So I got my game, Army of One, to a state where it’s ready to be shown to people, and the ones who try it (not many, I’m afraid) seem to really like it.

But, the more complete the game, the tougher it is to implement new and interesting mechanic. I’m not in that stage yet, there’s a ton of things I’m looking forward to adding, but I do have an interesting dilemma:

Do I make the enemies smart, or do I make them many?

Going with smart was a no-brainer when I started working on the game. I wanted to make a tactical shooter, after all. But having now tried a lot of variations, I actually quite enjoyed slaying down hordes of dumb bots running at me, shooting only occasionally, and dying quickly. So it’s not as easy decision as I thought, now!

What I decided to do is to have the core gameplay as I planned it - tactical combat against few, but smart opponents, who would use cover and the fact you can’t see them unless they are in your cone of view - yet, from time to time, give the player a straight shoot-em-up experience, to keep the gameplay fresh.

This, I feel, will also help with another “feature” I have in mind - weapons and abilities which are all good, if used properly and in adequate situations. That way, choosing the proper tools for the job would be part of what you call “skill” in the game.

Hope it works!