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[tametick]

THIS GAME IS NOW RELEASED ON THE ANDROID MARKET!

THIS GAME IS NOW RELEASED ON THE APP STORE!


I've decided to continue working on my indie buskers game a bit longer - for those of you who don't know this is a mash up between pacman and tower defense originally made in 48 hours.

current version

Change log:
r7 changes:

• a bunch of new power ups
• much improved mobile controls

r6 changes:

• new haste powerup
• fruits give you $10 instead of 1$ for a coin

r5 changes:

• Android version! please email me & I'll send you a test copy
• added timer to each level
• 3 power ups: freeze, cash-for-kills & shotgun towers
• a bunch of balancing
• some new sounds and graphics

r4 changes:

• bunch of balance, spit & polish
• the game now plays on much smaller levels, and is therefor much quicker
• new HUD and a bunch of other aesthetic improvements

r3 changes (both suggested by porousnapkin):

• pacman-style controls
• an arrow indicates the next move

r2 changes:

• game starts off much easier than before
• level selection screen
• some new graphics by Cellusious (backgrounds for high-score & level-select screens)

r1 changes from the buskers version:

• Updated to work with the new haxe 2.09 and the latest HaxeFlixel
• Added menu music

Screenshot:

[Franklin's Ghost]

Nice game idea, like it so far although the controls for the players movement seemed a bit unresponsive at times.

[tametick]

Yeah, I'll add that to my todo list.

[bateleur]

As I think I've mentioned elsewhere, I really love this game. The main problem I have with it is that on levels 2+ most of the strategy is packed into the first few seconds (by level four I find I have to place six or so towers almost instantly to stop the ghost count getting unmanageable).

As such, I think the game could be improved a lot by having less ghost spawning in the early stages of a level. It takes ages to clear all the dots, so it's not as though the player is going to clear the stage before the ghosts turn up!

Edit: Oh, and the thing where ghosts shouldn't spawn on the far opposite side of the board when you're near an edge. I thought that was fixed, but it just killed me again!

[Cellusious Games]

Woo, Pretty amazing.  

[Udderdude]

The controls definitely need some work, as does the random ghosts appearing right near you with no time to move.  Also, a ghost may appear and trap you, leaving no escape.  The mazes generated tend to have a lot of dead ends.

I found the best strategy was to place towers around the center, then only move out when you've got enough towers in another area to make it relatively safe to move around.  Was very tedious and not very fun.

It feels like a game that could use fixed level design and designated enemy spawn points, with some sort of logic as to which spawn point they appear from.

I like the concept, and hope you manage to do something more with it.

[tametick]

As such, I think the game could be improved a lot by having less ghost spawning in the early stages of a level.

How about just giving you a few seconds at the beginning of the level before ghosts start to spawn at all?

I did that in Pale Blue Dot and it worked quite well.

[tametick]

The controls definitely need some work, as does the random ghosts appearing right near you with no time to move.  Also, a ghost may appear and trap you, leaving no escape.  The mazes generated tend to have a lot of dead ends.

It feels like a game that could use fixed level design and designated enemy spawn points, with some sort of logic as to which spawn point they appear from.

I'll try to figure out ways to improve the ghost & map generator, I don't really want to use static levels if I can avoid it.

[bateleur]

How about just giving you a few seconds at the beginning of the level before ghosts start to spawn at all?

I did that in Pale Blue Dot and it worked quite well.

That could be OK, but it still leads to basically the same gameplay where you place all the towers you're ever going to use in a level at the moment you first arrive. (Although I suppose players might do that anyway...)

[tametick]

That could be OK, but it still leads to basically the same gameplay where you place all the towers you're ever going to use in a level at the moment you first arrive. (Although I suppose players might do that anyway...)

Well, that's basically how most/all tower defense games work if you have enough money at the beginning of the level don't they?

[porousnapkin]

I would also recommend tower cost inflation over the course of a level. If each successive tower cost more than the last, you could keep the tension high throughout the game. I think it would encourage more strategic tower placement per level and discourage tower spam. (Though it could cut down on being able to save money between levels.) It would potentially lead to leaving some zones unprotected and having to figure out when you can sprint through them.

Regarding the controls: When you press up but can't travel up, your game responds differently than Pacman. In Pacman your character continues traveling in the same direction, but turns up as soon as he is able. This allows you to hold up while rounding a corner to immediately turn. In the newer Pacman versions, they also play a particle effect above your character to signify that he'll turn up as soon as he can. I think both of these (a visual indicator of the direction held, and acting on that direction ASAP) would help your controls. It would mean that you couldn't manually stop without running into a corner or wall, but that doesn't seem like much of a loss (and you could add a brake button with right-click or space to immediately stop).

The other issue I see is the character appears to have chunky movement. Maybe this is a framerate issue? It could also be an optical illusion that comes out of travelling smoothly on a grid. I'm not sure, but for some reason the movement doesn't appear smooth.

Also, this game is exceptionally cool.

[tametick]

The tile based movement is intentional, it was very annoying missing the 1-tile wide corridors before. But then again that might have been treating the symptom instead of the underlying problem...

[tametick]

Cellusious generously offered to donate more graphics to the game (he did the splash screen in the current version).

If anyone else wants to help out too feel free to reply here or via PM (I can't afford to pay you for the trouble so your contribution will result only in fame and no fortunes).

Also, you can find the source code here.

You can use parts of it however you wish, but you may not use the name "Pakkuman's Defense" nor make basically the same game and call it your own. Message me if you're not sure. When in doubt treat it as "copyright 2012 Ido Yehieli, all rights reserved".

[tametick]

Revision 2 is online, same link as before.

Changes from yesterday:

• game starts off much easier than before
• level selection screen
• some new graphics by Cellusious (backgrounds for high-score & level-select screens)

[Udderdude]

The game definitely needs a timer now.  I found it was possible to camp in the starting area of level 1 with 3 towers, and no ghosts ever got near me.  I got up to 60 kills before I closed it.

[tametick]

The game definitely needs a timer now.  I found it was possible to camp in the starting area of level 1 with 3 towers, and no ghosts ever got near me.  I got up to 60 kills before I closed it.

What's the point of that? You don't get money from kills, only from eating dots, and it's the least important part of the score:

Code:

// >0 if x<y, <0 if x<y
function scoreCompare(x:Dynamic, y:Dynamic) :Int {
	if (x.level != y.level) 
		return x.level<y.level?1:-1;
	if (x.money != y.money) 
		return x.money<y.money?1:-1;
	if (x.kills != y.kills) 
		return x.kills<y.kills?1:-1;
	return 0;
}

I mean you can also "camp" in super mario bros by not moving right, but that doesn't really give you anything desirable...

EDIT: I'm gonna add a timer anyway just to give some motivation to finish levels fast.

[tametick]

Regarding the controls: When you press up but can't travel up, your game responds differently than Pacman. In Pacman your character continues traveling in the same direction, but turns up as soon as he is able. This allows you to hold up while rounding a corner to immediately turn. In the newer Pacman versions, they also play a particle effect above your character to signify that he'll turn up as soon as he can. I think both of these (a visual indicator of the direction held, and acting on that direction ASAP) would help your controls. It would mean that you couldn't manually stop without running into a corner or wall, but that doesn't seem like much of a loss.

Revision 3 adds both of these suggestion (pacman style controls + an arrow next to the player character indicating the next move).

[bateleur]

Revision 3 adds both of these suggestion (pacman style controls + an arrow next to the player character indicating the next move).

Noooooooo! That's completely broken it!

The ability to stop by turning into a wall is essential. Levels 5+ are borderline unplayable now for most layouts. Also, the game feels lower skill overall.

@porousnapkin - Did you actually play much Pakkuman's Defence before the change?

[tametick]

It's actually more to do with porting to Android and touch-screen control than with porousnapkin.

I will post the apk here soon-ish. I think you will agree the game works better on that platform this way.

[bateleur]

Wouldn't know - I don't have a phone. Do the two versions really need to be identical?