HMS Sunflower

Box Text

People live in giant craters surrounded by impassable mountains on a planet without oceans. Civilization on this planet has just reached our technology level of the early 1900s.

The Okistan militaristic empire attacks the Niland Kingdom, known for its farmland. An overwhelming fleet of flying battleships crosses the mountains between craters and makes rapid progress. A significant part of your homeland crater is occupied.

You, the captain of the unique prototype flying battleship HMS Sunflower, are tasked with a special mission.

Will you be able to repel the invaders?

Main Game Element - Ship Building Optimization Puzzle

Each run starts with the ship design phase, where you create your own prototype of HMS Sunflower from a set of modules. The ship is designed in 2D, viewed from the side, by snapping modules to each other. A single bridge must be present, and the ship must not exceed the budget.

All modules have a cost, different sizes, mass, and power consumption. At a minimum, you need to add some engines that will generate thrust, which has to be balanced and powerful enough to accelerate the ship. Obviously, you will also need weapons - guns and/or missiles. Bigger caliber guns are efficient at long range but either have limited travel, high cost, etc. There are no bad modules; it is an optimization puzzle - you choose what kind of ship you want.

At the start of each run, you are provided with information about what kind of fleet you will fight against, and in what weather. For example, an enemy operating lots of small ships will be better dealt with by small caliber fast-tracking guns, and if the weather is rainy, homing missiles are less effective.

After each run, you will unlock new modules, allowing you to build a better ship next time!

Reference (Kerbal Space Program): Iterating ship design and testing in KSP supported by direct launch from the design interface, and a dedicated button to return to designing from the test failure screen.

Arcade Bullet Hell and Platformer Elements

The primary use for HMS Sunflower, the ship you built, is to fight other ships in a side-view shoot-'em-up. You pilot the ship using the thrust of your engines - if engines are not engaged, the ship will fall under the force of gravity. If ship thrust is not balanced, the ship will start tipping. Guns slowly track your mouse cursor and fire in the direction they are facing on mouse click. Enemy ships provide feedback on their gun direction and reloading status, and they are subject to the same tracking limitations as you. Projectiles can be dodged if you are sufficiently far away and start maneuvering immediately.

Opponent ships, just like yours, are made from modules. Ships do not have health; damage is applied on the module level, including the ability to split the ship into two parts. Destruction of the bridge is an instant kill. Hitting a ship with a shell will not necessarily kill it but may start a fire.

During battle, you may switch to the inside view of the ship and let your NPC officer pilot the ship. You can run around the ship you have built to extinguish fires, fix damaged modules, or fight off boarding parties, while the ship is maneuvering and may tilt or even flip upside down. A well-designed ship might help you with such tasks.

Reference (HighFleet): Arcade battle with physics-based thrusters and dodging

RPG Elements

After battle, you can take care of your ship - fix it up, upgrade, and clean it. Acquire better ammo or fuel to improve performance. There are other ways to increase your power - rank up your officers, find new and better equipment for yourself, or do some grinding on side missions.

All this preparation is necessary for your next decision: what path will you choose in the branching storyline? Will you take an easy route, or try to explore the story and take on difficult missions?

Finally, a key element of the story is that HMS Sunflower is the main character. Crew members may die, but the story of the ship will carry on. The ship may be captured by the enemy - you will have to play for the invaders! But if the ship is destroyed, the game is over.

Basically, you can look at the design phase as a character creation screen in an RPG.

Reference (Stories: Path of Destinies): All possible endings screen with 4 "truths" on the right - 4 unlocks of new branch options.

Technology

• Single player
• Unreal Engine
• Steam
• GitHub