ESCARGO

In EsCargo, players will take the reins of a "snailor" (snail + sailor) on a cargo ship working for the EsCargo Shipping Company. Life isn’t easy for snailors as they must navigate a series of briney rivers known as the "Devil’s Veins". Pirates, monsters, and large waves pose a significant threat to anyone brave enough to work on these hazardous waters. While the danger is great, so are the profits...

Gameplay:

There are two main ways of play: A cooperative PvE roguelite mode, or a match based PvP mode. In PvE mode, the player will team up with either AI or their closest friends to take on the dangers of the Devil’s Veins as they try to unlock new items and ships. This will likely be the primary way to play the game.

In the PvP mode, players will be able to divide themselves into two teams, filling any missing snailor spots with AI. The host will then decide the rules of the match, and what items the teams will have access to. For initial development, PvP will take a back seat in favor of the development of the PvE mode.

Meet the Snailor:

The player will take direct control of a hard-working snailor on their ship. Initially, every snailor will have the same health pool and stats, although that may be subject to change later in development. Snailors also come in a wide variety of customizable colors and shells, which may be customizable in a later build of the game.

Cargo Ship Design:

Each boat will be divided into three different sectors that will line up with the three ammo lanes. These sectors are connected by abulkhead doors which could be closed by the player to prevent any brine from spreading around the ship. The layout and number of the doors will be determined by the specific ship.

Each sector will further be divided into three regions: the Nearside, Middle, and Farside of the Boat. Sectors will be composed of various rooms connected to each other via doors, which are described below. Functionally, each boat must implement this grid, but the shape of the grid is very flexible. For example, if we wanted to have a boat where Sector 2 was thinner than the rest of the boat, that doesn’t mean that Sector 2 would only have a Middle region.

Items:

Players will be able to stock their ship’s inventory with items that they either find mid-voyage, get as a reward for completing a voyage, or buy from a merchant when docked. A boat’s inventory will always be completely full, filling up any empty slots with empty cargo crates.

In combat, these items will randomly spawn into the ship via chutes. These chutes will be strategically placed around ships in order to motivate the player to move around the ship and avoid camping a handful of chutes. Most items that spawn during combat are special types of "ammo" items which will have an effect when fired from the ship's cannons.