Watcher announcement

Watcher is the working title of my latest project. It's a 2D top-down action RPG in a steampunk-ish setting. The action part of the RPG is like a top-down free flight shooter (like a scroller, but it scrolls in both directions). If you've ever played Privateer or Elite, part of the game will be modeled after those, except it's 2D, and there's a bunch of stuff I'm adding in besides content. Without further ado, here are some current screenshots:


In flight.


One of the shops.


The ship equip screen.

As you can see, everything is rather rough around the edges and programmer-like. Almost all of the art is TGB-included stuff, so it will be replaced when I get there. The game has had about month's work, where work means about 3 times a week for an hour per time. Some of those times have been maybe 3 hour blocks. Since I currently work full time, I have to get up before my son in the morning (at about 5:30) and work on it until it's time to go to work.

The following is a list of tasks to do, and tasks that have been completed. The todo list is obviously not complete... it's the stuff that I need to work on in the near future. When the list gets down to just a few items, I will add more to it.

weapon system
different weapons
enemy buildings that shoot at you
experience points, level system
overhead map
radar (replace compass, or combine with compass)
Make enemies a little smarter
Missions (bounty hunt, cargo deliver)
make the Elite game fun!
cargo buy/sell gui update
shadows for all flying objects
overhead cloud/mist layer

create ship that flies around and shoots
create scrolling ground
create enemy ships that fly around and shoot
get money for shooting ships
store to buy upgrades (faster shots, faster ship)
bomb radius
create enemy buildings (bombable, explode)
create explosions
City built on grid
home base build factory (buy in store, build, then produces points every few seconds) (tile layer, setGridActive)
two different cities/bases with different prices (static for now)
dynamic enemy spawning (guided random encounters)
hitpoints, repair (costs money at shop)
compass to point to nearest city
enemy ship hitpoints
cargo/inventory system (data-driven would be great!)
keep shop information in a separate file, use product names as key in "dictionary" for items sold and bought (no XML, just classes)
ship equipment window (install modules, keep it simple... 3 bays, plus to install, minus to uninstall)
compass track nearest base
ship upgrade modules: firepower (eventually different guns), shields, turning radius

Now that you understand the game plan just as well as a slug understands quantum physics, I will keep you posted.