The SuperBugs
This game is from the old Ludum Dare platform. You can try viewing the original page on Web Archive
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WASD or arrow keys, your pick. Mouse aim; left click to fire.
W, UP, SPACE: Jump.
Q, E, ENTER: Shift weapons.
The game theme revolves around evolution, but in addition to that, enemies in the game are controlled by a massive genetic algorithm. All movement is selected at random and bred out as you succeed in killing them.
That said, this game is, ideally, self-balancing. If you go out of your way to kill enemies, you ensure that they become stronger and stronger. If you run from them, you'll probably take a licking, but they won't get any less schizophrenic.
Tools used:
=================
ENIGMA Development Environment: Windowing/Graphics/Controls/Compiler
LateralGM: Visual resource organizer
SFXR: Simple sound effects
GIMP: All graphics
Algorithm:
=========================
Enemies are equipped with a 24-protein DNA. Like ours, the DNA comprises a four-letter alphabet. Unlike ours, each letter represents an entire action, and I don't represent numerals in the same alphabet. At the beginning of the game, the behavior is generated randomly. That's why you see bugs jumping around acting all crazy-like, without really attacking. As enemies spawn, their genes are inherited from the original bug at that position, and from a second parent selected deliberately by virtue of "merit."
Merit is calculated by adding two factors. First, the time alive, in frames, wherein the enemy was within shooting range of you, and you had a clear shot of their exposed starting position. So if you are near a bug for 2 seconds, and fail to kill it (or just do not), the bug receives 60 points of merit.
The other factor is the damage inflicted. For each point of damage dealt, the bug who dealt it receives 200 points of merit.
Now, as for the genome. I preserved the letters "A" "T" "G" and "C" out of irony.
A: Attack. Drop out of hiding and let 'em have it. If the ant/termite/whatever is underground, it will flail up and blast at you from mid-air. If the eye-bug-thing is hidden, it will appear and fire unceremoniously.
T: Take Cover. The ant/termite/whatever will burrow under ground, the eye-bug-thing will vanish. If a "T" is encountered and the bug is already hiding, it will simply come out of hiding without attack (a genetic weakness).
C: Charge. You'll see a small burst of yellow sparkles as the enemy's attack power increases. Only one shot will have this added attack power.
G: Go move somewhere. Ostensibly the next four letters of the DNA will say where to move; in actuality, it's just an integer, because I'm lazy. Essentially, this is coupled with a signed byte. The ant/termite/whatever moves to a position that is right of his starting position by that value (so a negative number moves him left of it). The eye-bug-thing interprets the byte as a set of polar coordinates; a positive value denotes the distance from his starting point, and a negative value denotes the direction from it.
Story:
=================================================
Year 2512: Mutant bugs have overrun much of the earth.
Over the course of several hundred years, common insects have evolved to harness energy within them and expel it toward unsuspecting prey.
In an effort to combat them, human scientists constructed artificial versions of their weaponry with an internal power source.
Despite the hightened potency of the human weapons, the insects were able to breed at a much higher rate than they could be erradicated. Eventually, the lab was overrun from the inside, and later from the outside.
The bugs tore throgh nearly everything within the laboratory.
While the research team is presumed dead, others hope that their findings can still be recovered. It is possible that given more time and with a better delivery mechanism, a gene therapy can be produced to reverse the effects of their evolution.
Your mission is to recover any weapons and research that can be used against the bugs.
=================================================
You begin the game with nothing but the clothes on your back. There are three weapons to collect before you can beat the game.
W, UP, SPACE: Jump.
Q, E, ENTER: Shift weapons.
The game theme revolves around evolution, but in addition to that, enemies in the game are controlled by a massive genetic algorithm. All movement is selected at random and bred out as you succeed in killing them.
That said, this game is, ideally, self-balancing. If you go out of your way to kill enemies, you ensure that they become stronger and stronger. If you run from them, you'll probably take a licking, but they won't get any less schizophrenic.
Tools used:
=================
ENIGMA Development Environment: Windowing/Graphics/Controls/Compiler
LateralGM: Visual resource organizer
SFXR: Simple sound effects
GIMP: All graphics
Algorithm:
=========================
Enemies are equipped with a 24-protein DNA. Like ours, the DNA comprises a four-letter alphabet. Unlike ours, each letter represents an entire action, and I don't represent numerals in the same alphabet. At the beginning of the game, the behavior is generated randomly. That's why you see bugs jumping around acting all crazy-like, without really attacking. As enemies spawn, their genes are inherited from the original bug at that position, and from a second parent selected deliberately by virtue of "merit."
Merit is calculated by adding two factors. First, the time alive, in frames, wherein the enemy was within shooting range of you, and you had a clear shot of their exposed starting position. So if you are near a bug for 2 seconds, and fail to kill it (or just do not), the bug receives 60 points of merit.
The other factor is the damage inflicted. For each point of damage dealt, the bug who dealt it receives 200 points of merit.
Now, as for the genome. I preserved the letters "A" "T" "G" and "C" out of irony.
A: Attack. Drop out of hiding and let 'em have it. If the ant/termite/whatever is underground, it will flail up and blast at you from mid-air. If the eye-bug-thing is hidden, it will appear and fire unceremoniously.
T: Take Cover. The ant/termite/whatever will burrow under ground, the eye-bug-thing will vanish. If a "T" is encountered and the bug is already hiding, it will simply come out of hiding without attack (a genetic weakness).
C: Charge. You'll see a small burst of yellow sparkles as the enemy's attack power increases. Only one shot will have this added attack power.
G: Go move somewhere. Ostensibly the next four letters of the DNA will say where to move; in actuality, it's just an integer, because I'm lazy. Essentially, this is coupled with a signed byte. The ant/termite/whatever moves to a position that is right of his starting position by that value (so a negative number moves him left of it). The eye-bug-thing interprets the byte as a set of polar coordinates; a positive value denotes the distance from his starting point, and a negative value denotes the direction from it.
Story:
=================================================
Year 2512: Mutant bugs have overrun much of the earth.
Over the course of several hundred years, common insects have evolved to harness energy within them and expel it toward unsuspecting prey.
In an effort to combat them, human scientists constructed artificial versions of their weaponry with an internal power source.
Despite the hightened potency of the human weapons, the insects were able to breed at a much higher rate than they could be erradicated. Eventually, the lab was overrun from the inside, and later from the outside.
The bugs tore throgh nearly everything within the laboratory.
While the research team is presumed dead, others hope that their findings can still be recovered. It is possible that given more time and with a better delivery mechanism, a gene therapy can be produced to reverse the effects of their evolution.
Your mission is to recover any weapons and research that can be used against the bugs.
=================================================
You begin the game with nothing but the clothes on your back. There are three weapons to collect before you can beat the game.