UPDATED!
Phew-EE!
Okay so development has taken an unexpected turn! I returned to CASTELLUM from a month long break, and discovered I didn't actually like it. I'd been developing it for 3 months at that point and thought "if this isn't fun yet, will it ever be?".
I do really think CASTELLUM could be a great game, but it's too big a project for a one man operation.
SO, I stripped back the complexity of the bunker, removed disease, radiation, flooding and so on. Then I added the SURFACE...
broom broom
It's now possible (read: required) to venture out to the surface of the planet to gather metal and rescue people to expand your base. The Surface is populated by the enemy (insert plot here!) who will try to take over the map, you must expand your base, upgrade your vehicle and win the war before the enemy can conquer the whole map!
In practice this splits the game into 2 phases. A base building phase and a combat phase.
You start in the base building phase, then ride our to gather metal and people.
no toilets!?
The combat map is split into sectors which you must defend, whilst also collecting metal and people, plus watching your power consumption. (running out of power == death)
At the end of each combat phase (when your vehicle is destroyed or you return to base) any remaining contested sectors become enemy sectors and will house an enemy spawning base on the next day.
Which gives us a whole new game! CASTELLUM was no long appropriate. It was taken from the latin for "shelter" and sounds too thoughtful and dark to be suitable.So a whole new name then...
At the moment it's all shaping up rather nicely. I can't WAIT to get stuck into the vehicle upgrades and customization. But there is a ways to go before that.
I hope you all like this latest iteration of this project. Let me know what you think in the comments!
