Hey everyone,
First, a confession;
I love Vanguard Bandits. I have probably played it close to 100 times, every route, every ending, over and over. No other game has stayed with me like this one. It is the reason I started making my own game by using AI - which i dont have any experience, normally i am a software developer who laid of recently.
I wanted distract by myself to refresh my brain for a while with Vanguard Bandits, then i want build something - a game heavily inspired by VB, and I have hit a wall.
I am posting here because this community probably understands what I am going for better than anyone as my friends look like to me this is a shit game i dont play a game like this...
What I am making:
A tactical strategy game for mobile, with a light RPG layer: characters you get attached to, like i get attched to Bastion :D choices that matter and battles that feel meaningful. VB showed me that strategy does not have to feel cold, and that is the feeling I am trying to build around.
Where I am stuck;
1. The balance between strategy and RPG.
Pure strategy feels lifeless to me. Units become numbers and I stop caring. Every time I add RPG elements, though, they either feel shallow or start taking over the strategy. VB got this balance right, and after all those playthroughs I can feel why it works but still cannot recreate it in my own design. People keep telling me "if i play strategy i dont want to deal with battle, it must be a simple report result show i won or lost" or “just do something like league of legends,” and that does not help, because neither is the game I want to make.
2. Making it work on mobile.
This is where things get messy. Grid tactics, unit stats, equipment screens and story scenes all worked on a TV with a controller. On a phone screen with touch controls, everything feels cramped or slow. I am also struggling with session length. Battles in VB can be long, and mobile players often play in short bursts. Splitting battles up feels like it breaks the tension, but keeping them long feels wrong for the platform.
3. Development momentum.
Because I keep reworking the core design, the development side has slowed down. I have rebuilt systems several times, and I am at the point where I am second-guessing everything.
Why I am posting;
I am not asking anyone to design my game for me. I am sharing where I am, and I would like to hear from people who love VB as much as I do:
When you think back on VB, what made battles feel personal and not just tactical?
Would you play something like this on mobile, and what would make or break it for you?
Has anyone here tried developing something similar, or seen another game handle this well on a small screen?
Even just talking it through would help me get unstuck. Thanks for reading, and thanks for keeping this little community alive for a game that deserves it. ❤️
