Manual Population Control by Jiggawatt
An arcade/tower defense/coffee break strategy game, made with Python & Pygame. Keep the enemies from becoming too specialized at wrecking your defensive turrets by juggling them like a pro.
Instructions (now with a gameplay video):
The round object at the left is a generator, which your job is to protect. Use your mouse to connect it to turrets - left-click to draw and right-click to cut a wire.
There are three genes in play: red, green, and blue.
-While an enemy is attacked by a turret with its color, it's immune to damage.
-When an enemy is killed by a turret, the enemy gene pool adapts to the turret's color by one fitness point, meaning that enemies of that color become more common.
-Additionally, an enemy gene levels up after every 4 fitness points, spawning more powerful enemies. Namely, the blue gene will give more health, the green one more range, and the red one more attack power.
You can also take advantage of genes.
-A turret that kills an enemy adds the enemy's gene to its gene bank.
-A turret's gene bank can hold 3 genes.
-The cumulative genes of all turrets _connected to the generator_ can be used to build more turrets in the white slots. Select the genotype of the turret by clicking on the bottom left colors; then connect a white slot to the generator and click on it. Building a turret costs 1 gene of its color.
-Additionally, if a turret's gene bank has 3 same genes in a row, you can level up that gene by clicking on the turret and pressing the double helix button. Turrets built after that will be more powerful in the same manner as enemies.
Knowing all that, try to keep the enemy gene pool in control by strategically connecting and disconnecting turrets from the generator. The goal is simply to survive as long as you can; your score is the amount of enemies killed.
It's challenging but addictive - just the way I like my games - so don't give up.
Instructions (now with a gameplay video):
The round object at the left is a generator, which your job is to protect. Use your mouse to connect it to turrets - left-click to draw and right-click to cut a wire.
There are three genes in play: red, green, and blue.
-While an enemy is attacked by a turret with its color, it's immune to damage.
-When an enemy is killed by a turret, the enemy gene pool adapts to the turret's color by one fitness point, meaning that enemies of that color become more common.
-Additionally, an enemy gene levels up after every 4 fitness points, spawning more powerful enemies. Namely, the blue gene will give more health, the green one more range, and the red one more attack power.
You can also take advantage of genes.
-A turret that kills an enemy adds the enemy's gene to its gene bank.
-A turret's gene bank can hold 3 genes.
-The cumulative genes of all turrets _connected to the generator_ can be used to build more turrets in the white slots. Select the genotype of the turret by clicking on the bottom left colors; then connect a white slot to the generator and click on it. Building a turret costs 1 gene of its color.
-Additionally, if a turret's gene bank has 3 same genes in a row, you can level up that gene by clicking on the turret and pressing the double helix button. Turrets built after that will be more powerful in the same manner as enemies.
Knowing all that, try to keep the enemy gene pool in control by strategically connecting and disconnecting turrets from the generator. The goal is simply to survive as long as you can; your score is the amount of enemies killed.
It's challenging but addictive - just the way I like my games - so don't give up.
Ratings
| Coolness | 42% | 691 |
| Overall | 2.90 | 417 |
| Audio | 3.30 | 106 |
| Fun | 2.43 | 541 |
| Graphics | 3.43 | 184 |
| Innovation | 3.14 | 253 |
| Mood | 2.46 | 461 |
| Theme | 3.48 | 153 |
The game looks solid and polished, though. Nice work on that!