LudumData

Nano Commander by Alex Gilday

[raw]
made by Alex Gilday for LD23 (COMPO)
Nano Commander is an RTS-style game where you take control of units in order to destroy your opponent. All the help you need can be viewed in-game or below. There are currently 6 maps available which can be added to by converting a png with similar layout to the current maps (#000000 for wall, #FFFFFF for empty space, #00FF00 for friendly units, #FF0000 for enemies).

There are a few annoyances I should note. First of all is the unit movement. Due to limited time and complexity of the movement, units are fairly solitary and will queue up all attempting to reach the same spot without flocking around the target position.

Secondly is the simplicity. I'd have liked to add more types of units, better upgrades, more balanced upgrade system, building more units, strategic enemies, etc.

Last off all is community. I didn't manage to stream as much as I'd hoped I could, nor post as much as I'd have liked either. Too busy developing this :P

Windows http://dl.dropbox.com/u/30361085/nc/nanocommander.zip
Source https://github.com/xSmallDeadGuyx/Nano-Commander
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=7143

Ratings

Coolness 49% 642
Overall 3.43 169
Audio 2.89 264
Fun 3.21 214
Graphics 2.79 489
Humor 2.72 216
Innovation 3.14 334
Mood 3.04 242
Theme 2.61 627

Feedback

Cell
23. Apr 2012 · 11:52 UTC
Quite funny, quite good, 4/5 woop woop.
howieV (binarygirl)
23. Apr 2012 · 18:13 UTC
i liked it man...god job.. it seemed to crash after about 30secs tho.. its probably just my machine ;p
lanoiadimuu
23. Apr 2012 · 19:40 UTC
Interesting and fun idea!

It crashed twice on my machine while moving large groups of units.
SmallDeadGuy
23. Apr 2012 · 19:47 UTC
Yeah movement does crash every now an then, I know why too. Unfortunately not an easy to solve one (well the crash is but it'd involve losing the glitchy units who are the culprits)
Norgg
23. Apr 2012 · 20:17 UTC
Nice, on the hard side though, found it difficult to find tactics which wouldn't just take ages, like just massively upgrading one unit to out-range everything else.
howieV (binarygirl)
23. Apr 2012 · 20:44 UTC
i played it again and i think it was just that level ..all the others are working a treat so far :)
Danvil
23. Apr 2012 · 22:00 UTC
Funny setting with the little ships (?). They are a bit hard to control though.
Fireblend
24. Apr 2012 · 05:00 UTC
I thought this was pretty good, although I must not be a very good commander, because I didn't get very far if I didn't buff up some unit beforehand :P
ratking
24. Apr 2012 · 08:13 UTC
Cool, a minimal RTS! I like it the way it is, you shouldn't add too much stuff. :-)
Perhaps different colors for the player bullets / enemy bullets would be nice.
zorf
24. Apr 2012 · 18:53 UTC
Random crashes now and then. Otherwise a fun little game.
Jigxor
24. Apr 2012 · 19:13 UTC
Wow! Not many people can say they made an RTS during LD. Well done! My only real suggestion would be to add in the ability to scroll with the arrow keys. The whole game was really fun and smooth to play.

Overall, great job!
ChainedLupine
24. Apr 2012 · 21:21 UTC
Nice job! I find I play this just like an RTS. Kite to get an enemy to attack, then hammer him with multiple units out of the range of his buddies. Made easier by the fact that his buddies won't join in to assist. :)
Ranoka
28. Apr 2012 · 16:43 UTC
Great job with the game! You have quite a complete entry, I think most of the improvements I would like to see are based on improving unit control and maybe balancing/ being able to build/buy new units during the level. Very impressive for 48 hours!
Benjamin
30. Apr 2012 · 22:42 UTC
Its not working here ( windows 7 )
vigrid
30. Apr 2012 · 23:07 UTC
Really interesting idea, but... And it's a huge but that you should fix... The path finding is an arse. Still, a reverse-TD-like game, where you can upgrade your groups is a nice concept.
Raptor85
30. Apr 2012 · 23:08 UTC
requires XNA4 so can't test, doesnt run under WINE

as a courtesy in the future it would be nice to list frameworks used
Puzzlem00n
01. May 2012 · 00:11 UTC
Nice game, despite the fact I can't win any of the levels... It's definitely really good fun.
TobiasNL
10. May 2012 · 10:32 UTC
could not run it:(
geekygenius
13. May 2012 · 02:15 UTC
The bots were really hard to control without getting them in a line. It was fin to play though. I lost two games. :(
SmallDeadGuy
13. May 2012 · 09:33 UTC
Yeah I was trying to get a nice flocking algorithm going but couldn't really find anything that fit into a grid nicely with the amount of units being controlled
pighead10
13. May 2012 · 16:44 UTC
Fairly fun, but the lack of fluency with the movement is *really* frustrating and, as you say, there is not much variety so it gets boring after a while.
Cake&Code
13. May 2012 · 18:48 UTC
An RTS? Nicely done! It was fun to play and definitely not too easy nor too hard. The graphics were really fitting and the only thing I'd like to see would be differentiated bullets for friendly vs enemy. Awesome :D
FireSlash
13. May 2012 · 19:15 UTC
The pathing is infuriating and requires lots of micromanagement to keep them from just forming long lines or other bad constructs. However as someone who's implemented pathfinding before, I can forgive this on a 48 hour deadline. (Death to A*)

Nice to see an RTS in here! A highly under-loved genre in LD