Daily Design is a series of game concepts devised daily through all of 2016. These are just basic concepts, designed based on three randomly generated words. Today, they are;
Railroad, Pouring and Wet.
As such, the game I’ve designed today is…
Waterway
Waterway is a single-player strategy game in which the player manages a train full of water as it makes its way across a desert world.
Waterway is largely inspired by 80 Days. Waterway is largely text-based, but contains a 3D map that players use to navigate the world. Their ultimate goal is to get the water to Terminus, a paradise-like city that all tracks inevitably lead to.
To get there, players need to balance their supplies, including the water they’re meant to deliver. Each delay means the crew is forced to drink more of the water, and the less water you have when you reach Terminus (assuming you make it all) the worse the ending becomes. Larger crews also mean more water is consumed daily, but a bigger crew will mean more options.
Each ‘day’ in-game, the player decides which track to take, assuming they’re at a junction. Otherwise, the day begins with watching the train move along the world. At certain points (and sometimes randomly) events will trigger that are handled via text-based decisions. These range from the potentially beneficial (meeting more crew) to the disastrous (being attacked by robbers). All of these moments are handled with text decisions, and the outcomes are affected by the player’s current resources. For example, a larger crew may be able to fight off robbers, but attempting to attack them with a crew that’s too small will result in a massive loss of life.
That’s it! Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow with another quick game concept.
Rowan Ryder 