From the dude that brought you far too many other half-done tech demos, comes another half-done tech demo! Okay, honestly this one is a little more polished than I usually initially release, because I wanted to play it further and see how it went.
Right now it's pretty simple: you control a "frog" (green circle) that follows your mouse and hunts various "flies" (purple circles) that move away from you around the screen. Every time flies hit each-other or you eat one, they get a short burst of speed in a random direction (which hopefully keeps them from clustering in the corners at the later levels). Each level there are two more flies and they speed up slightly. So level 1 is 2, level 2 is 4, level 3 is 6, level 4 is 8, etc. By about level 5 they've gotten pretty ridiculously fast and are difficult to catch. I haven't made it past level 6 yet.
Anyway. Some planned features:
Drawn Graphics
Sound
Variety on Enemies*
Evolution**
Better Name!***
* I'm going to make different types of enemies that give you different abilities. Such as ones that speed you up, or ones that slow you down, or even ones that grow you in size. Also ones that are big enough to eat YOU!
** What I'd like is to have the game start you off in a simplistic single-cell organism mode and after you've gathered sufficient evolutionary points, you move up to the next rung on the ladder. Eventually you get the ability to do things like quickly dashing, stun nearby enemies and consume larger prey.
*** Obviously they're not always going to be flies and you're not always going to be a frog. So the name will eventually need to change.
License: This game is Public Domain
Revision History:
v0.0.3
Changed the way the flies randomly move
Changed the name of the window to reflect proper versioning
v0.0.2
Main release
Last edited by Xcmd on Sat Jul 18, 2009 3:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.
We don't borrow, we don't read, we don't rent, we don't lease, we take the minds!
The flys try to get away as far as possible....
I made it to level ... don't know what without doing anything, because the flies don't realize that if the fly away from me and reach the border just end up on the other side (me waiting..) just put the frog perfectly in one corner and wait....
I just stopped at 9.. But it's a nice idea, when you continue work on it, this might be a game which can enjoy people for a reasonably long period of time. (wow, why did I do that?! stop being so serious! )
I stopped at 14. The problem was that it got easier instead of harder: in higher levels, the flies tended to concentrate around the edges -> more predictable -> easier to catch.
I noticed their tendency to do that, hence the little random burst. Doesn't help, though. I've attempted to alleviate the problem in version 0.0.3... but I'm not sure it's going to work well.
We don't borrow, we don't read, we don't rent, we don't lease, we take the minds!
Here's a version that's got the beginnings of Evolution built into it, but it's... broken. Only the very first frog spawned has the ability to collide with the flies, but it can't get within a certain radius of them before sending them screaming off at high velocities. All other frogs (you can evolve up by pressing space) simply pass through the flies. I'm not sure what, if anything, I did wrong. Or is this simply a limitation of the engine?
If it is a limitation, size increasing as part of evolution isn't something that I absolutely have to have. There are other evolutionary traits that I can build in that can make the game just as fun and configurable as increasing size. It just annoys me that this doesn't work for some unexplained reason.
In the setup code, you use love.physics.newCircleShape(theFrog[frogLevel], x * 5). The "frogLevel" should be "x".
In the hit() function, whether a is the frog or b is, b is always treated as the fly.
For some reason, tonumber(a or b, depending on the situation) == nil. Because of problem #1, the frogs have no shape in your code, so no errors are generated.
As you might have guessed, I have solved all problems except for #3 in the file below.
EDIT: solved #3 as well. I forgot that setting "local x = ..." inside an if statement is not recognized outside of it.
So I sat there last night and began to pull together my overly-ambitious goal for this project. It is a Rogue-like (randomly generating) RPG called Evolutionary Tale. Allow me to dump a wall of text before you:
The Story: You are a bit of a nothing nobody from nowhere who has no real path in life. As you play the game, the paths open before you.
The Story Mechanics: As you battle, you gain evolutionary points. As you evolve, you learn more and more abilities.
The Gameplay: You control a simple avatar that has no real attributes. It has a small size and can only consume small things. As it grows and is able to consume larger things, it gains evolutionary points that can be put towards one or more of the evolutionary branches.
As you travel about, you'll be given the opportunity to complete missions that are randomly generated.
Creatures & Things
Surrounding you are a multitude of creatures. Some are docile and will not harm you. Others are aggressive and will attack as soon as they spot you. Always be on guard! Also surrounding you are a number of inanimate free-floating objects. These objects will sometimes add evolutionary points, sometimes they will restore your health, other times they'll grant you temporary effects--some good, some bad--such as reducing your Radii. You'll learn to tell them apart over time.
Red Triangles - Aggressive! Will come toward you when you begin attacking.
Orange Triangles - Docile, but will still come toward you when you begin attacking.
Yellow Triangles - Cowards, will try to run away when you begin attacking.
Purple Circles - Items
Blue Square - Evolutionary Points -- Only seen during battle
Radii
Presence Radius - You're the only one with this Radius. This is the Radius that triggers the Threat Radius of other creatures. It is initially larger than you, although there is an ability that reduces it.
Threat Radius - This is the radius where you're able to do damage to another creature, allowing you to consume it. If the creature is within your Threat radius, they're going to be consumable based on their level in relation to you. Bear in mind that aggressive creatures also have threat radii as well.
Statistics
Unlike a traditional RPG, this game does not randomly determine the outcome of a fight. All outcomes are based on your statistic points and your abilities. You can flee a battle simply by moving your Presence Radius outside of the Threat Radius of a foe. Once you're no longer in their Threat Radius, they'll cease attacking you, simple as that.
Health - The more of this you have, the longer it takes for a creature to kill you.
Attack - The more of this you have, the quicker you kill a foe.
Abilities of the Evolutionary Tree:
Unassuming - Lower the size of your Presence radius, causing aggressive creatures to have a harder time detecting you.
Dodge - Shrug off a certain amount of damage as if you never took it at all.
Long Shot - Decreases the Threat radius of all foes around you, making it harder for them to attack you while you're attacking them.
Called Shot - While you're outside of the threat radius of another creature you're attacking, your Attack is given a bonus.
Mercurial - Increases your over-all speed.
Blur - Decreases the speed of enemies within your Threat Radius
Ambition - Grants a bonus to your Initiative while not increasing your Threat Radius
Titanium - Increases your Health, helping you to resist damage over longer periods of time.
Steeled Nerves - Grants a percentage of your health back whenever you deal damage.
Battle Lust - Lowers the Attack of an enemy within your Threat Radius.
Hammer Hits - Increases your Attack bonus, allowing you to deal more damage.
Blitz - Every few blows you do extra damage, but lose some Health.
Taunt - Increases your Threat Radius, granting improved Initiative but making you a larger target.
Deception - Grants more EP per enemy.
Luck - Purple Circles are more likely to grant EP.
Cunning - Reduces the cost of adding other abilities.
Beast Master - Tame beasts more easily.
Game Play Mechanics
Controls: You use your mouse to guide your protozoa around the screen.
While you're moving, the game checks:
* Is your Presence Radius within the Threat Radius of any given on-screen creature? If so, commence that creature attacking you. Or commence it not giving a crap if it's a neutral. Commence it fleeing if it is a coward type.
* Is any creature within your own personal Threat Radius? If so, are you holding the left mouse button down? If so, commence attacking that creature. If not, are you holding the right mouse button down? If so, commence taming that creature.
The game is played by accessing "areas". The game randomly generates a number of areas. Each area has a small number of creatures and items set up in it. An area is considered "clear" if you destroy all enemies within it. Enemies are not able to follow you to other areas.
Missions are really more like achievements in other games. Basically you start a game with a list of missions, randomly generated, that help you to evolve more quickly by completing them.
Mission Types:
Discover %x areas - Discover progressive numbers of areas.
Explore the World - Explore the entire world.
Kill %x of %creature type - Kill a certain number of creatures.
Gather %x of %item type - Gather a certain number of items.
Kill %uniquecreature - Kill a unique creature.
Max out %ability - Learn the maximum of an ability.
Kill %x creatures in %x time - Kill creatures quickly.
Scare %x creatures in %x time - Frighten off creatures.
Tame %uniquecreature - Tame a unique creature as a pet. It will help you in battle.
Tame %x creatures - Tame a number of creatures.
Last edited by Xcmd on Sun Jul 19, 2009 5:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.
We don't borrow, we don't read, we don't rent, we don't lease, we take the minds!
)
