For 18 years, the army community has fought to keep its icy battles alive, even as the world around it melted away. With recruitment drying up and the community clinging to Discord and even ROBLOX, it is clear: we need to expand our horizons. Join Small/Medium Army Legend Dillon in discussing “Penguin Warriors”, an innovative game idea.
Designed by Koloway
As of this year, 2024, it has been 18 years since the start of this community. For 18 years, armies have been isolated to Club Penguin, with a rapidly decreasing number of people to recruit, the community largely becomes reliant on Discord recruiting and ROBLOX, of all things. Earlier this year, I sat down and began writing a pitch deck for a game I call Penguin Warriors. The goal of this pitch deck was simple: put together a game that would take heavy inspiration from things like KappnKrunch’s animations, as well as what people imagine when they hear the words “Club Penguin Armies”.
Ever heard of ROBLOX recruits?
For starters, this game will not be a 2D game or a top-down game. I suppose it could, but for immersion and gameplay purposes, this will be a fully 3D game — a third-person shooter. Because we cannot use “Club Penguin” in the name, I had to come up with a new world in which this game would take place. And there was an obvious choice: Mammoth. The original home of armies would also become the name of the world that houses all of us. Also, please note that any numbers are not finalized and are more so for the sake of having numbers to paint a picture. Now, let us get to more specific information.
Goals
Before I do anything, I want to establish the goals of this project/game. These are my personal goals, and they may end up changing somewhat.
1. Create a platform (not just a game, a platform) for armies to continue, removing our need for Club Penguin.
2. Create a world that will be in a constant state of change. Unlike CPA, Penguin Warriors can and will change when you log off. You may come back to a different world than the one you left behind. A world that emphasizes the war aspect of the community.
3. Minimize the use of outside applications (Discord, army site, news site, etc.). Armies can still use these, but my hope is that Penguin Warriors would essentially become an all-in-one solution for the community.
4. Incorporate the history of the community in such a way that it becomes common knowledge. Armies have always had an insanely interesting history, but the history itself is hard to find (unless you’re Dino). I hope to integrate the history with the game itself.
5. Ensure that the game is still friendly to a younger audience. CPA has had a hilarious shift where I, one of the longest-tenured members of the community, am also still young compared to some in the community. This HAS to change if we want the community to survive.
Nothing stated here is truly final. Things can change, be added, or subtracted, it is all up in the air. This is simply to give a basic idea of what I want to accomplish.
The Armies
Club Penguin Armies has had hundreds, if not thousands of armies over the last 18 years. There is no real way to implement every single one into a game. This is why I decided that much like Club Penguin Army Central or more modern news sites, you would have to register to become part of the game. Underground Mafias Army would obviously be included, but everyone else? Registration. This will also allow the dev team to know how many different clothing items we need to make.
The first registration would look something like this:
1. What is your army’s name?
2. What color is your army?
3. Any particular clothing you’d like to have?
4. Do leaders have a different uniform than lower ranks?
I should also note this would only be for the initial registration. After that, any future armies would be able to be created with nothing but color and name, but would not get a custom uniform unless they had reached a certain number of active members, or paid a per-item fee for the uniform. They WOULD have access to a number of preset uniforms that any army could use.
Squads
Every army will have multiple squads, of anywhere between 4-12 people, and each person will choose a class (infantry, heavy, medic, sniper). While conceptualizing, I thought about the fact that armies really don’t have a whole lot of ways to reward people for their efforts in battle beyond promotions which often do not yield the results they should. And that is why I came up with the Elite Squad concept.
Penguin Warriors at its finest
The Elite Squad is basically the equivalent of every army having its own built-in Nachos SS. Everyone in the Elite Squad is part of the top 2 performers from the prior war of a specific class. Perhaps they played the medic class and healed the most people, or they played a sniper and confirmed the most knockouts. Whatever the case, they were the best in their army in the class they chose. The Elite Squad will receive buffs based on their army’s name and history.
The Elite Squad
For example, UMA’s Elite Squad will receive bonuses to health, stealth, and semi-auto weapons, as a reference to the more guerilla fighting style UMA used for its 2017 run, and its name. However, to ensure that people continue playing their chosen class when they can join the elite squad, they will be locked into that class until they fall out of the elite squad. To lessen this blow, they will also receive buffs to what that class is expected to do. Medics will be able to revive/heal faster, the heavy class will exercise more control over their guns, the assault class will be able to move faster, etc. This is so players are encouraged to stick with their class and truly master it.
In order to keep the Elite Squad as an achievable goal, each war will reset the Elite Squad. After every war, the top performers among regular troops would take their place in the elite squad, while all former elite squads would be numbered and immortalized in a document that would be kept on all army bases.
1. The timeline would look like this:
2. Armies enter the introductory war.
3. When the war ends, the top performers become the 1st elite squad.
4. Armies enter a 2nd war, the first elite squad is “deployed”.
5. War ends, top performers among regular troops are promoted to 2nd elite squad, 1st elite squad is sent back down to regular troop status.
6. Document is updated to display those who just finished the war in the elite squad.
Bases
While conceptualizing this game, I thought back to KappnKrunch’s animations. Something that always stuck out about those animations was the individualized bases each army had. I knew from that moment I had to put that in this game. Now, you might be thinking, “Dillon, that sounds like a lot of work.” because it is. But I have an idea that would decrease the workload for the dev team: Allow the armies THEMSELVES to come up with the layout, and then the dev team implement it. We will not need to worry about bases sharing a layout if every layout is made by a different person. Every army’s main base will be in a different territory, as well as a different environment, and that territory is the army’s capital.
Now, you might be asking yourself why a base is needed. That’s because the base is going to be where everyone in your army begins, as well as double as a location for jobs. When people log on to the game, they are allowed to do jobs that will benefit their army in battle. This can range from working in the armory and giving damage buffs to weapons or buffing armor’s defenses, to monitoring the security systems and ensuring that no enemies are attempting to invade, or raid and sabotage your army.
The Job System
Think of the job system as a way to incentivize playing the game while armies are not at war. Each day at a specific time, the jobs will be randomly assigned. These jobs will serve short-term benefits, as well as be stored for use during war.
Some of the jobs I was thinking about including:
Cook: Cooking meals will increase health to be used during the next battle.
Security: Security will basically be playing the equivalent of Armies Five Nights at Freddy’s. They’ll monitor the camera system and be able to alert the base of any abnormal occurrences, such as cameras cutting out, or penguins not affiliated with the army approaching. Those who work security the day of a battle will also be able to detect enemies on the minimap from farther away.
Armory: Those who work the armory will be working to grant those in the army a bonus to ammo capacity during a battle.
“Time to cook, buddy”
These benefits will only be accessible to the regular troops who are NOT in the Elite Squad. Think of it as a sort of incentive-based equalizer. Under normal circumstances, with no perks gained, the Elite Squads would be able to handedly take down multiple squads. However, if armorers and cooks do their jobs, it evens the playing field, and the elite squad is challenged by basic troops. To make the jobs less of a time sink, one order filled will be for 5 troops. So if you have 60 troops, 12 orders will give everyone in the army bonuses.
Invasions, Battling & The Empire System
This is where stuff gets good. If you recall at the beginning of this pitch, I mentioned that the world will always be able to change. See, the way armies currently work, battling is a 30-minute emote fest based on vibes. However, obviously, in a 3rd person shooter, you need objective beginnings and ends to battles, and given this is a 3PS, the easiest way to decide is via team deathmatch or base capture. For now, we will be working under the assumption that all invasions are team deathmatches.
I present to you the concept of Strategic Attacks. Strategic Attacks are attacks to sabotage the base, such as stealing the base blueprints which would reveal the layout to your army and make it easier to avoid detection and prepare for invasions. The other form of sabotage is the act of using explosions to render things like vehicles useless for the battle. This is where the Elite Squad shines, as strategic attacks are their job. They’re the ones who will retrieve blueprints or destroy armories to ensure vehicles cannot be used. Unlike normal invasions where you can respawn, a strategic attack is one kill and you are dead until the end. Immediately following the strategic attack, regardless of if it fails or succeeds, a normal invasion must occur.
The Empire System will work nearly identically to how it does now, so no reason to really go in depth.
As I said before, all of this is subject to change. However, I believe this is a good base to build off of, as this would be a great chance to breathe new life into the community. What are YOUR thoughts?
Dillon
Reporter