Dernshous was basically what I liked from Escape Velocity, which was seeing little spaceships flying around and shooting and docking at space stations, and the idea of going aboard other ships. So that's pretty much what Dernshous is, but I feel like it's still too much of a conventional game that it doesn't work how I'd like. I think I would've preferred it narrowed down more with a stronger focus rather than being half a normal space game. Dernshous was almost meant to be a much smaller version of Slumos, my other space flying game, but it got out of hand as well. I included an old version of the game because now I feel like it didn't need to be expanded on from that version, the new version just looks and sounds better.
Still trying to figure out what it is I want to do with this idea. I'm not really interested in making a big game that stands on it's own, maybe a bunch of small games that accompany eachother. Well I guess this is two games working together; flying around, then walking around on ships. But still, there's a lot stuff going on mechanics-wise. Rather than pouring my hours into the mechanics and the game working on it's own, I like the idea of making simple representations of these things happening, sort of like how you see background activity that isn't 'real' in some games, [thinking of Halo Reach background battles] they're only dummies to give the impression of things going on. I like the idea of a game that is basically a bunch of those moments. if you watch a video of say, Escape Velocity, you could pick out any few seconds of a space battle and write hundreds of words on the decisions being made/ could be being made by those little space-ships, like why that one is fighting and why that one is now warping away. and then how those small things have an effect on the rest of the entire game. But while you're playing the game you don't really care as much, you just want to get that ca$h over there to make the numbers climb. So much is going on in a game like this that, especially if you're the one playing, you tend to glance over most of it. I guess it's noticed mostly on a sub-conscious level that makes the game feel good, sort of like what Vlambeer talks about. Each moment is a story in itself. I like the idea of taking one of these moments and making that into a very small game itself, and making a bunch of these games that work together.
download the game: http://gamejolt.com/games/action/space-pirate-dernshous/25460/
