I am torn between being happy I won, and sad that there was only a couple entries and 4 votes total!

Is there a trick to getting Bardo to run? I just get "Not a valid Win32 application" - but my computers are all 64-bit. :/

did nobody finish a game for this compo, once again?
I'll try to make a [2012] game this semester, not for the deadline obviously, I need to fight my way to the top of myself first.

I finished. : (

I thought it was due by today. : (

First post updated, we finished the first version!

I didn't get nearly as far into this as I wanted to, no tutorial level and not enough waves for the game, I wanted to do multiple levels and a progressive story as well, but the holiday season really got in the way this year!

I do plan to have some more fun and progress this (and see about changing the controls a bit, especially for the non-web version.)

Oh man, it's so smooth!  I like the graphics!

I like that the guns don't seem to actually blow up the asteroids like I'm used to, but just decrease/alter its velocity.  So instead of going for firepower and blowing things up, the best way to avoid a collision is to shoot the asteroid perpendicular to it's course and out of the way so it passes by the earth safely.

Also, I like that I can have one dialog box open, then open another one elsewhere without closing the first one.  E.g. I can go to place a platform, but then realize I need to upgrade a turret somewhere else first, but then go back to the platform thing afterward with a single click instead of having to open a new box.  I've never seen this in a RTS/TD game before and I think it's neat.  Although if the boxes got too big with options or there were too many open it would obviously get cluttered fast.

It seems like the asteroids themselves have a ton of velocity and the turrets don't have a lot of stopping power.  It also seems like they should be ruined completely when they    I don't know how you're planning on implementing increased  difficulty later on, or if the guns are eventually going to disintegrate the asteroids.

I've added a second type of turret that is very heavy and takes the collisions better.

Guns are still really weak on purpose, so you get to see how things interact.

You can highlight and select turrets that can shoot and aim them as specific asteroids now too; you can use the standard RTS control groups (Ctrl+1 to set group 1, press 1 to select those, etc.)

Would be more than happy to hear more feedback (posted this for feedback in two places and only 2 people have even bothered to comment!)

http://anamei.net/files/ONA/WebPlayer/WebPlayer.html

Thanks!

To test the first prototype, just go here: (it's a web-loading game using Unity's web player)
http://anamei.net/files/ONA/WebPlayer/WebPlayer.html

I'd like to hear feedback on this - what you liked, what you didn't like, what you wanted to do, etc.

My recent thought was to remove the menu aspect and treat it like old Command & Conquer style building and let you instead select and add turrets to command groups just like an RTS, then allow you to target asteroids manually, etc.

[DOWNLOADS:]

DOWNLOADS:
You can play on the web here: http://anamei.net/files/games/ONAWeb/WebPlayer/WebPlayer.html
Windows 64-bit here: http://anamei.net/files/games/ONAPCx64.zip
Windows 32-bit here: http://anamei.net/files/games/ONAPCx86.zip

A storm of asteroids is heading towards Earth, only you and a complex system able to produce massive turrets and planetary defenses is between it and certain destruction.

How long can you hold off the asteroids? Can the Earth be saved?

A cross of an RTS and a tower defense game, you'll be forced to use well placed platforms to stop asteroids with guns that destroy them, mines that explode them, and gravity wells to alter their trajectory.

• Build Turrets and Upgrade them
• Place objects strategically to use physics to make the asteroids avoid Earth
• How long can you last, or can the Earth be saved?

HOW TO PLAY:

Use the mouse to build Platforms and then build a turret of your choice on the platform.

Turrets will automatically target the closest target on the screen and within range, play around to learn the advantages of each turret, some are better at pushing while others are better at destroying!

Special Controls:
1. Hold down the SHIFT key to select turrets OR drag a box with the mouse to select all turrets in that area.
  1a. Left click on an asteroid to have selected turrets target it.
  1b. Shift left-click to move the selected turret(s) to the location.
  1c. You can use Ctrl+<number> to save and the <number> key to recall groups just like a standard RTS

Trying my hand at a tower-defense, but not quite following the normal defense rules, more RTS-ey in nature but really simple jump-in and play.

Got an idea and rough gameplay layout as well as an artist, just need to figure out music and wait for Dec 1st now.

Sounds like fun. Just need an idea now...

I've poured several hours into this locally with my wife, decided to give it a go because while I love Minecraft, I've honestly run out of things I'm motivated to do. Sandbox is great, but only while playing with the sand by itself remains fun. (Also, $10 for each of us isn't a big investment for us and I like to play a lot of these indie games to get inspiration (see: inspiration, not copy-catting like 1/2 of this game is!))

At first it feels very like Minecraft, to the point where you feel he ripped the basis for the game completely from it. Then you start to hit some of the game's own appeal.

For one, monsters and combat play a much more significant point in this game - there are a lot more monsters and even during the day you are FAR from safe. Unlike Minecraft where your world is basically just the same stuff in new shapes, a lot of Terraria (so far) varies and feels more like a normal 2D platformer (corrupted areas, varying monsters, underground being more like dungeons, fun 2D things like grappling hooks, etc.)

Sadly the things that make it unique need more polish, and even some of the Minecraft-mechanics need to be re-though for this 2D world.

Combat is fun, but takes a lot of getting used to - enemies hurt on touch even when not acting, the hit-box on your character feels like it's too big so melee is a little hard to get used to, your hit-stun is short enough that monsters can trap you in a corner pretty easily. Also the monster spawn rate seems REALLY high - to the point where even killing them in 1-2 quick ranged hits you won't have enough time to cut down the trees to gather wood, or you can't mine and keep ahead of the spawning spam underground. (To be fair, there's a pretty good balance where the faster spawns are in areas where there are rare gems/ores, so they should be harder to mine.)

Early monsters are really tough compared to the equipment you start with, and finding the Iron ore you need to really get going is a big hurdle, so the early pacing is pretty bad. Things pick up if you listen to the Guide at the start and get yourself a grappling hook, but the monster that drops the piece you need is pretty deep underground and extremely tough for early-game equipment.

Mining itself is hard because you're hitting such a small grid, your character needs to cut three blocks that can take a while to match their own height, the added block is a pain, and it's not as natural using the mouse in 2D. (This could easily be fixed by having the right-click function which isn't use on mining tools do an 'area' hit to cut back on the tedium and mining pace.)

Despite it's flaws (and what it lifted from Minecraft to ensure it's attention/success,) it's an okay game that is probably successful half because it's borrowing fame from Minecraft, and half because it's got the content and direction that Minecraft players have been hungering for.

[Added:]

Updated version: 1.1 released! (not sure where to post this now that it's an ongoing project?)

Added:
1. Chat History
2. Improved game join and added ping checks in case of lost packets
3. Added bar that shows speed of weapon shots and reload time
4. Added Version check and disconnect if versions don't match
5. Catches for potential network drops that could cause players to be "dead" but not dead
6. Fixed and updated UDP methods to work with many connections from a single IP external IP address
7. Updated UDP punch-through to be more reliable and have less overhead
8. General network speed improvements
9. Explosive projectiles accuracy and explosion points improved (always shows accurate explosion locations)

The original content client didn't have any versioning code in it, so if it joins a newer server it gets disconnected on the server end, but the players just appear in an empty client (due to not support being built in, so no way to tell the client it's been forcefully disconnected.)

So far lots of feedback from outside sources, but nothing from the contest site itself!

We plan to add more weapons and levels (of course) and add models you can pick for the player (the current is the template) - looking for suggestions!

We overstretched on art resources instead of programming - would have liked more time to polish the networking of course, but pretty proud of everything I learned and managed to implement.

Even got to add in some networking features I didn't think of like public hosting and game listing.

<div style="padding: 5px; padding-bottom: 0; float: left"><img src="http://anamei.net/files/images/ff/300x200.png" width="300" height="200" /><p style="margin-top: 0"><a href="http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=17128.0">Friendly Fire</a>, by Andrew McKellar and Krisanna McKellar (Music by: haxory and thompsonstalker79, sound effect made with: as3sfxr-b</p>
</div>


Friendly Fire, by Andrew and Krisanna McKellar

Posted the finished version, you can download at the top of the thread!

I'm going to try to leave a default server up for people to play on, the host will be AFK for the majority of the time.

Added some new screenshots and updated development status.

@Randomasta: Kind of - I've messed with a lot of engines, but I'm familiar with GM and it's ability to rapidly make smaller games is unmatched so far (versus the massive amount of effort into just getting something even small working in XNA or Torque 3D) - RPG Maker's only big strength is that the editor is done and you can enter so much information so easily (making lots of content in GM or other editors is very painful without programming up your own editor interface...)

@Hangedman: I'll have to get my artist to hurry up then! I usually hate to tip my hand, but this seemed like a great opportunity to try the "path of hyping" a project for once.

@Melly: I worked on a co-op 2D RPG a year or so ago in GM and learned and came up with solutions to the major issues like multiple players joining/tracking, keeping their locations synced, messages, etc. Never went anywhere because of a lack of focus - all the ideas I have for this are things I've done or know how to do so hopefully not getting in over my head!

[DOWNLOAD HERE]

Friendly Fire is a networked-only arena shooter (think like an FPS multiplayer mode, or Team Fortress without the teams.)

DOWNLOAD HERE

NOTE: I'll leave a host running when possible for people to try it out, but to have people play on your server you'll need to host and have either the default port, 2300, or a port you choose, forward both TCP and UDP to your computer. (Clients do not need to configure their routers.)

Development Status:
Completed:
- All network connection and player management is completed
- Player movement, score tracking, weapon switching, and other gameplay elements are done (over network)
- Statistical weapons balance and speeds is completed (tweaks will be made in patches if necessary)
- No limit to number of connected players (though hosts might find they are the limit on bandwidth)
- Posting hosted games to the internet and a Find Game feature to search through and join them
- The first version for the contest!
Next:
- Improve the smoothness on slower connections
- Various networking improvements
- New levels and weapons
- Character models to unlock and choose


About the Game

You can play over a local network or the internet, but you can't play more than one person on a single computer.

Text chat is an available communication method, but there is no voice chat.

Only the Host needs to have a port open and forwarded, the default port is 2300, but it can be changed on the Host and Join Game screens.

See the title screen "Help" Option for a description:


Due to time constraints on the amount of artwork, all players are currently just the base white template (which actually works pretty well!)


The Host screen only requires you set the port (default is set) - to Join you need the hostname or IP address and matching port. Even if you have a custom port set, if it fails to connect it will try to use the 2300 port by default (to help with cases of the host not understanding networking too well.)



Weapons
available are:
1. Revolver
2. Magnum Pistol
3. Sub Machine Gun
4. Shotgun
5. Laser Gun
6. Rifle (think M16)
7. Laser Blaster
8. Crossbow
9. Rocket Launcher
10. Grenade Launcher


Gameplay
is like any arena shooter, you can move around the map and pick up weapons from crates and shoot other players.

A player can carry 3 weapons at any time and switch with the 1,2,3 keys respectively. Picking up a weapon you already have replenishes ammo, picking up a weapon when you have a blank slot puts it there, otherwise it will replace and drop your current weapon on the field.

Currently there is only 1 map, which contains 3 sections, the main outside, inside of a small house, and a cave that runs from the lower left to upper right. The caves and main areas can't see or shoot or interact with each other, so ambushing players is good tactic if you can predict their movement!

As you gain more kills, you can unlock more of the weapon list to be available as your starting weapon when you spawn.

You can check ping, name, and score of all connected players using the [Tab] key (see screenshots.)



Screenshots