Hi

Im working on a turnbased tactical game with realtime management/strategy. Like in old xcom you build bases, manage them and your soldiers and engage in combat in turnbased small maps and when you do, the world (and the management/strategy part) is on paus.

Setting is modern day broken down us with militias/streetgangs/mafias fighting for control of the cities. Each game takes part in a city concisting of hoods (sectors) and the goal is to take over the city completely. How about fun mechanics for doing so? Lets recap:

OLD XCOM

random combat: to get resources, to unlock stuff

progression: scan and explore and develop your tech so you can kill the aliens before they get too strong and kill you.

NEW XCOM

random combat: to get resources and avoid panic (panic makes you loose support and thereby income and possibly direct defeat)

progression: a few triggered (by research and/or time?) unique encounters leading to a final battle scenario. Aliens do not really grow too strong at any time. Hard early in campaign but way to easy towards the end.

Did i get that right?

MY PLAN

My plan is to have the player gain "loyalty" in hoods by defending them against bandit and opposing militias, doing jobs there and selling drugs to the desperate population. With high enough loyalty, a hoods ruling militias (old world "government" but in the game these are also violent criminals, only worse) strongpoints will be revealed (contacts, turncoats etc) and may be assaulted. Once enough hoods are controlled, the main controlling body of the city may be challanged to try to "win the campaign". When control raises, the opposition towards the player will increase.

Does this sound fun to you? Any other ideas for overarching strategy mechanics for such a setting? How would the player progress towards victory?

Thanks for your input

Erik

Anyone?

How hardcore do you want to take this - if we are using xcom as a reference and then implementing criminal organisation structures you might incorporate

gambling - you might start of with a bookie and through research access poker machines, underground casinos, riverboats casinos, sports gambling

prostitution - you might start with streetwalkers and through research access include strip joints, brothels, high class escorts, illegal immigrants as sex slaves, fetishes etc

loan sharking - initial loans with return rate and through research access collection agents, assets seizures, organ harvesting

Drugs - initially sells dope - through research access new drug suppliers for harder drugs, designers drugs, poisons, cutting drugs with other substances,

the list goes on...you could cross-credit research such as loan sharking/ prostitution leading to person defaulting and working debt off in the sex trade

I would suggest Protection be the means by which your hood's loyalty is shown - for example you have 3 different attacks happen on three different hoods - you choose to protect one gaining loyalty while the other two lose loyalty.

Random events i.e. UFO's in x-com might become a drug transport or heist stopped on its way by the player and robbed. Leading to new weapon, new types of drugs etc being found or defending one of your own hoods/transports/minibosses.

The game itself I don't see as being that difficult to create along these sorts of lines...but my experience with x-com having played both original and latest is that while the original enthralled me, the sequel I felt could have been so much more. So in terms of your game I would want to see something better in terms of story/play than x-com current version. That said, a lot of people loved the new x-com, so a market for this type of game definitely exists. As an idea what you have is a good start but you have a long way to go yet in terms of expanding upon your initial steps.

good points on what to do to earn money, but what about the whole idea with building rep/loyalty in different hoods (sectors) of the game world and this progresses the player? I mean overarching goal? You seem to imply that could work.

E

It could work yes...but the difficulty with giving a subjective opinion is that you are not really breaking down into the mechanics but rather providing an overview. As you take over each hood, what effective investments do you place into the hood to help raise loyalty, a mechanic like civilisation (the game) to build "hood" improvements such as brothels, gambling dens etc, will you station gangster squads at the location, sell drugs etc. These are all factors by which you might increase loyalty but conversely they might also be ways to decrease loyalty for example selling drugs to the population of the hood might lead to an increase in crime in that area as well create weak-minded individuals who will betray you, your brothels might affect the angst of the local church group as you placed them in a religious hood. Will loyalty become a situation of installing enough criminal enterprises to make money but conversely not so much that you destroy the hood.

In the absence of further definition from you of the actual game design as to how you intend to manage loyalty i.e. what increases it as well what decreases it beyond the overview you leave me in the position of trying to create rather than analyse.

True, but i was looking for a general answer if the overarching idea would work and you gave it. Balancing income and loyalty in different areas was on my mind too.

In general its a sort of classic mechanic for strategy games: grow strong (by different means) before your opponents are too strong for you to handle (they also grow), juggle resources and expand expand expand!