So far I haven’t really said much about what Minerbot 2 is about. Hopefully this will clear things up a little bit.

The most important thing to note is that Minerbot 2 is not an incremental update on the original. This is a completely new game, the only obvious similarities being the mining probes and tile size relative to the player.

With that out of the way, here’s what I have in mind:

• Upgrade system
• Gives a reason to gather ore.
• Presents a way to progress in the game.
• Adds to replayability.
• High score mode
• Provides a place for a classic mode to bring back the Minerbot cave style.
• Allows for timed competition between players.
• Combat
• Gives the player an adversary other than time.
• Makes encounters more interesting.
• Creates a need for bodyguards, or ship-mounted weaponry.
• Minerbot Health and Energy
• An additional risk for mining the asteroids.
• Allows limitations for various new tools.
• Additional tools
• Lets the player interact in more varied ways with the environment.
• Graphical upgrades
• Makes the game more intuitive for newcomers, and allows for more ore types.
• Creates a more immersive environment.

There are many more ideas where these came from, but these are the ones I’m farily sure will be used. I think that this genre shift from arcade to action/RPG make Minerbot 2 a much more compelling game.

Here, for example, is the basic asteroid form that a new prototype generator outputs.

An asteroid body created by the new generator, before ores are placed.