It's been a while since the last update (there was an update?) but here we are in Summer 2021 and it's time to talk about where the game is at.
I started working on Drone Warfare (DW) in early 2018 alongside a separate (unannounced and still unreleased!) VR title. Although time was split fairly evenly between the two games it's fair to say that DW development is now in its 3rd year (cue The Simpsons "So Far" meme).
DW is a 3D shooter and tower defence hybrid. You pilot your bee drone against a wide variety of enemies all hell-bent on destroying bee colonies you've been tasked with defending in different environments. To help you the game provides weapons galore as well as tower/turret defences to deploy.
That's the plan anyway.
With the game's focus on defending bees I wanted the player to be involved from a bee's perspective, and be able to fly a drone that for all intents and purposes looks like a bee, but obviously isn't. Welcome to the H-Bee-01 prototype drone:
Being able to control and fly the drone in a detailed interactive environment, as well as directly attack enemies, is perhaps the most important thing I feel the game needs to get right. So this has been my primary focus so far.
It's taken quite some time for me to get the flight model into a state where it feels natural enough to learn yet complex to master, and so rewards repeat plays. It's still WIP, and no doubt will be until the game's release, but I'm actually, finally, "happy" with it after tinkering for so long.
And that's a good place to be - I can actually get on with implementing the rest of the game!
The "tower defence hybrid" part of the description is where the game starts to become something different. I want DW to deliver what looks like a warzone on a micro scale with multiple battles between defenses and attackers happening throughout each of the game's environments.
Enter the turrets.
These can be built anywhere in the environment except directly on the ground. Rocks, tree trunks, logs, etc are all game.
With so many enemies attacking you quickly learn that turrets in key positions help turn the tide against overwhelming odds.
Let's defend those bees!
Cheers,
Faster Time Games.
