realized today that i kinda made a vampire survivors clone before it was a thing? between 2018-19 i was working on a game called Wreck that was a very self-servicing dive into making a game. it had everything i was interested in: top down shooter style gameplay, risk of rain-style character selection and abilities, procedurally generated worlds, experimental enemy ai behavior, etc etc. the point of the game was simply to rack up as many points as possible, by looting gold from enemies and killing them. basic stuff. i never ended up finishing it (mostly due to the fact that i was working in gamemaker studio, which (at the time) was not super competent for everything i was throwing at it), but it still has a place in my head and my heart.

well i just played it again, and aside from gm:s2 being shit (it would not stop opening a webpage insisting that i log into an opera account, lol) it really wasn't bad! i forgot that i had added a lot of pretty advanced features for my skill level at the time. a minimap, different level types, classes, etc etc -- the core gameplay loop was basic, but it's there! and it resembles vampire survivors by a staggering amount considering the game hadn't existed at the time. killing enemies drops experience points which you pick up to level up, and leveling up heals you and makes you stronger (admittedly, i had only gotten so far as to give you more health. but i had plans to add stat improvements!!). they both have a similar flow and feel, and it's really funny to see that

so that's fun to think about! i still want to revisit the concept some day, remake the whole thing in a better engine, build on it, and then give it real juice and polish. i think it'd be fun :3