A sound basis

As I pointed out in my first post "Beginning of planning" I had some thoughts about a critical path.

There will be two sides at my game completing against each other. One should be self customizable with various options. For starters a head decoration, a facial expression and a couple various clothes is all I want to have. This is stuff that can be easily expanded on. However I would like some of it to be present at the beta tests to find out if there is everything alright with the customizing process.

The other side should have at least 3 characters that feel and play unique. The looks wont really be customizable for the beta phase as there already is variety here and flavor through skins may be added in a future iteration.

For every playable character and side there should be a basic Skill Tree that affects the way the player interacts with other players and the world. They should revolve around 3 basic playstyles. This should make every game feel unique and have players adapt to every game in a different way keeping it interesting in the long run.

There should also be a leveling system for each character mirroring the progress in the game.

There should be at least one playable map for the beta that has a couple random factors. Winning and loosing conditions have to be fleshed out for both sides as well.

The art and music for the game has to be ready as well as sound effects.

As this is supposed to be a multiplayer game players have to be connected to the internet. A server has to manage the connection and deal with fair matchmaking. There has to be a way to invite friends to a multiplayer game as well.

All progress has to be saved somewhere, so that it does not get lost upon closing the game.

When I have checked off these points successfully the game will be ready for an early access where players can test out the basic functions of the game and give proper feedback. All other functions and mechanics that are swirling around in my head are secondary and should be implemented after the critical path is done.

Out of curiosity I have started to look into ways on how to make the game music, sound effects and art myself. I think I will be using Deflemask to make some music (I really wish I wouldve paid more attention to music theory in school but at least I'm playing an instrument so I do have a basic knowledge of how to write music). For the art and animations I will probably use Aseprite because it is affordable and looks the most promising for me at the moment. I will play with the free trial for a while to see if it really is what I am looking for though.