Release Pandora Microbes!

[gadgetoid]

I haven't got anything useful to say regarding the controls, because I haven't played any earlier versions. But from a fresh perspective this is an exceptionally good game, and a fine example of the Tower Defence genre with some good twists.


Tower Defence is a horribly abused genre on the iPad, and I've played more than my fair share of terrible tower defence games, this is not one of them. Must stop playing for now, though, as I'm in danger of becoming addicted.


My only criticism, and it's an awful one since graphics don't really matter, is that it could definitely look prettier. This is one tower defence title I could see working in very stylised top-down 3D, using gratuitous particle shading effects. As it happens, though, the graphics are good enough and solve the very real problem of making the units discernable on such a small screen extremely effectively.


Altogether awesome work, thanks!

 

[Christoph.Krn]

The left nub is meant to be fast but not very precise: good to go quickly in a general direction, but then you probably want to use the dpad to get to the exact position. I could make it slower/more precise, but then it would basically be the same as the dpad.

Have you thought about making the speed non-linear?


--


I need some more time in order to be able to comment something useful on the rest. I have not tested the new version a lot yet.

 

[_wb_]

It is already non-linear, it's quadratic. I could try a different formula maybe. For small discrete movements, the dpad will always be more practical though, but it is too slow to go to the other side of the playing field with the dpad, so that's what the nub is useful for.

 

[fusion_power]

My only criticism, and it's an awful one since graphics don't really matter, is that it could definitely look prettier. This is one tower defence title I could see working in very stylised top-down 3D, using gratuitous particle shading effects. As it happens, though, the graphics are good enough and solve the very real problem of making the units discernable on such a small screen extremely effectively.


Altogether awesome work, thanks!

I had no time yet to test the game but it already sounds like a worth to play title, especialy because I love TD games.


From what I've seen, the graphics indeed could be improved, something more "organic" and no sharp edged squares. I don't know how flexible the engine is but some fluid like bg animations and organic shaped (maybe even animated) tile elements would sureley improve the settings. Just some Ideas from my hobby-designer-view.

 

[_wb_]

The "engine" is not flexible at all, just something I coded specifically for this game, but something like bg animation and animated tiles is possible with some modifications to the code.


The game has to remain based on a grid of square cells, but of course with smart graphics you can avoid the square look.


I mostly need someone to design those graphics.

 

[sswam]

it is too slow to go to the other side of the playing field with the dpad, so that's what the nub is useful for.

No, that's what the TOUCHSCREEN is useful for!!!

 

[gadgetoid]

it is too slow to go to the other side of the playing field with the dpad, so that's what the nub is useful for.

No, that's what the TOUCHSCREEN is useful for!!!

The Pandora has a touch screen!?


Aaayooo!


With two hands on the controls, most people don't have a third hand for the screen.

 

[sswam]

My only criticism, and it's an awful one since graphics don't really matter, is that it could definitely look prettier.

Well, it looks much prettier than nethack, to say nothing of 'hunt the wumpus'


Linux gaming has come a long way...

 

[sswam]

With two hands on the controls, most people don't have a third hand for the screen.

Hey, I hold the stylus in my teeth... if he needs to build somewhere different in a hurry, a serious gamer will not neglect the touchscreen. Heheh

 

[sswam]

_wb_, I played through quite a few levels but not the whole game yet.


As you know, I think it's a great game & have been enjoying it.


For my 10c, it could be a bit harder in the hard modes.


So, here's my well-meant suggestions for 'hard' and 'insane' modes:


- powerful cells should be much more expensive in the harder modes


- you must save some energy from previous levels to beat the harder levels


- make it so that you yourself can barely do it for the hard mode


- make it so that you yourself can not quite do it for the insane mode


- your players will tell you if none of them can defeat a level on insane, then make it a smidgeon easier & repeat!


General suggestions:


- I reckon it would be good to have some mobile cells (and some not), that's realistic. This can make it much more interactive / frenetic!


- For the graphics, I like them. Maybe you can do some sort of effects so it's like looking through moving translucent tissue membranes, or flowing blood or whatever.


well that's it, I'm enjoying the game, thanks very much.

 

[gadgetoid]

- I reckon it would be good to have some mobile cells (and some not), that's realistic. This can make it much more interactive / frenetic!

I'm Gadgetoid, and I approve this message.

 

[_wb_]

_wb_, I played through quite a few levels but not the whole game yet.


As you know, I think it's a great game & have been enjoying it.

Thanks!

For my 10c, it could be a bit harder in the hard modes.


So, here's my well-meant suggestions for 'hard' and 'insane' modes:


- powerful cells should be much more expensive in the harder modes

That's a good idea, make the unit cost depend on the difficulty setting.

- you must save some energy from previous levels to beat the harder levels

Oh, I just removed the energy saving from previous levels (suggestion by Christoph.Krn). Maybe I'll have to reintroduce it then.

- make it so that you yourself can barely do it for the hard mode


- make it so that you yourself can not quite do it for the insane mode


- your players will tell you if none of them can defeat a level on insane, then make it a smidgeon easier & repeat!

OK, I'll use that methodology

General suggestions:


- I reckon it would be good to have some mobile cells (and some not), that's realistic. This can make it much more interactive / frenetic!

How would mobile cells work? You can move them around manually? Or they move around automatically looking for microbes to kill?

- For the graphics, I like them. Maybe you can do some sort of effects so it's like looking through moving translucent tissue membranes, or flowing blood or whatever.

Yes, maybe I'll add something like that, if it doesn't distract too much.

 

[sebt3]

How would mobile cells work? You can move them around manually? Or they move around automatically looking for microbes to kill?

I would suggest something like glob2 : you can define a "defend zone" in which the mobile cell can evolve freely

 

[sswam]

I just removed the energy saving from previous levels (suggestion by Christoph.Krn). Maybe I'll have to reintroduce it then.


How would mobile cells work? You can move them around manually? Or they move around automatically looking for microbes to kill?

Not sure! could work well without the energy saving too. Maybe it could be on or off for different level sets.


With the mobile cells, I was thinking move them manually - to give the player more interaction once they've built enough cells.


Maybe they could drift around foolishly if they get bored (to show they're mobile), but player can also move them.


I don't think single cells naturally have much intelligence! So you don't need too much AI.


But it's your game of course, you don't have to yield to our every demand.

 

[Askarus]

Oh, I just removed the energy saving from previous levels (suggestion by Christoph.Krn). Maybe I'll have to reintroduce it then.

No, I don't want to have to beat always the same levels only to be able to beat one if the later ones.


It wouldn't make sence ti limit the players choice with such a system.

That's a good idea, make the unit cost depend on the difficulty setting.

Bad idea.


If the enemys are harder you need more units bild.


It doesn't make sence to reduce the size of available units and mae stronger enemys.


Moveable Units? At least one or two.


Right Nub is enough movement for each unit.


You could add a little icon which shows where the nct enemys will appeare.


If there are more enemy's etrances it's verry hard to play the first wave with building time.

 

[_wb_]

OK, I'm not going to reintroduce energy transfer between levels.


About the more expensive units in hard difficulty settings: I'm gonna make it so that on the hard difficulty settings, you get more energy at the beginning, but the cost per unit is also higher. In the beginning this cancels out more or less (or even lets you build more initial units in higher difficulty), but as the level progresses, you still get only the same energy per microbe killed, so the expensive units will make it harder - you don't have enough energy to just blindly keep building and upgrading.


About the mobile units: I'm still thinking what kind of mobility would work. One concern is that you have to be able to easily select the unit, so either movement is limited to discrete grid cell movements, or some new selection mechanism has to be implemented. I don't want to add too much micro-management into the game (the right nub stuff already does that to some extent, depending on your playing style), so I'm not sure if manual movement is the way to do it. Automatic movement makes it even harder to select the unit (for upgrades/healing). I was thinking along the lines of having essentially a new tower that is a "base" for mobile units; the number of units it "controls" starts with only 1 but can be upgraded. The "range" of the base is the area of automatic movement for the units it controls. If microbes destroy the base, the orphaned mobile units die with it, but the mobile units themselves cannot be destroyed directly by microbes. Would something like that work? (Note: it could take a while before I actually implement any of this, because it requires quite some extra coding)


The enemy entrances are numbered top-to-bottom, left-to-right. If there are K entrances, then in the first K waves, the entrance of the wave number is used. After that they get mixed. So in the very first wave it's always the top-most left-most entrance that will be used. Anyway, maybe some icon or indication would be useful indeed

 

[Askarus]

About the more expensive units in hard difficulty settings: I'm gonna make it so that on the hard difficulty settings, you get more energy at the beginning, but the cost per unit is also higher. In the beginning this cancels out more or less (or even lets you build more initial units in higher difficulty), but as the level progresses, you still get only the same energy per microbe killed, so the expensive units will make it harder - you don't have enough energy to just blindly keep building and upgrading.

Agree.

The enemy entrances are numbered top-to-bottom, left-to-right. If there are K entrances, then in the first K waves, the entrance of the wave number is used. After that they get mixed. So in the very first wave it's always the top-most left-most entrance that will be used. Anyway, maybe some icon or indication would be useful indeed

OK, that's god to know.


I'll do an icon when I find time.

 

[gadgetoid]

I was thinking along the lines of having essentially a new tower that is a "base" for mobile units; the number of units it "controls" starts with only 1 but can be upgraded.

I love this idea. It's how the two-player mode of Future Cop LAPD worked. Your base would constantly spew forth units attempting to take out the enemy spawn, and you could build and upgrade towers at specific hardpoints along the route.


Having a base that spews search-and-destroy autonomous units would also be a cool analogy for how the body reacts to foreign bodies.

 

[_wb_]

Version 0.6 is on the repo. Changes:


- text-to-speech integrated


- backstory (will be shown automatically when you start it for the very first time, you can show it again in the "Information" menu)


- slightly improved graphics (something like DREDD's suggestion " Maybe you can do some sort of effects so it's like looking through moving translucent tissue membranes, or flowing blood or whatever.") -> currently this is disabled by default because it eats CPU like hell, activate it by setting gfx detail to "full" in the options


- units are more expensive now in harder difficulty


- several minor bugfixes and performance improvements

 

[gadgetoid]

Love the speech, it's both hilarious and invokes memories of the constant spout of speech that emanated from a game of Command & Conquer.


If I get the time, I'd like to contribute some levels, and knock-up some tools to help work with/preview them.


P.S: My thumb hurts!