The goal hasn’t changed, but as we get closer to it, the schedule has firmed up quite a bit. Here’s what I have planned:
THE BIG GOAL
In a phrase: Ship Boarding.
We need a goal that can be a bridge towards Rodina’s long-term, crazy dream of being Daggerfall in Space. SO! The big plan is to enable the player to blow the airlock on a Xeno Ship or Base, board its procedurally-generated corridors, and battle the Xeno infestation with blasters firing. Every feature that I am working on is related, directly or indirectly, to making that goal happen. Once it’s accomplished, the game will be more full than ever, and in an incredible position for further development.
I’ve been working on this Roadmap for a while now and I’m guessing I’m more than halfway done. How to finish strong? Here’s my plan:
2017
Right now I’m working on improving the Procedural Locations, FPS Combat, and Interior Construction. The priorities include:
INTERIORS: – DONE!
* Multiple Floors – Done!
* Tall Rooms
* Revamped Interior Editor
PROCEDURAL GEN: – DONE!
* Better Room Shapes
* Hierarchical Zones
* Hallways
* Diverse Room Types
* Object Placement
COMBAT: – DONE!
* More enemy types
* Health Pickups
* Powerups
* More weapons
* Outdoor combat
When this task is complete, Rodina will be seriously fun and actually have a bunch of great combat and location systems. It will be time to move on to the final stage: Content. Real, actually-a-game, this-is-not-a-drill content.
2018
I intend to spend the rest of 2018 adding game systems, interactivity and content. The goal is not just to have the ability to technically board ships. I aim for this content to be diverse, polished, and deep. A lot will depend on how much money I’m able to pull together, but I plan on making 2018 about things like:
Implemented:
* Planetary Bases – ranging from Outposts to huge Strongholds
In Progress:
* Diverse Gameplay – meaningful locations, special encounters, weapons, security alarms, poison gas, troop reinforcements, etc
* Development of Xeno Culture – (in terms of architecture and combat systems)
To Do:
* Boss Fights
Ship Boarding
Once the planetary FPS content is more developed, it will be time to implement fully explorable and pilotable Xeno ships. This will require totally redoing the Ship designs (potentially making them modular / procedurally generated) as well as re-thinking ship combat. I’m hoping to spend 2019 on these features.
Exit Early Access
As Rodina becomes more content-rich, the time will eventually come to exit Early Access. I can’t promise when this moment will come but I will do it when I feel that the game has enough varied, polished content to satisfy the expectations of most customers.
And Beyond….
After Rodina comes out of Early Access, there’s no telling what will happen next. However, this will NOT be the end of development. There are many opportunities for our next big goal, and I might let the community decide which direction to go next.
FUTURE GOALS:
* Multiplayer
* Cities and NPCs
* RPG Features – skills, inventory, equipment, resources
* Planet Gen – clouds, biomes, oceans, caves, foliage, rocks
* Crafting – mining, molecular science, component assembly
Over time I hope that we can morph Rodina from being an Action / Exploration game into a fully-fledged RPG, with all of those great elements that would flesh out a massively populated Star System!
I hope you guys find this roadmap interesting and exciting! Please let me know what you think on Twitter, Reddit, and Steam!