Neutral Balance by koller-digital

[raw]
made by koller-digital for LD25 (COMPO)
In this game you have to be Good and Evil. To earn points with the good side, you have to be evil on the other.

You need Java Version 7 and OpenGL to start this game.
Fixed the bug, where an exception was thrown if no 16:9 DisplayMode was found.

Ratings

Coolness 91% 2
Overall 3.02 350
Audio 1.50 562
Fun 2.83 372
Graphics 2.55 520
Humor 1.97 564
Innovation 3.69 71
Mood 2.65 435
Theme 2.83 525

Feedback

hints
17. Dec 2012 路 07:14 UTC
Really quite enjoyable; maybe I don't fully understand it but it's difficult as well.
ddionisio
17. Dec 2012 路 07:16 UTC
I can't seem to run the game...Windows 7 64-bit, if that helps. Also ran it on the desktop. Nothing happens when I run it (not even showing in the task manager processes)
celeron55
17. Dec 2012 路 07:18 UTC
@ddionisio: Same thing for me.
馃帳 koller-digital
17. Dec 2012 路 07:43 UTC
@ddionisio, @celeron55: You need java version 7. Type "java -version" in a Command prompt. Your java version have to be "1.7.0_xx". If it is, maybe try the jar-version from the linux-link. And if it still doesn't work, try in a Command Prompt "java -jar Neutral_Balance.jar" and tell me what it says.
Gemberkoekje
17. Dec 2012 路 08:34 UTC
I found this game pretty hard, in addition to that it took a bit for me to understand it.

- Graphics are pretty good, though I guess you could've added some variety.
- I'd have liked a menu and/or a tutorial, especially as your concept is quite unique it could've used some explanation.
- I think it would've been better if one of the sides was AI-controlled, or by another player, but I'm not fan of the equilibrium.
h8urf8
17. Dec 2012 路 09:33 UTC
I also have problems to run it on windows 7 64-bit.
LWJGLException: Pixel format not accelerated.
h8urf8
17. Dec 2012 路 09:37 UTC
Ok, the system I used, didn't support OpenGL...
Ragepyro
17. Dec 2012 路 09:50 UTC
Fairly cool, my only regret is that my aim is terrible, so evil always loses.
tompudding
17. Dec 2012 路 10:15 UTC
This was very enjoyable, jolly good show. A really simple mechanic that's easy to grasp, but is fun and addictive too.
Robotic
17. Dec 2012 路 10:26 UTC
I really enjoyed the concept, even though the good side always won :(
Starspell
17. Dec 2012 路 10:34 UTC
Unfortunately with my laptop being a load of fail I can't run this game :_:
lorancou
17. Dec 2012 路 12:32 UTC
Took me a while to grasp the mechanics but I finally found out out to get the evil side growing. Problem is the game tends to crash after 30s of play so I can't really try beating my highscores :/
svenardo
17. Dec 2012 路 16:21 UTC
Good concept, also challenging. Seems like the good side has some unfair advantages. For some reason it crashes after a short while (Windows 8).
馃帳 koller-digital
17. Dec 2012 路 17:20 UTC
Sadly I have no Window 8 machine to test it on. So I can't reproduce these crashes. If possible, please start the jar-version (linux) with a Command Prompt and tell me the exception if it throws any.
BipolarMike
17. Dec 2012 路 23:48 UTC
It's an interesting concept, but I didn't find myself having much fun...
ddionisio
18. Dec 2012 路 05:26 UTC
@koller-digital Yeah that was it. I was under the assumption my java is up-to-date since it always nags me to update it.

Definitely took a while for me to understand the mechanics. Pretty good game, may actually work well for 2-player.
zenmumbler
18. Dec 2012 路 16:17 UTC
Trying to open this on Ubuntu 12 with Oracle Java v7, got this as output:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: setSelectedIndex: 0 out of bounds
at javax.swing.JComboBox.setSelectedIndex(JComboBox.java:622)
at de.koller.ld25.launcher.Launcher.<init>(Launcher.java:15)
at de.koller.ld25.LDStart.main(LDStart.java:9)
DaGamesta
20. Dec 2012 路 05:22 UTC
Interesting concept. You have to use your good ammo to gain bad ammo, it's a nice twist. Personally I felt there needed to be something more, or perhaps some rebalancing, but I think this was a good job under the circumstances.
youdonotexist
22. Dec 2012 路 00:34 UTC
@ koller-digital: Tried to open on my Mac (Mountain Lion, Java 7) and got the following:

mdaly@mikedaly:~/Downloads$ java -jar Neutral_Balance.jar
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: setSelectedIndex: 0 out of bounds
at javax.swing.JComboBox.setSelectedIndex(JComboBox.java:622)
at de.koller.ld25.launcher.Launcher.<init>(Launcher.java:15)
at de.koller.ld25.LDStart.main(LDStart.java:9)

Ping me on twitter (@youdonotexist) if you need any help troubleshooting.
sclark39
22. Dec 2012 路 04:25 UTC
Can't run :(
馃帳 koller-digital
22. Dec 2012 路 08:13 UTC
@zenmumbler, @youdonotexist: Thank you for the report. This exception occured, when no 16:9 DisplayMode was found, but it should work now.
CoffeeOnimal
23. Dec 2012 路 12:54 UTC
I guess no-one said you couldn't NOT be the good guy too.
I applaud your innovative take on the theme. Very well crafted game as well.
barigorokarl
25. Dec 2012 路 10:31 UTC
Interesting concept, but you have to polish more. I didn't understand how to balance g<->e at first and as I did there was no difference in points because it was to hard for me. But the idea definitly has something to it.
delpes
31. Dec 2012 路 03:17 UTC
Really love that concept! And of course the faces of the sun/the red thing when the opposing surface came closer :)
Beanalby
31. Dec 2012 路 18:31 UTC
I liked the yin/yang take on You Are the Villain, rather than the "pure evil" aspect of most entries.
Maikeroppi
31. Dec 2012 路 19:44 UTC
One of the more interesting game concepts I've played, well done! A few notes:
-It took me a bit to figure out as I just started firing, but playing both sides at once is cool.
-I feel like the gameplay mechanics are well designed and balanced. The fact that one side grows if it gets too large, and each shot produces a shot for the opposite side results in quite a bit of strategy for such a game.
-Seems heavily tilted to the light side. I couldn't last too long when the light side auto growing speeds up.
-There didn't seem to be any sound. Not sure if a bug or you didn't have time for this.
-I thought the graphics were kind of charming, even though you're mostly killing the poor little green guys.

Very well done!
Dining Philosopher
01. Jan 2013 路 17:57 UTC
Awesome, and really hard! I didn't manage to let evil win, if that's possible.
Freakill
02. Jan 2013 路 16:18 UTC
Really nice idea, one could the message out of the game! I really liked the mechanics, fluent and well balanced, not meaning it is not difficult ;)
ceronman
02. Jan 2013 路 21:46 UTC
Very interesting gameplay. I enjoyed it playing it.
Neonlare
03. Jan 2013 路 07:11 UTC
Pretty darn fun once I got the hang of it, does need some more tutorialness though ;o.
Mago
03. Jan 2013 路 13:48 UTC
interesting idea, but in my case evil always loses
KevinWorkman
05. Jan 2013 路 02:42 UTC
This is a fun idea and could make an interesting 2-player mechanic, with each side able to help or hurt the other.

By the way, if you're looking for a better host than dropbox, you might check out the free Java hosting I offer at http://StaticVoidGames.com. Either way, nice work!