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[Sanojian]

Just started this last weekend.  I am not sure where its going.

A 4X space game in real-time.  Try Planetary!

Drag between planets to make a path for your ships.  Click and drag factories to change building orders.  Just three things to build for now.  More to come soon.

Things to do:

• Win/loss detection
• Add audio -looking for help on this
• Add tutorial
• Add levels of escalating difficulty
• Work on computer player AI
• Make dragging paths easier

Things of note:
The whole game is one big SVG.  I don't know if that is interesting or unique but I thought it was neat.  Tested in Chrome on Windows.  Your browser mileage may vary (please tell me about it if you try it on other browsers)

[Sanojian]

Things done:

• Added sound fx
• Added music (from Clearside)
• Map now reveals as you play

Things still to do:

• Win/loss detection
• Add levels of escalating difficulty
• Add tutorial
• Add research station
• Upgrades to ships
• Add planetary gun
• Work on computer player AI
• Make dragging paths easier
• Add credits for music attribution
• A new name?  Any suggestions?
• Figure out where/how to host this

Go go Planetary!

[Amorphous]

Looks good so far, actually ended up playing until I'd conquered all the planets, it's pretty relaxing, actually. 

One thing to note is that the click detection was a bit shaky. There were times where I wanted to quickly transport my ships / factories, but I ended up having to click a bunch of times to do that, or selecting different unit types to create instead. Adding on to that, maybe make it so that you can choose how many units go along that path so that the player doesn't accidentally divert all of a planet's defenders?

Does the current playable have music? I heard the sound effects okay, but I couldn't hear any music, don't know if that's supposed to happen as of right now. I'm using Chrome, by the way.

At any rate, you have my interest, hope you keep going with this. 

[Sanojian]

the click detection was a bit shaky

Yes I agree.  I am finding it difficult to balance between "relaxing" gameplay (less clicks) and getting the danged ships to go where you want.  I am thinking about allowing creation of multiple paths.  But then you need to be able to clear them somehow, which is more clicky.

Does the current playable have music?

Yes it does.  Are you using Chrome on windows?  The music is mp3 so it should work there (but not Firefox?).  I still haven't done the html5 audio x-platform shuffle with all the sounds and music. I will add an OGG and whatever other formats are necessary in a later build.

Thanks for the feedback!     Its back to work for the week so they may not be much progress until next weekend.

[Belimoth]

The whole game is one big SVG.  I don't know if that is interesting or unique but I thought it was neat.

I can't say I've ever seen that before.

The music is great, albeit a little high-energy to fit the pace of the game.

[Sanojian]

The music is great, albeit a little high-energy to fit the pace of the game.

You are probably right.  I really like that song, though.  Maybe I will save it for the advanced, frantic levels and go with a more mellow song for the intro.

[Sanojian]

Things done:

• added levels
• added two tutorial levels
• improved AI
• managed to get so stuck in Git that I had to trash the repo and make a new one.  I love Git 

Things still to do:

• lots of levels!
• finish tutorial
• Add research station
• Upgrades to ships
• Add planetary gun
• MORE work on computer player AI
• Make dragging paths easier
• Find some various rockin but mellow space music
• Add credits for music attribution
• A new name?  Any suggestions?
• Figure out where/how to host this

[Belimoth]

Oh man, I did not know you could drag a path between more than two planets, this changes everything.

[Sanojian]

New turret!  And there was much weeping from purple

Things done:

• added planetary turret of much destruction
• added one more tutorial level
• ongoing improvements to AI

Things still to do:

• lots of levels!
• Add research station
• Upgrades to ships
• MORE work on computer player AI
• add way to navigate levels before winning/losing
• Find some various rockin but mellow space music
• Add credits for music attribution
• A new name?  Any suggestions?
• Figure out where/how to host this

[Sanojian]

Things done:

• made creating paths easier (thanks Amorphous!)   
• Added some mellow but rocking music from Deceased Superior Technician
• level navigation after win/loss now works
• Some visual improvements
• fixed a bunch of bugs

Things to do:

• make changing factory production easier
• more seamless level transitions
• lots of levels!
• Add research station
• Upgrades to ships
• add way to navigate levels before winning/losing
• Add credits for music attribution
• A new name?  Any suggestions?
• Figure out where/how to host this

[oodavid]

That's a pretty cool game man, nice one! Found the single open path at a time a bit limiting, maybe it should be one per factory?

Hope you don't mind, I had a bit of a read of your source-code; do you strip comments when you publish or do you just have good memory?

[Sanojian]

Thanks for trying it out 

Found the single open path at a time a bit limiting, maybe it should be one per factory?

I would like to allow two paths to be created but I don't know how to do it without complicating the interface.  I want this to work on a phone as well so we are limited to click and drag.  I will have to give it some more thinking.  Suggestions are always welcome.

Hope you don't mind, I had a bit of a read of your source-code; do you strip comments when you publish or do you just have good memory?

Sorry I am a chronic under-commenter.  I don't have a good memory either.  I re-write stuff alot 

If you have questions about how some part works, feel free to ask away here or send me a PM.   

[Sanojian]

I have been adding a bunch of stuff to the game in the last couple of weeks.  Research, ship upgrades, planetary defenses, etc.  In a moment of clarity I decided to strip all of that out for now and make the simplest version of the game available to see what the reaction is.  Here it is:

Planetary!

I am not sure where to post the game.  I was considering Kongregate to start and judge the reaction.  Any comments, criticism, stone-throwing would be much appreciated.  To be honest I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to "publishing" a game.


Things done:

• simplified the game
• make changing factory production easier
• more seamless level transitions
• resized for portal sites

[CowBoyDan]

Might I suggest a stacking units into a single graphic object when there are numerous units of the same type (fighters/bombers).  Goofing around with tons of units really makes it slow down.

[Sanojian]

Were you running Firefox (or even IE *shudder*)?  I can't recreate the slowdown in Chrome even with a huge number of ships.  I should probably develop for Firefox instead of Chrome. 

Stacking units would certainly solve the performance problem but would take away from the chaotic feeling of the bigger maps in my opinion.  There is no legitimate reason a few hundred geometric shapes should slow down the CPU.  Probably just my sloppy coding.   

Time for some profiling... 

Thanks so much for the feedback! 

[CowBoyDan]

It was firefox, I didn't try in chrome.  I usually use firefox for non-work and chrome for work when I'm at work.

[Sanojian]

I just tried a big map in Firefox and I see your problem.  Will work on a fix tomorrow.

Thanks for pointing this out!   

[Sanojian]

I think it is fixed.  Kind of hard to say.  Anyway it seems to be running smoothly with lots of ships even in IE now after a few tweaks.

Thanks again for discovering this!!

Now I need to add some more levels...

[Sanojian]

I took what I had done and published it to Kongregate.

http://www.kongregate.com/games/sanojian/planetary

I still have lots of plans for updates but for now I will call version 1 done 

This would be my first actually finished game.

[Belimoth]

Congratulations!

I have encountered a bug: if you are in the middle of choosing which unit to produce when the base dies, the UI sticks around.