One thing that I think will contribute to Cataclysm 2’s longevity and strength is the fact that I’ve got a concrete, achievable long-term plan in place. As I’ve mentioned before, Cataclysm floundered for me because it was an unfinishable project. There were no real long-term goals for me, and thus no direction to work in.

Coincidentally, or perhaps not, there were also no long-term goals for the player. After getting well-equipped and amassing a reasonable stockpile of food and water, the player was left without much to do, aside from customize increasingly ridiculous vehicles and build a house or something. Basically a less user-friendly Sims.

With Cataclysm 2, I have a plan set in place that not only will keep me going, but will also keep the gameplay evolving. The player will be faced with increasing, not decreasing, difficulty as the game goes on, and new challenges will arise to keep them on their toes, and more importantly, entertained.

This post contains spoilers. Maybe skip over it if that kind of thing is important to you. I think Cataclysm 2 will still be fun even once you’re spoiled; and it’s bound to happen sooner or later!

I’ve got a rough chart of the early, mid, late, and end game, as well as victory conditions. Each segment of the game will have a distinct flavor and goals.

Note that almost none of the below is implemented, it’s all just planning. Also, none of it is set in stone, and I’m very happy to discuss alternatives or other interesting possibilities

Early Game:

The player starts by awakening on a beach. The last thing they remember is leaving the mainland in a small boat, searching for an island to make their home - hopefully one devoid of any of the dangers they found in Cataclysm 1.

The early game is the most similar to Cataclysm 1. The player is left on a beach, with the wreckage of their boat around them and little other equipment. The wreckage supplies them with some raw wood, a tool or two, a decent melee weapon, and a radio. The map is almost entirely unknown. The player’s immediate goal is to find fresh water and food, and to build or find shelter for the night.

The beaches are nearly devoid of enemies, save for a few low-danger crabs and such; good enemies for cutting their teeth on. Nearby fields are also fairly safe; map generation does place ant hills and other special monster spawns, but none are near the player. The choice to move into more dangerous regions is entirely up to the player, but it’s also a necessary one, as the beach and field are pretty low on resources. Nearby cities may provide a wealth of goods and weapons, and are a good introduction to the zombies.

Sooner or later, the player will pick up a signal on their radio, or make physical contact with some NPCs. This will seque into the midgame naturally; the player won’t be forced to associate with NPCs, and they can loiter in early game type play as long as they want.

Mid Game

There are four main factions (at present) in Cataclsm 2; the Cultists, the Military, the Naturalists, and the Scientists. I won’t go into detail on them here; you can read more in the notes file at Github.

All are fairly receptive to letting the player join them at the start, or to allow the player to remain a “free agent” who associates with them freely. However, the more the player associates with a certain faction, the more the other factions will consider the player to be an enemy.

In addition to the main factions, there are several smaller camps of survivors, some of which will be happy to trade their farm-grown food with the player, some of which are nasty bandits.

As a faction starts to trust the player, they’ll offer missions. These may start very simple; recon on an area, contacting an outpost, collecting supplies, etc. As the player moves up in rank, these missions will become more dangerous. Rank is gained differently for each faction; see the notes file linked to above. More dangerous missions (rescue someone stranded in a city, assault an enemy’s camp, take out an ant hive) are met with more resources. Cultists can provide you with powerful mutations, the Military gives you strong firearms and a square to command, the Naturalists provide a wide variety of goods, and Scientists have bionics and high-tech gear to offer.

The factions start off fairly disorganized, but as time progresses they develop patrols, outposts, and capture vital infrastructure like factories and power plants, leading us into the late game.

Late Game

This is where the game can really diverge. If the player hasn’t spent the midgame developing relations with one or more factions, there’s an opportunity here for a “bad win." Pulling together their resources to both create a boat that will survive the high seas, and to repair and connect to a GPS network, will allow them to leave the island and continue their journeys elsewhere.

Players which are in good standing with a faction will see advanced missions; leading a squad in assaults on large bases, clearing patches of the island of monsters, etc. The late game may see the total destruction of one or more factions.

A player who manages to maneuver, politick and assassinate their way into a position of power will unlock a strategy game. The various field units of their faction will be theirs to control, and collecting resources, holding choke points, and directing assaults will be managed through a special command interface. Of course, the game will remain a roguelike as well; the player will still have to travel from place to place, survive attacks on the base they’re in, and may simply want to plunder areas for their own benefit.

This may raise some eyebrows, but it’s very doable. If we treat a squad as a single unit, then the AI here actually becomes very simple. Certain targets are desirable, say a weapons factory, and faction AI will direct units to assault it if they think they have the upper hand. Battles will be played out in full if they’re near the player, or can be simply abstracted to determine the results.

Ultimately, the goal of all factions is to capture and control a laboratory at the center of the island. Once a faction has the lab under their control, and have cleared it of monsters and enabled all its systems, the end game starts.

End Game

The end game is the only part of the game with a hard timer on it. Control of the lab grants the victorious faction progressively stronger powers, themed to suit them (again, see the notes file linked to above). All other factions will band together to attempt to depose them before they achieve their ultimate goal. Assaults on the lab can be fierce head-on firefights, sneaky infiltration, or even achieved through dialog if the player is accepted into the lab. Once the controlling faction is removed from the lab, the timer is reset and we return to the late game.

If the player’s faction is the one controlling the lab, then they simply have to defend it until the timer runs out. This includes offensive maneuvers, like decisive strikes against faction bases, which the player can participate in.

Ultimately, I think this arc gives the game a variety of interesting possibilities and will keep gameplay evolving in a lot of ways, ensuring that the player is always challenged and never bored. Still, it’s fairly ambitious, and some parts are sure to upset classic C1/DDA fans! Again, it’s important to reiterate that a sandbox mode will always be available for those who aren’t interested in a crafted game arc and prefer to just try to survive.