This game was one of many results of my obsession with things exploding and lots of shooting and loud sounds. I wanted to basically make my own version of this game skirmish* without such focus on the military theme, I wanted my game to be a bit more surreal sci-fi and less easily relatable to real-world events. I've come across a few games like skirmish on yoyogames in-which you play as one seemingly insignificant character amongst other identical ones travelling across the level. These games have been an influence on me and I think pushed me toward basing some of my games around this idea. Charge doesn't really require skill, it's mostly based on random events but the player does still have a more powerful effect than the NPCs and needs to participate to get further across the level.
When I was deciding on the soundtrack, I thought about going for a song that makes you feel bad for what you're doing, similar to the go-to-car sequences in hotline miami, but I felt like making it less obvious. I think the music I chose by Jack King-Spooner still has some potential for this effect but is a lot more crazy and fast and doesn't give you time to think. It also gives the game a lot more energy.
A sequence I felt would be interesting to add was the quick glimpse into the factory pumping the dudes through the portal after you start the game. For this I was inspired by the 'train ride' within the citadel in half-life 2, I thought it added a lot to the experience just seeing a short glimpse of the inner workings of the combine. I'd like to maybe make a game based entirely on this type of sequence one time.
Another thing I definitely wanted to do with this game was to keep debri and bodies from disappearing, I wanted everything to stay and build up along the landscape to create a level of persistence. I don't think this has any lag effects until maybe 20 minutes or so into the game.
Charge isn't fun to play for long but I got a good kick out of making it.
Download charge: http://gamejolt.com/games/action/charge/24329/
*http://sandbox.yoyogames.com/games/44024-skirmish-v11 a much more enjoyable game to play than mine. my game only has 1 level, Skirmish has load-outs and a number of different levels and difficulties.
