Springy Turret: Very Early Prototype Edition

Hello,

Please check out a prototype of a game I started working on 5 weeks ago in my spare time. It's not really ready for the public yet but I wanted to enter it into the Immunity contest and this is what I have so far and decided to submit it. So now that it's out there I'd like to get some people to try it out. You can play it here:

http://game.distortions.com

It's still very rough and early, so far it's just quick prototype artwork, some brain dead AI, and no end goal yet (other than kill everyone). At this point I am just showing the concept and basic mechanics. Unfortunately it is still very buggy so you may see the physics freak out or break it, just reload the page if that happens. I am more of an artist than a programmer so I make a lot of bugs

If you like it, and would like to see it finished, please feel free to vote for it in the contest at:

http://musegames.com/community/immunitychallenge (It's a couple entries down from the top)

I have a pretty clear idea where I want to go with it, this is just the basic mechanics in a rushed prototyp level. I made the entire tutorial in about 3 hours at the last minute (I love Unity), so I am sorry if it seems a bit condensed or rushed.

The final game will have more environmental and physics puzzles using the charging and combo system to overcome areas. And of course some turret upgrades. I can't wait to polish the art and get some actual AI and more of the game rules in, but for now still getting the basics working and now I gotta fix some major bugs.

Feel free to give me any feedback here!

Edit: I just updated the version on my site with a better jump! I fixed a bug so now it proprply does a flip so it tends to jump more "foot first" at maximum jump strength. So now it's easier to stick to stuff. I did it with AddTorque in the direciton you are jumping to do a flip left or right.

 

That's a very interesting and unique concept. I found it highly playable, and got to the end of your demo-level. It's fun, and it looks good too. Keep it going!

 

WOW! great concept! love the physics! really like the graphics style and it's a lot of fun! 8)

 

Looks nice but its majorly flawed. It is far too tricky to position your turrets and just makes it mostly trial and error.

 

I liked it!

 

A great concept. I agree with snicholis that it is very tricky to position the turrets, but it's quite fun.

 

Very original, I liked it

 

If you can get the controls improved to eliminate the trial and error for the most part (even make the turrets align to the scene as they approach) then you have a winner.

 

cool idea, it reminds of games like Enigmo.

 

Very nice control. Is there any point to these boxes?

You can also see below that I don't think the combos work quite right yet. The cannon on top should be 2x, not the one one the bottom. And yet, the cannon on the right still gets 4x?

 

Very weird and very awesome! I can't wait to see where you go with it.

 

Thank you everyone for playing and for your encouraging words.

I'm happy because in a few hours I was able to fix three of the biggest physics bugs that were causing it to freak out! Much more stable now (still very buggy overall of course).

No point to the boxes, just there to test the physics. Yeah there's still some bugs in the combo system. One part of the problem is every time you are charged up it's supposed to last a second or two, right now it cuts off immediately. I think that's how you get the 2X, 4X thing, the turrets are going back to 0X to soon, but the bullet that was fired is still charged up. There's also issues where you can get a turret stuck at 2X, charged.

Yeah this is a high priority of mine, to get the jump as predictable and consistent as possible. It has definitely been tricky because I'm relying mostly the physics system to move my objects. When jumping I think it's ideal if I can get turret to be foot first immediately (like a flip) so that they always stick to where they are aiming. I need to figure out better ways to influence the orientation of the turret while jumping (right now I just apply some torque to it's heavy foot to enact a flip then some brief heavy angular drag to slow the flip once its foot first).

I also want to make the jump preview (when holding down the mouse) more of a curved trajectory to show you approximately where you will go when you jump.

And as others have suggested I'm considering some sort of "after touch" or control in the air, after you have jumped. One problem with that is that the user has mouse control so its hard to click on a moving jumping turret flying across the screen. I may have to put the camera on the turret to keep it on the screen in the same spot for easier control while in the air (I am trying to keep this an entirely mouse controlled game). BUT I want to keep it simple so hopefully I can get the jump controllable enough I don't need all of this.

 

Very good job, I had fun.

 

I love this prototype. Probably my favorite in the immunity challenge (even though I'm competing). It's not perfect, but none of them are. I see all kinds of potential with this.

[Edit:] I would fix your flipping problem to attach to the "power walls" by adding a magnetic force. If you make the base heavy part of the turret an attractor, and make the top part repelled it would always flip your turret base-first towards the wall... if that makes any sense at all...

 

Really cool game prototype. I like the concept and the graphics and I enjoyed playing through the demo. Looking forward to seeing the finished game

Could you help me with some pointers to how you did the 'blinking' of the objects when they get hit by a shot. I am looking to create a similar effect, but I don't really know where to start.