Auto-Army by tzachs

[raw]
made by tzachs for LD20 (COMPO)
Just barely made it, not much testing done, and I had to cut out a lot of stuff I wanted to do, hopefully you will see the potential...
Only 7 small levels made it through.

Instructions
------------
Play with the mouse, choose your troops, place them to the left of the red line.
When you feel you're ready press "Go" for your hero to try and walk to the next room.

Ratings

Coolness 8% 75
Overall 2.43 219
Audio 1.36 258
Community 2.31 185
Fun 2.22 226
Graphics 2.48 214
Humor 2.12 191
Innovation 3.13 119
Theme 2.55 173

Feedback

EddieCameron
02. May 2011 · 19:03 UTC
I couldn't restart levels or the game, but it was looking pretty interesting! (if a bit twitchy for me)
FireSlash
02. May 2011 · 20:10 UTC
Couldn't restart levels, so you had to restart the entire game if you messed up. Doesn't seem to be a limit on placement so you can just spam stuff. Also no instructions... Interesting idea but needs more development
TomK32
02. May 2011 · 20:29 UTC
shouldn't i get a "looser" screen when being shot?
Little Angel
03. May 2011 · 12:29 UTC
Couldn't figure out how to get thru level 3 (?) with the archers... And found I needed to restart the game rather than the level.
aymes
03. May 2011 · 18:51 UTC
Like others have said the concept is interesting but I just couldn't get into it. Didn't really know what to do when presented with the wall in front of the main character.

I think I get what you were going for though and it would be interesting to see when it's finished!
Winterblood
03. May 2011 · 22:02 UTC
Potentially interesting tactical puzzler, but I found my grunts were disappearing on level 3 before they reached the red switch, and my archer wouldn't fire at it at all. Might be nice if your troops waited until you hit GO and all acted at once, so there was more of a timing element.
🎤 tzachs
04. May 2011 · 12:02 UTC
So many bugs, oh, the humanity!!
Sorry for all these bugs, lack of time + lack of sleep + lack of testing = abundance of bugs...
According to my understanding, I can't release any fixes for the compo, but rest assured the official version that I'll release will be (at least that's the plan):
* bug-free
* will have more clear in-game instructions
* will have limits on placement (I'm considering between limiting the number of units or having a budget per level, or both)
* A loser screen with auto restart afterwards
* better graphics
* more interesting levels, more units, more enemies, etc.
* A level editor
* Even more awesome features

Winterblood, about your suggestion for the troops to wait and all act at once, I actually thought about it, and am still thinking about it.
It would allow for some pretty cool puzzles, but I can think of some cool puzzles that I won't be able to do, so I need to think about it some more (this will completely change the level design).

And now for some spoilers:
-------- SPOILER ALERT ----------
Little Angel: to pass the archers, you need to throw in two kamikazes, and quickly run towards the exit (the archers will shoot at the kamikazes and you'll be able to make).

aymes & Winterblood: the level with the wall requires you to put an archer in front of the green button (and obviously the grunts disappearing is a bug, there's an invisible wall there), the archers shoot at green buttons, not at red buttons...
-------- SPOILER ALERT ----------
elbowroom
06. May 2011 · 00:48 UTC
Cool idea for a game. Innovative
I couldn't seem to get passed the level with the lava and the seducers.. I am not sure if the seducers did anything?
Dark Acre Jack
06. May 2011 · 16:05 UTC
Top points for innovation, and I can definitely see the potential.

Good work on submitting!
TellusE
06. May 2011 · 19:57 UTC
I'm beginning to see that many entries have a great potential without the time to complete it.

I dig the backstory and units, using the worst and most obscure of medieval society to help the valiant (and small...) knight on his way. Never will their songs even be written and only he will stand as the conqueror of dragons :P Nice.

The graphics were a bit bland (too few colours, methinks), but they were functional and fully sufficient for the purpose :)
Jacob
17. May 2011 · 06:19 UTC
Really interesting puzzle mechanic, I think it could be made into something quite involved and engaging. Takes a bit of thinking and some fuddling around to pass all of these! I like it.

Execution felt a bit rushed (kind of a silly criticism for LD, but still valid hah). Perhaps simplifying the idea down even further and focusing on fewer levels / less art could give a more complete feel.
Endurion
20. May 2011 · 13:30 UTC
Very interesting concept, however marred by GUI bugs and the unclear effects. This could get a quite nifty game if you enhance and polish it.
Tom 7
21. May 2011 · 17:41 UTC
I like this concept. I only got to the fourth level where I got stuck on the wall and couldn't restart the level. I don't think I understood what was going on completely, like it was a miracle that I even passed the room with the vertical archers. I was expecting "go" to make my army and my guy all start simutaneously, maybe?