Growing Energy by scorder

made by scorder for LD26 (COMPO)

You play an exotic lifeform (the blue one!) made of Energy. Everything is Energy, and only Energy!

Each turn you choose one of the following actions

Exploring.
This costs you 1 unit of Energy, but allows you to see what the world around you is like. You like it because you can start planning how to take over the world.

Expanding.
This costs you 1 unit of Energy, but you can take control of a spot you previously Explored. You will have to fight for it, spending as many units of Energy as there is Energy and Generators on your target.

Generating.
This one feels good. You will generate 1 unit of Energy for each Generator that you activated. Mmm, yummy!

Additionally at the end of a turn, you will have to offset your current actions by either spreading your new Energy across your body or consuming Energy from your body.

The game will continuously hint at what items are currently available.

You and your two enemies will take turns until either you die of a shortage of Energy, or both of your enemies suffer such a sad fate. Fortunately, these two guys are currently very stupid...

This has only been vaguely tested in Firefox...

Web	https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/25891223/LudumDare26/LD26.html
Source	https://github.com/svenzin/LD26
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=13724

Ratings

Coolness	77%	2
Overall	2.79	954

Audio	2.23	827
Fun	2.23	1158
Graphics	2.39	1036
Humor	1.35	1056
Innovation	3.56	231
Mood	2.04	1188
Theme	2.63	1231

Feedback

Dark Acre Jack

29. Apr 2013 · 22:09 UTC

Too complex for my tiny brain.

JAH2488

29. Apr 2013 · 22:30 UTC

Lots of potential, but really hard to figure out. Needs a tutorial to ease you into it.

Martze

29. Apr 2013 · 22:38 UTC

It's very hard to figure out how to play. Some more prompts would help matters. "Click sector to take energy from," etc.

bleating

29. Apr 2013 · 22:40 UTC

I had a little trouble at first until I figured out that you have to click on your own squares to expend/spread energy. Once I figured that out everything else fell into place. A good minimalistic take on exploration/colonization games.

JohnnySix

29. Apr 2013 · 22:42 UTC

It's an interesting concept but a tad too complicated to understand. With a few tweaks to perhaps make the concept understandable from the UI alone, so it's implied rather than explained in text what you have to do - it'd be more in keeping with the minimal thing.

Crowbeak

29. Apr 2013 · 22:47 UTC

You made an interesting and unique strategy game in three days. My compliments to the chef. You should polish this and try to sell it.

Masadow

29. Apr 2013 · 22:53 UTC

Very entertaining concept. I think it would be better if you can activate generators from your entire empire instead of a single case. It would bring a more strategic case. Actually, if IA plays perfectly, nobody should win.

🎤 scorder

30. Apr 2013 · 17:55 UTC

Thanks for your remarks, I appreciate :)

I wish I had had more time to work on the UI, to understanding the game better and also to get rid of all those useless clicks...

As usual, it is very hard to balance the different aspects of the game on top of making it. I will have to work on it...

Husky

01. May 2013 · 06:34 UTC

Intersesting!
But it's really so hard for me...

pearcev

01. May 2013 · 17:30 UTC

Maybe some more text on what the heck is going on? I understood it eventually but good god man it took awhile

Milktoast

02. May 2013 · 00:45 UTC

Although it didn't register a win, I'll always know that I conquered the universe! Started out slow, but I eventually steamrolled my enemies. Fun!

larb

02. May 2013 · 01:09 UTC

Tough to understand. Once I figured it out, it was fun conquering the world, I'm thankful the AI isn't smart, or else I would never finish.

mrexcessive

03. May 2013 · 13:42 UTC

Agree with some other posters that this needs a simple tutorial, and to be sure that it is working properly.

Neonlare

06. May 2013 · 18:22 UTC

Very hard to figure out how to play. Did get into a bit but it is a really complicated piece of game, takes a while just to get started in understanding, but still very interesting in term of design.

Ryusui

06. May 2013 · 18:46 UTC

Clever concept, but the UI is just too obtuse.

HuvaaKoodia

06. May 2013 · 21:59 UTC

A simplified 4X, brilliant. Some of the mechanics need tweaking though.

Generation is OP. You can generate power anywhere on the area and distribute it right into the frontlines. This means I never had to used a 1 point generator and steam rolling was way too easy.

I'd fancy a mechanic for having to transfer energy through the owned tiles. One would have to use the generators closer to the frontline to get reinforcements faster.
This could be automatic via some path finding or manual by setting up the transfer route in before hand.

The exploration could be toned down too. Now multiple tiles can be revealed at the cost of one energy and turn.

It could be an exchange of one energy for one tile once or many times per turn instead.

KHANanaphone

08. May 2013 · 18:49 UTC

I understood it eventually. Hard to tell if it would be more interesting playing against a human/smarter computer, but I can see the idea. AI is a crazy thing to try in 48 hours though, so it's understandable.

YSelf Tool

13. May 2013 · 22:44 UTC

I have no idea what to do. Too complex. I play it, but do not know what I am actually doing.

Zim the Fox

17. May 2013 · 19:43 UTC

As others have said, it is very hard to figure out. It would be good to at least explain what the icons mean. The game however is fun and interesting. A very minimalistic strategy game that works very well and I took over the universe (I was expecting the game to tell me that, though! :P)

Congrats on making a game for the compo!