Meridian

It's about time I start writing about my latest project. I had intended to get started with 3D stuff, but the idea behind Meridian came to me just a few days before returning to school, and I was excited enough about it that I couldn't wait.

Meridian is a turn-based strategy game with a space combat theme (obviously, my favorite setting). The majority of the game takes place moving fleets around on a hex grid board. When two fleets meet they trade attacks until one side is destroyed or decides to retreat (which salvages almost all ships). Larger fleets will typically have the offensive advantage, but small fleets can conduct hit-and-run attacks.


Each player also has a set of solar systems. Conquering the other player's is the game's ultimate goal. Each system produces a certain number of ships every 5 turns. However, players may sacrifice 1 ship-per-turn in exchange for a large one-time bonus of ships. Therefore a player can get the advantage in the early game but be repulsed by a swarm of new ships. The natural response might be to create an equal number of ships, but this would cede the hard-earned production advantage.


Meridian is being programmed in C# using XNA. I've found it to be quite clean, and I'm loving Visual Studio. I don't much miss Java. I'm a bit more than halfway done right now. Fleets can move around and attack each other, and most of the graphics stuff is where it needs to be (though some of the art will be getting an update). Interstellar travel and capuring of solar systems has yet to be added, and getting a decent AI running may be a challenge.

Further updates to come...