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[brog]

download
I'm in.  How could I resist?
A nice side effect: this will motivate me to sort out matchmaking server crap that I can then use for Vertex Dispenser (a multiplayer game I've been working on forever).

Ok, here's the idea:
- Small-scale RTS, very much in the mold of C&C, Warcraft, etc.  You make some buildings and units, and then click the units to tell them to move and blow things up.
- Buildings will be very basic: resource collector, base defense, unit factory.
- You'll have ~3 unit types, chosen at random.  You can pay to research a new random type, replacing one of your existing types.
- Upgrades (armour, detection, discounts, etc.) will be auctioned.

Hopefully simple enough.

[Maqrkk]

Sounds interesting. Perhaps I can get my unit types to be really overpowered against the enemy and win that way, because I generally suck at RTS. Or if it's basic enough I may just be good at it.

[brog]

Progress: There are units!  You select them with the left mouse button and tell them where to move with the right; they use A* to find their way there (not that there are any obstacles yet).

I'm realising that the classic RTS interface is actually pretty advanced - click to select units, shift+click to add/remove selections, click+drag to select multiple units, move, attack, attack-move, hold position, etc. - and so quite a bit of boring work to get in place.  I'll work on the game first, now that I have the bare minimum of interface, and hopefully it'll prove awesome enough that I'll be motivated to add all that in.

Maqrkk: Perhaps you can!  I'm hoping I'll be able to get it adequately balanced, but there probably will be situations where one player gets a big advantage from the random unit types, and that's okay with me.  The plan is for games to be short enough that that doesn't really matter.

[Inanimate]

What a wonderful title. RTS' have never been my thing, but a small, fun little match is always nice, and if this has the right style and feel, I might develop quite the liking! Best of luck, mate.

[brog]

Bah, I haven't spent enough time on this, feeling a bit frustrated with it, not what I want to make right now anymore.  So I went for a walk down the beach and thought about it, got a new idea which is related but should be a heck of a lot faster to make and looks probably more fun to play as well.  More of an arcade shooter, but still very random and still with a few RTS elements.
I'm stuck on a plane for an hour and a bit tomorrow, so hopefully I can hammer out the basics then.  I'm cautiously optimistic about getting something in by the deadline.

[brog]

will post a build probably tomorrow

[brog]

download (not sure how people feel about updates after the competition deadline so I've left the version from before the deadline up, but I'd rather you play the more recent version because it's better!)

currently just has 2-player-1-computer hotseat play.  wasd versus arrows.  planning to add in ai and network when i get time.
basically, you fight over resources (line up your ship with them to pull them towards you) and then spend them to make units or fire weapons.  the choices to spend things on are randomised each time you choose.

let me know if you try it!

edit: updated.  bit better balanced now, and more interactions between units.  in particular, shields now block lasers, and resources come at a varied rate.

edit: updated.  different win condition, rotated controls 90 degrees.

edit: updated.  ludicrously subtle balance patch dealing with "new life" powerups.

[tzachs]

This was fun, everything was so random!
I mean, we didn't understand the gameplay or the different resources at all, but we didn't really try to, because the randomness of it all made all the fun.
It was slow at first, but once all kind of different units appeared it became hilarious. (in a good way).
The most satisfying thing was to wait for the other player to be really close to a resource, and then take it away from him..  

[Pencerkoff]

Hello this is Pencerkoff

tzachs basically said it for me.  The whole screen seems to be alive, and it is fun to watch if nothing else.  Not sure if the "first to 1000 points" win condition is right here... since you spend the resources you pick up, I'd feel better about a "destroy the other guy" win condition.

Still well done.

-PENCERKOFF

[brog]

Not sure if the "first to 1000 points" win condition is right here...

Yeah, I'm not sure about it either.
While I was working on the game I was at a wedding, so there were lots of people around I could test on, so I was able to get the basic mechanic fun.  But by the time I added the win condition I was back home, so I wasn't able to test it enough.
Maybe the other guy has a core that he has to protect, that takes N hits to kill?  And maybe it moves up and down?  I'll have a try.

[mokesmoe]

I'd just say have X lives.

[Hayden Scott-Baron]

Increpare, Terry Cavanagh, Sophie H and I tried this game for a while. Here's what we thought.

- great fun, played multiplayer for a while
- eye rape after a while
- takes too long to win
- controls are bizarre (90 degrees off)
- great selection of items
- well balanced game

Honestly, this was one of the best games I've played. The GUI was a bit strange, and it was hard to figure out why power-up options would disappear, but ultimately the game felt really balanced and it's something I'd gladly play again in future.

[brog]

Thanks for the feedback!  Once I've done crunching on VD I'll take another look at this and try out some variations on the win condition (probably will just go with "you have N lives") and maybe rotate the controls.

(i wish i had time + company at the moment to play through all the versus games now =[)

it was hard to figure out why power-up options would disappear

If this is confusing anyone else:
- you have two random options you can buy, shown at bottom on your side of screen
- choose an option with up+down arrows (left+right move your ship)
- you pay for them with the resources you pick up (cost is shown at top)
- when you buy a power (or you die) BOTH options are replaced by random

also, list of powers:
SUCTION (A) instantly pulls everything towards you, and makes your pull on resources stronger for a while.
FIREBALL (AA) projectile with big explosion that destroys everything
SEEKER (AAA) projectile homes in on nearest enemy, small explosion
LASER (AAAA) shoot laser for like half a second, wipes out anything in front of you
NUKE (AAAAA) everything except players dies and is turned into a resources
TANK (B) makes tank that moves around randomly shoots slowly
SHIELD (AB) makes shield that blocks bullets + laser
TURRET (AAB) makes turret that shoots fast

(also note that it is possible to outrun the seeker explosion if it homes in on your ship, just hard)

[brog]

I got onto this sooner than I expected:
download

Changed win condition.  Reduced eye rape slightly.  I'm not planning on networking it ever since it works well on one PC and it's short.

I rotated the controls too.  Not sure it's an improvement though, left and right feel better to me for panning back and forth.  Let me know what you think?

[brog]

Minor update: fixed a side-effect of the new win condition, where nuke would turn things into a "new life" powerup so there were too many lives going around.

[brog]

Very minor update, and definitely the last: download
- "New Life" powerup moves slightly slower (so you spend longer struggling over it, which is fun).
- You can't save up more than 5 lives (the maximum shown).  It's still worth picking up new lives at 5, because it means the other player didn't get it.

ninja edit: and made suction a bit weaker.  nobody will notice!  this is the problem with strategy-ish games; you're never perfectly balanced, can always tweak it.

[brog]

I've been working on local-multiplayer games on and off since this compo, it's really inspiring.

Here's an album of nine games, including Exuberant Struggle, I've made since then: Kompendium
download (windows)
download (mac)