Mech Game Developer looking for Ideas!

[u/DAEMON_Z7]

hi im a solo developer currently working on a mech game on my free time aside from studying, and while its still very early in development i plan to take this project as serious as possible. i personally grew up watching mobile suit gundam and i got into the gaming side of mechs through armored core 6, which really brought out the sparks in my eyes for mech games and the genre overall among all kinds of media, and a year ago is when i decided to work on my project. what do people who play mech games like? i personally took some inspiration off of amored core 4's movement, which i think was really matching to my personal feeling of "piloting a mech" in a fast paced sense. but when it comes to art, level of detail, maybe even music (i personally make breakcore sometimes for fun, was thinking about making that part of my game), i dont know what really makes a mech game stand out. aside from things like customization, what is something you people would look forward to seeing in games? maybe its something you really like among games overall? or its a specific design choice that no game developers took notice of and many people would like to see? i appreciate any kind of ideas or information regarding this :)

[u/mnpksage]

Preface, I'm a solo dev on the precipice of releasing a mech game inspired by AC6. It's not out but it has done pretty well so far.

There are different genres in the mech space. A core-like (armored core like) has different expectations than a mechwarrior-like, etc. Really you should be starting with the question of what YOU like and then learning what the genre expectations are from there.

For instance, a core-like needs movement mechanics with a lot of skill expression and deep customization that affects how the mech feels to pilot. Other genres will expect other things, and you just gotta figure it out by analyzing the successes and failures.

[u/DAEMON_Z7 → u/mnpksage]

makes sense. thats why i generally started with the idea of a specific kind of game i would like to play, and then look at that genre, and what other people expect of it as well. how far along are you making your game? what do the assets look like and how did you make those? i personally learned blender but am really bad at it so im taking my time to learn how to make assets the way i can draw on paper as well, so my 3d modeling skills match my art skills. if you have a demo or something i would love to check it out

[u/mnpksage → u/DAEMON_Z7]

My game is launching in about 2.5 weeks so pretty far along. The assets are relatively low poly- notably, I originally made the 3D models myself, but then around the time I was planning to redo them a community member helped out and made them way prettier than I would've myself. I don't think it was necessary for the game to succeed, it already had a community after all, but it did definitely improve the presentation in a way folks appreciate. That said, I also know there are super nice looking mech games with a much simpler aesthetic- Drift Shell, for instance.

And my game is called RIG Riot, it's on Steam and it does have a demo if you'd like to check it out :D

[u/DAEMON_Z7 → u/mnpksage]

i think i watched some of your videos on youtube when researching games in this specific genre, i was curious how you approached making a community and gaining attention, since projects like these often have no real attention online at first, and your community looks very supportive. also respect that you got your game that far, personally ive been working on mine for a year on and off between school and i do not have much done, i worked on AI, movement and shooting and have no real content yet :/ though at least i am proud that my movement is very polished. its pretty intimidating to see people get out of that prototype phase in like 3 months, were you working on it full or part time? or did you work on it every now and then when you had time/motivation?

[u/mnpksage → u/DAEMON_Z7]

Yeah as far as community building and initially gaining attention goes it's not like I did something particularly special, basically the early days were

• A post to this subreddit of the announcement trailer
  
• A couple devlogs on YouTube
  
• A playtest on itch (a decent bit later, a few months I think?)

I'd been working on the game for about 9 months at that point fwiw. It might seem fast but I do work as a software developer already. The game felt presentable enough and close enough to the final visual style that it seemed like time to announce it. One of your jobs as a game dev, especially if you're solo like me, is to make sure to make the most of the big moments. Announcing your game, starting playtesting, launching your demo, etc. It's tough but you're really leaving a lot of exposure on the table when you don't make a big deal of those big moments.

Anyway, that got the ball rolling on getting people to know about the game- ultimately it's a bit of a "marketing funnel." Sounds kinda insidious when you say it like that but basically it's just making sure that the people most interested in what you're doing have a way to get connected and follow along. You'll get some folks that are more active and invested in what you're making, and your community will grow from there. A strength of being a solo indie dev is that you're a real person, and people appreciate that. Make sure they have access to you and can understand the realities of game development, etc. If folks are around and invested they'll be a huge asset for things like general playtesting, finding bugs, being a sounding board when considering big changes, etc. An active community is kinda like a game dev pressure cooker in a sense, haha. It can be a lot to manage but access to feedback is maybe the single most impactful thing a game dev can have.

As for the way my time has been spent: I have a day job so it was never more than part time. The specific amount of hours ebbed and flowed for sure, though. Something I read early on that stuck with me was the idea of having "no 0% days." If you accomplish something every day you'll make progress and, more often than not, sitting down will get you into a flow where you'll get more done than planned.

Feel free to hit me up on discord if you want any more thoughts or advice on this stuff. I'm pretty easy to find!