[WIP] Untitled Arena Survival Top Down Shooter

[render8]

Heya folks! I figured it was time I tried to make a more serious attempt at creating something that I can actually call mine. Right now the game is very basic in design and not much has been implemented, but I want to take my time and do things right.

The concept I have is really simple. Survive as many rounds and waves of enemies as you can without dying while trying to rack up as high of a body count as you can.

Here's just a few ideas I have for this:

- Enemies killed and ammo remaining when you die will be converted to in-game bonus credits which will eventually be able to be used in a shop to purchase new weapon types, upgrade current weapons, buy health kits, purchase new arenas to play in, etc.

- Introduce a nice assortment of enemies in each wave, each with their own speeds, aggressiveness, and strengths.

- Create a large assortment of arenas to play in, each with their own challenges, eg. fewer places to hide, more enclosed space, environmental dangers to avoid while running around, etc. Also I'd like to have locked arenas which players will need to use in-game credits to unlock.

- Create a skill level system which will give the player more moving speed, extra health reserves, etc.

These are just the basic ideas I have right now, and it's all super early in the making, so I'm sure things will change a lot over time. I've struggled for a long time finding a game concept I can stay excited about, but something about this one seems like a fun time to me.

Also, I'd like to thank DaveC for being really helpful with the top down shooting concept as well as how to give the appearance of lighting. So here's a little video showing a few minutes of me toying around with what I have so far. Unfortunately I don't have any enemy or player art yet which is something I think I will end up struggling with since pixel art really isn't my strong suit. Just basic shapes for now.

[Retrobolt]

The gameplay's nice,kinda reminds me of Hotline Miami.Try studying Hotline Miami to use as a reference or inspiration.It can help you with level design and pixel art.

[render8]

Thanks Retrobolt. I know this is gonna sound like I've been living under a rock, but I honestly had no idea what Hotline Miami was until you made mention of it lol. I think I'll have to investigate it a bit further.

I know it's pretty barebone at the moment and I'm already expanding the arena to allow scrolling around since I think being jammed into a small one room space like this gets a little too hectic. I've already got it set up to gradually increase the aggressiveness of the enemies with each passing round. Higher counts of enemies per round with gradual speed increase. I also spent some time synthesizing new sounds. Some new alien type death sounds for the enemies and a punchier futuristic type gun sound for the default gun.

I also implemented keyboard and mouse controls, so there will be the option to play either with an Xbox controller, or mouse/keyboard. I tried doing this with the mouse and keyboard but just can't get in the right groove and it feels weird since aiming/shooting is done with mouse and move with the keyboard. I think this kind of game will benefit more from using an Xbox controller for sure.

I'll post more when I feel it's a little more update worthy and thanks again for taking time out for the viewing!