Two ideas I have
Leadwerks Game Engine 4.6 will feature a new peer-to-peer networking system that solves the NAT punch-through problem and provides an easy way to create a public list of game servers. Together with this and Leadwerks GUI which was released last year, we will soon have the tools to make a great deal of new types of games. Previously we have been focused on single-player games but the ability to create multiplayer games with fast reliable networking opens up a lot of new and fun possibilities.
In many ways, multiplayer games are actually easier to make than single-player games. Most of your gameplay tends to arise through the interaction of the players, so making things fun centers around creating environmental challenges. Coding-wise, multiplayer games tend to use a small core program and don't need a lot of extensive per-object scripting.
Since we have the tools to do it, there are two community projects I want to carry out this year. By "community project" I mean I am going to write the code, put it out there, and anyone who wants to join in is welcome.
Gears Arena
This is simply going to be a modern version of Quake 3 Arena, with the option to play in VR. It can serve as a basis for many different types of games, and a lot of fun can be had with level design alone. New game modes like CTF can be added, or new weapons. I fully intend to make a gun that shoots chickens that then attack your enemies, a well as a grenade launcher that shoots grenades that split into more grenades. It will be all the fun of modding without having to rip out a lot of pre-existing code from the base game.
Gears Rally
The code from the previous project can be easily reconfigured into a multiplayer racing game. Maybe we can even add weapons.
Now that the base systems of networking and the GUI are nearly in place, both these projects will be achievable in a very small amount of code, and can serve as a basis of derivative games.
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