Hi guys

I am stuck with the question "who is my enemy".
First a short overview about the game.
The game plays in a post apocalyptic world, where the humans fight for their survival. You are (of course) a human, you fight in a 2d real-time isometric shooter against an enemy more powerful than you are. To succeed, you need to work as a team, plan your attacks, assasinations, ambushes carefully and improvise in case shit happens.


I have an idea about what the enemy should be able to do in the game:

• It should be unable to go in a specific enviroment. Because they are so strong, they would have wiped out the humans already, but they were able to set up some secure bases. My first idea was, that they are unable to go into the sunlight, so they darkened most but some small parts of the world.
  
• It doesn't have to be smart, but smart enough to shoot/throw something at the player.
  
• the units are commanded by "overseers", without them, they attack unorganised and without strategy.
  
  If you want to read more about the design, here is my topic in the game design forum : http://www.gamedev.n...hat-first-game/
  
  
  I can only think of Aliens or Demons (Demon-Aliens!! ), i would like to hear some ideas on:
  Who they are,
  why they are here,
  what they shoot/throw,
  and how the humans managed to set up secure areas.

I can only think of Aliens or Demons (Demon-Aliens!!Posted Image ),

Demons/Aliens in a post apocalyptic world ? What apocalypse ? Nuclear, alien invasion, religious ?

i would like to hear some ideas on:
Who they are,
why they are here,
what they shoot/throw,
and how the humans managed to set up secure areas.

Ghul based ? Living under the surface in the dark, more powerful than a human, corpse eater, more intelligent than a zombie, but still not really clever.

Morlocks?

Demons/Aliens in a post apocalyptic world ? What apocalypse ? Nuclear, alien invasion, religious ?

What apocalypse is not yet decided, it depends on the enemy/enemies.

Thanks for both ideas.

What apocalypse is not yet decided, it depends on the enemy/enemies.

You are creating some kind of chicken-egg-dilema here. What are you looking for ? Enemies from a game design perspective or from a setting/story perspective ? When you want enemies from a setting/story perspective, it would be helpful to define the setting first.

He wants to define the setting based on the enemy, and the enemy has certain game play restrictions.

So, here is an idea.

They are beast-like. They came form underground released and awoken after being dormant for tens of thousands of years. The cataclysm that awoke them was a mega volcano the ruptured the earth. It also clouded the sky in a permanent dark haze. Small pockets of people that survived their first waves and the eruption are holding out somewhere. They stay safe with a perimeter of very high intensity lighting that forms a no-man's land around their last bases.

These guys can be actual beast that are more like predatory animals, or the can be beast-like humanoids that are using human tech found after their first attacks. Any level of intelligence can work here.

A visual idea.

Thanks for the ideas, I think i can start work something out.

I am still with one thing stuck. The enemy must not drop weapons the player can use. So they either have to shoot with something the player cannot use or I should explain why the weapons disappear. Any Ideas?

Biological based weapons suck as spitting acid of shooting bone spikes? Too primitive to be useful such as spears? Make them melee fighters hitting and clawing but with movement mechanics to make it interesting (lunging, jumping, rolling, sprinting) ?


You could also just ignore the issue. Plenty RPGs leave equipment rendered in the art that are not in the loot.
Mass effect series drops ammo but not armour or weapons and you scan armour and weapons in predetermined places to get access to new types.

Okay, no weapons the player can use:

1. They are aliens/a human faction, the weapons are keyed to the owner's DNA.
   
2. They are animals/demons, they have no weapons just built-in abilities.
   
3. They are immensely strong, their weapons are too heavy to use or ineffective without massive strength.
   
4. They are demons/magic users, their weapons are spell casting which you can't do.
   
5. They are demons/from another dimension, their weapons suck the life out of whatever they touch. Or perhaps too hot/cold/electrified/etc to touch.
   
6. They are aliens (like Predator), their weapons explode/evaporate/teleport when they die.
   
7. They are aliens/a human faction, they have smart weapons that only target your faction.
   
8. They are aliens/demons/from another dimension, their weapons channel innate power/abilities which you don't have.
   
9. Their weapons can be used but are ineffective against them, e.g. fire against a demon, energy weapon vs alien with energy shield, etc.
   
10. The enemy has a power source for the weapons which you don't, or they will run out very quickly.
    
11. The enemy has only one weakness, e.g. the enemy is nanotech, so anything you cut or shoot them with will be absorbed, only an EMP/nanotech/virus weapon will work.
    
12. Their best/only weapon is a suicide weapon.
    

I think you could get away with just not having their weapons be pick-up-able loot; I don't think people would notice or be bothered by it. A lot of games are already like that, anyway (at least older games). It might be better to do that than to come up with a convoluted or confusing reason as to why you can't pick the weapons up.