So this is basically a simple RTS where you play as both sides.
I took a loose interpretation of the "Enemies As Weapons" theme: you are a shadowy third party using two enemies against each other to achieve some secret, grander goal.
Incidentally, this is the first indie game I've ever designed that contains blood. So that's a thing. :P
Oh good. I posted this and then my web host promptly went offline. Trying to get it resolved now... if the download links don't work for you, try it again in a bit.
It's very fun to play. Good job! The main flaw is that it seems that there is not always a good reason to keep placing buildings, it will only make it harder on yourselves.
@Jhelle Yeah, of the things that didn't make the deadline, that's probably the one I'm most bothered by. I was thinking of triggering an airstrike to destroy some random stuff if you hold out too long, thus forcing you to work to rebalance the system again.
Very cool! The first game I played went smoothly (though I did have to pay attention to keep the balance), but the next three times I tried it was so unbalanced that I had no chance. Lots of fun when in the groove!
One of the better entries!! Very, very slick presentation, superb concept and interpretation of theme, and fun to boot.
Trying to think of ways to take this further... maybe a 3-way multiplayer game, each player with a different, secret goal, all trying to influence the outcome of battling AI armies.....
D
DeadSpider24 Aug 2010, 12:05
I had a blast playing and my two sons did as well. I think the "Air Strike" feature that is mentioned above would enhance it even further. And or a randomly spawned "Boss" style character to add some extra chaos into the mix.
A few of you have mentioned the desire for more levels. What do you mean by that?
- Different battlefield layouts with chokepoints, cover, etc. so that each level is more of a unique map? - Different victory/failure conditions, so that each level is more of a puzzle? - Different sets of available buildings and units? - Other things I'm failing to realize?
Very cool game, clever use of the theme, and also fun to play! Wish the graphics were a bit better though... very impressive for such a short contest, and cool gameplay.
J
John Axon25 Aug 2010, 13:43
Different battlefield layouts: -chokepoints, cover like mountains or bodies of water where only certain enemies can pass.
Different victory conditions: -vary the length of the matches. -make one team’s units always weaker than the other -make certain units really strong for a whole match (i.e. Super Soldiers)
Different buildings and units: -you don’t need anything; your game is balanced. If you introduce new gameplay mechanics, then you could consider new buildings and units like: air units, anti-air-pillbox units, naval units, shield generators etc.
Other things you've failed to realize (but probably haven't =P) -controlling 3 teams or more -survival mode. See how long you can keep the plates of war spinning -once or twice a round, give players their own unit to control for 20 seconds to directly influence the war for their nefarious plans.
Brilliant game! Thank you.
J
John Axon25 Aug 2010, 13:44
The following was supposed to precede that comment:
"This is a fantastic game. I worried that the nuclear explosion wasn't going to be epic enough. It was! I love those 5 seconds after you've launched the nukes where the game continues. So much tension. Wonderful! "
Super super fun. My first couple of tries it seemed to start off unbalanced toward one side or the other, then on my third try I got them to keep the fighting up for long enough to get to the nukes. Love the concept, love the execution, great stuff.
I absolutely adored your take on the theme, and, whilst I'd expect replayability to be veeeeery low I did have a blast. The blast was well done too :)
The only real negative for me was that it felt like my impact on the world was less than it ought to be, and, specifically like you were pulling sides to make one side (in my case the blue) faaaar more effective than in other. As such my agency felt unjustly limited.
Great stuff man. Loved the Cannon Fodder feel to the soldiers. Its a great momentum game, very reminiscent of a balance game. You keep piling the stuff on and sweat it out as the see saw crash lands on your dreams of world domination. In counter to the "not having to place your buildings" problem I say let the omputer build, randomly and slower than you, so i you stand still it will teeter in one sides favour
J
John Axon27 Aug 2010, 10:01
Here's another idea:
2 Player Mode: -still two teams -one player is still trying to cause mutual destruction -the other player is trying to tip the balance of war so that one side wins before nuclear annihilation
One minor thing, when you win the message at the top has a typo: 'Mututal Destruction: Achieved'. Apart from that, this game is awesome.
It was probably too easy (maybe you could have difficulty levels with different time limits). It might also be better if you had more control over things, like maybe you could sometimes choose which building to build or choose between different building types which would alter the probabilities of getting say landmines and turrets vs. barracks and factories.
A really nice twist on the RTS genre. Good fun depite the high difficulty level. It was pretty tricky to keep both sides in balance and very hard to restore the balance once lost, but I liked it that way.
Really really good idea for a game, but very much unbalanced. If one side has tanks, and the other doesn't, it steamrolls the other side until I happen to get a tank building (or a landmine to hold them off).
This has some great potential though, would love to see this further developed.
@Entar The "unbalanced-ness" is actually intentional: I'm challenging you to hold together a system that's trying to spin wildly out of control. The more balanced things get, the less you have to do to keep both sides alive and fighting.
Unless you had a different meaning than I'm interpreting from your comment?
The outcome seems entirely determined by who has the most factories. Tanks are good against everything, and the only thing that stops tanks is other tanks. Which would be great, but my ability to build factories is determined entirely by luck. Still, this is a really cool game, so your victory was well-deserved.
Argh. :(