Game Design Challenge: Wii U

This is probably the fastest GDC submission I've sent. From inception to emailing in barely 90 minutes. And, surprisingly, I'm quite proud of it. Still, I can't avoid thinking I've seen a very similar idea somewhere. EVE: Dust 514? Somehow, but not quite. Nintendoland? I didn't know much about it until 20 minutes ago. Sanctum? Iron Brigade/Trenched? These focus more on the tower defence side of things.
Anyway, meet Squad Action

Squad Action: Working Title

SA:WT is a hybrid DOTA/RTS multiplayer game for Wii U which takes advantadge of the console's online platform and varied controller possibilities.

Teams of 2 or 3 players work together to destroy the enemy base while keeping theirs safe. Each team will count with one commander and one or two ground troops.
The commander surveys the battle ground using the Wii U Gamepad and its touch enabled screen in RTS fashion.
The soldiers play in the main TV screen, FPS style, using a WiiMote and Nunchuck. They will traverse the combat area fighting the rival players and structures.
In local games the TV screen can be split up to four times to accomodate 2 full teams (plus two Gamepads), while online teams can play from different locations and screens.

Resources are collected by soldiers while alive, at a rate of one unit per second (main advantadge of killing enemies), defeating enemy troops or buildings and disabling the enemy commander's droid. Most of the resources collected are sent to the team account and a small part is kept for personal use.
Ground troops can return to the base to buy basic equipment and heal, but they cannot upgrade their loadout. The commander can offer equipement recommendations and loan part of the team resources to a player, so she can acquire equipment out of her reach. These loans would be later discounted from the players' collected resources, trading a short term advantadge for future income problems.

Options available to the commander:
- Build gates, sensors or turrets in their half of the map.
- Upgrade soldiers' armour and weapons.
- Buy and drop temporal buffs almost anywhere on the map, which can be picked by allies or enemies.
- Place warnings or attack signals on the map. In local games these can be seen by the enemy!
- Browse available equipment and mark recommendations.
- Loan resources to team members.
- Deploy a remote controlled droid.

Remote droids are controlled from a FPS perspective in the Gamepad display. They have limited combat capabilities but are the only way to build the most powerful structures, repair damaged equipment or resurrect team members before their respawn time arrives. However, while the bot is deployed the commander can do nothing else and, should the bot be destroyed, they'd be unable to play for 15 seconds, or up to a minute late into a match. The bots can self-destruct without penalty, but it takes 10 seconds until the sequence completes, during which the robot cannot move and is open to enemy attacks.
The bot can also transform into a stationary turret atop the team's base core. These turrets are very powerful and provide extra protections to nearby allies, but turn slowly and if destroyed will damage the base noticeably.

The winning team will be the first to destroy the enemy base or reach a set amount of resources, depending on game/map type.

Update: SA:WT is one of this month's highlighted entries! I'm glad that someone has enjoyed my idea. One more for the list of pending projects!

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (HD) (Capybara, 2011)

Platform: PSN, XBLA, (DS)

The high definition craze is hitting with force this year and Ubisoft is making sure it is at the front line of this new fashion. In its zeal to outnumber anyone's HD rehashes it is now releasing re-skinned versions of one year old DS games. Well, at least they've had the decency to spearhead this new idea with a decent game, which did not get the attention it deserved. Unfortunately, the port didn't get the love it deserved, either, and it is just a port, with small fixes and brand new outstanding problems.

I will not go in depth into Clash of Heroes' mechanics and merits. To cut a long story short, it is an interesting and entertaining mix of your average tactics RPG with Magical Drop and Magic: the Gathering. Or something like that. It is quite unique. For more info, internet is full of reviewes of the DS original, and the modifications made to the new version do not invalidate them.
Regarding the common ground between both versions, I'll say that my favourite part remains intact: the puzzles, in which you are given one turn to prepare a number of attacks. They serve as tutorials for advanced configurations and how to best take advantadge of the rules. The bad is mostly the same, too: the last chapter is too simple and uninspired, consisting of, basically, going forward to advance, backwards to grind, fight the two final battles and that's it. Balance could also be improved, with random battles sometimes featuring too strong enemies for the current level of the player, or the level of bounties being inconsistent. Also unfixed is the possibility of losing bounty hunts without being warned, if the player decides to try a different one.

About the HD remake, I will say that the new art is, in most cases, great and very well designed. The only problem here is that some generic portraits are direct high resolution exports of the DS's vector graphics, looking like crude drafts in comparison with the rest. Also updated were several powers, units and objects, which were greatly needed. Things seem a bit more balanced now in multiplayer, which was absolutely vital for it to have a change to succeed. Also, the story mode difficulty has been reduced, but you'll still want to throw the controller a couple of times, specially during the last chapter.

Multiplayer is almost the only ocassion when the game's heroes actually clash