Planet V: Jungle Warfare and Planet V's origins

So I was getting burnt out on trying to make my dream game (as is custom for all solo indie developers) so I wanted to make something small, refresh my mind from staring at the same scripts over and over again and come back with new energy, skills and knowledge.

The problem is however is that not many small simple games that I play. I'm a fan on long RPGs and complicated mechanics. So, I thought about simple arcade games I did like and came up with Dig-dug. 

 It's not really that simple. destructible terrain, enemies that can phase through terrain, etc. but what I really like about it, is 

a) blowing up enemies with a pump

b) crushing enemy/enemies with a well-timed boulder.

And so, I set out to make a game with a risky weapon where you could also use the environment to your advantage. There was an early mobile game I made, it was a space shooter, where you could use asteroids to hide from enemy sight and fire which I attempted to remake. This time with something like this 

popping out of asteroids possibly eating enemy ships or yourself. 

It went ok, the lighting effects from the laser on the 3d asteroid and ship models always looked cool. I didn't implement the creatures but I wasn't really having much fun with the long-range combat, I added a charge shot and combo meter but it still felt like most of the risk was on evading laser shots and not the enemy position.

So I abandon the project go back to the main for a bit. 

I later come to the realisation that it didn't feel right because the combat occurs at such a large range, it didn't feel intense. Next time, I make it, it will have a more similar closer combat more like dig-dug.

Some game-jams come around and I get to work making this game. It goes well, mostly stuff I've done before. 

Character and boulder sprites from my main project cut down on a lot of the work. I'd been trying to figure out how enemies would target the player in my main project so figure a lot of the techniques I use will transfer over. 

Then I thought what else can transfer over, I'm already using the same character sprite arrangement. The enemies were also monsters I was going to include in my monster taming main project. What if it's all part of the same universe.

I'm also thinking of a name for both games, (I've been struggling for one for my main project for awhile)

and so,

Planet V is born... and this game is named Planet V: Jungle Warfare.

Not only will Planet V: Jungle Warfare, be set in the same in-game universe as other Planet V games, but also (if all goes according to plan) playing this game will affect what happens in other Planet V games you play. It could be minor like keeping the same character or getting certain bonuses to even affecting the story in those games. I'm fairly confident I can pull this off so watch this space.

As for, Planet V: Jungle Warfare, I've just added some fruit to the game. More updates will be coming soon.