DevLog #1 – Try out the free pre-alpha of my new game!

Hello everyone!

It has been almost a month since Skycliffs was released in Early Access. Thanks again to everybody who supported the release of the game and gave feedback, it means a lot! At some point I’d like to make a devlog to comment on this release and recap all the valuable lessons learned during this long journey… but not now since I need some more time and hindsight. Today, I’d like to talk about something else…

I’m very glad to announce that I have been working on a new project! The first few weeks were full of messy prototyping, but the game has now reached a more stable state where I can confidently start to talk about it. So, without further due, let’s watch a short trailer!

EXPLORE – MINE – BUILD – FIGHT

Destroy The Monoliths is a single-player action real-time strategy roguelike where you explore a randomly generated map, mine the terrain to get resources, build turrets to protect your base and fight to ultimately destroy corrupted monoliths that otherwise keep spawning ever more enemies.

Announcing Destroy The Monoliths

My intention for this new project consists of further exploring the action roguelike genre. While Skycliffs is a shooter dungeon-crawler, Destroy The Monoliths is more inspired by traditional RTS games. It also has a Tower Defense vibe since you can build turret to repel enemy invasion. However, the ultimate goal is not to survive but to destroy the enemy structures that keep spawning waves. From survival RTS to bullet heavens, there is a trend for games where players solely focus on defense, but I wish to get away from that. In Destroy The Monoliths, exclusively defending will only lead to defeat. You have to take risks and attack at some point. You have to destroy the corrupted monoliths, that’s what the title says!

Creating a RTS can be quite ambitious though, and I don’t want to repeat the same errors. That’s why I’m going in with a minimalist approach. In Destroy The Monoliths, you control only one unit. If you die, you respawn at your base core, no big deal. But if the core was destroyed, you are dead for good and the mission is lost. To protect the core while you explore the map and attack the enemies, you can build turrets. But you need resources, so you have to mine the terrain. But while exploring and mining you may awaken more monoliths and end up worsening your already precarious situation. That’s what Destroy The Monoliths is all about. I wish to build on the very tension that is at the core of many real-time strategy games.

Try out the free pre-alpha!

There is much to say about the goal, the mechanics, the art direction… but I don’t want to make a very long post so I will talk more about the different aspects of the game in future devlogs. For today, what matters is that there is a free pre-alpha you can play! Please head to itch and try it out, I need your feedback to refine the core gameplay loop!

I’m looking forward to read your thoughts about this new project! Unlike Skycliffs, I’m trying to involve the community much more early on during the development. So feel free to share your suggestions and ideas 😉

See you soon!