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[mebawars.com]

HI!

I would like to share the game with you I've been working on for the past 2 years:




You can play the open alpha at: www.mebawars.com

About: Mebas are small amorphous monsters, that players can multiply and morph into combat units of their own design.

Gameplay: It is a fast paced browser based Multiplayer RTS game, where players can join into ongoing matches, build & command huge armies and enjoy epic fights against others.

Some unique features:
- no set 'factions' but players can design their own units ( over 600 units combinations in the alpha )
- you can join & leave games at any time
- Browser based, no install required
- gorgeous topdown 2D hand drawn graphics
- Multiplayer real-time Strategy, with thousands of units

The game is in a very late alpha stage (70%+ complete), and already has a pretty fun gameplay so I felt it is time to present it to a larger audience.


Thanks
Martin

[mebawars.com]

Here are some screens for you!

[mcwatts91]

So what is the ETA for a general release?

[mebawars.com]

Alpha Registration opened for everyone for a limited period!

Test drive the game at: www.mebawars.com

[mebawars.com]

Bug preventing new registrations/logins has been fixed!

[mebawars.com]

MebaWars Alpha V 0.61 out!

GAME BALANCE:

Angel
1. decreased Angel shooting range by 20% ( from 25 to 20 ), and splash damage from 6 to 5.
- this gives more space for other players to navigate around Angels
2. Kept the distance that 'disables' a spawn point at 25 however, to reduce the incidence of spawn frags
3. Reduced Angel's life by 30% so that it dies quicker. (new players had it for too long, potentially blocking other players from areas )
4. Added an additional faint ring to display potential splash damage radious when hovering over Angels/Catapults


Sugar/Metal
1. Doubled the total number of Metal deposits per map as compared to Sugar to reflect their relative use
2. Removed the 'Build Mechanic' requirement for Sugar
- now it works the same way as the Metal, simply move the Mega near a Sugar and wait!
3. Updated AI player behaviour to accommodate this



BUG FIXES

1. Start pack removed once player dies to prevent resource crowding
2. Fixed PopCap bug for players - new popcap limit for Owners 1200
3. Nerfed Mini Tanks: decreased their armour from 300 to 200 thereby tipping the balance in favour of Stabbers (see video )
4. upon new player registration, Lobby chat didn't work after leaving the Tutorial map
5. Updated Tutorial Descriptions to reflect the above changes ( including Population cap )


Changes coming up next:

1. New Game mode: DeathMatch! (prototype)
2. All morphed mebas start with the 'Factory Turret' ability!
- you will no longer need to sacrifice a Mega just to make Minis, you will be able to produce them from any morphed Mega


Stay tuned, to get updates follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mebawars or on my Blog: http://blog.mebawars.com/

MiniTanks vs MiniStabbers demonstration:

[mcwatts91]

Sorry to be pesky, but I didn't get an answer

[mebawars.com]

Sorry to be pesky, but I didn't get an answer

so sorry I didn't see you:) The game will be finished when its done, I really cant say anything specific, but i promise I am working on it as hard as I can. In an case you are more than welcome to join the open alpha and contribute your comments and observations!

[nox]

I want to play, but it won't load

I'm on Linux with Flash 11.2, and I just get the nice background with red text in the top right that says:

Code:

Main init
_stageClip.stage.stageWidth: 1656

I'll try it later on Windows, the video looks good

[mebawars.com]

I'll try it later on Windows, the video looks good

nox: thanks!

I want to play, but it won't load

I'm on Linux with Flash 11.2, and I just get the nice background with red text in the top right that says:

Code:

Main init
_stageClip.stage.stageWidth: 1656

Hmm that doesn't sound good! Have you tried to update your flash player to the latest version (15)? 11.2 is very old now, which may explain why.  If not, then let me know and I ll ask a friend of mine who has Linux, and investigate it and try and fix it for you!

And of course If you do manage to get it to work, I would be really grateful for your constructive feedback!

Martin

[nox]

I played it on Windows last night. I tried a number of games, and I was eventually able to capture 3 of the 4 control points, but the timer ran out before the 4th.

The game has an interesting selection of mechanics that makes it play unlike any RTS I've personally experienced. That said, I think the gameplay breaks down without either other human players or a sufficiently powerful AI, so it's hard for me to evaluate what it might really be like in the right setting. (Fun and fast-paced, I suspect!)

Here's some feedback:

• Hard for me to differentiate the mega Mebas at a glance
• It seems like human players would start applying pressure to the middle as the bot emplacements are thinned, so why does the stuff in the middle respawn?
• Enemy AI too weak
• Pathfinding is strange, and units get stuck on each other frequently
• I don't recall the neutrals/bots being described in the tutorial, so I wasn't sure what I was really supposed to do at first, and with the neutral mortars being so powerful I definitely thought that getting through them was impossible.
• I didn't see any stats for weapons/armor, just generalizations of their abilities. This made them hard to compare.

[mebawars.com]

nox: Thanks for your valuable feedback.

Hard for me to differentiate the mega Mebas at a glance

- This is interesting, could you describe this in more detail?

• I don't recall the neutrals/bots being described in the tutorial, so I wasn't sure what I was really supposed to do at first, and with the neutral mortars being so powerful I definitely thought that getting through them was impossible.
• I didn't see any stats for weapons/armor, just generalizations of their abilities. This made them hard to compare.

- Good spot! I will add a section about the AI and the Neutral base in the tutorials in the next version! I will also add some quantifiable data about each ability in the 'Morph' window.

It seems like human players would start applying pressure to the middle as the bot emplacements are thinned, so why does the stuff in the middle respawn?

- The idea about the base regenerating is to give the defending player some advantage when he has to defend against potentially 7 hostile players that surrond him, and all would be trying to take him out.

Pathfinding is strange, and units get stuck on each other frequently

- Pathfinding is a work in progress, in the current alpha version it is a simple wall trace with a few hacks but eventually (probably in the Beta ) I will have to implement a proper modern RTS pathfinding system such as flow field. (which should solve the units getting stuck problem. )

Enemy AI too weak

- When it comes to the AI, I plan on improving that also, having said that I've never seen a(n non-cheating) RTS AI that posed any serious challange. I think this is kindof a limitation of the RTS genre, with most RTS relying on PvP battles for game longevity instead of playing against the AI. Which is as you have very correctly pointed out the weakest point of the game right now, as it is virtually unknown so there are only very few human players. The only thing I could recommend is to get a few of your friends to play against you. I can tell you that is a VERY different experience from comp-stomping. Or alternatively I can offer to play it against you if we could arrange a time when we are both awake ( IM from London, UK )



Martin

[mebawars.com]

I'm on Linux with Flash 11.2, and I just get the nice background with red text in the top right that says:

I have looked into this for you.

It looks like Adobe has stopped Flash support for Firefox on Linux 2 years ago, so it seems that those of you who are on Linux, you will need to use Chrome, and the 32-bit version at that!

(having said that I've been told by my mebas that Chrome on Linux doesn't get 100% Videocard acceleration, so the performance may be less than ideal )

Martin

[nox]

This is interesting, could you describe this in more detail?

Are you familiar with the importance of silhouette in character design? I'd say it's especially important for a game like this. I remember the medic standing out, but other units seemed to merge together visually.

It looks like Adobe has stopped Flash support for Firefox on Linux 2 years ago, so it seems that those of you who are on Linux, you will need to use Chrome, and the 32-bit version at that!

I know, a shame

Which is as you have very correctly pointed out the weakest point of the game right now, as it is virtually unknown so there are only very few human players.

It's a vicious cycle then. Prioritizing AI improvements would probably greatly increase your user retention.

I played it again the other day, and I think the bottom toolbar should be shown by default, rather than hidden, at least for guests/beginners.

[mebawars.com]

MebaWars Alpha V 0.63 out!


I NEW GAME MODE: DeathMatch Arena
- Worlds without Fortress / Control Points ( Universe was reset to add these worlds)


II NEW GAME MECHANICS
1. Life extension:
- Blue Dots give an extra 'life' of 3 minutes
- these are dropped on the map periodically, and each time a Mega dies ( including your own )
- this means that if you are actively playing on a map you may no longer 'expire' as long as you keep playing!
 

2. Factory Turret:
- All Morphed Megas now have the ability to breed Minis ( but this is turned off by default )
- AI update to reflect this


III USABILITY
- added a section about the enemy AI and the Neutral base in the tutorials
- added quantified data about each ability in the 'Morph' window and MiniMeba dialog
- added tutorial about 'blue dots'
- bottom toolbar is visible by default for the Tutorial map


IV BUG FIXES
- fixed AI sometimes getting stuck
- fixed bug that caused the Healer Turret to crash the server upon removing Viri from infected mebas
- fixed rare bug causing server crashes upon player entry
- fixed very rare bug causing crash when giving commands to units too quickly
- fixed start Metal Count for each world
- fixed the issue that sometimes Player Start positions would be right next next to each other resulting in spawnkill


COMING UP NEXT:
- Temp Soundtrack, Graphical Enhancements, including Hi-res background, unit graphic enhancements, smoother animations and more!

Free for All / Blue Dot demonstration:

[mebawars.com]

MebaWars Alpha V 0.635 out!

I GRAPHIC MAKEOVER
- Full resolution game background (used to be 1/4th downsampled for performance reasons )
- High-detail, darker procedurally generated grassland with a cooler hue ( to pop units off the background )

II BUG FIXES
- fixed Rally point bug for Megas that have more than 1 unit producing capabilities ( it used to ignore rally point for the secondary units )
- restricted zoom to be 1.0 and default to 0.8

COMING UP NEXT:
- unit graphic enhancements(make walls semleass + more detailed turrets ), smoother animations,  Temp Soundtrack and more!

Video demo of Full-res Game backgrounds: