IceBreaker by pentaphobe

[raw]
made by pentaphobe for LD26 (COMPO)
note: I strongly recommend you try the jam/post-compo version

------------------------------------------
--- I - C - E ---- B - R - E - A - K - E - R ---
------------------------------------------------

It's the early 90's vision of a cyberpunk future, and you're "jacked"
into your netty thingy trying to get things from things that don't
want you to have things.*

Ooooh.

It's even got pseudo-authentic industrial music!


------------------------------------------------------
What makes it minimalist?
------------------------------------------------------

You can't quite tell, but it's a stripped-down RTS:
- no resources or buildings (instead you have gestation periods for replication)
- since you can't build unit factories, you instead have to replicate (and be vulnerable), but if you're standing still you will heal
- there /are/ classes, but they are restricted to *strength* (hit amount) and *vitality* (health)
- it's meant to be broken down into very short levels, generally with you collecting/destroying something which is being protected. (will add this for the jam/post-compo edition, most of the code's there - just needs to be plugged in)

------------------------------------------------------
Controls:
------------------------------------------------------

Arrows to pan camera
Select your green guys to give them orders:
- hit [M] to Move
- hit [A] to Attack (you can also just click on enemies to attack with your selected units)
- hit [B] to "Breed" (actually you clone yourself)
- hit [H] to randomly hurt your selected green guy
- hit left and right square brackets '[' & ']' to move between levels as there's no detection of victory
- h... nope. that's it

The computer player is so amazingly intelligent that it tricks
you into thinking it's a complete moron.

And then dies.

Such is its cunning genius.

------------------------------------------------------


*note: my 12-year old self loves me for doing this.
You finally got your lame future buddy! Yay!

Ratings

Coolness 71% 3
Overall 2.90 848
Audio 3.08 328
Fun 2.49 991
Graphics 2.95 615
Humor 1.72 933
Innovation 2.85 773
Mood 2.83 598
Theme 3.32 769

Feedback

馃帳 pentaphobe
29. Apr 2013 路 02:48 UTC
In case anyone else has the same issue with publishing and knows as little about Haxe/NME as I do, just use the following:

nme build flash -web

(the '-web' creates html and presumably a slightly different .swf as well since it seems to run more slowly)
cacciatc
29. Apr 2013 路 05:04 UTC
Nice soundy things. I am also glad for your 12 year old self. There should be a judging category for that.
Broxxar
29. Apr 2013 路 06:20 UTC
Cool stuff. Would be interesting to see where you take this post-compo.
馃帳 pentaphobe
30. Apr 2013 路 03:36 UTC
Thanks, folks!

Yeah - a couple of things broke in an untimely fashion making it seem even more incomplete than it was!

I did some tweaks to make an Unofficial Jam Version, which is available up the top now and will continue to be updated over the course of the day
GertJohnny
30. Apr 2013 路 06:46 UTC
I think it's a really cool concept - it would be awesome to see it fleshed out more. I totally took away the real-time aspect of it by doing all of my decisions+planning while paused. It's got a nice feel to it !
Tainted_Code
30. Apr 2013 路 23:01 UTC
It's a pretty groovy game! Carry on with it, I'd like to see the post-compo finished!
davidpeter
30. Apr 2013 路 23:07 UTC
Hmm, went a bit too fast. Everything kept dying and I didn't know what to do. I think I won, but not sure. Enjoyable when I did though :)
KunoNoOni
30. Apr 2013 路 23:07 UTC
Really like the music. Interesting use of Theme. Good job!
gmaker
01. May 2013 路 16:36 UTC
nice idea
kurrik
02. May 2013 路 06:31 UTC
Nice work - the Jam version really fleshes out your vision for the game. Reminds me a lot of Frozen Synapse, which is a really really good thing. The compo version did drop you into things really suddenly though.
Rafael Sales
03. May 2013 路 19:40 UTC
Good job. Interesting mood and mechanic. Congratz!
mrexcessive
03. May 2013 路 19:49 UTC
Well that works better in the Jam version. Like Beethoven's 9th for victory. Have rated the entry even though that version unplayable due to way fast and no tutorial level. Good job creating the engine &c. and I think you should see the "better" version as a bug-fix and expect that to be rated...
HuvaaKoodia
03. May 2013 路 20:27 UTC
Rather solid effort, although I think the game would have required more tactics and strategy as a turn based game.

Plus a few ideas:
-While breeding extra vulnerable
-Breeding reduces sizeclass by one, must wait to grow back or breed for a even smaller unit.
-Maps with varied topographies (Randomized).

Now all it takes is to:
Select all -> breed
Repeat until enemies appear then:
Select all -> attack and destroy one by one.
SuperlevelSebastian
06. May 2013 路 08:54 UTC
Just saying: When I try to get to the Web versions, following message appears - "This domain name is being parked by Register4Less.com"
MinionStudios
07. May 2013 路 16:25 UTC
Great game! Super difficult!
馃帳 pentaphobe
08. May 2013 路 08:48 UTC
Thanks for the feedback everyone (and patience with the compo build)

Very glad the FTL/Frozen Synapse thing made sense (thanks Kurrik!) - it wasn't what I had in mind initially, but by day 2 was a solid goal. (Yay!)

MrExcessive: Thanks a million! I'm keen to keep working on this, but I really appreciate your generosity

HuvaaKoodia: Oh noez, you found the weakness! :) I watched a friend's stream while he played and he did exactly the same thing. Balance fail!
I like your suggestions too - some are very similar to my original intent (wanted barriers/topography and the point of the breeding was vulnerability) but your suggestion of the size class change is an interesting one I'd like to try. I'd considered the idea of splitting the hitpoints between parent and child (they can still heal to full), but your approach may well prove better (and more clear)

SuperlevelSebastian: !! HOLY CRAP !!
Thanks so very much, no idea how that slipped through the cracks.. All fixed now.

MinionStudios: Woot! Nice horror game to you too, sir/madam/people!
Sylvain.p
14. May 2013 路 19:56 UTC
Strange game, nice polish.
dremelofdeath
17. May 2013 路 07:35 UTC
Interesting game, although I died really quickly.
kddekadenz
17. May 2013 路 08:58 UTC
The game is kinda good. The sounds are good, the graphics are ok, the gameplay is interesting. However it is a bit easy.
Teejay5
21. May 2013 路 00:56 UTC
Really cool game!