I’ve been solo developing a singleplayer survival game for about a year and a half. It’s evolved significantly, but I already have a solid concept, many assets and ~15k lines of code.
Your goal is conquering a city by eliminating enemy groups, claiming their zones and resources one by one. You will also need to defend your territory from raids in an attempt from enemies to recover lost zones.
The game is a nonlinear sandbox and favors systemic gameplay. You can use stealth, melee combat, firearms, throwables or devices at your advantage. I would describe it as a “tiny open world”. You can visit any zones you want at any point in the game. But the map is supposed to be a compact, ultra dense and vertical city. I prefer this compared to an empty, huge open world.
Because the game occurs in a post apocalyptic world. You can’t get resources in the same way you can in most survival games. In some cases, you’ll need to craft devices to collect rain water and grow your own crops, as there are no animals you can hunt.
There is a weather system that affects enemies, the player and certain items.
My main inspirations are the Batman Arkham games and BOTW.
I still don’t have a demo, but I do plan to make one and I hope I can release the game in 2026.
I’m aware that the game looks barebones. I’m trying to add systems first and polish later. Most of the structure is component based and data driven. The AI is using Behavior Trees.
For now, this is what the game has:
Character controller.
The player’s state machine allows you to walk, sprint, roll, jump, swim, crouch, glide and climb.
Inventory system.
Limited to 10 slots to make the player think strategically. You can transfer items between storage containers and sort them. A weapon wheel has been implemented too.
Melee combat
You (and enemies) can punch, block, counter and perform heavy attacks. Each weapon can define their own data driven combos and animations.
Gunplay
Almost the same as in any TPS. You can shoot, reload, ADS and do a quick melee attack. There is also bullet penetration, allowing surfaces to define their own properties. For now, I’m using a contextual lean system. I’m not sure if I’ll implement a sticky cover system like in GTA.
Throwables
You can use them to hurt enemies or distract them.
Building
Once you conquer a zone, you get access to the devices enemies had and can use those devices against them or you can build to take full advantage of the zone’s resources. For example, claiming a zone in the rooftops will allow you to build a solar panel to power traps that can help to defend against enemies when a raid occurs. Zones next to a river have easier access to water you can drink or use to grow your crops.
Status effects system
Enemies and the player can have status effects given by certain consumables, items or weather.
Interactions system
An object can have many interactions and even define custom behavior, UI or override player control.
Device system
A device is a machine performing a single operation as long as it’s powered. Examples are CCTVs, allowing you to check for enemy raids in other claimed zones, water extractors or alarms.
Controller support with vibration
The game is already playable with controller. I just haven’t added aim assist.
Day/Night cycle
The lighting changes based on the in-game time. This can affect characters and certain devices, as well as the volumetric clouds.
Weather system
The game uses threads to load and seamlessly transition between a queue of weather types. Each one can have its own vfx and logic. For example, rainy weather can create puddles in random spots of the map. Fog weather already shortens the vision cone of enemies and CCTVs.
Settings system
For real time graphic settings updates, but can also affect UI, input or sound. It’s designed to be easily adaptable to whatever new technologies future versions of Godot can introduce.
Stealth mechanics and AI
Enemies will use pathfinding and avoidance to patrol their zones and raid yours. They can hear sounds from footsteps, throwables or gunshots, have accurate detection by casting many rays, react to bodies (that you can drag and hide), alert other teammates and retreat if injured. The player can already perform silent and loud takedowns.
Work in progress:
Remapping keybindings.
I just haven’t had time to add it.
Saving and loading system
Mostly there, but needs a migration system and saving user built structures, as each one can define its own serializable data structures.
Combat enemy AI
Only melee works for now. Enemies should use the most useful weapons at their disposal and find cover points.
Companion System.
You should be able to spare enemies and recruit them to play a certain role in your faction.
Localization
The game has been made with localization in mind. It should make translating it easier. I can only promise English and Spanish support for now, though. No voice acting so far.
Adding more content.
The systems are there, but I need more weapons of all types, finishing the map and models. A lot of polishing and bug fixing, of course.
There is no Steam Page for now. I’ll make one when I have enough polished content. I was already debating whether to even show the game currently lol. I will consider making deep devlogs about the game’s systems.
I would really appreciate everyone’s opinions and suggestions on this.
I’ll also be answering any questions you have. Thanks!
