Ashes: Pre-Mortem #1: Game Design Process

from AshesoftheSingularity Forums

This week I did a blog over at Gamasutra talking about the importance of interesting choices:

Read the whole thing here: http://gamasutra.com/blogs/BradWardell/20160104/262961/Ashes_of_the_Singularity_PREmortem.php

 

Let’s look at StarCraft II:

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In Starcraft, you have to build a Supply Depot before you build a Barracks.

 

Now, look at Ashes 0.71 alpha:

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See the red lines? Those are poison choices.  Newbie traps. 

 

So we’ve made some changes that you’ll see in the beta:

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We’ve renamed the “Cruiser Factory” into the Armory.   You have to first build the factory to build the armory.  You also have to build the Factory before you can build things like Smarties and many other things.

Now, you experts might think “Nobody would build missile defense structures as their first decision.”  Actually, yes, lots of people do.  And it’s always a bad choice.

Again, you can read the whole thing here:  http://gamasutra.com/blogs/BradWardell/20160104/262961/Ashes_of_the_Singularity_PREmortem.php

35,353 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Looks good. I cannot wait to see the beta. The build order should give a more distinct flow for progression, although this will only be a subtle change for most.

 

The flow diagram would differ slightly if creeps (neutral defenders) are enabled, expanding would require factory etc first on larger maps with spaced out nodes.

Reply #2 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Posted this in the other thread, don't know which is the "right" one.

I'm glad Brad is thinking on these terms. It bodes very well for the fun-ness factor. It seems to me a core choice is one that sets the tone for at least the next few minutes of the game, if not longer. Air vs. land would be such a choice. T1 vs. T2 would be. Orbital vs unit spam vs defensive buildings another. 

I'm having some trouble with factory vs. expand as a core choice in 0.71. If you choose to build the factory right away, you forfeit your ability to gain a region before the neutrals spawn. This path puts your unit production about 15 seconds ahead of the expand choice, but not really because you have to send units to grab that region eventually. As such, it is never better to build the factory first, so it's not really a choice.

There IS a choice for the expand option though: metal or radioactives? The former may allow you to sustain spamming T1 units and weak defenses for longer, whereas the latter would give you earlier access to more quanta and advanced units. This choice could be made starker by giving the player a one-time per region bump in the associated resource the instant they capture a region (say 50 for radioactives, 100 for metal). This would also make the subsequent order of expansion choices more impactful, and would help with some of the early game economy stall problems.

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Reply #3 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Those are the strategies you typically see. However, the most effective strategy (That i've found) is to build an incredibly strong line of automated defence, and blanket EVERYTHING in AA, because the AI will send bombers to your base, bypassing your land constructs. That's how they used to get me early-game, because they'd rush bombers before I got AA. Now, I've got 3 matches going where I've cornered the enemy using layered defences covering my base first, then resource zones, then cornering where they are in their base, so they just waste time trying to send useless units to breach the defence. All the while i build more relays, until such a point that I get over 100 quanta a second Once, i'd taken the whole map over, and was just building relays over the entire map, when i noticed that I had over 100,000 quanta. One thing i do want for quanta upgrades is the ability to make much stronger turret emplacements. My turrets usually take a pretty nasty hit after a battle, even with nano-bots over them. I mean, usually after 15 minuts of game time i replace turrets with siege dreadnaughts that stop practically any army, even ones with capital ships, due to the sheer amount of missiles and the strength upgrades for them.