I really like this game. I've played it a lot and have really wanted to give you some feedback. It has a ton of potential. My criticism below is meant to be constructive because I believe in this project.
First off, bugs
in 1.02:
Attacking an enemy asteroid, my army of seedlings failed to take it over. They just kept ramming the ground attempting to get into the hole and take over. The asteroid read as though there was one tree left, though there was not.
In the late game, moving many armies causes the game to lose commands. I would order a few dozen swarms of seedlings to move, but they would not all receive the orders. Evidently, there is a limit to the number of commands the game can process.
I was expanding clockwise around the belt. I selected a huge number of seedlings and sent them to the next asteroid, but they proceeded to go the OPPOSITE direction. Evidently, there was a gap that was too large for them to cross. So instead of fighting on an "O" shaped asteroid belt, I was really fighting on a "C" shaped belt. Either the random asteroid placement should always ensure an unbroken circle, or the asteroids should have an aura around them indicating their "atmosphere" where seedlings can travel.
The "Plant Tree" button does not register a click if you click near the edge. As it also closes the asteroid information window, it is highly annoying.
Interface/Display
The game looks great. The three properties of the asteroids should be explained somewhere besides the tutorial. Also, the asteroid information window (where it displays the amount of seedlings, etc) should indicate how many trees are on the asteroid.
When playing as red seedlings, it is difficult to tell when one of your asteroids is under attack when zoomed all the way out. I also came up against two purple opponents; their colours were nearly indistinguishable.
:D AI/Challenge
Most of the challenge is in the early stages of the game. I found that about 2/3 games I started right next to an enemy. This is a problem. Random placement should place each starting asteroid at least 2 asteroids apart.
All too often I would also be suicidally attacked by an enemy over and over, until another one came along and killed me. Computer opponents appear to always know where I am.
In other cases AI opponents sent swarms after asteroids in the middle of my empire without apparent reason. They would become obsessed with particular asteroids. There appears to be no strategy here.
On the topic of strategy, there is no geographical advantage to controlling any particular asteroid over another, save for proximity.
Scouting allows you to forever see what forces are located on an enemy asteroid. Perhaps it could simply colour the asteroid the colour of the opponent, and indicate how many trees the seedling saw before it died.
It would be nice to have the option to change the size of the asteroid belt. So you could play a much quicker game on a small asteroid belt, or a huge game on a belt 10 asteroids wide.
Pacing
This is the biggest problem with this game. The early game is painfully slow. Obviously it should be, but it should still be sped up. Similarly, the late game is far too easy and impossible to micro-manage everything. For the most part I spend the late game sending 32 seedlings per asteroid to one rallying point and then bowling over my enemies without any real resistance. Even the constant attacks against random asteroids in my territory are of no consequence because the AI never sends enough, or if they do I have tons of seedlings nearby to take it back.
I think the solution here is to lower the amount of seedlings you will control in the later stages of the game, while speeding production in the early stages. Perhaps your home asteroid could be particularly fertile (as would enemy home asteroids).
Game features
As is the game doesn't have much strategy besides early expansion, but there is so much you could do to improve this game:
- Asteroid properties.
Size would be a simple property to implement. Larger asteroids are physically larger, and capable of having more trees and growing more seedlings. They are obviously more valuable and harder to colonize. Smaller asteroids would also be possible and interesting.
The current asteroid qualities do not have enough impact on the game because micromanaging the seedlings is impossible. As such asteroid properties might be better applying to trees and seedling production. So you could have an asteroid that is more fertile being more valuable, because it speeds production. You could have a rock to soil ratio, where more rocky asteroids cost more seedlings to make trees, but the trees are harder to destroy.
- Geography
Currently the ring shaped belt is interesting, but has no meaning when seedlings can travel wherever they want without trouble (unless, as I indicated above) there is a large gap. Besides the time it takes to get somewhere, there are no limitations on movement, and no reason to control or attack any particular asteroid. Geography should play a larger role and can in several ways:
Range of seedlings. Seedlings can only travel to nearby asteroids. This would prevent early game rushes by enemy AI (assuming you ensure that they are not randomly placed adjacent to you). This makes expansion slower, and territory control more essential, but it adds an element of strategy. You could also implement trees that allow you to send seedlings further. The idea of trees growing and snaring other asteroids is also compelling.
Moving asteroids. Considering range as a property of the seedlings, I would LOVE it if the asteroids moved relative to each other. The belt as a whole could drift in one direction, but some asteroids would be faster than others. You could eliminate collisions (the asteroids have some form of repulsive property). Smaller asteroids would move further to avoid larger asteroids, which would in turn move a small distance out of the way. In this game, choosing how to expand is complicated by the movement of your territory, and fast asteroids are useful for spreading over larger distances, but they would also be subject to attack from enemies more often as they move into their territory.
- New trees
There are many options. Defensive is the most obvious, though coupled with geographical changes range-boosting trees, or trees that grow asteroids together would be very interesting. At the very least defensive trees could attack moving swarms of seedlings passing by your territory (assuming seedlings have no limit on how far they can travel).
I look forward to seeing whatever you do with this game. I've really enjoyed it so far, and hope you continue to work on it.
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