So up to this point I have mostly been creating content.. lots and lots of content. From level graphics to enemies, special effects, characters, all that funky stuff.
During the development of Groundskeeper2 and Heroes of Loot I noticed that having a lot of content makes it easier to streamline your gameplay and gameflow. So when I started working on Gunslugs 2 I knew I had to try and test my theory.
So now that I have all this content, it’s time to glue it all together. In Gunslugs 1 I used the missions mostly as a fun trigger for people to keep playing and trying to complete all objectives. For this game, the whole game-flow will come from the missions. Even though there are all these levels and worlds, your progress is dictated by how you complete the missions.
So, for example, unlocking the Wasteland area is done by completing the “stop the train” mission. Which then opens up new and harder missions that take place in the Wasteland area.
This structure also allows me to easily make you go back to earlier area’s, adding more difficult enemies that weren’t there the first time you got to play the area. As you can imagine, this extends the value of the game as you get to play a much bigger game. I’ll just have to make sure the missions don’t feel too much like a boring grind.
So while working on the missions screen, it turned into a part of the actual game where you could just run around the “Command H.Q.” bunker and talk to the general to get your mission. I then took that a bit further and made Command HQ the game interface.
So all unlocked (rescued) Gunslugs characters will walk around, and you can swap to any of them on your next mission. There will also be a jukebox to change the sound settings, and I plan on adding things to change the controls and to check your achievements/leaderboards.
The cool thing (warning: tech-nerd stuff) is that this whole hub runs as any other level in the game. So I could even drop in a little enemy or two if you hang around Command HQ for to long. I could place a tank in there at random, and you can drive around… I won’t.. but I could !
Sadly no new gameplay video yet, I hope to have one early next week with some of the mission stuff in there and of course Command HQ!
