in General

Platform:
Goal is a typical PC game, not flash or browser based but an actual commercial game like any other. Don't know about multiplayer yet either. Details are not available because there are none regarding this stuff at this point.


Genre:
The game is much influenced by such legendary epics as X-com series, Jagged Alliance2, and Fallout 1 & 2. I won't pretend this is all original ideas and ground breaking achievements in gaming world. It is merely a modest praise for the cornerstones of gaming history which still hold a high place in the hearts of gamers even today, more than a decade after their release. Mostly because only few have attempted and have failed miserably to best them in their genre.

Turn-based strategy:
The game is, as mentioned earlier, a turn-based game. This means that when battling your enemy, you and them have your own turns during which you will control your characters and the other participants will wait for their turn. Just like in chess.
Turn-based allows your strategies to be concidered and executed more precisely when you don't have to worry about your enemies trampling your characters while you're still pondering your next move.


RPG elements:
At the beginning, the player gets to create his/her own mercenary who is the main character in the game. This includes facial features, skintone and hair color and other details and selecting a set of skills to which he/she will specialize in. The selected skills will have an enormous affect to the gameplay as different specializations lead to entirely different game experience. The skills will naturally improve as the game progresses.
In the actual game the player will be able to talk to the inhabitants of the world and take up quests and missions from them in order to gain trust and of course compensation for his troubles.
There are plenty of basic social aspects in the game such as bartering, lying etc. and the world is very dynamic regarding the relation between the player's characters and the NPC's. Different attitudes result in different reactions.


Graphics:
I know this will upset some of you, but most likely the game will be made in 3D environment that only mimics the 2D style. This is simply the most reasonable choice concidering time and effort it would take to create everything in 2D but it will NOT compromise the traditional looks in any way, that's where I draw the line and if that crashes this whole project...
then I'll reconsider.


The actors and objects will be fixed in a top-down isometric view and the environment would be divided into isometric squares where everything sets and plays by the same simple rules. There won't be amazing rag-doll effects and completely free environment to run about. The most improtant reason for this is for the player to actually recognize and read the environment.
For example you'd be immediately able to tell where your character is safe from enemy fire simply by looking at the area. Swirling camera angles and complex 3D terrain and characters with actual dynamic collision surfaces makes this sort of judgement hard as you can only see the circumstances from top down view.


Artistic style:
The style is somewhat cartoony and simple as the main goal is to achieve a very vast, gameworld and the immersive environment which best manifests in variability. (these pictures do not represent the final looks)
Characters are also crafted simply which leaves room for the imagination to work its magig and enables many variable versions to be created from a single model simply by colors and textures. This is by far a much better way than attempting to model detailed versions of every single weapon and gear that will be available.

The ultimate goal of the game mechanics is to create that sandbox where we played with our tiny plastic soldiers when we were kids and add a ton of weapons, explosions, shrapnel and blood into the mix. This will create a contrast between the cartoony looks and immense violence and gore that is the reality of any war.