Hi, and thank you for your time.
I am new to the Unity community but not to programming and certainly not to art. Currently I am student at a local university for an irrelevant degree but for the past few years have learned much about 3d and 2d graphics and programming in java and other languages. While I am certainly not a master at Unity, I am learning quickly.
I can create high quality graphics and audio, so I am better at this than actual scripting in Unity. I am familiar with programming, but Unity scripting requires learning even for those who know programming in other languages. Most of my designs focus on my art skills over programming, but I am not afraid of a big project or hard programming.
My ultimate goal is a huge project which might take years, so I have put it aside to focus on a realistic and fun goal. Making money is only secondary to making a great game, but it could be important. So I wanted to throw my different ideas for games out there to see what others thought, especially about business aspect to them. I dont want to make millions, I just would like to make a little bit multiplied by the length of the project. Even if I break at $4 / hour it is successful to me. Any more is just bonus.
My ideas are very unique, and almost all are multiplayer. I do not want to hear “They are all niche ideas and you will not make money!” because I want to make niche games, and fun ones, and money is not as important as quality gaming.
1) Tabletop WW2 game system. Players first design a battlefield (and can save it) offline. They connect to others in multiplayer and in a turn based system, play a tabletop game with animated soldiers, sound effects, etc.
This would be a computer game version of FLAMES OF WAR but obviously for legal reasons, called something like “War of Flames” or “Flames of World War 2” lol. It would use similar rulesets, as legally close as it could. Optionally I would sell the “engine” with the “ruleset” as a free download, similar to all sorts of tabletop ruleset programs (PnP programs with options to download ‘free’ ruleset files for D&D, Shadowrun, etc.)
This would simply be a turn based WW2 “tabletop” game with optional player-made map creation based on picking tiles , units similar to that of flames of war (where one unit is multiple soldiers), two sides (US German) with future expansion possibilities (Britain, Italian, Russia, Japanese), animated soldier idling, firing, suppression, etc. with multiplayer up to 4 players.
Optionally, instead of WW2 Flames of War, it could be Warhammer Fantasy or Warhammer 40k, or other popular tabletop games. However, I believe a WW2 Flames of War version would be best.
2) PnP Toolkit. There are already many of these on the market, but none done to my satisfaction. A high focus on a sleek GUI with easy (relative) options for Game Masters, and a focus on graphics, animated characters, sound effects, music choice (for game masters), and popups for things like Critical Fumbles/Hits for the GameMaster. This would be a turn-based game as well, where things such as initiative and combat rolls are automatically done (with the option to roll dice instead, with dice on screen, for that PnP feel.)
The focus would be on the graphics and audio, to make it more along the lines of a game that looked and played like a Neverwinter Nights game, but with a significant less content and a heavier focus on the Game Master. Like a mix between NWN quality graphics,animations,audio, and Battlegrounds: RPG Edition.
However, being able to be a Browser Game implement a community/website to bring players together is a powerful feature. I know of no games that can allow for a single website to concentrate all players into a single in-browser (or in-website) chat, where players can host and find other players to play PnP games with. Optionally if popular enough, I could implement “Campaigns” which can have an automatic game master, for PnP downtime, or for easy storylines for those without a DM, but wanting of the high quality of PnP (online) as opposed to real time gaming and no storytelling. Mulltiplayer up to 10 players.
Theme can involve Sci-Fi, Cyberpunk, or Traditional D&D Fantasy.
3) Remake of a classic SNES or SEGA game, but with modern features or GUI. Most likely a fun, action or sidescroller-- NOT a rpg. Multiplayer up to 4 players.
4) A Tower Defense game where players can control a “Builder” and create towers, OR play as a Knight or Mage, in real-time, as NPC’s swarm in the traditional tower defense fashion. Depending on creation time and quality, increased features can include upgrading the “Hero” whether Builder, Mage, or Knight. Multiplayer for up to 4 players.
None of these would be short projects, so the lengthy programming and feature list of the first two over the possible latter two does not bother me so much as just wanting to make a quality game which many people will enjoy. Especially for anyone who doesn’t have software for what they need. (Tabletop Online PnP gaming being a bit ignored when it comes to software development).
I think that, as a starter project, 3) has the advantage that the overall design and most of the details have already been layed out by the original game. Not very unique of course, but a good starting point and easy to convert to something more standalone once it’s finished.
