Update time (Lots to talk about)

RPG Support Drones

Some of you may have noticed the wee cute support drone.
I spent a half day building it out, the code is complex, but the game is Drone Commander after all.

Now the game is getting closer to all main pillars in place, I can start building out the smaller stuff.
The idea with the drones is that not just in space battles do you have "Drone Commanders," but also on the ground.
Sometimes you'll have to protect them.

In the quick select menu (WIP) you'll be able to select "Support Drone," which will follow you around.
It will soak up bullets, and depending on its level (you can level and upgrade them), it will have various abilities including regen, multi-shot, bullet magnet, and so on.

Once the big stuff is out the way and I can focus on the small stuff, I'll build out a whole flavor of drones.

When I first imagined Fel, I imagined her support drone as a cute little furry animal or something.

NOTE: This was just a mock, it's a low quality asset i did for testing. Just to show the thought process.

I might do a hat-nod to that idea, but yeah, lots more to come on the drone front, including more conventional drones like loitering drones and full-on UAV drone strikes.

What i'm working on now?

Right now, i'm adding lots of features for the RPG battle, but you only do it once.

Some big wins are just how many things i've added recently and so quickly, but without a doubt the team battles are putting a big smile on my face. I think its quite unique and once i've got all the bells and whistles on, I think you'll agree too.

I.e. Imagine storming an enemy compound with 2 or 3 teams, the enemy might have double that. Your guys will be talking to each other, sh1t talking the enemy. Your own party will be laying covering fire, casting support drones, healing. Allies may call in long range drone strikes. Special moves and even summons.

During all of this there will be battle dialogue that just 'happens' some will be scripted for special scenes, others will be based on the personalities of your support teams.

Once they all come together, I then finish out one of the biggest levels i'm working on, then I'll create many different variants of combat scenes (mostly for fun).

Things like:

Capture the flag

Hold Position (hold out against waves)

SWAT - Search Destroy

Mission Objectives: Infiltrate enemy base, Take out AA defences and so on.

These will be easy (30 minute per piece to knock out) so i can build a ton of levels to test all the various features.

What's next?

After all the RPG shooter stuff is done (and i feel I might be totally complete with it all in the next 2 weeks), then i'll round off some more RTS final touches (enemy AI).

After that, I add the final 'cherry on the top' which i mentioned last time, the set piece battles in orbit, honestly it's very VERY unique. Will be flyby all guns blazing affair where your fleet smashes into theirs, and you have to act fast, with lots of immediate rewards as you tear apart their fleet - ideal for those switch between RPG-RTS moments.

At this point, all battle elements are fully done, and 'stampable' meaning i can churn them out very fast (multiple campaigns per day).

And then?

I think i have over 30 hours of gameplay, a lot is in the visual novel. With the above completed, it means I can move on to the final phase of build-development.

Knocking out all the levels, scenes and completing the game.

Because, right now, i can create Visual Novel scenes very quickly. I'm getting close to being able to do that for missions in RPG and RTS. At that point, i can do a 'FULL CHAPTER'... and see it all start to finish.

At which point, you'll see a lot more updates, and a much happier me!