The player needs to protect themselves, the player needs to recover and also make money to buy more weapons, health and upgrades. What system are we going to use to facilitate these needs and how are we going to implement these into our game. Welcome to game dev, where more questions are asked and even more solutions are definitely needed.
We tried to go into detail below explaining why we made the design decisions that influenced how we made the game work on a practical level for the player. As gamers ourselves we have played thousands of titles over many thousands of hours and you get a general idea of what works well and what annoys the hell out of you. We tried to translate these positive gaming moments into CyberpunkXXX.
Weapons
When you think about what weaponry people will use in the future the first image that pops up in most peoples minds is often lasers, shiny chrome hardware and integrated electronic screens. In all probability, I doubt a huge amount would be very different from todays technology. Sure, we would have even more efficient and deadly bullets, maybe enhanced targeting systems but the general mechanics would be very similar to what we have at the moment. Realistically, the biggest difference would be whether a real human or robot AI would be pulling the trigger, but that’s another story altogether.
When it came to the weapon system we were going to implement in CyberpunkXXX we cautiously decided on following the old maxim, “if it aint broke, don’t fix it…”. This was due to a variety of reasons included our limited budget, limited time and limited experience in developing a brand new combat mechanic. We could have spent months learning and developing gravity guns, advanced ballistic physics and so on but we just wanted the player to experience easy to use guns that packed a real big punch. The player should feel that the weapons are satisfying to use and are effective against any enemy they may face in the game.
This essentially means the game will include the usual handguns, assault rifles, sub-machine guns and sniper rifles as well as grenades and smoke bombs plus additional heavy weaponry such as rocket launchers and ant-tank missiles (we don’t actually plan on having tanks in the game but we are keen to introduce large mechs at some point). The inclusion of laser sights, neon ammo level indicators, and small LCD information screens on some guns have added a futuristic aesthetic to a lot of the arsenal though.
Health
If you ever create a video game and want to create a playing experience that elicits a sense of urgency, danger and immediate threat you pretty much have to include a health mechanic with the main character. If the player has no capacity to die and is essentially invincible then you remove the core challenge of the game and thus remove the motivation to keep on playing. Why would you ever play a game that provides no resistance along the journey?
The flipside to this is that you have to provide a way for the health or energy to be replenished. You can obviously do this in many ways and the most popular over the last few decades is either through health packs and pick ups scattered randomly throughout the game world or as rewards for killing enemy AI. Some games have shops and trading systems which allow the player to purchase increased health as well as skill increases and other items. When implemented right all of these can work extremely well, so what about our game?
We quite like the idea of making the game as “realistic” as possible, especially when it involved the usual routines gameplay forces you to accomplish such as replenish ammo and health. The idea of vending machines and stores dotted throughout the city that dispensed both health and food which enable you to increase your vitality seemed like the most obvious solution. The option of being able to pick up dead enemies weapons and ammo also seemed like a logical as well as a realistic mode of increasing your arsenal.
Crypto
Lets be honest, in a post apocalyptic world the chance that people would still be using fiat money is slim at best. Would institutions like the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England survive if the populace rejects the existing establishment. Would the stock exchanges exist if capitalism had broken down and more importantly, would the people of the future really use paper money especially since contactless payment has been ubiquitous for purchasing over the last few years now.
The reality is that in all probability decentralised cryptocurrency or something very similar would be the main form of currency in the distant future. As we have seen over the last decade, the rise of cryptocurrency as a viable form of payment, an investment tool and form of storing your wealth as well as the obvious privacy aspects has proven to most people that its here to stay.
Now that we’ve established what would be the most likely form of currency in the future it made sense that we would add that as the games main form of commerce. If you need health and ammo then you will need some crypto. If you need weapon upgrades or need to gain access to some areas of the map then you will need some crypto. A combination of rewards for missions accomplished, scavenging certain areas or just simply old killing enemy AI and looting the bodies will provide a steady income to help you on your journey.
As mentioned previously we will be dropping the FREE playable demo towards the end of the year but in the meantime we will be making as many gameplay vids as we can plus the official CyberpunkXXX trailer (Its coming soon we promise!). Don’t forget to click the links below and add the game to your Wishlist’s or support us on Patreon and Kickstarter. Thanks folks!
Help us on our journey…
Wishlist on Steam
