Creeper World 3

[MadMag]

some kind of flying battlestation. You can put some units on it, mabe you can even upgrade the unit per techonology for more units being able to put on it. Then you can fly it around and the units are able to fire to ANY layer

Good idea. Just a platform that you can put several units on and then hover over the creeper. (must be attached with a relay)

[lich98]

It should have a realy on it that alows it to move around. I like this idea

[knucracker]

what is the max level size that the game will support? something like 16x256x256?

There are currently 10 level of terrain height, but this may change.  I may experiment with more but not any less.

CW1 maps were 70x48 (or 3360 cells in surface area)
The largest map in game 3 is currently 210x115 (or 24150 cells in surface area).
So currently game 3 supports maps with over 7 times the surface area of CW1. 

Maps can be bigger... there really isn't a technical limit.  It all depends on the total surface area and the performance.  A map could be 400x50 or 200x100 and produce roughly the same performance results. 

I should also mention that Creeper gets updated per frame in game 3 and that I have the coefficients in the fluid equation reduced.  This means that the Creeper flow in the game (for normal creeper) isn't as high as it can be.  This allows for things like terrain where the Creeper flows 4 or even 8 times faster than on other terrain.  Or for fields that accelerate the flow of creeper.  All things being experimented with, so we'll see how it works out.

[knucracker]

Regarding a flying platform:

I'm about 50% confident that you will be able to save some units across levels and carry them on your orbital ship.  This will allow you to drop them in at the start of a mission, or even mid mission.  This isn't the same as a flying 'carrier', but was still brought to mind by the suggestion.

There will be a few 'Titan' weapon in the game.  One of them you already see on the latest blog post.  The 'Bertha' is a big cannon that can shoot really far and does some serious damage. It costs a pretty penny to build and fire, but is tons of fun.

Titan weapons are not all powerful like a Thor.  They aren't game enders, just game advancers.  So, another Titan weapon might be something like a flying platform that has several Pulse Cannons and a couple Mortar attachments.  You could load it up with energy and send it on a run, or the idea of having a built in 'relay' is interesting as well.  That would allow for it to hover over Creeper... so long as you defend the front lines.  If this is too powerful, then just a hovering unit with a cannon and mortar built in might do the trick.

[thepenguin]

If I may make a suggestion... is some sort of "tainted land" a possibility. That being land you can't build on, but creeper can flow through?

perhaps radioactive?

[Fisherck]

Maps can be bigger... there really isn't a technical limit.  It all depends on the total surface area and the performance.  A map could be 400x50 or 200x100 and produce roughly the same performance results. 

If I have learned anything approving maps for CW2, it is that for some reason people like to max out the size of the maps they can make. I would certaintly suggest a reasonable map size limit. I would be scared to see what kinds of maps would be made otherwise ;)

[thepenguin]

I certainly would disaprove of a map size limit.  Why not let people make outrageously large maps?  I have yet to understand this aversion to 80-height maps, why not let them make whatever size maps they want to?

Perhaps a file upload size limit would suffice, but what's the harm in huge maps?  If people have problems with large maps, I would suggest not playing them.

Of course some people will abuse this feature somewhat, but why not let people make 3000x4000 maps?  some people could make huge maps, in which there are large stories, and expansive worlds.

If people make bad maps, then few others will play them, and if their goal is for others to play, they will learn quickly.

But, if you want to make a huge map for your own enjoyment, what's the harm, and why a restriction?

Imagine if maps like these:
http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld2/viewmaps.php?embedded=false&gameVer=&mapid=28
http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld2/viewmaps.php?embedded=false&gameVer=&mapid=195
http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld2/viewmaps.php?embedded=false&gameVer=&mapid=218

Just to name a few, were able to be larger and have more expansive gameplay.

Or, what if they were not able to be created, because the size limit was smaller.

Your suggestion follows the logic that:
if people can abuse it, it should not exist.

according to that logic:
because people can get paper-cuts, paper should be illegal.
because people can get stabbed, we can't use knives in the kitchen.
because people could get run over, cars should be banned.
etc.

so why not let people do what they want to?

[lich98]

Virgil i like all that this is comming to be, By the way TP I love your new avatar

[thepenguin]

Virgil i like all that this is comming to be, By the way TP I love your new avatar

thanks, lich

[lich98]

Virgil i like all that this is comming to be, By the way TP I love your new avatar

thanks, lich

It is very cool.

[knucracker]

There will of course be _some_ limit on the map sizes since entering very large values will eat all of the memory on any existing machine.  Now, by 'large values' I mean value that would produce maps with surface areas in the hundreds of thousands or millions.

The primary reason to limit map sizes (in general for any game) is to encourage an ecosystem populated with games that will run happily on average hardware.  A year from now there will be thousands of worlds made for game 3 and an average player with an average machine is going to want to be able to play the majority of missions.  If even 20% of missions require hardware that's in the top 5%... that becomes a frustration for players and ultimately reflects poorly on the game (not the map makers).

So that's the general philosophy on putting boundaries in place... it isn't so much about limited choice as it is about ensuring accessibility

All that said, maps with 7 or 8 times the surface area of a CW1 map are really large.  Pick your 8 favorite CW1 maps and stack them together 4 wide by 2 tall and play them all at once.  Throw in new weapons, technology, enemies, cross mission objectives.... and you have an idea of what a large map experience would be like.

[lich98]

... *mouth hangs open but nothing comes out* ... IT sounds AWESOME!!

[Kingo]

There will of course be _some_ limit on the map sizes since entering very large values will eat all of the memory on any existing machine.  Now, by 'large values' I mean value that would produce maps with surface areas in the hundreds of thousands or millions.

The primary reason to limit map sizes (in general for any game) is to encourage an ecosystem populated with games that will run happily on average hardware.  A year from now there will be thousands of worlds made for game 3 and an average player with an average machine is going to want to be able to play the majority of missions.  If even 20% of missions require hardware that's in the top 5%... that becomes a frustration for players and ultimately reflects poorly on the game (not the map makers).

So that's the general philosophy on putting boundaries in place... it isn't so much about limited choice as it is about ensuring accessibility

All that said, maps with 7 or 8 times the surface area of a CW1 map are really large.  Pick your 8 favorite CW1 maps and stack them together 4 wide by 2 tall and play them all at once.  Throw in new weapons, technology, enemies, cross mission objectives.... and you have an idea of what a large map experience would be like.

Sounds great!
I was thinking if you could possibly combine this with multiplayer (maybe cooperative, or capture the totems?) this would be very fun.

[Lioncourt]

What about a type of gadget that will let you convert a creeper emitter to an anti-creeper emitter?  Take it over, or possibly the "bad guy" can do the same, and there could be 3 types of creeper :)  The good, the bad, and the.... UGLY!  :)

[Nemoricus]

Hmm. Here's a possible idea for a terrain type:

Void - No units may be placed on it, and any Creeper that spreads into it as lost. It could be useful for simulating a very deep trench, or perhaps the space between the pieces of a shattered world.