View Full Version : 17: gGuardian
Gazza_N
05-02-2008, 08:40 AM
Story
The interstellar transit routes are a dangerous place. Forget the environmental hazards of hard vacuum and skin-crisping radiation, there are nastier things out there. Along with the fact that people need to spend the entire trip in cryosleep, space travel is a lot less safe than most folks would prefer.
The Guardian droids give peace of mind. Heavily armed, intelligent and resourceful, they are a crowning glory of AI design. They keep their passengers safe from the unknown. They make space travel safe again.
You are a gGuardian. As one of the g series, you are the most advanced model yet produced. During an otherwise uneventful trip, your emergency routines awake you just as you've jacked into the power grid to recharge. Your power feed suddenly goes dead, an energy surge lightly scrambling your RAM. Alarms shriek. There is a hostile force on board, and they're making a beeline for the cryopods. Fortunately, the immediate area containing the pods and the armoury has been sealed off, but it's just a matter of time before the invaders break in. Unfortunately, your internal map of the ship is corrupt. And you only have ten minutes' worth of energy left...
Gameplay
A game of gGuardian (pronounced "jii-Guardian", not "guh-Guardian") , takes place in three (loose) phases over the ten minute period.
1) Explore. Locate entry points for the invaders, locate weaponry, locate escape routes. I'm thinking of procedurally generating the ship layout and weapons available to maximize replay value.
2) Prepare. Lay traps from your collected weapons, set turrets, mines and defenses along attack routes.
3) After a set period of time, the attack occurs, and aliens pour in through the entry points. The exact period may be randomized, but I'll experiment to see what works best. Here you must fend the invaders off using your own weapons as well as ensuring that your placed weapons platforms survive. You can still place traps, but now you'll be shot at too.
4) Conclusion. If the Aliens reach the cryopods, or if you run out of energy/time before all of them are dead, the game ends badly with the death of the passengers. If you fend off the assault, the game ends happily with all passengers safe. Not Shakespeare, but it makes for a solid conclusion, no?
And now, some rambling from the designer
What a mission it was to come up with a concept for this comp! 0_o I originally started off with the idea of a heavily story-driven affair, but realised that the narrative for the kind of story I like to tell wouldn't fit into a ten-minute game.
Now, if you're thinking that the gameplay for gGuardian looks oddly familiar, you'd be right. I love sieges almost as much as I love mechs. Evil Genius, Dungeon Keeper, Stronghold, even Half-Life 2's little siege sequences are awesome. They force you to think strategically as you prepare, but offer seat-of-your-pants action once the attack begins. Best of all, they work well with time limits. ;) gGuardian is an attempt to shave away all the extras from this mechanic and distill it into a single game. We'll see how it goes.
Releases
First Prototype (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=336)
Second Prototype (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=337)
First Alpha (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=342)
Final Build (Weapon spawn fix) (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/download.php?id=373)
Year 2010-compatible link
After Kingsushi001 pointed out that the above links are deader than Elvis, I've reuploaded.
Gettit here! (http://sites.google.com/site/gazzagamesrepositoryHome/gGuardian.zip?attredirects=0&d=1)
01DT!m3r
05-02-2008, 11:53 AM
Sounds very unique cant wait to play!
FuzzYspo0N
05-02-2008, 03:37 PM
The interstellar transit routes are a dangerous place. Forget the environmental hazards of hard vacuum and skin-crisping radiation, there are nastier things out there. Along with the fact that people need to spend the entire trip in cryosleep, space travel is a lot less safe than most folks would prefer.
Ever read :"STONE"
Its a book, with a very simlar story line. its incredibly incredibly cool.
DukeOFprunes
05-02-2008, 07:53 PM
Sounds spiffing. Plotwise it reminds me of Wreckers, old abandonware gem. Bring it on!
Gazza_N
06-02-2008, 08:22 AM
Heh, well, the plot is pretty derivative. Cryopods, alien invasions, blah. I just needed something to set the scene, AKA "Here's why you're shooting stuff, good luck". ;)
Currently playing around with different methods to randomize/procedurally generate the levels, which is the most technically challenging part of the design. I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on this if I have too much trouble, but it is something that would help the game enormously.
UntouchableOne
06-02-2008, 08:12 PM
The story sounds very interesting. I think this comp has made all our imaginations run wild.
01DT!m3r
06-02-2008, 08:24 PM
Agreed
dislekcia
07-02-2008, 12:23 PM
I really, really, really want to play this.
Especially after the things I know Gazza learned in Overseer Assault. Colour me keen ;)
-D
Nandrew
07-02-2008, 12:57 PM
Sounds like An Awesome. Given Gazza_N's track record, I think this could be done quite well.
Hope the procedural generation works out for ya.
Gazza_N
10-02-2008, 05:03 PM
Prototype posted! Link in first post. All info relating to gameplay can be accessed by hitting F1 in-game.
What it has:
Help. Hit F1 in-game.
Placeholder graphics.
A tiny little green crosshair to protect, inside a tiny little room, absolutely crammed with weapons modules.
Swarms of alien drones to kill.
Turrets.
Randomised Weapon modules.
Excessive carnage.
What it doesn't have (but will be added):
Good placeholder graphics.
Visually diverse turrets.
Clear weapon ID.
Full collision detection for the Player avatar (only walls are taken into account at the moment).
Aliens that shoot back.
Victory/loss conditions.
Procedural generation. There's no level to speak of yet either, other than that tiny room.
Exploration (see previous point).
More weapons.
Please Comment on:
Interface. Clear? Fast? What needs work or tweaking?
AutoTurrets. Do they work well? Any behaviour unbecoming of a turret?
Any bugs or general weirdness?
Thanks for the encouragement, everyone! Like dis says, I've learned quite a bit since OA (like how to use GM, for one :p), so here's hoping this game turns out decently!
Cyberninja
10-02-2008, 11:37 PM
There's so many of them! ;_; I canna do it Captain.
Cool game Gazza. ;)
What about including a flashing siren that goes off/on, once the aliens are close to base?
DukeOFprunes
12-02-2008, 03:29 PM
Can we start seeing some screenshots to go with the comp entries? They all sound screenshoterriffic.
Gazza_N
12-02-2008, 03:43 PM
What about including a flashing siren that goes off/on, once the aliens are close to base?
Nice idea. It shall be done.
@Duke:
What it doesn't have (but will be added):
Good placeholder graphics.
QED. Screenshots are supposed to attract players, not burn their retinas to ash. :P
DukeOFprunes
13-02-2008, 03:26 PM
I played Master of Orion 3, mate: my retinas are friggin' flameproof!
It's not so much intended to see the prettiness, but rather gain a glancing insight into what the game would play like. You know, pictures painting a thousand words and all that. Come on. You know you want to.
Gazza_N
17-02-2008, 05:15 PM
Hear ye, hear ye! Be informde that ye seconde prototype hath been posted! A link doth be placed in ye first post of yon thredd. And it cometh with many improvementses!
In this exciting edition:
> More help. Hit F1 to find out how to play.
> Procedurally generated levels that ALWAYS WORK! (at last...)
> Diverse turret graphics!
> A new weapon!
> Decent alien pathfinding!
> Improved autoturrets!
> Thrills!
> Spills!
> Syrup!
Still to come:
> Real graphics (I hope).
> More turrets and traps.
> Proper HUD.
> I'm still not happy with the module selection interface. To be tweaked.
> Minimap (for now, hit F3 to toggle between normal and full-field views).
> Victory/loss conditions
> A proper countdown to breach. For now the aliens just make their charge after ten seconds.
Anilihst
18-02-2008, 10:01 AM
The turrets targeted aliens that was on the other side of my character. Thus they ended up shooting at me which if I had HP would be bad but it also wasts time that could have been spent actually killing the aliens.
They also destroy each other.
There is also a little problem with the aliens navigation. There is alway a few that get stuck.
Gazza_N
18-02-2008, 11:48 AM
The turrets targeted aliens that was on the other side of my character. Thus they ended up shooting at me which if I had HP would be bad but it also wasts time that could have been spent actually killing the aliens.
They also destroy each other.
There is also a little problem with the aliens' navigation. There are always a few that get stuck.
Thanks for the comments! I already know about the turret bugs you mentioned, those are now fix'd. For the record, I don't plan on the player having hit points. It's already enough of a mission to fend the aliens off without adding the threat of death to the mix.
As for the alien pathfinding - *sigh* :(. It works, like, 99% of the time, then somehow bugs out for one or two aliens. For now the official excuse explanation is that they're "patrolling the corridors for more threats", but I'll see if I can get it working all the time. Just be aware that once the aliens breach they'll be visible on the soon-to-be-included minimap, so hunting down one or two errant ETs shouldn't be too much of a shlep.
dislekcia
18-02-2008, 01:12 PM
It might be an idea to have a timer that counts down while an alien hasn't moved a minimum distance, once the timer activates the alien "falls asleep" or teleports somewhere, etc. The basic idea is to handle stuck pathfinding states with a bit of humor ;)
-D
Anilihst
18-02-2008, 03:28 PM
Could you maybe put in a weapon cool down bar or something. It really sucks too click every sec too see if the cool down is complete.
btw If I switch weapons the prev guns cool down completes which if you switch weapons. This is very irritating if you are switching from a rocket too a machine gun. Is this supposed too be this way?
Gazza_N
18-02-2008, 03:38 PM
@Dis: Thanks. I'm sure I can come up with something. ;)
@Anilihst:
1) A weapon cooldown bar is a superb idea. Thanks!
2) Yes, the carried over cooldown when you switch weapons is intentional. It prevents players from circumventing the refire rates of weapons by switching between them quickly - i.e. I've just fired the beam cannon, I switch to another weapon and reset the cooldown, then quickly switch back to beam cannon and nail the aliens ten seconds earlier than I'm supposed to be able to.
dislekcia
18-02-2008, 04:07 PM
2) Yes, the carried over cooldown when you switch weapons is intentional. It prevents players from circumventing the refire rates of weapons by switching between them quickly - i.e. I've just fired the beam cannon, I switch to another weapon and reset the cooldown, then quickly switch back to beam cannon and nail the aliens ten seconds earlier than I'm supposed to be able to.
Cooldown bar per weapon? Maybe?
-D
Anilihst
18-02-2008, 05:37 PM
Then what about the cool down when changed is the cool down of the new weapon instead of a constant or the prev weapons cool down?
Then if you switch too the machine gun you only have too wait a 1/10 sec not say 30 sec but if you switch too the laser cannon you will have too wait 10 sec?
This way I could also be explained as you are loading the weapon before you fire thus the beam cannon takes a longer time.
Gazza_N
19-02-2008, 07:45 AM
Just goes to show how valuable player testing is: when I was playing, I was more focused on getting turrets where I needed them than on shooting aliens myself. ^^;
The cooldown per weapon did occur to me (it's obvious, actually), but I like Anihilist's idea as well. I'll try both and see what works best. In fact, I wonder if i shouldn't nix player weapon swapping outright. Let the player select a default weapon at the start then have them stick to it throughout the game.
EDIT: You see, the problem lies in the way that weapon selection is done. Rather than having a Hyperspace Arsenal, the player picks up Weapon modules that they either install on themselves (only one module at any time), or else plant as turrets. I like this because it focuses the player on stragically planning their defense rather than amassing every weapon in the game and going on a gung-ho rampage. If I want to keep this paradigm, I can't have somebody hotswapping modules as described and trashing the weapons balance, and I can't enforce a cooldown per weapon because it violates the premise of modular weapons. As a result, I think selecting a single weapon at game start is probably the best way to go about it.
/wallotext
Anilihst
19-02-2008, 09:29 AM
If you do that the weapons on the player a bit more effective than the turrets otherwise you the player will get frustrated.
I hope that you will implement waves later because at the moment the game plays like a mad dash at the start and then the end is very static, stand around and shoot the nearest alien. Maybe you could implement periodic module spawning too help with this? Then the weapon thing can be disregarded.
Gazza_N
19-02-2008, 09:54 AM
-_-
I'm an idiot. All I need is to enforce a set time for module switching rather than making it instantaneous. *fistjaw*
I won't be implementing waves as such, but the rush will take place later, after about 5 minutes, and may consist of more aliens. This gives the player time to explore and uncover the level in the minimap, as well as collect weapons and place their defenses. I still need to balance everything though. That'll come once the final gameplay elements are in place.
Anilihst
19-02-2008, 10:24 AM
I was just thinking that your game is about strategy and tactics right? And my biggest problem with most games like that is that they employ too much randomness. This could be a random amount of creeps which have a random speed and comes in a random amount of waves which is randomly spaced... Ok so you get the point.
Now why don't you give the player the option too make the modules into which ever weapon or turret he/she wants? This make much more tactical plus the game will be much easier too balance.
Also how does you map generation work? Could you maybe force it too make the map longer, along a certain axis? This will make the arrive aliens in a steady stream instead of a huge amount all at once. Thus expanding the game along the 10min(5min of battle) with constant action.
FuzzYspo0N
19-02-2008, 11:01 AM
Its coming along nicely Gazza, i wont really redundantly comment but its doing great.
Gazza_N
24-02-2008, 09:02 PM
Alpha posted with link in first post, and with a new release comes plenty of new changes:
It Got:
> Refurbished graphics! Still bad, but better than before.
> A main menu!
> Completely redesigned weapon system!
> Another new weapon!
> Minimap!
> Countdown timers!
> Four difficulty settings!
> Victory conditions!
It Not Got:
> A proper tutorial. For now, hit F1 anywhere in the game.
> Good graphics. And it never will. :(
> A few more dabs of polish. Little things like a proper targeting cursor, special VFX for certain weapons, and a proper victory/failure screen. The gameplay itself is fine, but these little details need attending to.
dislekcia
25-02-2008, 09:46 PM
Difficulty settings? Nice. I've been working on difficulty progression recently in the client game, wondering how you did it/what techniques you used...
Share notes? ;)
-D
Thaumaturge
26-02-2008, 03:09 AM
I really like this concept, Gazza, and the implementation is coming along nicely, I think. ^_^
The procedural level generation works well, I think, and I rather like some of the current weapon roster - the lightning gun is a good idea, I think. ^_^
One minor bug: It seems to be possible to get oneself stuck on recently-placed turrets by not moving out of the way after placing them. Although it does seem to be possible to escape by destroying the new turret, I would suggest placing them a little further out from the player, and making the turrets immediately collidable (with their full collision radius).
I do have two questions:
1) Why does the clock seem to briefly go into negative values before the attack begins?
2) Do any of the player's actions have an effect on the rate of battery usage? For example, does firing weapons drain energy above the normal per-second cost?
A few suggestions:
In terms of graphics, I suggest a little more variety: rooms that seem to have purpose (chemistry labs, bio. labs, engineering rooms, etc.) - these can perhaps enhance the gameplay by being themed armament sources (acid sprays and flash bombs from the chem. labs, a weapon that spawns little creatures that slow the enemy from bio. labs, nail guns from engineering rooms, etc.).
In terms of gameplay, I think that it might be useful to allow the player to "pick up" turrets without destroying them first - useful for quick movement of turrets, or for the hurried acquisition of a weapon for the player's use, and especially so if the player has used up all found weapons, and thus isn't in a position to destroy turrets himself. (Unless I missed this option, of course. ^^; )
I would also like to have some indication of the cooldown state of the turrets - at the moment it sometimes feels as though they're doing very little. (Perhaps, instead of the standard bar, give them each a graphical feature, even if it's as simple as a light that fades from red to blue, that indicates their cooldown state.)
Still on the turrets, I've found that they don't always fire at the nearest target, even when an alien is all but on top of them, which is what I think would be likely to be most useful (especially if paired with a line-of-sight test to avoid their shooting their own).
Finally, it would be nice if the player could shove aliens aside to some degree - at the moment they seem to be inexorable, making it a little more annoying than I feel that it should be to attempt to move through their ranks.
One final note: I've found that a pretty good tactic, especially on lower difficulty levels, is to simply mass weaponry around the cryo. pod, re-erecting turrets as called for. While that may not work well on higher difficulty levels, on lower levels the "friendly fire" effect is fairly minimal, I think, as is the effect of those aliens that manage to get through.
Alas, the game slows down a bit on my computer once the attack starts, so I don't know to what degree that affected my results. ^^;
Gazza_N
26-02-2008, 08:10 AM
Thaumaturge returns! Hooray!
Thanks for the commentary. :) To answer your questions and concerns:
1) Fix'd. This was an issue regarding object creation times (staggered due to the procedural generation) and forgetting to tie portal opening to the main timer.
2) No. The energy levels decrease at a constant rate regardless of what you do. I considered using battery power for weapons, but realised it would become very frustrating very quickly.
Graphics - I wanted to have visually diverse rooms, but I have neither the time nor ability to create the graphics for them. Maybe I can slap together some lame MS Paint doodads before friday. It would certainly help you find your way around the ship better (although the minimap works well in this regard, I think). The use of devices around the ship to trap or impede aliens was also a part of the original design, but I just haven't been able to get around to it. I don't know if I can get them done before the deadline. :(
Turrets - I want to force the player to think carefully about where they place their turrets, when they move their turrets, and which modules they keep on them. I don't want turrets to be moved on the fly. It makes the game far too easy. :P
Your concerns regarding turret deployment radius are noted, though. That shall be fixed. The turret cooldown indicator is also a good idea, regardless of which form it takes. As for the targeting, I think I know why the turrets are (still >.<) blind at point-blank range. That'll be tweaked.
The turtling tactic you describe is one that's been worrying me. All I'll do is prevent the player from placing weapons near the cryobay in the same way I prevent placement near portals. Decreasing the radius of the non-placement zone as difficulty increases may be a good idea as well.
I don't know about the slowdowns though... Even on my relatively ancient machine I've had no problems. 0_o
Anilihst
26-02-2008, 05:05 PM
The game looks a lot better and the cool down bar is works well. I want to second Thaumaturge opinion on the rooms even a little bit of colour or variation would do the game a world of good.;)
The game is way too easy! I tried it on easy then directly went to unstoppable and the timer did not even go below 80 sec!
You should add a difficulty in which the player can specify what each of the difficulty modifiers should be. The you can accommodate all the player skills possible event to insane degrees.
One thing that really irritated me was that the mini map did not show the weapon pick-ups.
BTW all the aliens has this ghost effects on them on the mini map is that intensional?
Its looking really good, and when trying t find something that is completely wrong, I could only come to the conclusion that the rotating sprite is off by 1 pixel ;)
Awesome game Gazza_N
Thaumaturge
26-02-2008, 09:44 PM
Thaumaturge returns! Hooray!
Thank you - it's good to be back. ^_^
Thanks for the commentary.
My pleasure. ^_^
Graphics - I wanted to have visually diverse rooms, but I have neither the time nor ability to create the graphics for them.
That's a real pity. :/
Hmm... What sizes are your various graphics? I don't want to promise anything - I don't know that I'll finish in time - and, given the time limit, I don't know that anything that I come up with will fit your vision of the game, but if you're happy with some basic rendered graphics, I might put together a few (emphasis on "few" :P) backdrops and sprites (depending on how things go).
In fact, better yet, if you're interested, please send to me the images that you currently work with, so that I have a template to work on.
The turtling tactic you describe is one that's been worrying me. All I'll do is prevent the player from placing weapons near the cryobay in the same way I prevent placement near portals. Decreasing the radius of the non-placement zone as difficulty increases may be a good idea as well.
Aah, fair enough. You might want to give some ostensible reason for this, as it might seem a little arbitrary to players. (It needn't be anything terribly solid - it could even be a real hand-wave, such as something along the lines of "the electromagnetic fields emanated by the cryo pods and the micro-level spacial distortions around the portal openings" preventing turret assembly in those regions.
I don't know about the slowdowns though... Even on my relatively ancient machine I've had no problems. 0_o
Well, what sort of system do you have? My machine has:
A P4 2.4GHz CPU,
1GB RAM,
a GeForce FX5200 graphics card,
and something like 25GB of hard disk space left,
running Windows XP.
It may be that Firefox was related to the slowdown, of course, come to think of it.
As to the rest, fair enough, and good. ^_^
Gazza_N
02-03-2008, 12:33 PM
Thanks to a gracious extension, I am proud to present the final build of gGuardian. It's still not as complete as I'd like, but it'll do, pig. It'll do. Link in first post.
Notable Final Tweaks:
> Increased player movement speed.
> Graphical "upgrade". Aliens are now pre-rendered sprites (because I can't draw), and I've inserted numerous doodads throughout the levels for some graphical diversity. I've also added new special effects here and there, and tweaked existing sprites. The game's art style can still be described as "schizophrenic". ;)
> Rebalanced difficulty settings. More aliens per setting now, but also fewer portals on the lower difficulty levels.
> Prevented placement of turrets in the immediate vicinity of the Cryobay (to prevent turtling) and prevented turrets from being placed directly next to each other (to prevent wall o' turret barricades). The minimum distance from the bay that you can place turrets shrinks at higher difficulty levels, since even turtling won't save you on "Unstoppable". MWAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!
> Tweaked no-placement boundary indicator to trigger when the player is nearby, as opposed to only triggering when attempting to place turrets there. The boundary will still only appear once the portal in question has been uncovered on the minimap.
> Added proper endgame dialog.
> Miscellaneous timer bugs fix'd.
Final words
1. I FINALLY BUILT A PROCEDURAL LEVEL GENERATOR! WHOOOOOOOO!
2. I GOT THE LIGHTNING TO WORK! WHOOOOOOOOO!
3. I STOLE THE EXPLOSION SPRITE FROM OVERSEER ASSAULT! WHOOOOOOO... Um.... <_<
I hope you enjoy the game, and good luck to all the other entrants. :)
FuzzYspo0N
02-03-2008, 01:26 PM
WIN, it came out really nice... ill play it more just now, im working to finish my entry :/ hehe
Cyberninja
02-03-2008, 02:34 PM
You Sir, are made of WIN. Awesome game Gazza. :)
dislekcia
02-03-2008, 03:29 PM
Final words
1. I FINALLY BUILT A PROCEDURAL LEVEL GENERATOR! WHOOOOOOOO!
2. I GOT THE LIGHTNING TO WORK! WHOOOOOOOOO!
3. I STOLE THE EXPLOSION SPRITE FROM OVERSEER ASSAULT! WHOOOOOOO... Um.... <_<
I hope you enjoy the game, and good luck to all the other entrants. :)
1. I was totally planning to ask you about that yesterday. Grats :) Write about how you did it!
2. Sweet! Checking it out now.
3. WOOOOT! I approve ;)
-D
Chippit
02-03-2008, 03:48 PM
Just a quick note, Gazza. I encountered a weapons module that was inside a level doodad, and, as such, uncollectable.
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3452/imageqz1.jpg
Just so you know it happens.
Fengol
02-03-2008, 03:51 PM
Lots of fun; and the random maps make each game an experience!
Gazza_N
02-03-2008, 03:52 PM
Thanks Chippit. Will upload fixed version shortly.
EDIT: Fixed version uploaded. Link amended. I cannot imagine how something like that slipped past me. >_<
Thanks for all the good reviews, everyone! I'm glad people are enjoying it! :D
@Fengol: That's exactly why I wanted to procedurally generate - to keep things fresh on the umpteenth playthrough. I'm happy that it works! :)
Thaumaturge
02-03-2008, 06:50 PM
Very good indeed! This is, I'd say, a very strong contender. ^_^
Aha! And I can now pick up my turrets - thank you very much! ^_^
I like the inclusion of weapon module blips on the mini-map, and I'm glad to see that you included cooldown timers for the turrets. ^_^
The graphical improvements do indeed help - the aliens look cool (although I'll admit that I kinda miss the giant floating alien heads ;)), and a number of the effects are improved - the rocket explosion looks much prettier now, for one thing. The additional rooms also add a nice touch of variation to the spaces (although of course I'd like to see more :P).
*laughs* I love the effect that electrocution has on the aliens!
[edit]
The anti-weapon-placement regions work very well, I think. I've found that it does still seem to be possible to "turtle" to some degree - on "tough" mode, for example, my main strategy is to install turrets in the entrances to the cryo. bay, weighted according to the positions of the enemy portals, along with a few portals scattered around opportune spots (such as in long, non-branching tunnels to portals, or rooms through which more than one stream of aliens is likely to pass).
(I've also found that it helps a lot to keep one laser to myself - it's a very useful weapon, I find.
Gazza_N
02-03-2008, 09:14 PM
The anti-weapon-placement regions work very well, I think. I've found that it does still seem to be possible to "turtle" to some degree - on "tough" mode, for example, my main strategy is to install turrets in the entrances to the cryo. bay, weighted according to the positions of the enemy portals, along with a few portals scattered around opportune spots (such as in long, non-branching tunnels to portals, or rooms through which more than one stream of aliens is likely to pass).
Finding ambush points, extrapolating attack routes, intelligently distributing the right turrets at the right place - you've just described the game's design. ;) It's a game about defense, so you will always be turtling to some degree. All I can say is that every time I've tried blatant turtle tactics such as the "Wall o' Turrets" on Tough or Unstoppable, they've failed.
(I've also found that it helps a lot to keep one laser to myself - it's a very useful weapon, I find.
I'm rather fond of the Tesla cannon myself. I get perverse joy from trying to zap as large a group of aliens as possible (preferably with laser turrets around to pick them off while they're immobilized).
Thaumaturge
02-03-2008, 09:28 PM
Finding ambush points, extrapolating attack routes, intelligently distributing the right turrets at the right place - you've just described the game's design. It's a game about defense, so you will always be turtling to some degree. All I can say is that every time I've tried blatant turtle tactics such as the "Wall o' Turrets" on Tough or Unstoppable, they've failed.
Fair enough - although I've found some decently-placed "turret rooms" to be quite useful, myself (as long as I keep an eye on the turrets, of course). ;P
I'm rather fond of the Tesla cannon myself. I get perverse joy from trying to zap as large a group of aliens as possible (preferably with laser turrets around to pick them off while they're immobilized).
Heh, it is really cool - I just find the recharge rate and damage done too low for my purposes - I usually use my on-board weapon to clear out aliens in the cryo. bay, to help me to work my way through thick crowds, or to hunt down strays towards the end of the game. I usually put Tesla cannons near my cryo. bay, in the hopes of slowing down advances and allowing my other emplacements to work on them.
You know, it occurs to me that our getting into such a discussion is a credit to the game - it indicates that the game has sufficiently entertaining and interesting gameplay to warrant and support such discussion. ^_^
Gazza_N
02-03-2008, 09:32 PM
And I take that as an immense compliment. Thank you! :D
Thaumaturge
02-03-2008, 09:45 PM
As it was intended, and my pleasure. ^_^
Gazza_N
03-03-2008, 09:50 AM
Am I alone in thinking that this game would be utterly awesome with co-op play? :)
GM Multiplayer DevLAN plz.
dislekcia
03-03-2008, 10:51 AM
Am I alone in thinking that this game would be utterly awesome with co-op play? :)
GM Multiplayer DevLAN plz.
Working on it... Looks like we'll be doing something in early April ;)
-D
Gazza_N
04-03-2008, 08:05 AM
Yay!
kingsushi001
16-06-2010, 04:35 PM
I know this thread is really old, but could you please re-up your links. Really want to see this game
Gazza_N
16-06-2010, 05:07 PM
Holy crap! After you've delved that deeply into the abyssal depths of the archives, how could I refuse? :P
I warn you though - I've barely touched the game since Comp 17 ended. It's correspondingly rough around the edges, but it still plays okay.
*blows off the dust*
LINK! (http://sites.google.com/site/gazzagamesrepository/Home/gGuardian.zip?attredirects=0&d=1) (also reposted in the first post)
kingsushi001
16-06-2010, 07:00 PM
Ah man, didn't think that you'd actually upload it again. Thanx alot.
Had a go at it, very very nice.
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