Gauntlet: A Series of Ten Second Strategies by OkayHughes

[raw]
made by OkayHughes for LD27 (COMPO)
Controls are Q and E to switch floors, click to add waypoints (but only during planning phase) and delete to remove.

This game is a real time strategy gauntlet game played against a NPC sniper.
The current object of the Compo version of this game is to avoid death for as long as possible. The sniper (red cube) has taken a spot atop the central building in the square, and will attempt to shoot you every several seconds. He can shoot through windows, but not solid walls.
The game has two states, planning, and executing. Each stage lasts ten seconds. During the planning stage the mouse can be used to place waypoints. Q and E allow you to go up and down floors to create waypoints. Backspace can be used to erase waypoints from the end of the path. During this period the sniper will also decide whether to change their position to get a better shot. You will not be able to see their waypoints. During the execution stage, both you and the sniper will move to the chosen waypoints. This is done automatically, so your character will go up ramps if it needs to go up a floor. If you desire a certain ramp to be used, or a certain doorway to be used to avoid the sniper's path, a waypoint should be place there. The sniper will shoot at you periodically. If there is a clear path (i.e. no solid walls in the way) between you and the sniper, you die. Your score increments after surviving an execution stage.

In the post competition version (which ratings should not be based off of), the goal is to get all five keys located on top of the buildings, and then get to the gate at the top of the map. Good luck.



This game was created using Unity3d for assembly and scripting.
Blender was used for the construction of some base meshes.
BFXR was used to create the timer sound effect.

Initially only a Web-based distribution can be provided because I made a game breaking change just before the time ended so I need to fix that before I provide other ports. All of the improvements that will arise in the ports were done before 9:00 and I just had to resolve one issue before I rebuilt the project. I plan to create a post-compo version that has several improvements which will be labeled as such.

Special thanks to my friends Caleb Jones and Blade Nelson for being an artistic distraction and allowing me to bounce ideas off of them during the dozen or more hours we spent talking during this 48 hour period.

This code is released under the zlib/libpng License, meaning the following:
1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be appreciated but is not required.

2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be misrepresented as being the original software.

3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.

Ratings

Coolness 85% 2
Overall 2.71 878
Audio 1.88 838
Fun 2.29 1015
Graphics 2.85 576
Humor 1.46 952
Innovation 3.65 136
Mood 2.11 968
Theme 3.15 584

Feedback

Ghostik
26. Aug 2013 · 05:43 UTC
It was little hard to navigate but great concept!
archaeometrician
26. Aug 2013 · 06:18 UTC
Hey that's a very interesting concept! Love it ! Also, it makes me realize I would not stand long against a real sniper ;)
KamikaziUk
26. Aug 2013 · 13:49 UTC
Very cool concept. It's a little hard to navigate the level and it's kinda confusing to play but i can see the potential.
lordjosephdeburg
26. Aug 2013 · 15:32 UTC
A bit hard to get to grips with at first but a great game non the less!
MrBlade
26. Aug 2013 · 16:04 UTC
Nice job! I love the level design and concept. I would have liked a little more sound, other than that, there isn't much to complain about! Hahah keep it up!
mortus
26. Aug 2013 · 16:07 UTC
I'd designate some space in description for controls if I were you. I looked for those and didn't find and the game felt very frustrating. Only after I read the full description and found out that controls were actually there (just not very easy to discover with a quick glance), I managed to play the game.
01010111
28. Aug 2013 · 01:42 UTC
I didn't really get the concept in game, but I feel like I get the idea you're going for, and I think it's a FANTASTIC idea, so I'm glad to see you're working on it post-compo. Keep it up!
Beardbotnik
28. Aug 2013 · 01:44 UTC
The navigation was a bit buggy it seemed and it's hard to really figure out how the mechanics work, which makes surviving hard to figure out too. When I played I guess my blue guy got stuck between buildings and I was left without the ability to click around while he I guess went through a few countdowns to get onto another building. Overall I was just confused. The level looks nice though.
OldPeculier
28. Aug 2013 · 01:44 UTC
Is there something I am supposed to do apart from pressing Q and E and looking at a piece of text stating that I lost? Some clear controls would help. This seems like an interesting idea but I don't know what to do.
asc3nsion
28. Aug 2013 · 01:48 UTC
I like the idea it seems like it would be cool if I could figure out how to play. Maybe demo vid would be helpful I think. It felt like I should be able to orbit the camera around, to get a better idea of where to place points.
🎤 OkayHughes
28. Aug 2013 · 03:11 UTC
@Beardbotnik I did set the backspace key to delete the last waypoint. To the best of my knowledge I haven't had errors with that. Did you try that? Otherwise I don't quite understand your bug.
@OldPeculier I've added a bit to the html file that says the controls. If you're asking about the point to the game, in the compo version it's to avoid death. The game starts in planning phase, click to add waypoints, and after the clock counts down, the cube will move to that waypoint. Backspace deletes waypoints.
@asc3nsion Once again, I explained it above, so if that helps great. Otherwise I don't have a screen capture program. Sorry. I'd love to make an explanatory video, but I don't have the tech. As for the camera, I've considered doing that a few times, but it kept bugging out. I may attempt to implement it in the post compo.
RARoadkill
28. Aug 2013 · 03:39 UTC
Fun game, loved the concept
ChronusZ
28. Aug 2013 · 17:42 UTC
I would've liked to have an option for the camera to be more zoomed in or even first person, as it's quite difficult to understand where you are or what's going on. Still a fun little game regardless :)
Chinchilla
28. Aug 2013 · 17:46 UTC
Very impressive, the visual style and building models are really nice, and the concept is great. I was also really impressed with the pathfinding, the character seems to have no problems navigating those winding staircases.

The player needs to get a good idea where their character is before the timer starts I think, but overall a great job.
ratking
28. Aug 2013 · 17:50 UTC
I also think this game has a lot of potential. But I miss some kind of feedback, I can't really see, what I do and where I put some of the way points. I also pressed randomly Q and E and survived a few rounds, but there happened nothing. I also put every waypoint in the back of the first building and won every time. ...
Schwiggy
28. Aug 2013 · 18:02 UTC
First of all, the concept is great, highly innovative. In my experience it seemed that at first the sniper was way too good. But then I sneaked around the middle building in a circle, hoping to find an entrance, then, finding none, I realized that the sniper and I could live in harmony. He stood on the right-most part of the roof shooting into the floor that he stood on and I stood at the base of the building, on the left (it's still running, I just reached 20 points). I had the same experience as OldPeculier as well, when I loaded the game in a new tab and then switched over after the first turn had ended (with my death). There should be a button to restart, so you don't have to refresh the browser every time. Refreshing brings up another issue, which is that you have to click to focus the browser on the game. In effect, you can't use Q & E until you've set a waypoint in the browser version. So your only choices in your waning ten seconds are out-of-doors - though the wall of a lower level seems to work well. I realize though that you've already fixed this somewhat in the post-compo version by starting with the focus on the ground. Keep up the good work!
BlennosoftGames
29. Aug 2013 · 01:02 UTC
Very interesting idea, although the controls were certainly confusing. Only after reading the comments did I try clicking the background of the game first to make Q and E start working. Although after that it was much more playable.

Very innovative concept :)
🎤 OkayHughes
29. Aug 2013 · 03:24 UTC
Occasionally I have to click Q twice to get the layers to work. I don't understand how clicking the background helps. Which builds are you having trouble with? If you use the qq method, web works fine.
blackotus
29. Aug 2013 · 15:29 UTC
Very nice concept, different from most games on LD!

It got a little confusing to navigate, but shows great promise!
MrBlade
29. Aug 2013 · 16:36 UTC
Post Compo review:

A lot of the things I wanted you to add in the next version, you did. There seems to be more sound, the sniper seems just a little bit less accurate and the game is more easy to navigate.

Somethings I wish to see in a future version:
-Restart button
-Soundless/low specs version
-Various level changing improvements (With an FPS below 10, the reliability of level changing goes down three fold.)

Glad to see that you are updating this!
Almax27
29. Aug 2013 · 18:54 UTC
Nice concept, never seen this before. Colours are good! :D
Kohijin
30. Aug 2013 · 00:16 UTC
Nice idea and I really like the clean and plain look of the maps. It's a shame that I can't see my character sometimes.. in the beginning I was very confused what I am supposed to do.
koe415
30. Aug 2013 · 04:33 UTC
Great graphics and pretty original gameplay. Actually moving the main character around was pretty difficult. It just needs further developed. A restart option would have helped as well.
Super Hamster
30. Aug 2013 · 04:36 UTC
Interesting idea.
nathanhoffer
30. Aug 2013 · 04:54 UTC
Neat idea.
matthias_zarzecki
30. Aug 2013 · 14:27 UTC
Cool idea!
ratalaika
30. Aug 2013 · 16:09 UTC
good job
namrog84
30. Aug 2013 · 18:30 UTC
Is there a way to restart it? after I've lost.

interesting
Linusson
01. Sep 2013 · 21:15 UTC
It took a while before I understood what to do but then I really liked the concept. :)

A restart button would have been nice, especially as the game was pretty hard. The camera angle / zoom felt like it could have been better. But it was a really interesting concept and with the limited time I understand that it wasn't easy to have time for everything. :)

It definitely feels like a game that could be really fun with some more polish, so good job so far. :)
Teejay5
02. Sep 2013 · 17:12 UTC
I didn't understand at first cause I didn't see the player, but I got it after a while; cool concept :D
gravyhands
10. Sep 2013 · 01:55 UTC
Pretty fun! I wanted to keep playing until I found the way to exploit it. Basically, just hide under the first staircase to the left and the sniper never seems to move. Could use a better score system, but awesome idea.
cwkx
15. Sep 2013 · 13:11 UTC
Some very complex mechanics here, great job!