Galactic Pirates

Galactic Pirates is a roguelike tactical game where players command a fleet of space pirate ships in a cube-based 3D space. The goal is to build and upgrade your fleet, engage in strategic battles, and rise through the bounty ranks to become the most feared pirate in the galaxy.

Project Purpose

The Galactic Pirates vertical slice was developed to provide a comprehensive demonstration of the game's mechanics and overall experience. This project aimed to achieve several key objectives:

• Showcase Core Mechanics: Demonstrate the unique 3D cube-based movement and strategic combat system.
• Validate Player Experience: Ensure that the game is engaging and enjoyable, despite the complexity of the 3D movement.

Main Mechanics

The vertical slice includes the following core mechanics:

• 3D Cube-Based Grid Movement: Players navigate their ships in a three-dimensional space, adding depth and complexity to strategic planning.
• Dynamic Fleet Building: Players start with one of four ships and expand their fleet by winning battles and acquiring new ships, upgrades, and items.
• Strategic Battles: Ships can move and perform actions in a flexible order, with a variety of skills including directional and non-directional attacks, buffs, debuffs, and summonings.

Lessons Learned

Developing Galactic Pirates provided several valuable insights:

• 3D Movement Complexity: The 3D cube-based movement was initially disorienting for players, highlighting the need for intuitive tutorials and visual aids to help players adapt.
• Genre Popularity: The niche nature of roguelike tactical games in a 3D space setting led to lower expected sales, emphasizing the importance of targeting and engaging a specific audience effectively.
• Player Engagement: Despite the complexity, players who mastered the mechanics found the game rewarding, underscoring the importance of balancing challenge and accessibility.

Conclusion

This project showed the importance of making a game people are interested in playing. During playtesting I found that testers who were not interested in tactical games were not motivated to figure out the movement mechanic and found it annoying. While those who are mostly wanted to give it a proper chance and get used to the movement.