eventually claimed, eliminating a rival's presence may be the only way to achieve further expansion.
The Grand Strategy Games are defined in the wikipedia as:
A grand strategy wargame or simply grand strategy game (GSG) is a wargame that places focus on grand strategy: military strategy at the level of movement and use of a nation state or empire's resources. The genre has considerable overlap with 4X games, but differs in being "asymmetrical", meaning that players are more bound to a specific setup and not among equally free factions in exploring and progressing the game and an open world.
The follow are my definitions.
Top level and the Low Level strategy game
Low Level units games are games with a playing style similar to chess. They have a variety of unit types with different abilities and the player needs to move and combine their different styles to achieve the victory condition.
Top level units games are games with a style similar to checkers. All units are equal and the player moves to control the playing field, forcing enemy players to make some moves and attack from a weak position.
Management complexity
Simple managment games like Risk whith only one resource, the troops, which are generated each turn by a simple count of controlled territories.
Complex managment like the Civilization series, where there are a multitude of resources and units that are unlocked by managing time and knowledge to be successful.
Relationship with others
Simply relationship, again in Risk, the only possible relationship is aggression and annihilation is the only way to win.
Complex relationship, like in Civilization and Europa Universalis you can establish commercial and diplomatic relations with other players since total annihilation is not the only way to win.
These are all my personal appreciations of the genre, not academic research.
With these bases, and some more appreciation, I am going to try to establish the type of strategy game I want to make.
My strategy game
Lets started with a game I like to play.
Risk-like game is:
Region based map
Turn based time, with phases
1x game only: extermination
all regions are distributed at the beginning
top level units: Only number matter
simple troops acquisition
infinite movement of troop
simple relationship with the regions (mine or enemy)
a lucky component in the resolution of conflict
Things I want to keep:
Regional map
Turn based time, with phases
Top level units, but with a twist
Things I want to change:
remove the lucky component in the resolution of conflict
the number of movement per turn
troops acquisition rules
regions acquisition rules
more complex relationship with the regions
I want a game between Risk and Civilization. Simple enough that the Risk player not feel overwhelming and complex enough that the 4x player would consider a relaxed but competent version of their games.
The new marketing/development road map
This time I will follow the indie pc steam marketing meta.
Focus in setup the steam page. So I will start by making a hollow, shinny, UI only game to make a 5 screenshots to release the “coming soon” steam page as quick as I can.
Make a one player no-AI game mode demo and look for some youtubers who will like the play
Make a simple AI opponent for a PvE game mode and keep updating the demo, try to reach more streamers to play the game
Keep polishing the AI and updating the demo and collecting wishlist
Participate in some steam festivals
Wish me good luck.