Dropzone design principles

This is for some of the design pillars, ideas, preferences, and directions I plan to explore with this project.

I want to create a game that's more of a "combat sandbox," taking advantage of the open ended possibility that the RTS format offers. Since RTS games are not limited, in the way that say, an FPS requires one player to control one character, they can become arenas where interesting interactions become possible, all kept balanced by the economy system. Something like playing a strategy game with the Gmod prop gun.

Customization is a another important aspect. Players should be able to mix up their strategy, fine tune their units, and come up with their own creative spin. This can mean custom units, mixing and matching technology options, and have many, many ways of wiping out other players.

There will also be heavy themes of hard science fiction and military science fiction. Combined arms, depiction of real life and speculative technologies and tactics, terrain useage, and scientific detail. The idea is to have more of a military simulation feel.

Continuing on from this, I want to experiment with situational weapons that become stronger in the right tactical circumstance. For instance, close range recoilless rifles, slow moving torpedoes that can be dodged, special weapons with a long cooldown, and powerful artillery shells with a long hang time that must properly lead targets with force fire.

On top of the tactical considerations, I want movement to play a large part in the gameplay. I like the idea of momentum, acceleration, and move speed playing alongside unique weapon profiles to create very interesting niche units.

Finally, I hope to experiment with scale and physics dynamics to create a strong sense of place. I want the units to feel like physical characters in the game world, whether that's infantry moving through the trees of an alien jungle or tanks reaching out more than 20 feet to fire their cannons and machine guns at enemies.

So that's the plan, at least right now. The direction may change and update in the future, but these are the core concepts I'm interested in testing.