One question virgil, how do the weapon upgrades work currently? Do they increase damage so that a triangle would only take a shot for example? Or do they make the shots require fewer resources? Or is it something else entirely?
To be clear you do say they do more damage, but I was wondering exactly how that works, plus you also suggested that it may have other effects as well.
Currently the cannon upgrade makes shots that have more health (so they can destroy tougher particles, or more than one weaker particle). The missile upgrade creates shrapnel after it hits that can in turn destroy/damage nearby particles. These are subject to tweaking and change, though.
I’ll soon have more to say about that… so stay tuned a bit longer and there will be a much clearer way to communicate feedback, ideas, suggestions, etc.
KicksBricksterNovember 23, 2015 at 7:30 pm | Permalink
I have to say, this game is looking better and better. I do wish there was more land-based combat as well, but I am very much looking forward to seeing more videos on it.
KicksBricksterNovember 23, 2015 at 7:32 pm | Permalink
I forgot to mention this, but for the upgrades, a tech-tree system might be more interesting. For instance, needing to unlock the power upgrades before the phasic upgrades are available.
Upgrades come from “Phasic”. In the mission I played the phasic comes from the Phasic Generators. Harvesters still mine land, but the land they mine is used to produce an energy stockpile that can be seen in the info box as the second number under “Energy” (That info box will be getting an overhaul soon).
Thanks for the Reply! (Reading the post below) So some aspects of mire and ore harvesters swapped and so ore harvesters produce energy wile mire is now a defensive aspect! Nice game, my hype meter is over 9000!
belgianfanNovember 23, 2015 at 7:53 pm | Permalink
It took a few months and I lost a bit of hype but it is back and better than ever! I really LOVE the new additions to the game and I’m looking forward to new videos, certainly when you said you’d do it more regularly (no pressure :p )
You keep impressing me time and time again with your work, can’t wait till the next video let alone the release π
How about making the missiles turn more sharply with further upgrades? Their current pattern of looping around desired targets looks both 3rd-person-perspective hilarious and 1st-person-perspective annoying.
Maybe also an upgrade for the velocity of each weapon payload? (Missile, shell, explosive; not so much fire rate as opposed to fire speed so to speak)
So far, it’s looking like an overall smooth transition for veteran KC followers like me who are reminiscient of the good ol’ times. Absolutely lovely.
ChaosOverlordNovember 24, 2015 at 4:56 am | Permalink
Very nice game π
but one thing that i don’t get at the point:
Energy is used to build ships, load up ammo etc
phasic is needet for upgrades?
Mire? i thought in the last vid mire was for upgrades? and now?
but the vids look very nice, good job Virgil π
i’m looking forward ^^
greetings
Mire is the term I used for covered land (can be red or blue). Mired land of the opposite type will destroy land units. So red mired land will kill any player land units that land on it. Mire spreads across land as particles collide with the land. Once an “island” (a connected mass of land) is totally mired, the land no longer absorbs particles but instead allows particles to pass over it. Land at any level can be set as “metallic”. Metallic land won’t mire and will remain a barrier to particles.
Mired land also spawns Emergent (the triangular enemy that moves at right angles). Emergent spawning is like radioactive decay, it happens as a rate but is otherwise random. What you can say is that the more mired land the more Emergent will spawn (the rate of spawning will increase since there is more mired surface area).
That’s the roles land and mire play. Note that not all maps will have emergent, or metallic land, etc. There might even be maps where all land levels are metallic. So these options can come in various combinations.
For upgrades, you need Phasic. Phasic comes from Phasic Mines (or perhaps caches you may find on a map). Once you have Phasic, you can spend it on various upgrades fir the Tech dialog.
Honestly, the game looks more and more like CW3, with spore-runners, land, digitalis-struct, and mire. Not to say that that’s bad, I’m good with it! Oh, and also Aether-totems. Excited to see more missions!
It does share a lot of the same inspiration… but I can tell you it doesn’t play like CW3. The ships, hulls, particle and other enemy dynamics definitely change the tactics and scale. I still find myself wasting a lot of time just watching it, though. Like when a fleet engages a mass of particles or doppels, I can sit there and watch it unfold for 5 minutes. That part it does share with CW3.
At its heart it’s a strategy game just like CW3. I like to mix things up when it comes to enemy dynamics rather than go for beauty and massive scale (as is abundantly apparent with the CW series compared to other strategy titles). I do that because its realistic for a sole indie developer to pull that off, and because it interests me. I like making a game with a strategic element that hasn’t been explored (very much) in the strategy genre.
I also get asked a lot if this is CW4. It isn’t… but it is set in the same story universe. It happens in a different time with different characters, but it all hooks together in the end… or beginning…
TigershawkNovember 28, 2015 at 10:11 am | Permalink
This game series strikes a cord with me, and I’m more interested in this games release than any other. Thank you for dangling yummy cakes in front of us.
Wait, in the beginning, as in a prequel? I was going to ask why in this game the “good guys” have blue particles, but now I am starting to think that the player of this game is the ultimate cause of the rise of the creeper… I’m going to roll with this theory and purposefully lose every mission in an attempt to prevent the start of the creeper.
So, Harvesters, what do they do now? If I’m reading right, they get you extra energy storage, sort of like having one of the energy pods in CW3. Does that mean the Mire no longer provides energy bonus, or is that a situational sort of thing?
Harvesters collect land and turn it into energy. They are a way to get extra energy (so long as you can get the land and as long as the land lasts). And correct, mire does not provide an energy bonus anymore.
Your reason for spreading mire is to create Emergent, or to protect land from enemy mire. And the reason you care about enemy mire is that it can spawn enemy Emergent and when land becomes totally mired it is no longer a barrier to enemy particles.
So mire is mostly about offense and defense, not about energy.
The roles for harvesters, mire, energy, upgrades… have all played musical chairs over the last 6 months. But, that’s a normal kind of thing during development.
I see I see. I’m glad that mire ‘does’ something to the space, not just has stuff done to it, if that makes any sense.
One last thing: in a lot of videos, individual Energy mines seemed to have their production increase over time regardless of Mire/bog. What’s up with that? Is it just something mines can be set to do when being configured and whatnot?
One quick question: It appears that “red blobs” bounce off the edge of the screen but “blue blobs” fall off the edge of the screen. This seams unbalanced. Shouldn’t both sides react the same way? And can you find a better name than “red blobs” and “blue blobs”???? (Just kidding!)
It is a setting per particle. I set the blue emitter to make particles that are destroyed at the edge of the map. I also set them to have a finite lifetime. This prevents blue particles from pooling up somewhere. For the red particles on the map they are all set to bounce off the edge of the map.ο»Ώ
They do, the shapes of particles represent 1, 2, 3 health via circle, triangle, and square. So if a square takes a hit it will turn to a triangle, and a triangle to a circle.
I would like to comment about the clumping that some of the creeper particles do. In this mission there seems to be a large group of them that just hang around on the top island. While this slows down a players attempt to take the island there doesn’t seem to be any real time restriction which would make this an issue. It might be nice (and i don’t know the capabilities and how difficult this might be) for them to fall off in large sections towards the player. That way there would be a mid-game factor that the player may have to deal with sudden increases to the amount of particles headed towards some of the more remote parts of their base. Say in this game you had a chunk of particles with a total ‘health’ of 40-50 which would definitely put a lot of pressure on one or both of the ships which you left.
Just some of my ideas of a game play mechanic which would be interesting to include though by no means needs to be.
Good observation and I do definitely have a plan for this (another option on maps of course). In some missions you will see exactly what you saw in this mission. The particles clump around energy sources and stay there defending them. In other missions, after a while, that energy source might change. It might become and emitter, or it might become a kind of enemy ‘grabber’ that directs particles towards your fleet (periodically). These things wouldn’t always happen in all maps (since they increase the difficulty of play) but are still good options to have in the game.
I just never even try to guess. I’m always wrong and there is no upside to guessing. Best I can say is to look at where the game started on my first video, look at where it is now, compare it to other games and their first releases (either finished or early access) and see where you think PF falls in that spectrum. That’s about the same analysis I make π
3-6 months might not be enough (emphasis on might). Virgil posts a video every month with a significant change, or every 2 months with a major change or multiple minor changes.
It will first be available for windows, OS X, and linux on both steam and for direct sale. What happens beyond that all depends on the community, available resources, etc.
Qwerty QuazoNovember 25, 2015 at 2:34 pm | Permalink
One question:
When a round particle hits the land, one pixel of land is mired.
The same happens with a square and a triangle, only one.
Give me a time in the video when you see this happening. It is supposed to be that a triangle mires two cells of land and a square mires 3. If it isn’t, then I broke that somewhere along the way…
Qwerty QuazoNovember 26, 2015 at 8:35 am | Permalink
What if when a square hits the land, one cell of land is mired and a triangle bounces off?
Why do, in the end-game screen, both you and the enemy have “0 ships destroyed, 0 doppels destroyed”?
You have destroyed at least one doppel (plus countless unformed) and you lost a lathe.
The game screen seems a bit owerwhelmed right now, there is an enormous amount of little things flying around between emergent, particles, enemy particles, missiles, cannon balls etc.
You may already be aware of it and/or have plans to change it in the future, just putting it out there in case you don’t.
Must have broke that by accident. The stats counting is probably still there, just not updating that final UI.
As for overwhelming, it can seem that way since I’m showing these missions that have all kinds of stuff in them. Over the course of the game things start in a more simple fashion and then build over time to more complexity. By the time you’ve played 20 missions, something like this mission start to look ‘easy’ since you have developed the skills that let you decide what is worth focusing on and what not.
Sorry, I think I misphrased that, what I meant to say was that the screen is filled with too many things, while that doesn’t necessarily make the game itself harder it gets harder to focus on a single thing or get a sense of the situation at a single glance
Will there be waves, like in the beginning of this video? Like a bunch of particles get spawned in and group up, and when a time or amount is reached they all attack. Would be pretty cool, as your ships have a much bigger problem than doppels to worry about for a few minutes.
Yeah, waves, reactant emitters, moving emitters, fields that push particles, doppels that shovel particles around…. all of that is on the table and will likely be used across the missions.
So is a reactant emitter something that provides particles and other things when a certain condition is met? Waves… of doppels… are going to hurt…
invaderhiveNovember 27, 2015 at 12:29 am | Permalink
I really do not like upgrades that allow you to get more upgrades faster. It feels redundant to me and can lead to boring levels IMO. The fastest way to beat this mission seems to be to upgrade my upgrade rate so I can have a lot more upgrades to finish this grind of a map. You are a great game designer Virgil but a map where that upgrade is the best choice seems to be a map where it is a long grind.
Doesn’t it do the opposite?
Where an upgrade would be required to perform a major push, you can have it faster, should you make this investment.
You even say yourself, this map would be a grind to complete without it. Taking into account it’s only two upgrade which probably give you what, 15% boost?
If it were up to me, I’d give upgrade points a secondary functionality (like the gravity well in CW3) thus farming them has an offensive boost should everything go wrong.
invaderhiveNovember 27, 2015 at 3:56 pm | Permalink
What I should of said is that an upgrade that gives you more upgrades faster is good on a map that is designed to be a grind. I do agree though that if the research points had a secondary function, then that type of upgrade would be interesting for gameplay.
Upon impact, do the missiles do any splash damage? Seems that would help missiles make more sense over constant cannon usage in order to not have to worry about the constant looping of the missiles around targets.
belgianfanNovember 29, 2015 at 4:27 pm | Permalink
i believe that missiles not only destroy a particle, but also create a ‘shockwave’ that pushes back particles in its near vicinity at the same moment
Unique micromanagement of resources has more than just 1 use. And this is moving further and further away from Creeper world’s original concept. Which you were going for when you were making particle fleet. atleast thats the asumption i got when you announced a new game and said something along the lines of. “No its not going to be similar to my previous titles.”
Qwerty QuazoNovember 29, 2015 at 3:56 am | Permalink
For emergents:
What if they had a little laser to detroy particles?
A couple of things that should be mentioned:
1. Land units to take down stunners
2. Can land units land on metallic terrain?
3. One of your phasic generators that was on land had some struc marked for construction, but was unable to build it
I might post more later.
– Phalanx land units will currently shoot at Stunners.
– Yes, land units can park on metallic land.
– Yeah, that’s because there was land between the generator and that outer struc. I’ll have to do something about this…
Will the structured particles, for lack of better words, always be like, well, separated versions of the “particle organisms”?(like the 4 square box) It would be cool if the lines could be destroyed, sending particles off in different directions.
Billy987BobDecember 2, 2015 at 3:29 pm | Permalink
Hmmmmm. Seems like the updates are getting really spaced out compared to the updates for the CW series. Virgilw, if you don’t mind me asking and answering, Are you working full time on this or do you have another job? I want to do game development once i’m out of HS and was wondering how much time you are spending on this and whether or not you feel you are working very efficiently or not and possibly a few reason why or why not.
I am working full time… I’ve been full time since 2011 when I started work on CW3. Updates come and go and I often get sucked into some game design vortex where a couple months can pass before I have something nice to show. Game design, not implementation, is really ‘expensive’ in terms of time and effort. If somebody handed me a wonderful game design, the implementation would fly. It is not really knowing what you are making and having to explore mechanics that takes a super long time (or not if you get lucky).
But, that’s one area where a AAA studio and an indie are on equal footing. If I were to try to match the assets of a AAA studio I’d get stomped. I don’t have millions of dollars and hundreds of staff. On the other hand, I can hunt for interesting game mechanics as well or better than some big studios. So I spend most of my time (spread over years) doing just that… looking for game mechanics that are unique and appealing.
In terms of efficiency, I don’t really think of it that way. I work days, evenings, nights, mornings, weekends… and sometimes none of those. Sometimes I can sit on the porch for 2 hours and just think. Other times I can go cycling for 30 miles and in the last 2 miles have a good idea. Other times I might work for 3 days then decide I don’t like anything I’ve done. I’m not being glib when I say I don’t know how to measure that kind of activity. At the end of the day, I’ll have a game I like to play. My hope is there are others with similar taste π
I was so impressed with Defense Grid, its balance, its challenge, etc.
When they announced Defense Grid 2, yup, could not wait until it came out.
However it did not up the anti as I expected, it was still a good game, (just more of the same, but different) I played it, but the continuous level of engagement was not there to keep me at it.
CW3, loved, the balance, its challenge, etc.
Guess what, yup, cannot wait until the next WORK OF ART comes out from virgil.
If you ever get the chance go to Italy, and go into the gallery that “David” is in, and you will see all the mistakes “tries” that were made before you see “David”. After 500 years people still gawk at that statue for hours.
Virgil looks to me to be an artist, he knows that the “tries” he performs will make a better finished product. His artistic career depends on it.
We have to give him space, he knows that your expectations are now higher because of all the previous CW?s, he does not want to disappoint you. Yes he could take your money, my money, and run to the bank. It gives me faith that he does not want to do that.
However to only indication of direction in his art, is constantly asking the question, “would I want to play this”, he is alone in that journey, we are just along for the ride, anticipating what comes out the other side.
This is that moment on the roller coaster as you rise to the top, in anticipation of the swoosh on the other side. Right now enjoy, “damn I cannot see the top” , “how high does this thing go”, “damn this is going to be good when we get over the top”.
I know this question came out around the time you were working on CW3, but have you thought about doing a kickstarter or something so that your fans can help fund you as you work? Of course, I assume if money were an issue this is something you likely would have done already.
Just before I forget, will the spawners and Doppel cores get new skins? It would present some new oppurtunities if the skins were updated to look more like the other particles(do you have a name for them?). That could add harder game modes where spawners could be repaired by other things. I can’t stop thinking about this game D:
Just going to put this in here. It’d be nice if there was a way to find unread comments.
A while ago it was 71, now it’s 72, but I can’t find the new comment.
Damn telemarketers…
One question virgil, how do the weapon upgrades work currently? Do they increase damage so that a triangle would only take a shot for example? Or do they make the shots require fewer resources? Or is it something else entirely?
To be clear you do say they do more damage, but I was wondering exactly how that works, plus you also suggested that it may have other effects as well.
Currently the cannon upgrade makes shots that have more health (so they can destroy tougher particles, or more than one weaker particle). The missile upgrade creates shrapnel after it hits that can in turn destroy/damage nearby particles. These are subject to tweaking and change, though.
Thanks Virgil, sounds more interesting than a simple range or damage upgrade. Great work. I can’t wait for you to finish this game!
How do you prefer to be contacted about ideas, suggestions, or offers to help you test new versions for bugs?
I’ll soon have more to say about that… so stay tuned a bit longer and there will be a much clearer way to communicate feedback, ideas, suggestions, etc.
I have to say, this game is looking better and better. I do wish there was more land-based combat as well, but I am very much looking forward to seeing more videos on it.
I forgot to mention this, but for the upgrades, a tech-tree system might be more interesting. For instance, needing to unlock the power upgrades before the phasic upgrades are available.
Yay! i got the date right!
Do harvesters still give you upgrade points?
Upgrades come from “Phasic”. In the mission I played the phasic comes from the Phasic Generators. Harvesters still mine land, but the land they mine is used to produce an energy stockpile that can be seen in the info box as the second number under “Energy” (That info box will be getting an overhaul soon).
Thanks for the Reply! (Reading the post below) So some aspects of mire and ore harvesters swapped and so ore harvesters produce energy wile mire is now a defensive aspect! Nice game, my hype meter is over 9000!
It took a few months and I lost a bit of hype but it is back and better than ever! I really LOVE the new additions to the game and I’m looking forward to new videos, certainly when you said you’d do it more regularly (no pressure :p )
You keep impressing me time and time again with your work, can’t wait till the next video let alone the release π
How about making the missiles turn more sharply with further upgrades? Their current pattern of looping around desired targets looks both 3rd-person-perspective hilarious and 1st-person-perspective annoying.
Maybe also an upgrade for the velocity of each weapon payload? (Missile, shell, explosive; not so much fire rate as opposed to fire speed so to speak)
So far, it’s looking like an overall smooth transition for veteran KC followers like me who are reminiscient of the good ol’ times. Absolutely lovely.
Very nice game π
but one thing that i don’t get at the point:
Energy is used to build ships, load up ammo etc
phasic is needet for upgrades?
Mire? i thought in the last vid mire was for upgrades? and now?
but the vids look very nice, good job Virgil π
i’m looking forward ^^
greetings
Mire is the term I used for covered land (can be red or blue). Mired land of the opposite type will destroy land units. So red mired land will kill any player land units that land on it. Mire spreads across land as particles collide with the land. Once an “island” (a connected mass of land) is totally mired, the land no longer absorbs particles but instead allows particles to pass over it. Land at any level can be set as “metallic”. Metallic land won’t mire and will remain a barrier to particles.
Mired land also spawns Emergent (the triangular enemy that moves at right angles). Emergent spawning is like radioactive decay, it happens as a rate but is otherwise random. What you can say is that the more mired land the more Emergent will spawn (the rate of spawning will increase since there is more mired surface area).
That’s the roles land and mire play. Note that not all maps will have emergent, or metallic land, etc. There might even be maps where all land levels are metallic. So these options can come in various combinations.
For upgrades, you need Phasic. Phasic comes from Phasic Mines (or perhaps caches you may find on a map). Once you have Phasic, you can spend it on various upgrades fir the Tech dialog.
Didn’t blue mire also increase energy production? or did you remove that?
@virgil
thank for your explanation, now i think it’s clear to me π
wish you good luck for the future updates π
Can I play yet?
I have rehyped!
All the new things look so cool!
Honestly, the game looks more and more like CW3, with spore-runners, land, digitalis-struct, and mire. Not to say that that’s bad, I’m good with it! Oh, and also Aether-totems. Excited to see more missions!
It does share a lot of the same inspiration… but I can tell you it doesn’t play like CW3. The ships, hulls, particle and other enemy dynamics definitely change the tactics and scale. I still find myself wasting a lot of time just watching it, though. Like when a fleet engages a mass of particles or doppels, I can sit there and watch it unfold for 5 minutes. That part it does share with CW3.
At its heart it’s a strategy game just like CW3. I like to mix things up when it comes to enemy dynamics rather than go for beauty and massive scale (as is abundantly apparent with the CW series compared to other strategy titles). I do that because its realistic for a sole indie developer to pull that off, and because it interests me. I like making a game with a strategic element that hasn’t been explored (very much) in the strategy genre.
I also get asked a lot if this is CW4. It isn’t… but it is set in the same story universe. It happens in a different time with different characters, but it all hooks together in the end… or beginning…
Wow! What a speech! Now I kinda want to work on my game https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/66994868/ …
Nah, I’ll just play some CW3 : )
This game series strikes a cord with me, and I’m more interested in this games release than any other. Thank you for dangling yummy cakes in front of us.
Wait, in the beginning, as in a prequel? I was going to ask why in this game the “good guys” have blue particles, but now I am starting to think that the player of this game is the ultimate cause of the rise of the creeper… I’m going to roll with this theory and purposefully lose every mission in an attempt to prevent the start of the creeper.
So, Harvesters, what do they do now? If I’m reading right, they get you extra energy storage, sort of like having one of the energy pods in CW3. Does that mean the Mire no longer provides energy bonus, or is that a situational sort of thing?
Harvesters collect land and turn it into energy. They are a way to get extra energy (so long as you can get the land and as long as the land lasts). And correct, mire does not provide an energy bonus anymore.
Your reason for spreading mire is to create Emergent, or to protect land from enemy mire. And the reason you care about enemy mire is that it can spawn enemy Emergent and when land becomes totally mired it is no longer a barrier to enemy particles.
So mire is mostly about offense and defense, not about energy.
The roles for harvesters, mire, energy, upgrades… have all played musical chairs over the last 6 months. But, that’s a normal kind of thing during development.
I see I see. I’m glad that mire ‘does’ something to the space, not just has stuff done to it, if that makes any sense.
One last thing: in a lot of videos, individual Energy mines seemed to have their production increase over time regardless of Mire/bog. What’s up with that? Is it just something mines can be set to do when being configured and whatnot?
Ah, wait, I see it. So the energy increase is still a thing, but has to be researched.
Yep, do the tech upgrade and then the energy mines will start to increase output over time (to a limit).
Love it! Can’t wait!
One quick question: It appears that “red blobs” bounce off the edge of the screen but “blue blobs” fall off the edge of the screen. This seams unbalanced. Shouldn’t both sides react the same way? And can you find a better name than “red blobs” and “blue blobs”???? (Just kidding!)
Matthew
It is a setting per particle. I set the blue emitter to make particles that are destroyed at the edge of the map. I also set them to have a finite lifetime. This prevents blue particles from pooling up somewhere. For the red particles on the map they are all set to bounce off the edge of the map.ο»Ώ
The amount of spam that would happen if this wasn’t a setting…
Do the particles change shapes when damaged, or is it something else?( i saw some blue triangles and started looking for when that would happen)
They do, the shapes of particles represent 1, 2, 3 health via circle, triangle, and square. So if a square takes a hit it will turn to a triangle, and a triangle to a circle.
I would like to comment about the clumping that some of the creeper particles do. In this mission there seems to be a large group of them that just hang around on the top island. While this slows down a players attempt to take the island there doesn’t seem to be any real time restriction which would make this an issue. It might be nice (and i don’t know the capabilities and how difficult this might be) for them to fall off in large sections towards the player. That way there would be a mid-game factor that the player may have to deal with sudden increases to the amount of particles headed towards some of the more remote parts of their base. Say in this game you had a chunk of particles with a total ‘health’ of 40-50 which would definitely put a lot of pressure on one or both of the ships which you left.
Just some of my ideas of a game play mechanic which would be interesting to include though by no means needs to be.
Good observation and I do definitely have a plan for this (another option on maps of course). In some missions you will see exactly what you saw in this mission. The particles clump around energy sources and stay there defending them. In other missions, after a while, that energy source might change. It might become and emitter, or it might become a kind of enemy ‘grabber’ that directs particles towards your fleet (periodically). These things wouldn’t always happen in all maps (since they increase the difficulty of play) but are still good options to have in the game.
Still no rough release date for us?
I just never even try to guess. I’m always wrong and there is no upside to guessing. Best I can say is to look at where the game started on my first video, look at where it is now, compare it to other games and their first releases (either finished or early access) and see where you think PF falls in that spectrum. That’s about the same analysis I make π
I give it 3-6 months.
BUT I WON’T GIVE UP!
3-6 months might not be enough (emphasis on might). Virgil posts a video every month with a significant change, or every 2 months with a major change or multiple minor changes.
Sorry, I didn’t phrase that correctly.
3-6 months IF V has decided he doesn’t want to add any new features etc
Will this become a Windows Universal App?
Or on Android and iOS?
It will first be available for windows, OS X, and linux on both steam and for direct sale. What happens beyond that all depends on the community, available resources, etc.
One question:
When a round particle hits the land, one pixel of land is mired.
The same happens with a square and a triangle, only one.
Is this a problem? Or you know it happens?
I will reply with sugs later (of course)!
Give me a time in the video when you see this happening. It is supposed to be that a triangle mires two cells of land and a square mires 3. If it isn’t, then I broke that somewhere along the way…
What if when a square hits the land, one cell of land is mired and a triangle bounces off?
remember, the particles pass over mired islands, they no longer bounce off. That is a good question, though.
Yeah, I noticed that.
But it is a good change if there are any enemy omnis that create mire.
Isn’t it?
Why do, in the end-game screen, both you and the enemy have “0 ships destroyed, 0 doppels destroyed”?
You have destroyed at least one doppel (plus countless unformed) and you lost a lathe.
The game screen seems a bit owerwhelmed right now, there is an enormous amount of little things flying around between emergent, particles, enemy particles, missiles, cannon balls etc.
You may already be aware of it and/or have plans to change it in the future, just putting it out there in case you don’t.
Must have broke that by accident. The stats counting is probably still there, just not updating that final UI.
As for overwhelming, it can seem that way since I’m showing these missions that have all kinds of stuff in them. Over the course of the game things start in a more simple fashion and then build over time to more complexity. By the time you’ve played 20 missions, something like this mission start to look ‘easy’ since you have developed the skills that let you decide what is worth focusing on and what not.
Sorry, I think I misphrased that, what I meant to say was that the screen is filled with too many things, while that doesn’t necessarily make the game itself harder it gets harder to focus on a single thing or get a sense of the situation at a single glance
Will there be waves, like in the beginning of this video? Like a bunch of particles get spawned in and group up, and when a time or amount is reached they all attack. Would be pretty cool, as your ships have a much bigger problem than doppels to worry about for a few minutes.
Yeah, waves, reactant emitters, moving emitters, fields that push particles, doppels that shovel particles around…. all of that is on the table and will likely be used across the missions.
So is a reactant emitter something that provides particles and other things when a certain condition is met? Waves… of doppels… are going to hurt…
I really do not like upgrades that allow you to get more upgrades faster. It feels redundant to me and can lead to boring levels IMO. The fastest way to beat this mission seems to be to upgrade my upgrade rate so I can have a lot more upgrades to finish this grind of a map. You are a great game designer Virgil but a map where that upgrade is the best choice seems to be a map where it is a long grind.
Doesn’t it do the opposite?
Where an upgrade would be required to perform a major push, you can have it faster, should you make this investment.
You even say yourself, this map would be a grind to complete without it. Taking into account it’s only two upgrade which probably give you what, 15% boost?
If it were up to me, I’d give upgrade points a secondary functionality (like the gravity well in CW3) thus farming them has an offensive boost should everything go wrong.
What I should of said is that an upgrade that gives you more upgrades faster is good on a map that is designed to be a grind. I do agree though that if the research points had a secondary function, then that type of upgrade would be interesting for gameplay.
Upon impact, do the missiles do any splash damage? Seems that would help missiles make more sense over constant cannon usage in order to not have to worry about the constant looping of the missiles around targets.
i believe that missiles not only destroy a particle, but also create a ‘shockwave’ that pushes back particles in its near vicinity at the same moment
I like these changes for 2 reasons.
Unique micromanagement of resources has more than just 1 use. And this is moving further and further away from Creeper world’s original concept. Which you were going for when you were making particle fleet. atleast thats the asumption i got when you announced a new game and said something along the lines of. “No its not going to be similar to my previous titles.”
For emergents:
What if they had a little laser to detroy particles?
It will become much more useful.
A couple of things that should be mentioned:
1. Land units to take down stunners
2. Can land units land on metallic terrain?
3. One of your phasic generators that was on land had some struc marked for construction, but was unable to build it
I might post more later.
– Phalanx land units will currently shoot at Stunners.
– Yes, land units can park on metallic land.
– Yeah, that’s because there was land between the generator and that outer struc. I’ll have to do something about this…
Also, any plans for a secondary non-upgrade resource (like ore)?
Will the structured particles, for lack of better words, always be like, well, separated versions of the “particle organisms”?(like the 4 square box) It would be cool if the lines could be destroyed, sending particles off in different directions.
Hmmmmm. Seems like the updates are getting really spaced out compared to the updates for the CW series. Virgilw, if you don’t mind me asking and answering, Are you working full time on this or do you have another job? I want to do game development once i’m out of HS and was wondering how much time you are spending on this and whether or not you feel you are working very efficiently or not and possibly a few reason why or why not.
I am working full time… I’ve been full time since 2011 when I started work on CW3. Updates come and go and I often get sucked into some game design vortex where a couple months can pass before I have something nice to show. Game design, not implementation, is really ‘expensive’ in terms of time and effort. If somebody handed me a wonderful game design, the implementation would fly. It is not really knowing what you are making and having to explore mechanics that takes a super long time (or not if you get lucky).
But, that’s one area where a AAA studio and an indie are on equal footing. If I were to try to match the assets of a AAA studio I’d get stomped. I don’t have millions of dollars and hundreds of staff. On the other hand, I can hunt for interesting game mechanics as well or better than some big studios. So I spend most of my time (spread over years) doing just that… looking for game mechanics that are unique and appealing.
In terms of efficiency, I don’t really think of it that way. I work days, evenings, nights, mornings, weekends… and sometimes none of those. Sometimes I can sit on the porch for 2 hours and just think. Other times I can go cycling for 30 miles and in the last 2 miles have a good idea. Other times I might work for 3 days then decide I don’t like anything I’ve done. I’m not being glib when I say I don’t know how to measure that kind of activity. At the end of the day, I’ll have a game I like to play. My hope is there are others with similar taste π
Let’s talk about a real life example.
Steam Account hours played
Defense Grid – 421 hours
Defense Grid 2 – 131 hours
Creeper World 3 – 328 hours
I was so impressed with Defense Grid, its balance, its challenge, etc.
When they announced Defense Grid 2, yup, could not wait until it came out.
However it did not up the anti as I expected, it was still a good game, (just more of the same, but different) I played it, but the continuous level of engagement was not there to keep me at it.
CW3, loved, the balance, its challenge, etc.
Guess what, yup, cannot wait until the next WORK OF ART comes out from virgil.
If you ever get the chance go to Italy, and go into the gallery that “David” is in, and you will see all the mistakes “tries” that were made before you see “David”. After 500 years people still gawk at that statue for hours.
Virgil looks to me to be an artist, he knows that the “tries” he performs will make a better finished product. His artistic career depends on it.
We have to give him space, he knows that your expectations are now higher because of all the previous CW?s, he does not want to disappoint you. Yes he could take your money, my money, and run to the bank. It gives me faith that he does not want to do that.
However to only indication of direction in his art, is constantly asking the question, “would I want to play this”, he is alone in that journey, we are just along for the ride, anticipating what comes out the other side.
This is that moment on the roller coaster as you rise to the top, in anticipation of the swoosh on the other side. Right now enjoy, “damn I cannot see the top” , “how high does this thing go”, “damn this is going to be good when we get over the top”.
DAMN THIS IS GOING TO BE GOOD!
I know this question came out around the time you were working on CW3, but have you thought about doing a kickstarter or something so that your fans can help fund you as you work? Of course, I assume if money were an issue this is something you likely would have done already.
Or possibly Patreon
Just before I forget, will the spawners and Doppel cores get new skins? It would present some new oppurtunities if the skins were updated to look more like the other particles(do you have a name for them?). That could add harder game modes where spawners could be repaired by other things. I can’t stop thinking about this game D:
Just going to put this in here. It’d be nice if there was a way to find unread comments.
A while ago it was 71, now it’s 72, but I can’t find the new comment.
Command F then search for the dates in between now and when you last visited.
I agree
Waiting for the new update…
Anytime now…
Me too… check back every day…
same here
when is the relase date (or alpha)
please v let us know when game is ready to play in campage or multi