Barricade - (Tower Defence game)

[unseenmachine]

Here's a first look at a a game i working on using GDK and VQB. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8822351/Barricade.PNG It took me a while to get the turrets rotating correctly but it's finally getting somewhere.

More another day when i have done some more on it!

Unseen

[codeguy]

nice, unseenmachine. i can't wait to get defeated by it (no doubt in short order). my eye-hand coordination with video games is cr@p but i always enjoy your games when i'm able to play them. they are wonderfully entertaining.

[unseenmachine]

thanks, i aim to please, expect to see a playable demo in a few days...

[LeChuck]

I love Tower Defenses, played them allot in WC3. And even wrote some strat guides for some so I'm really looking forward to this one unseenmachine.

[Lachie Dazdarian]

Looking really good. Can't wait to play a demo or full version.

BTW, if you want to see what has been done in FreeBASIC in the same genre (for inspiration) check it here:
Plix Towerdefense: http://games.freebasic.net/dumpbyid.php?input=162
Operation Flytrap: http://games.freebasic.net/dumpbyid.php?input=135

[unseenmachine]

I am having trouble deciding what system to use...

1. Start with some credits, cannons cost to build but are unlimited in quantity, get credits when you destroy an enemy/complete a level. Points awarded on completeion of level.

2. User has a limited number of cannons, so placement of the cannons is most important, extra cannons  to be awarded on completion of a wave/level. Points awarded on completing a level based on using as few cannons as possible.

3. Have both, 1. to be the main game, 2. to be a survivalist/stratergy orientated version.

There will (in the finished version) be two enemies capable of damaging cannons, 1 will actively shoot them the other will blow up when destroyed (causing a shockwave that destroys nearby cannons).

Here's a download to the project as it currently stands (<20kb) : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8822351/Barricade.rar
PLEASE, IF ASKED, ALLOW IT TO OVERWRITE UnseenGDK with the new included version.

The game should not be viewed as anything more than a working idea (no optimisations, variations or end of game events have been coded) and this is not the Demo i said i would be posting, that will only come once one of the above methods has been decided upon.

Current controls/gameplay :
Use the mouse
Cannons can be placed anywhere, enemies will come in waves that increase in number and speed. I know wave 1 is completeable with only 12 cannons.

Any ideas would be great,

Thanks

Unseen

[Pete]

Tanks for making this... but...

I'm an American dammit, and it needs more tanks, a lot more, and special forces tanks to boot, ones that run out of gas, just as you enter the enemy compound. And when you blow it up, to save the high tech equipment from falling into enemy hands, large valuable and intact pieces of it fly through the country, and end up landing at the front door of some Chinese laboratory! Now that's a game. Let's call it...

No Tanks for Obama.

Hey my idea would be to make it a time management game. I mean I like your alternate strat idea, but these are tanks, and brute force gamers, who might be drawn to it, might be turned off by the need to finesse it.

So here’s the fun and excitement part. You have the computer increase the opposing forces in the next level over time. The player has to decide how much time to spend blowing stuf up on each level, and do it fast. Too slow or not enough extra ammo + extra tanks, etc. earned, and the next level kicks your ascii. Too much time and accumulation in one level, and the next level is to big to beat. Naturally each level would be tougher, as time always passes. The user could spend a lot of time trying to find the ideal ratio of kill speed and objects destroyed vs. moving into the next battle field. You might even want to make a recon feature, at a cost, to keep an eye on what the other side is up to,

This is a rough idea, but you did ask. No hurt feelings if you hate it. I'm a typical guy, I don't have feelings, but if I did, that would make me sad.

Pete 

[Clippy]

If you had any feelings you would be a Democratic do-gooder instead of a heartless quack! 

OOPS, did I say that here...oh well...back to the political discussion area. See ya there ole meany!

[Pete]

Or unseen, you could scrap the present game engine and start over with my idea. Put a giant hammer on the screen over a lazy paper clip that keeps popping up to say something stupid and call it Bop the Loafer.

Pete 

[Clippy]

How about a paperclip cannon that shoots at a duck. You could call it "Clip the Quack". 

[unseenmachine]

I think i will go for a system where you have an initla score/points and a target score you need to reach to go to the next level. You'll get bonus points for completing each wave and points for destroying tanks.

Here's some othere stuff i thnk it will get...

Each wave increases in speed, each wave will be made from a selection of differant types of tanks (random?) (tanks ar exploding, return firing etc..).

Cannons will be upgradable and you will also be able to delete cannons and get some of your points back.
As some of your cannons may get destroyed where and how close together you put them will add a small stratergy element to the game.

A second enemy, a stealth bomber! It will be able to fly under the radar and turrets won't track them automatically, you'll have to copy it's movement whilst holding the mouse button to get it shot down.

More floor tiles to make it look a bit nicer.

But thats about it!

Unseen

[iamdenteddisk]

I looked at the screen shot you offered unseen, nice looking game man kudo's..
the viewpoint you give kinda reminds me of total anilation is it a single board view or will it be a scroller?

[Lachie Dazdarian]

A rather minor quick note would be, why aren't the tanks moving pixel by pixel? Make their speed SINGLE or DOUBLE so you can use speed like 1.2, 1.34 or whatever.

Not sure if you imagined this, but if I would personally venture into making a tower defense game it would feature various types of enemies that are revealed as the player progresses in the game, as well as various type of turrets the player can use, which are also unlocked with more resources (or whatnot) earned or as new waves are reached. The main focus would be on some resource or cash you earn by destroying enemies earlier, in other words, playing the game better, which then you use to buy/construct new/more powerful turrets. The emphasis would be on strategy/management where you would have to carefully choose which turret to buy and when, where to place it, weight if to save the cash for a more advance turret later and try to survive the current few waves, or buy a better one but slightly cheaper immediately, etc. Also, it would be nice if the player would be able to repair the already placed turrets (which would again cost cash/resources).

I would personally prefer a level-based mode, where each level is consisted of n number of waves. Each level would feature different graphics and you would start it from scratch. Game saved after each LEVEL completed! For example, 5-6 levels each with 8 waves. Enough for plenty of playtime.

[unseenmachine]

A rather minor quick note would be, why aren't the tanks moving pixel by pixel?

They have 8 frames in a 32*32 grid so i figured 4 pixels a time would be fine and still be smooth.

A rather minor quick note would be, why aren't the tanks moving pixel by pixel?

Planned for, currently i have planned for 4 types of cannon (small, big, laser and tractor beam (slows down the enemy)) and 4 enemies (normal tank, shooting tank, exploding tank and stealth bomber).

able to repair the already placed turrets (which would again cost cash/resources)

Turrets won't have a health so repairing is not planned for.

I would personally prefer a level-based mode, where each level is consisted of n number of waves.

This is what i am gonna do.

Thanks for the comments, more soon...

Unseen

[Lachie Dazdarian]

4 pixels is not smooth. You can control easily the speed of enemies if you make their position variables and speeds SINGLE. Don't employ shortcuts to design problems (I assume you are thinking of avoiding problems with collision and movement of enemies through the levels with this) that make your game engine clunky and ugly.