As in gigantic, huge, massive….
I’ve spent a great deal of time over the last week improving performance, tweaking path finding, nit picking memory usage… All to support super scale missions. The Creeper World games have always insisted on showing you ‘everything’ and keeping things like path finding both extremely accurate and responsive. These things can put limits on scale. But thanks to the new Creep3 engine I’ve put so much work into over the past year… a walloping mission can be achieved.
Here’s a screen shot from a super scale mission that was used for performance testing and tweaking. Note that you can right click the image and “Save Image” to download it and look at it locally. It is a 2400×2400 image.
Its a mountian of a map there ^^
Such a big map……
I’ll have to hope it runs smoothly on my laptops. I don’t have a huge desktop monitor to work with here.
When playing, you can zoom in and out of the map and pan it around. So you can play a mission this large in a resolution as small as 800×600.
all that i what to know is will there be a creeper world 3 evermore!? oh and i like being the first comment
You wish you were the first one to comment here…
1ºst O.o
now seriously, will it lag in lazy computers(just like mine)?
Bigger maps require faster machines…. But I’ve taken great measures to ensure that large maps can still be played on moderately capable hardware.
Holy.
Holy.
To finish that map you will need some time!
And/Or some super-duper destructive might…
also, are those pink things reactors?
You might be looking at the power zones…
no, the things all over the central island, and to the west, some on power zones. or i may be daltonic
Most of us think of them as purple, I think? The reactors are the round units with more circular nodules around their perimeter, that are purple on the outside, with a spot of pink further in, and a yellow dot in the middle.
yeah, i think it’s purple
when zoomed out, it looks more pink to me, but when zoomed in, more purple…
Nice one. Will the supply still be limited on these maps to 60 units?
There are no hard limits in the game on packet production or unit counts.
Was there any in the first 2 games?, ’cause it did not seem so.
Odin City in game 1 was limited to 20 packet/s, and could be increased to 32 packet/s with storage.
The Liberation ship in Creeper World 2 had a limit of 60 packets/s, though the presence of Crystal energy allowed you to produce as many as you wanted.
I can’t tell for sure, but I think we are mixing up produced packets with stored energy. I meant are there limits as to how many packts can be made regardless of how much energy is stored if any is stored.
No, those were the limits on the number of hard packets that could be dispatched, regardless of how much energy was stored. To the best of my knowledge, Nem’s post is accurate.
This looks like one of those situations where multiple spaceships will be useful.
Speaking of which, can you move them around after they’ve been placed initially?
Yep. The Command Nodes can be moved. They can even be recalled to orbit. You can also wait and deploy a second or third CN later in the mission.
Well, that’s nifty. I’m glad that was included, because I definitely wouldn’t be able to manage three of the Command Nodes at a time, heh.
What happens if one is destroyed? Is it possible to pay resources to construct another, or do you just have to deal with it?
hmm…. would you let your CN be destroyed (and have to pay hefty resources) to rebuild it if you can call it back to orbit at any time?
depends on the situation. It could happen, by accident.
Managing them isn’t an issue from what’s been demonstrated here. Unless you need to relocate it to supply far-off places, there’s really no reason to have to manage them.
I meant I would have problems managing them if you couldn’t move them. That is, I wouldn’t be able to manage three separate bases.
The Creeper World games allow you to freely pause and issue commands before resuming real time….
Wooooooooah!!!! Huge maps in sight!!!:)
that is a super awsome pic its the maddest mission ever.
ideas:
1. can there be a creeper building that stops you killing other stuff apart from itself
2. you can use buildings from other planets like reactors.
I’ve not decided what might carry over from world to world yet… that’s something I am still mulling over.
Wow! Is that the largest that a map can go? Or if I used the editor could I make one that’s even larger myself? And will maps this huge be included in the campaign? I certainly hope so. I always wanted bigger maps in the first one
Personally, I hope campaign maps don’t get that big. There’s a log of boring slogging and grinding in maps that are way too big.
There won’t be any maps this size in the campaign. At least not any of the story missions. Things like this are best left as maps for testing and for specialty appeal custom maps.
bigger is better!!!) put them in the game also, maybe for some boss levels that can be avoided!!!
I thing the struggle for survival is the most interesting part of the game – on a big map, 80% of the fight is after you’ve achieved parity, and can only lose by doing something careless.
thank you about that, because my computer surely won’t run it fast, and i wouldn’t have patience to win
Can you use the terraformers to build islands out? Or can you only build land up?
thats the thought i just had freaky
V posted that you will not be able to terraform void terrain into land.
As far as I know, you can’t terraform the void.
i even made the first 20 comments yay 😀
will there be a free editer in the free version?
No, only the full desktop game will be able to load custom maps. There will of course be a demo version of the game so people can eval it for a number of missions before purchase, though.
Before eval?
Ha ha ha, good God man, take my money NOW!
I can’t wait for this game. I hope you release early and then later add things like ‘Conquest’ and ‘Special Ops’ modes and such.
Yea, the picture of Fry is needed here. 😉
Are command nodes movable? (like Odin City and the liberation ship)
Yep…
wow I. what. ah never mind
how long did that take, and what was with the strafers at the bottom!
last question, why does it say creeper on the map?
MadMag made the map… and he just put “Creeper” on the map made from terrain.
This is a save game from Blaze, so you can ask him on the forums how long it took.
As for the strafers, I launched them as part of a performance test.
Lol they look like a giant Odin City when zoomed out.
You have no idea how happy I am having a screenshot from one of my saves being used for the blog. 😀
your saves? does this mean you have the game
if you do, im jealous, for the first time
See Virgil’s post above.
DUDE set of the beta pleaaaaase i’m dying over here i want it seriously how long does it take to get to the beta :O
As long as it needs to be ready for it….
Things are moving along… but this is a massive increase in internal complexity compared to previous titles. That, and I’m committed to making the game as awesome as possible. Those two things together spell “patience, Grasshopper”.
That sure would be a nifty upgrade for a PZ terp!
I would not be able to play all of this and win O.o
And I mean that skill wise, my computer is actually really fast 😀 Can a bertha target in a no fly zone?
Will there be some mode for the bertha to make it reload faster? In CW2, the dark beam and nullifier had a constant flow many packets, could this be possible in game 3?
Last note: On the bottom right, it was very hard to tell what the height of the creeper was. It was the same color, there were just a few lines seperating this. Just pointing it out so it could get changed maybe 🙂
Berthas don’t fly, so they should target within an air exclusion zone fine, just like pulse cannons and mortars.
The creeper height is easier to distinguish with the UI up, which you can use to get exact readings, just like CW1/2.
Whoa. Whoa. Just… WHOOOOOOOAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!
That has Got to be the most starcraft-like map EVER!
It’s HUGE. And the amount of time I estimate it would take asize of the side (or aside of the size) is what can make it like playing the Starcraft series.
With 6 ore mines and 6 more deposites to take advantage of, 2 that are unaffected by creeper, a fleet of 70 strafers, an armada of 86 bombers to 86 the creeper with, 156 reactors, 15 of which are on PZ’s, 193 storage pods plus 1 being built, 27 beams, 21 PZ’s including the 15 with reactors in them, and collectors and relays too spread out to count, it’s no wonder that this game is going to resemble the other complex, popular strategy games like Starcraft.
Not to mention 33 emitters, 1 AET, and 3 spore towers left.
If any of my numbers are off, I am certain it is because the strafers are covering a good deal of ground on the South peninsula.
I almost forgot to mention the 12 mortars, 27 pulse cannons, 11 shields, 5 of which are deactivated, 18 teraformers, 2 packet guppies, 2 energy guppies, and 1 ore guppy.
Oh yeah, and 2 berthas.
One more thing, where did you start that mission anyway? (Where were the CN(‘s) first dropped at?)
how long did it take to count!
From the position of the power zones, somewhere in the northwest is the most likely.
For someone who math comes to SO naturally like me, it only took roughly 5 to 10 minutes to put it all into account.
I would probably count the stuff in the second pic, but since it is complete, I felt like it was redundant to do so.
Wow.
I’m playing that and had no idea I had so many! xD
This seems to happen a lot… especially to me.
Good way to put some bonuses on the gameplay.
Defeat this huuuuge map and win and weapon upgrade! Or an elite unit!
It’s also worth pointing out that all maps are not (or do not have to be) this big. Maps can be as small as 800×600 pixels and still completely playable and a lot of fun – old-school CW1 style, with amazing graphics and units.
THIS IS NOW MY DESKTOP BACKGROUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gosh. Only two Berthas? Let the pros play next time, son! I kid of course. About what percentage of energy is coming from PZed Reactors? Considering all the empty space around the Relays, I’m assuming that you are quite comfortable with powering several dozen Strafers. The hundred storage units don’t hurt either. About how long does a mission like this take to complete? At least an hour if you play aggressively is my guess.
A mission like this could take many hours… depending on weaponry and play style. But, game 3 will support much shorter and casual missions than this. Big giant missions like this are also supported, but may be a niche item for the truly insane players.
But the first half is more fun solely because of ridiculousness. After that it would get really tedious unless you space out your playtime. My biggest concern would be getting halfway through and getting a BSoD. Does the game only save when you hit ‘exit mission’, or are there backups created every so often?
seconded, and beginning to mentally design huge missions.
Yup, only two Bertha Cannons.
That bottom center island is going to be filled with them once I can clear it. 😀
This must have been hard to hold off!
Virgil- are the PZ strafers going to go back to 3 shots or stay at 2
anon- The PZ reactors make 10X energy. How much energy they make anyways is beyond me
If both the zoom maximum and map size minumum are the same, does that mean we cant zoom/scroll at all? I like being able to move the screen!
You can always zoom in and out regardless of your screen size.
Oh yeah, and does each command nde share energy, or make its own. If it makes it own, this would be alittle to easy…
Both.
Each CN contains a reactor.
However, if you connect them, the energy across the entire network is pooled and shared, and packets will be dispatched from the nearest CN on the network.
Oh god, all my want. This game is going to be amazing.
This game is one the finest works of interactive art i have ever seen, i am completely in love with this game. (links to childhood papergames i used to draw up with grids)
I’ve noticed that the map can be covered with a lot of creeper, and when I say a lot, I mean A LOT of creeper. What about a unit that shows that land formations beneath the creeper, so you have an idea of where higher ground is and how much room you have.
You can toggle the creeper on and off to get a view of the terrain for a tactical assessment.
Oh. Well, never mind then.
First thought, “toggle creeper on and off? You mean we can win with the options menu?!
Don’t you wish…
Did you not see the words right after “off” that clearly explain what it does? “Tactical assesment” is not equivalent to “victory” in this case.
I think I just found a reason to not have the beacons any more!
virgil has stated that there may not be humans, so we may play as a new species (x)
x has a negative reaction to the field projected by the beacons, so it is not used
or x just hasnt developed them yet
This game is going to be where Abraxis and Platius went after the last game ended, so it will be a new species with one human
There are a million explanations, but honestly I think that it’s months before the team will be talking story, let alone inventing snippets to explain the current state of things.
After all, this is only the alpha version of CW3 we’re seeing. It gets better later on for sure…
no, they all went back in time and re-evoled into something compleatly different, and that’s why there are no humans
by the way, i don’t actually know this, but this is what i think
Two questions:
1.
Is this still Flash, or are you now developing in C++ or C#?
2.
This game could divide the unit calculations over multiple cores. Does CW3 make use of multiple cores?
he now uses unity, and unity does support multi-core processing
Thanks for the info TD.
That is fantastic news!
This is looking more awesome everytime I see it, can’t wait to get this and get playing.
Have you thought for the future about PVP or (one player being creeper) or multi player co-op – a map this big could be awesome on a co-op mode.
I know I will be happy with just single player though.
Game 3 focuses on single player story and a single player universe to explore. That said, you can share progress and other items online (or that’s the plan).
I really hope you keep the focus on single player. I’m often on the road without Internet and HATE that a lot of the games nowadays cannot be played in single player mode / offline.
Why there are 4 overlapping PZ in the center of the image?
Emitters were placed close together.
That makes it sound difficult to make use of them.
do zone bonuses stack? because if so, BERTHA TIME!
What an interesting thought: a single bertha benefitting from multiple power zones next to each other at the same time.
Exactly.
is there any chance this game can be green lit and released on steam so more people can buy it and it helps get the word out
Virgil will look into it closer to the game’s release.
what does it mean “green lit”??
Green light is a thing steam does to add new indy games. if V submits CW3 and the community votes for it, allot more people will see and buy CW3 (because then it will be seen by all steam members)
Yes, most likely. I’ve been evaluating greenlight’s progress and watching to see how things shake out. There is no rush for game 3 since I won’t put it on greenlight till I have a marketing campaign in full swing. But unless greenlight goes away or gets really crazy, I do plan to put the game there when the time is right.
Amazing… try to get a map or two out to the public to play, but with limited weapons so you don’t spoil anything big!
like!!!
That’s what demos, training academies, simulators, and possibly final flight runs are for…
Okay, A. How did I miss Sunday?
B. Am I reading that right that you had some preplaced PZs near the center? (look at the reactors)
C. I see what you did there with terrain!
D. Sorry if something I’m saying’s been said before.
E. I like the new relay look!
F. Above your strafer pile, why am I seeing about 4 power zones right on top of eachother?
G. Can we ask what happens to something on more then one power zone? ( from more then one emitter in one space)
H. How much energy are you making?
I. How many strafers and bombers do you have?
J. I’m sorry for maybe long post.
b. in my opinion, he started on the rigth side of the map, where there aren’t PZ (pre placed pz is a good idea!)
f. there were 4 enemy’s structures overlapping
All the CN’s are near power zones, so I don’t know how to take that.
CN’s are mobile, so he could have moved to the island, once the creeper was out, and used all the free space to mass-build, whatever he wants, and make use of the power zones.
Now that you’re letting granoid and blaze take screenshots for you, why not let them do a few videos too?
I dont have anything against another voice in the videos if you don’t have time to do them yourself 😀
This. Please. Videos are so much more fun to watch…and so much more aggravating too because the game already looks awesome. A board or two like this for the last round would be nice BTW. Something that is actually difficult to pass without being a race to initial setup.
Well, maybe even a video with all 3 commenting on 3 pre-shot games(each 1 playing the same map, but not knowing what strategies will the others use, and will they succeed), that way we will find out what they are thinking of each other’s gameplay, and for us to see different strategies for similar situations.
Oh wow, I really like this idea!
can anyone tell me where the best plase to land first would be
Depends on the map.
Consider this: Is there a place where there are no enemy structures and power zones on the map? I already know the answer, but this is what I would ask you so you could think about it more clearly.
This was already settled in a past comment as well.
on the north-east side of the map there is an elevation, with no near pz… that should be a perfect landing zone
somewere without alot of creeper perhaps?
sorry for again not being up to date but what happens when the creeper reaches the edge? will it fall off or will it be like an invisible wall
In previews videos, we could see that it does not fall off the edges, and from what V said, you would need an emitter a lot stronger than 20 to bridge a void. Also in that video, the emitter was 11-14 height on that tiny island.(http://knucklecracker.com/blog/index.php/2012/07/bits-and-pieces/)
Okay thanks I realy should free some time to not watch bits and pieces of the vids
can knuckle cracker Please,please,pleas relese just 1 little level for us to have fun so we dont die waiting?
He won’t release just one, or two, but about twenty new maps for us! Of course, we have to wait for them to be made first, but we’ll get them soon. Also he has to make money so they’ll cost you about ten US dollars.
That would require releasing the entire game engine. The game engine is still being tweaked, balance is still being tweaked, etc.
Go play creeper world evermore in the meantime. 😉
Patience, young one.
It is a virtue, “young one”. Heh heh heh. 🙂
Until then, not only should you play Evermore, but if you own any of the games, you should download some custom maps.
Patience! Let the man work his magic in peace!
Are you CWBF, or are you a different guy with a similar avatar?
crazyone- yes, but if enough creeper is piled against the wall, it will leak into the void.
ninja man- Everyone wants this, but I think it would set back ALOT of time to release the game.(Unfortuantly)
Will some units still grow when placed on a PZ?
what about a co-op mode? when you finish the game you can play co-op missions which was made by other players.
Now that you mention it, a lot of strategy war games have co-op/multi-player levels like the games made by Blizzard and C&C.
It would probably be easier to do in this game too because it already supports multiple command nodes and separate networks.
I have a question.
In this pic, there are guppies flying a fairly long distance to get to the little island to the south-west.
Which travels faster, a guppy or a packet?
Would it be more efficient for the energy/ore guppies to just land on the other side of the gap as opposed to all the way to the CN?
Also, I understand the the packet carrying guppies were built in the north, so they have to travel to where the network can’t reach. I’m not asking about them, just the ore/energy guppies.
Looking good! really starting to get excited now. i remember when cw1 hit the market and now its already to the third. i personally prefer the top down method of sight. looks like an awesome encore Virgil 🙂