Frontier
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
IMPORTANT! README!
THERE IS NO IN GAME TUTORIAL!
Open Prototype (v. 0.0.0)
General
First off, thank you for taking the time to play my prototype and perhaps give feedback, it is highly appreciated!
This prototype is highly inspired by the original TSG (flash game by the casual collective).
This prototype was made under 60hrs, so please consider this when feedbacking.
This prototype was originally closed for my peers only because of how unripe it is.
How to Play
Or just watch this!
Pre Game
- insert a nickname for the leaderboards, if you wish\care
- Pick any difficulty you like
In Game (UI)
- Top left of the HUD shows your current crystals and Energy.
- Crystals are the main way to purchase and upgrade nodes. You can get crystals by placing mines.
- Energy is crucial to keep your nodes running. Energy lower than 100% will make your nodes slower
- Top Hud shows the time controls.
- Top right shows your score
- The bottom ui left is a context panel that is opened once you hover over a node. use it to get more info on any node
- straight bottom is where you pick which node to build. By order, left to right
- Connector - connects two nodes
- turret - attacks enemies
- miner - mines asteroids for crystals
- solar panel - produces energy
- storage - stores resources
- bottom right is where your radar
Controls
- mouse wheel to zoom in \ out
- mouse or WASD to pan screen
- use the bottom toolbar to place the different nodes. Note that you are only placing nodes, but resources must reach them to actually build them
- mouse over a node and press U to upgrade it. This will essentially replace the node.
- mouse over a node and press R to remove it
- Shift to place the same node multiple times in a row
- ESC to cancel node build selection
- ctrl+R to restart the game
Objective & Set
you start the game with one solar panel and one almost full storage, start playing from here to last as much time as you can against hordes of enemies
Known Issues
- turrets don't have inactive state UI
- deleted nodes do not create system recalibration (Node removed)
- upgraded turrets already shoot
- electricity is given from solar even if it's not built
- upgrading might disconnect nodes
- zooming is extremely slow
Feedback
After playing the prototype, feel free to contact me to gimme some feedback. you can do so via the comments here on itch, Discord (misterkidx) or email agesonera@gmail.com.
I am looking for feedback specifically on the core of the game, I know huge parts of the UI is missing and replayability is lean, but I just wish to know: Is this game worth making?
Extrapolation
Consider how this design will extrapolate in the future:
- More enemies
- more types of nodes
- more upgrades
- different upgrade paths
- more resources
- nodes that combine\translate resources to other resources (light factory mechanics)
- more levels and a level map
- more mineables (stars, suns, planets, etc.)
- the player could issue commands to send resources to specific places
- the player would have to carefully plan resource routes so not to create traffic
- much more...
The Feedback
If you could answer the following questions that would be amazing: (1- hell no, 5- absolutely)
- Did you have fun? (1-5) + free text
- Did you find the core concept of nodes and traversable resources cool? (1-5) + free text
- do you see any potential for a fully-fledged game (singleplayer only) (1-5) + free text
- What did you wish you had in the prototype that just wasn't there?
- Anything else you want to add
Download
Comments
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I’ve gotten used to the prototype and now I’m dominating the leaderboard xD The only downside is the background music which is very loud, is there any way to reduce or eliminate it?
I'll add it.
And beat you in the leaderboards :D
Thanks for taking a keen interest in the prototype!
That could be a bit tricky, hehehe.
Right now, it’s possible to start the game without selecting a difficulty, which means enemies aren’t triggered. This way, I gathered all the resources, removed all the mining stations, and built the cannons before any attacks. It saved me CPU time, and I was able to reach the top of the leaderboard without too much trouble.
Speaking of the leaderboard… I imagine this structure is limited to the prototype, but I have to mention it: if a leaderboard is part of the final version, I think it is wise to consider a fixed amount of resources for the map or difficulty level. At the moment, it’s variable, and that can affect individual results. Anyone lucky enough to get fat asteroids will definitely have an advantage.
Oh man, i'll have to delete those entries from the leaderboard, sorry mate. Thanks for finding that bug though i'll update the game on friday.
There won't be a leaderboard in the final game (it's singleplayer, and players can easily cheat on their machine). The final game will have a fog of war and an almost endless space to explore, with planets, asteriods and the likes.
Ahahaha
A bit late to say that only scores above 60k used cheating? It’s pretty easy to reach ~45k on “hard” difficulty; the real challenge is not having your computer freeze.
Now, if the goal is to prevent the entire leaderboard from being filled with the same name, I think it would be interesting to restrict repetition.
Yeah, of course of all the feedback is correct but I don't wanna spend too much time on the prototype while the real game is coming along nicely!
My bad on the score, i'll update it manually.
Preventing cheating in leaderboards takes a lot of work, like code obfuscation, sum checking and what not.
I loved the game! Unfortunately, my CPU (M1) couldn't handle it, and it often reaches 100% usage and stops responding... I just restart and try again, hahaha. I think it's worth doing! Please do it!
What could be causing the 100% CPU usage? Is there anything I can check on my end to try to diagnose this? I'm using a MacBook Air (M1, 2020) running macOS 14.6.1, by the way.
Hmmm, I have no idea, but the prototype isn't built for performance what-so-ever. I I'm building the full game on top of a fast tech stack, so you should be able to play with mac and have thousands of enemies on the map.
Sorry for the inconvenience :) and thanks for your interest!
Can't wait, thanks!
Please make a Mac version of this.
Weird, should work for mac, can you specify what the problem is?
The download only has .exe and .dll files. There's nothing that looks like it will run on a Mac
I'll check it out and upload a mac build
I uploaded a mac version, lemme know if you have any problems
I was able to run it after including execution permission. Do "chmod +x /Applications/prod_mac.app/Contents/MacOS/*" in Terminal, without quotes of course.
Sorry of the vagueness, it's first time I publish to mac (anything)