MiniLD #44compo
System Command
'System Command'(c) by Callum 'Terrorcell' Nichols, 2013.
'C&C Red Alert (INET)'(c) font by N3tRunn3r, 2007.
This game was made for the 7dRTS competition held by Ludum Dare
as a part of the MiniLD series (#44).
It was made using Slick2D and LWJGL. Links to both can be found at the end.
It is a kind of (simpler) clone of the online game 'Neptune's Pride'.
The source has not been supplied because it is absolutely filthy. Very rushed. I might provide it if there is enough interest.
Please make sure that you have the latest version of Java.
====== HOW TO PLAY ===========================================
The game centres around collecting star systems to increase your overall
technology count, and the main goal is to defeat every opponent in the map.
Left click to select things, and right click to move fleets.
You can also right click on stars on the minimap to move fleets (as long as you have them selected).
Hover your mouse over a system to see its quick stats (left number is population,
right number is technology).
The more population a star has, the faster its technology grows. And the more technology
that you have overall, the faster you will gain technology points.
You can spend technology points by clicking on the Technology button in the top left
corner of the screen.
To place a new fleet onto a system, select the system (its details will appear at the
bottom of the screen), and then click on the 'Place fleet on ...' button.
To increase the population of a system (colonize, very much worth it), make sure you have
a fleet stationed on the system that you wish to colonize. Select the system, and click on
the 'Colonize ...' button in the technology window. Please note that this will consume a
single ship from the fleet.
You can move around the map by using the arrow keys on your keyboard, by clicking and
dragging on the minimap, or by clicking and dragging the main screen.
====== NOTES v1.2 ==============================================
* Added zooming
* Press TAB to view players
* Press H to return to your home star
====== NOTES v1.1 ==============================================
* Right click and drag to drag around the map.
* Left clicking on the minimap no longer deselects your selected fleet .
* The AI now focuses on building up its fleets when it's low, and also tries to build up fleet sizes before attacking.
* Technology point speed has been tweaked a bit, should now be faster and a bit more constant .
* Fixed the minimap bug.
====== NOTES v1.0 ==============================================
There are a few bugs still left in the game:
* Opening the technology window may stop the minimap from working
- quick fix: select any of your fleets, deselect them, and the minimap should then work.
* Fleets may sometimes disappear when passing through a system
- quick fix: avoid that system, it's a horrible bug (if it doesn't appear, hooray!)
* Some strands of systems may not be connected to the rest of the map
- quick fix: start a new game and/or change the seed
* Total technology may not show the actual total technology that you own
* A bunch of others that aren't really game breaking
* Also note that the Load button on the main menu doesn't do anything. This was a planned feature
that I did not have time to complete.
* Finally, if the game seems to freeze on the loading screen when entering a new game, that's just the random name generator being slow. I consider it a bug.
If you find any more, or the game crashes, please let me know at either [email protected]
or on my blog (linked below).
====== LINKS===================================================
Slick2D - http://slick.ninjacave.com/
LWJGL - http://lwjgl.org/
My Personal Gamedev Blog - thefinalalert.wordpress.com
Java - https://www.java.com/
'C&C Red Alert (INET)'(c) font by N3tRunn3r, 2007.
This game was made for the 7dRTS competition held by Ludum Dare
as a part of the MiniLD series (#44).
It was made using Slick2D and LWJGL. Links to both can be found at the end.
It is a kind of (simpler) clone of the online game 'Neptune's Pride'.
The source has not been supplied because it is absolutely filthy. Very rushed. I might provide it if there is enough interest.
Please make sure that you have the latest version of Java.
====== HOW TO PLAY ===========================================
The game centres around collecting star systems to increase your overall
technology count, and the main goal is to defeat every opponent in the map.
Left click to select things, and right click to move fleets.
You can also right click on stars on the minimap to move fleets (as long as you have them selected).
Hover your mouse over a system to see its quick stats (left number is population,
right number is technology).
The more population a star has, the faster its technology grows. And the more technology
that you have overall, the faster you will gain technology points.
You can spend technology points by clicking on the Technology button in the top left
corner of the screen.
To place a new fleet onto a system, select the system (its details will appear at the
bottom of the screen), and then click on the 'Place fleet on ...' button.
To increase the population of a system (colonize, very much worth it), make sure you have
a fleet stationed on the system that you wish to colonize. Select the system, and click on
the 'Colonize ...' button in the technology window. Please note that this will consume a
single ship from the fleet.
You can move around the map by using the arrow keys on your keyboard, by clicking and
dragging on the minimap, or by clicking and dragging the main screen.
====== NOTES v1.2 ==============================================
* Added zooming
* Press TAB to view players
* Press H to return to your home star
====== NOTES v1.1 ==============================================
* Right click and drag to drag around the map.
* Left clicking on the minimap no longer deselects your selected fleet .
* The AI now focuses on building up its fleets when it's low, and also tries to build up fleet sizes before attacking.
* Technology point speed has been tweaked a bit, should now be faster and a bit more constant .
* Fixed the minimap bug.
====== NOTES v1.0 ==============================================
There are a few bugs still left in the game:
* Opening the technology window may stop the minimap from working
- quick fix: select any of your fleets, deselect them, and the minimap should then work.
* Fleets may sometimes disappear when passing through a system
- quick fix: avoid that system, it's a horrible bug (if it doesn't appear, hooray!)
* Some strands of systems may not be connected to the rest of the map
- quick fix: start a new game and/or change the seed
* Total technology may not show the actual total technology that you own
* A bunch of others that aren't really game breaking
* Also note that the Load button on the main menu doesn't do anything. This was a planned feature
that I did not have time to complete.
* Finally, if the game seems to freeze on the loading screen when entering a new game, that's just the random name generator being slow. I consider it a bug.
If you find any more, or the game crashes, please let me know at either [email protected]
or on my blog (linked below).
====== LINKS===================================================
Slick2D - http://slick.ninjacave.com/
LWJGL - http://lwjgl.org/
My Personal Gamedev Blog - thefinalalert.wordpress.com
Java - https://www.java.com/
Comments27
I haven't rated this yet because of this...
@vincepascoe All was explained in the readme file, and above. As for the game setup, I wanted the player to have a decent level of control over how they wanted to play :)
@DogShitEmpire Yeah the technology rate is a bit hard to balance. On one hand, you can gain it too quickly by starting with 5 systems and 200 total systems, but on the other it can be really slow when starting with 1 system and 50 total.
1)that left-click scrolling issue that made me think there was a game breaking bug; turns out i just lost all my selections when i left clicked. even if i was just scrolling on the map.
2)i don't think the minimap + zoomed in game vew combo works very well for this kind of game. from a gameplay perspective, it would've been much more feasible to adopt supreme commander's strategic zoom mechanic. it was really quite jarring for me to navigate between my systems.
3)i also agree that tech points accumulate waaay too slowly. i bumped up the game speed int he options to 10 and it was still quite slow. i think the issue here is, i have no idea what kind of scale im working with - so picking the number 10 was a complete guess. also, once you're in the game, where you do have a sense of the speed's scale: it appears you're not able to edit the speed? be cool if we could change the game speed in-game.
4) so much clicking and moving! i would've preferred to have just been able to select a system, then set a quota for how many fleets it should have - then get the game to redistribute your fleets in the best way possible. it was a challenge to look around my empire for fleets so i could de-fleet my central systems and fortify my border systems. this was especially hard because of the #2 issue that i raised.
not all bad: i love this kind of risk-based game. highly commend you for making a random map generator that mostly works. (i found some instances where there would be starjump islands - like two systems connected to each other, but nowhere else within the galaxy). i think this concept has real potential, so don't let my 4 criticisms discourage you! great audio; great mood. keep it upp!
I owned three systems and had a set of three fleets on one side and one fleet on the other. My main planet then gets taken by the enemy. So I send my fleets back to retake teh homeland. First, the single fleet makes it back and it retakes the planet but disappears (maybe it was supposed to do that?). Then the three fleets arrive to my recaptured planet and... also disappear. So I'm totally stuck with no technology and no fleets.
Just wanted to report it! I love the concept and the overall game, just the UI needs a little work (and give me back my fleets! ;)
Sound and graphics are really very nice, but the bugs and speed-balancing issues stop it from being a really great game.
* right click and drag to drag around the map
* clicking on the minimap no longer deselects your selected fleet
* the AI now focuses on building up its fleets when it's low, and also builds up fleet sizes before attacking
* technology point speed has been tweaked a bit, should now be faster and a bit more constant
* fixed the minimap bug
There are some issues: 1) Game is too slow and boring in first few minutes. 2) Only windows version worked for me. Couldn't run on other platforms.