What it was
ScrapKings is a top-down wasteland roguelike. You drive out, fight, salvage parts and bolt them onto your vehicle, then head somewhere nastier to get better ones. I wanted the upgrades to change how you play. A new part might let you drift, ram something or slam into the ground. It clips onto a visible socket, so by the end of a run the machine should look very different from the one you started with.
Build
- A run goes from driving and fighting to salvaging and upgrading, with optional threats guarding better parts.
- Modules attach to physical sockets. Their position and shape are visible on the vehicle.
- Upgrades add moves such as drifting, ramming and slamming. I kept percentage modifiers out of the design.
- You start weak. As you learn the game, the early areas should become easier to get through.
Key decisions
Handling
The first playable had to be enjoyable with no upgrades. If it wasn't, adding more parts would just put off fixing the driving. This is one of the reasons the project hasn't shipped.
Upgrades
I'd rather pick up a part that lets me do something new than one that adds 5% to a stat. It gives me something to try on the next enemy.
Visibility
I want a lot happening at once, but you still need to see the thing that hit you. That matters more here than making every effect look impressive.
Lesson learned
Paused for now. The scope got ahead of me.the rest of it ↓fold it back up ↑
This one's paused. The scope got ahead of me and the summer of 2026 was a glorious one. I did write the design pillars down early though, which helped when the ideas started piling up. Driving has to be fun before you get any upgrades. Parts should give you a new move. You also need to be able to tell what's happening when the screen gets busy. If an idea didn't fit those, I could leave it out before spending time building it.