HM4 Analysis and Future

Current Analysis & Future Vision
Purpose
To evaluate the current state of the game, and state my vision of how I see it moving forward in the future.
Overall
The game falls anywhere between that of a prototype and a fully functional demo, depending on the expectations of the audience.
Additional work is required to improve the quality level, and bring the product up to the expected level of customers.
The overall game idea works very well. This alone makes it a success, as my goal was to find a working game idea.
Engine
Functionally, the engine does more or less everything it needs to. There will be small additions here and there moving forward.
Performance wise most of the code is perfect, except for parts of the floor display which are horrible. This is due to the system being rushed and built with no buffering of any kind. Future upgrades are planned which will drastically improve performance, and allow the game to run on the most basic of computers.
Code wise, most of the codebase is amazing. There are some faults, and some major issues, such as the text engine which does need to be completely rebuilt at some time in the future.
Bug wise, again mostly perfect. There are some cruical rendering issues in the 3D levels which I am looking into fixing.
Skills
The current crop of character skills is exceedingly simple, with almost no variety. In the future, we desire much more variety.
The underlying skill system is actually incredibly powerful. It utilizes a micro op based system, allowing skill behaviour to be constructed out of any number of smaller individual operations, including loops.
One reason the current skills are lacking, is due to under utilization of the current system.
The second reason, is that the system needs to be expanded.
A full study should be done of the current system. Brainstorming of additional functionality should be performed, including its uses and implementation.
Additional functionality should be added to the skill system. This will include cost benefit analysis of the brainstormed ideas.
A paper document should be developed showing the different types of skills that can be created using the system. It should be maintained and expanded on as the game engine improves.
New skills should be developed for both the playable characters, and the enemies over time.
Playable Characters
The three current characters are the warrior, archer, and mage.
Currently, the value of each class varies widely. The archer is highly useful, the warrior is of medium use, and the mage is of limited value.
The weaker classes should be improved to make them more viable for different playstyles.
These are the only acquiable character classes for the first 10 levels of the tower.
Beyond these 10 levels, new types of characters will be added and experimented with.
Enemies
The current crop of enemies are exceedingly lame, with almost no variety in their behavior.
They need to be improved including their skills, behaviour, and appearance.
Moving forward, enemies will be developed with much greater care, with each designed to fulfil a very specific gameplay niche.
Levels
The levels or floors vary widely in quality, with some being near perfect, some of medium quality, and some being horrible.
This applies to both the individual appearance of the block palette, and the layout of the blocks.
The better floors, such as 9 and 10, are near perfect. Such floors may recieve small fixes, or be left alone.
The worse floors, such as 6, need a complete overhaul.
The floors that worked better can be studied and the design copied to improve the floors that didn't work as well. This is particularly useful for the floor themes.
The tundra theme is the worst, and dream is the best. The forest, hell, and desert themes came out ok, but should be improved upon.
Themes
The first four themes (forest, hell, tundra, and desert) can be grouped as fantasy themes.
The last theme (dream) can be described as more of an abstract theme.
My goal with this game is to explore many different themes, mixing and matching without limits. This includes space, modern life, or otherwise.
It's important that I break away from the mainly fantasy themes now, and move in a different direction.
I am torn between moving forward with abstract themes, or swiching over to space based themes.
Abstract themes could include lines, perhaps black and white. Other possibilities include dots, or picaso style artwork.
Abstract themes should make for great looking levels, as is the case with our dream theme, but may not translate very well to monsters and gameplay.
A space based theme on the otherhand would include a simplier block appearance, but would work really well when it comes to creating enemies, playable characters, and gameplay.
Keen 5 comes to mind as one of the types of space based levels we could see. Others may include alien words, or even a starcraft zerg in pods feel.
Level Mechanics
Current level mechanics include: water, teleporters, updrafts, and locks + Keys.
These work very well, but more must be added in the future.
Other unused mechanics include the yellow and blue arcs.
Experimentation
Of cruical importance is the concept of experimentation or in other terms variety.
This game doesn't have a single theme, or single type of gameplay per say. This game is an experiment, that constantly introduces new content, graphics, sounds, and gameplay to the player.
It's of utmost importance that every set of floors be its own theme, and that each theme is an exploration of artistic nature.
This video game, like all other video games, is, or at least should be, a work of art.
User Interface
Agruably the worse part of the game.
Needs a huge overhaul.
Unfortunatly, I'm a pleb when it comes to making UIs, and this is more or less the most I can do on my own.
I will need outside help to improve this.
Sounds
Also really bad.
Also really needs work.
Also something I need outside help with.
Final Thoughts
This document records my recent 'Eureka' moment about the current state of the game and how to move it forward.
This is very important and valuable, as it describes exactly how a massive improvement in quality can be achieved.
With these changes, I believe this game can be a massive success.