Asteroids played on a variety of topological surfaces.
The theme "Beneath the Surface" inspired me to dig deeper into understanding surfaces themselves and the effects that take place when non-orientable surfaces are projected on a 2d plane.
EDIT: Since many players are finding the game too difficult to progress, I changed some constants related to player responsiveness. No new functionality was added, but please rate the original version of the game before you play the "caffeinated version" Thank you!
This seems really interesting but it's SO HARD. I think only having one bullet at a time makes it a bit unfair. I never got past rectangle, but it was a nice challenge.
I agree- even the old asteroids game (I think) let you have a few shots at once. Excellent concept, but frustrating execution imo. I at least got far enough in (the second level) to see what you were doing - I was curious at first since the first level didn't have anything weird about it.
I wish you weren't finding the early levels so challenging, as the unique mechanics aren't until the later parts of the game. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to implement multiple shots, but you can fire as soon as your shot hits something. Using that, a good strategy is to get close to a large enemy and then take them and their spawn out rapid fire.
Please keep trying, guys! I would love some feedback on the Mobius and Klein surfaces.
I got up to Mobius. Despite what people are saying, I don't think it's too hard, you just have to get used to it. The Mobius is an interesting concept, although I almost think it might have worked out better if the ship was a tad more mobile. Again, though, it might just need to have a little getting-used-to on my end. :)
hahah looks like I'm not the only one who thinks it's hard. but I think it's a good hard. I really like that it's a simple yet really smart change to an old classic. i like it :)
Interesting concept. I agree with the difficulty complaints, but rather than making the stages easier I'd prefer if there were a way to toggle between them, lest something be lost in the experience by making things simple.
If anyone is determined to make progress, the dominant strategy for me is to sit still and aim at oncoming asteroids.
Change the defaultGame surface from Rectangle to one of the SurfaceTypes listed above it, click compile, and once it is done you can play on the right side.
Cool concept. I agree with other that it is a little difficult. Often it's easiest to sit in the middle and only rotate (especially with the bullets respawning as soon as you hit something).
Was hard at first but I got used to it pretty quickly. It seemed kind of discouraging to warp around the edges because of the inverted rotation, so I just sticked to the middle meaning there really was nothing new in each stage. It's an interesting idea though. Got to chaospehere.
And now for some tangential learning: WTF is a chaosphere?
Having never played Asteroids, this is new to me, and the different forms of screen wrapping ate interesting, but I don't think they add anything much to the gameplay.
wow! The most innovative game I've played so far in rating like 80 games! My one criticism is it's too much work to get to the interesting parts of your game. I bet a lot of people will play and rate after only seeing "rectangle". I beat every surface though, I had to see what was next! I have no idea what a chaos sphere is. Maybe a picture of what the surface is or some kind of in world indication would help (if you polish post compo). Again though, really innovative great job!
This was GREAT. I played the decaf version and managed to get through to the end. I actually don't think it changed the core gameplay very much, unless one normally plays asteroids with an unusually cerebral approach. I just waited in the middle and shot
a. Oncoming traffic, if it existed b. Traffic on the verge of grazing me, if it existed c. The largest thing on-screen
This algorithm pretty much did the job, as I wasn't worrying very much about the edges of the screen, or about what was coming out where. It was fine with one bullet and being slow, since I have more ability to aim than I do twitch reflexes.
I found moving around much too difficult as there was no way to stop, and then suddenly everything on the surface would be moving about and it was a more difficult physics problem than I really wanted to solve or think about.
You might want to consider having the shapes, rather than disappearing shortly when they reach the edge, displayed partially as they move over the edge (so that the whole shape never goes out of view, but is seen in two places at once); this would be more interesting if some shapes were not regular, because then we would have a better sense of when they are "flipped over" on the mobius strip.
That was really fun! I'm glad I came back to play it. I managed to get to Möbius on the normal version, and played all the way through the caffeinated version. That's some really cool game mechanics.
I love the concept, and I'm glad you made adjustments based on people's feedback! The concept shines in the later levels, so it's great to avoid players getting too frustrated at the start. Even still, it got a little confusing on levels like the Moebius, where you cross the screen boundaries and suddenly left and right are swapped. I see what you were trying to do with the red and blue circles on your ship, but that's nowhere near strong enough to overcome your innate muscle memory. But as a math nerd, I loved the idea and it was strong enough to keep me playing through the whole thing.
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Please keep trying, guys! I would love some feedback on the Mobius and Klein surfaces.
I got up to Mobius. Despite what people are saying, I don't think it's too hard, you just have to get used to it. The Mobius is an interesting concept, although I almost think it might have worked out better if the ship was a tad more mobile. Again, though, it might just need to have a little getting-used-to on my end. :)
If anyone is determined to make progress, the dominant strategy for me is to sit still and aim at oncoming asteroids.
However,if you would like to choose your starting surface, the code is hot-swappable here. http://share-elm.com/sprout/535debbce4b0e548f3686d4f
Change the defaultGame surface from Rectangle to one of the SurfaceTypes listed above it, click compile, and once it is done you can play on the right side.
Would love to see more levels...
Having never played Asteroids, this is new to me, and the different forms of screen wrapping ate interesting, but I don't think they add anything much to the gameplay.
a. Oncoming traffic, if it existed
b. Traffic on the verge of grazing me, if it existed
c. The largest thing on-screen
This algorithm pretty much did the job, as I wasn't worrying very much about the edges of the screen, or about what was coming out where. It was fine with one bullet and being slow, since I have more ability to aim than I do twitch reflexes.
I found moving around much too difficult as there was no way to stop, and then suddenly everything on the surface would be moving about and it was a more difficult physics problem than I really wanted to solve or think about.
You might want to consider having the shapes, rather than disappearing shortly when they reach the edge, displayed partially as they move over the edge (so that the whole shape never goes out of view, but is seen in two places at once); this would be more interesting if some shapes were not regular, because then we would have a better sense of when they are "flipped over" on the mobius strip.
Thanks for the game! I enjoyed it quite a bit.