Arena style game with spellcasters and RPG elements

What is done so far:
Well, not much... Only the classes/spells are done (reused from a game I made a while back) but will need tweaking. Summoning/spellcasting mostly working (only it's not summoning/casting anything visually yet ) Network code is in progress, ty game center HUD needs to be done, placement is wrong wrong wrong (and god damn it those spell icons are ugly...) Still, I'm really just focusing on the modeling/texture painting (this is so hard...) and on the engine atm.

How the game will work:
The game concept, I actually already had made into a flash game a few years ago (top down 2D). For the iOS though, I originally planned fights to happen in arenas and be very dynamic, much like in wow. However, since my son and me loved MTG:Battlegrounds, I decided on making it similar to it regarding some game mechanics, such as the way summons are handled and arenas are "street fighter" style and split in two. Having it "street fight style" also allows easier controls on an iOS device, a more detailed world, and removes the cost of fancy physics. Each player will be able to summon forth powerful monsters and use various spells and abilities to defeat their enemy. There will be 3 classes to chose from: mages, shadowknights, and enchanters. You will be have to smartly build a spellbook from various spells (summons, buffs, and damage spells) before entering arenas and fight to the death.

The classes:
I know 3 classes seems like a few, but I won't add another class until i'm certain the thing is balanced and useful. What I have is "working" (well it was in my flash game:P), and still allows for a lot of customization. Each class will have its limitations: Mages will only be allowed to pick from a couple summon spells, but have access to just about all of the detrimental ones. Enchanters will focus on creatures and buffs, and have few choice of damage spells Shadowknights will be jacks of all.. Finally, each class will have a unique trait (something like counterspell for mages, unsummon for enchanters, and leech life for shadowknights)

Single/Multiplayer:
Single-player campaign will allow you to create an avatar, level stats and gear him up, build a powerful spellbook, and take him into multiplayer battles. (I will certainly release multiplayer first though, since a worthy storyline takes time to build, and I don't really want to do a shallow story like the actual MTG:Battlegrounds game...) Single-player vs CPU will come out first though, since I actually need this for testing the gameplay. Multiplayer will be through game center and allow 1v1 fight (and maybe 2v2 if I manage to make it fun and not a total mess on screen) using your avatar from single player (or picking up a pre-made one if yours suck).

The Engine:
I'm still working on tweaking the engine, but on the iPad, FPS is currently at 60 until the 12th player model is on screen, then is goes in the 55s. That was my goal (2 players, and a max of 10 summons), but since I want lots of fancy spell effects and possible 2v2 multiplayer, i'm not sure how it will turn out... I also have yet to implement single player AI, sounds and spell effects, but It should still be really smooth on modern hardware... Still, I'm working really hard (and having a lot of fun) making the thing look good (and smooth) on older hardware (iPhone 3G). I might take advantage of openglES 2.0 for some "fancier" effects if it's really worth it, but that's really not planned atm.

3D renderer for Codea, made directly on iPad using lua

First version was very slow compared to how it is now, and with color/depth only:





Eventually managed to update it to use texture and high quality normals for lightning:





Done implementing procedural textures, generating them 5 times faster, and it looks pretty nice !

Terrain engine

-- More info coming soon --