2. Drilling down

Once I had decided on the basic idea for the game, I needed to think harder about the actual game mechanics. I focussed on the drilling aspect first of all:
Scanning
– The player would have 'turns' where they pre-program a scanning machine to go out and do a general scan of a few grid zones. At the start of each day, the player would then choose which zone looked the most promising and drill that one.
– The player would be limited to scanning a few zones each turn – otherwise having the entire playing field scanned early in the game would give the player too much choice and confuse them as to what they should be doing next.
Getting to drill site
– Once a drilling zone is chosen the player is then transported to, or drives out to the location of interest.
– When driving they must navigate there, avoiding obstacles such as gaps and rocks and maybe have to use explosives to clear a path?
– Maybe get deliveries of fuel, drill heads, O2 etc. dropped nearby and the player has to drive out to collect them
Drilling
– The player would see a geophysical representation of what is underground when they first arrive at a drill zone. Then when they start drilling, this is replaced by what is actually there, as the drill craft moves around.
– There would be different types of soil tile: soft, hard, impenetrable, flowing (magma, 'water', air), empty (chambers or where the player has already drilled), deposits.
– The player can only move left/right/up/down one grid square at a time.
– The player cannot drill into a tunnel or a drill shaft in such a way as they create a chamber (otherwise could get stuck/wouldn't look right – already this piece of tricky logic reared it's head).
– The player can 'breach' underground chambers so that the player can enter them on foot.
Then more ideas started coming to me: Can the player damage the drill/space suit and need repairs done to them? What about the base – does it need maintenance? Do tunnels collapse – as part of gameplay and/or as part of player drilling pattern?
Then what about a timer/resource element – immediately decided against a clock-based timer (utterly infuriating to me personally) but does the player have limited power in the drill craft, limited air in their suit? Does that mean drilling harder rock will consume more energy? Will leaping around and climbing in suit use more O2?
I felt I had some good ideas, but if I wanted to get this game done before my 40th birthday, I was going to have to be harsh on myself and define exactly what was going to be in, and what was going to be binned.
NEXT TIME: What was dumped