Knuckle Cracker
Blog: Fresh Ideas in Gaming
Creeper World 2: Academy
Dec 21st
Just in time for the holiday break… Knuckle Cracker brings you an early present: Creeper World 2: Academy!
Don’t wait…. all patriots of the Creeper Nation are encouraged to head here and vote 5 stars!
http://www.kongregate.com/games/whiteboardwar/creeper-world-2-academy?referrer=whiteboardwar
This is the first CW2 based flash game and it packs some muscle. Players fight their way through 10 story missions with increasing challenge and difficulty. New players to the franchise will get a whirl wind tour of some of the game types CW2 supports. Experienced players get a little more after story, and can of course school new players in the finer arts of high scoring.
I hope the game is well received… your efforts in supporting and promoting the game are always deeply appreciated.
CW2 is in the Top 100 Indie Games of 2011!
Dec 12th
The Creeper Nation has done it yet again…. Creeper World 2 has made it into the top 100 games on IndieDB.com! The race for placement in the top 100 is now on, so head on over and make your mark yet again.
http://www.indiedb.com/games/creeper-world-2-redemption
You can view the top 100 list here:
http://www.indiedb.com/events/2011-indie-of-the-year-awards/top100
We’re in the “Real Time Strategy” category.
IndieDB Game of the Year 2011
Nov 30th
IndieDB is running their second annual Game of the Year contest… and it’s vote driven!
All you have to do is go here and vote for CW2:
They have a nice live stats page up here.
The contest is only for the next 10 days so lets work together to get CW2 in the top 100!
Creeper World:Evermore now available!
Nov 21st
Play it here!
http://www.kongregate.com/games/whiteboardwar/creeper-world-evermore?referrer=whiteboardwar
As always, your 5 star vote is appreciated.
Features:
- A new mission daily, procedurally generated using some fancy math.
- Lots of stats with online database.
- Survival mode. Last as long as you can!
I’m looking forward to discussing the new Survival mode on the forums….
Creeper World:Evermore
Nov 20th
If all goes as planned, Nov 21, 2011 will be the launch of Creeper World: Evermore. I’ll follow up with a new post once it is live on Kongregate and ArmorGames.
Q: What’s this you say? Another CW1 based flash game?
A: Yep…., you read right.
Q: What’s new you say? Have I not already mastered the Creeper World universe?
A: No, no you have not.
Creeper World: Evermore introduces a healthy collection of stats, along with a daily prodecurally generated mission. In other words, you get a fresh mission each day… something to take the edge off the start of those irritating mornings. No longer content with just a simple score, CW:E will now track lots of activity. There’s even a nice online database so you can compare your extreme building skills:
http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/viewstats-cwe.php
Let’s see…. that’s just abou… Wait, one more thing!
You ever wonder how long you could hold out against ever increasing emitters? Well I did… now I wonder no longer. CW:E introduces ’survival’ mode, and it will destroy your life. Build you base out and cap those emitters… then build a massive armada of defenses and energy production. When you hit the “survival” button, it is ON. See just how long you can last… the emitters will slowly grow and grow. Will blasters do it? Need some Mortars? Hmmmm…. better call in a few dozen Drone sorties, else that Creeper wave will get the best of you.
As always, your generous votes and support will help this little game achieve success. Please visit and vote 5, or 10, or a million stars at whatever site it is hosted on. I’ll be sure to blog and tweet more about it over the coming days, so stay tuned!
Status Update: Nov 3, 2011
Nov 3rd
Wow… the knuckles have been cracking like crazy here in the studio… There’s been a lot of different things going on over the last month, so I’ll try to hit the highlights:
1: Creeper World: User Space Success
Creeper World: User Space finished a strong second place at Kongregate in September! This was a huge achievement and a testament to the endurance and commitment of the Creeper Nation. You see, September wasn’t any regular old month at Kongregate… the prize money was doubled during September. So the best of the best showed up and made runs for the prizes. For a second flash release of the original Creeper World game to finish in second place was absolutely astounding.
2: Custom Map Thumbs
Custom maps for CW2 have continued to pour in. There are a spectrum of ideas and some really neat maps have been created. One of the things I’ve been asked for has been some way to provide a ranking or feedback. So, I implemented a thumbs up and thumbs down system on the custom maps. Be sure to thumbs up your favorite maps!
3: Creeper World 2, the flash game
I often get asked about when there will be a flash release of CW2… something along the lines of CW:Training Sim. Welp, the good news is I have forked the source tree and am working on it. If all goes well, you’ll be blasting some Creeper around the time Santa is making his rounds.
4: ChopRaider
Bet you didn’t expect me to ever talk about that little flying helicopter again did you? I’ve dug up the old source code, and started ramping things up for a desktop release. Bigger screen, more game play options and weapons, custom graphics, and your very own map editor? Maybe, maybe not. We’ll see how it all goes….
5: iOS and Android
So AIR3 is finally out and I gave CW1 a whirl on the original iPad. The results were….. well, not the best. It ran… for a bit anyway. But at 5-10 fps unscaled, it is clear that AIR 3 isn’t the way forward for Creeper World on mobile. But I never give up that easily…. oh no. When something doesn’t work, I find another way. Have I found another way? Yes.
The Final Battle
Sep 30th
People laughed. ”Fools” we were called. In the early, primordial beginnings of Creeper World no one believed it could or should be done. How in 20 years of real time strategy game design and development had a new and fundamental game play mechanic simply been overlooked?
“It was”, I said, then the work began. Others scoffed and forgot, but I quietly worked. Toiling away, an idea was forged that would change strategy gaming now and forever. A nation was formed, the Creeper Nation. Few in the beginning, but ever growing. This nation would mold and craft the idea into prominence.
Now we stand poised on the eve of a final great battle. We stand shoulder to shoulder with other great games. Are we yet fools? Are we yet scoffed at with our silly and impossible ideas? Some say so… yet others stand firm and carry the banner of the Creeper Nation. Join with us…. the time is now.
Visit and vote 5 stars. Today is the final day.
http://www.kongregate.com/games/whiteboardwar/creeper-world-user-space
The 13th Mission
Sep 23rd
You know, I woke up this morning with two things in my head:
- A terrible cold.
- A burning intent to add a 13th mission to CW:US.
Two two things were at odds with each other, but #2 prevailed. I’ve updated Creeper World:User Space on Kongregate with an extra bonus mission that unlocks after the core 12 have been completed.
Why would I do this? I mean, CW:US is already among the highest ranked games ever on Kongregate… why rock the boat? I guess I’m just a boat rocker by nature. I’m willing to go all in and gamble that an extra mission will be well received.
If you agree, please head over and vote 5 stars.
Creeper World 2 Update 0343
Sep 22nd
I’ve been very busy biting my fingernails watching how Creeper World: User Space does at Kongregate. So to take my mind off of it, I thought I’d do a little coding on Creeper World 2 and add a new feature! In the middle of fixing some bugs, I added the ability see through the terrain. Just press “R” to make the terrain invisible.
Why would you do this? I can think of two reasons:
1: It lets you focus on the creeper and not be distracted when you need to think about certain situations.
2: The biggest reason of all; Finding entombed creeper more easily.
As always, get your CW2 updates here:
Creeper World: User Space Released
Sep 20th
Awesome CW1 style missions, free, and available online… what’s not to like? CW:US has just been released and is premiering on Kongregate.com. So before I waste any more words, head over and rate it 5 stars. The Creeper Nation needs your support:
http://www.kongregate.com/games/whiteboardwar/creeper-world-user-space
Creeper World: User Space is a free flash game that contains 13 total missions (1 tutorial, and 12 regular missions). The twelve regular missions are divided into three levels of difficulty. The first level will get your creeper disintegration muscles warmed up. The second level will get your heart pounding, and the third level will leave you with an evil grin on your face.
These missions were all created with the Creeper World Map Editor. I accepted nominations for maps on the forums for a few months and then went through the many fantastic user submitted maps and chose the ones to include. I looked for game play variety, aesthetic appeal, pacing, and difficulty. Once chosen, I made small tweaks here and there so that each mission would fit properly into its difficulty category. The results are now available on Kongregate (and KnuckleCracker.com naturally), and will soon be coming to thousands of other portals near you.
Wondering which of the thousands of missions were chosen? Here’s a quick screen shot:
