Flatland by fabsy

[raw]
made by fabsy for LD 38 (JAM)

Screenshot

Flatland is a minimalist-styled real-time strategy game where you play against an AI opponent for world domination.

NOTE: Unfortunately, although having invested a lot of time into programming the gameplay and AI, as well as creating the assets (sprites, models and animations), not enough time was left for sounds, a menu screen, or even a victory/gameover condition! However, I have at least included a 'Quit' button so you don't have to press ALT+F4. :thumbsup:

Controls

  • Left click on a friendly structure to select it
  • Scroll the mouse wheel to choose the percentage of citizens that will be moved (25/50/75/100)%
  • With a structure selected:
    • Right click on another structure to command your citizens to occupy it, or
    • Right click on the selected structure to open the upgrade menu

Instructions / Tutorial

As there is no in-game tutorial, one will be provided right here.

If you're not familiar with this style of strategy game, the objective is simply to eliminate the opponent by capturing their structures with your units, while defending your own structures. In this game mode, a player loses when their total population is zero.

Structures are captured when their population count reaches 0 during an attack.

There are 2 types of structures: * Habitation: Generates citizens over time. These are critical to increase your total population. * Defense: Shoots at enemy citizens passing nearby, but doesn't generate any citizens.

Each structure has 3 upgrade levels which, upon activation, will consume a certain amount of citizens. Structures can also be converted to another type (paying the base cost). The upgrade menu looks like this:

76da7188fa.png

For reference, the stats for each upgrade are described in the tables below.

Habitation Structures

| :frame_photo: | Upgrade | Cost | Citizen Generation Rate | Max. Population | | -------------------------------------- | --------------------- | ----- |------------------------ | --------------- | | Level 1 | Level 1 (Camp) | 10 | 2 seconds / citizen | 30 | | Level 2 | Level 2 (Village) | 15 | 1.5 seconds / citizen | 40 | | Level 3 | Level 3 (City) | 20 | 1 second / citizen | 60 |

Defense Structures

| :frame_photo: | Upgrade | Cost | Rate of Fire | | -------------------------------------- | --------------------- | ----- |------------------------ | | Level 1 | Level 1 (Outpost) | 10 | 1 second / shot | | Level 2 | Level 2 (Tower) | 20 | 0.8 seconds / shot | | Level 3 | Level 3 (Fort) | 30 | 0.6 seconds / shot |

Additional Notes

The AI should be pretty dumb so if you're generally good at games it should be a piece of cake. Structure stats are also unbalanced and the terrain layout doesn't allow for much strategy with the defense structures anyway. Please let me know if you find any other issues or have any suggestions for any future post-jam updates I might upload!

DOWNLOAD HERE

Twitter: @_fabsy

Thank you for playing!

flatland.gif

Ratings

Overall 173th 3.739⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Fun 132th 3.696⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 314th 3.261⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 516th 3.174⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 267th 3.826⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Humor 460th 2.368⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 473th 3.056⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 0🗳️ 0🗨️

Feedback

WetBox
25. Apr 2017 · 15:02 UTC
Looks nice and very playable!
nate_wec
01. May 2017 · 06:29 UTC
I love this idea and I found it really fun. The graphics were nice and clean and a solid of 4 outta 5.
morbidcamel101
01. May 2017 · 07:06 UTC
Fun game. The CPU is brutal though ;)
OccultOne
01. May 2017 · 07:33 UTC
I played this on my livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srBde18ASdY
I'd love to see some more unit variety in the gameloop, and a way to beat the optimal strategy that is: Pool everyone in one city, beat up all the tiny cities.

Maybe add some units like Archers that kill units as they approach. Defenders that are good at defending, and attackers that suck at defense but good at attacking other cities.
julianeder33
01. May 2017 · 12:15 UTC
Fun Game! A little to easy thogth.
justus954
01. May 2017 · 15:54 UTC
Fun game with clean and distinct visuals. Control scheme is simple and feels natural.

Upgrade system opens a lot of tactical possibilities which makes the game really enjoyable and a fun timer waster.

I'd love to see it expanded with more levels, but the mechanics themselves already offer a great gaming experience.
redpanda
01. May 2017 · 16:50 UTC
Loved the game! Nice and simple, both the gameplay and graphics! Have some stars!
ChloraVirgo
01. May 2017 · 18:13 UTC
It's a very nice strategy game and I think it can be made into a bigger project! It would be very good and addictive on mobile devices.
blacksheepza
01. May 2017 · 19:34 UTC
Really nice execution had a good time playing the game. Though I do feel like I managed to beat the CPU fairly easily which meant I didn't get to explore the upgrade system at all.
dayvidmoreira7
01. May 2017 · 19:52 UTC
A good concept and art, congratulations man!
HuvaaKoodia
01. May 2017 · 20:06 UTC
This is pretty cool! I'm a sucker for swarm strategy games so that explains why I can see through the lacking features.

The only "real" omission at the moment is a proper challenge! The current level is way too easy. It might be the AI or just the initial population numbers. A set of increasingly difficult levels, up to nigh on impossible, would have been nice.

Do continue working on this if you at all have the time. This could be great!
yves
01. May 2017 · 20:30 UTC
Man this game is really cool! I played 3 rounds and it was so fun. Oh man please keep working on this you archived something create there. I am not a swarm intelligence / strategy gamer but this one I really enjoyed a lot. Very well done :)

Cheers!
pogo
04. May 2017 · 14:44 UTC
This is a cool little strategy game. After I got the hang of the controls, and how to upgrade structures properly, it plays very well.
I enjoy the simple yet effective 3d art, and the citizens are surprisingly bouncy and fun for a game of this type.
The game doesn't seem to have a formal win condition, and the AI is a little simple, but all the systems work properly and it otherwise comes across as very polished.
Congratulations, and good luck in the voting phase!
epiplon
13. May 2017 · 20:57 UTC
That's so sad, it really have a nice concept. Try to improve it when the judging period ends. :)
Jupiter_Hadley
14. May 2017 · 18:00 UTC
Very nice game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 38 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDPVuoHG3u8
rjhelms
16. May 2017 · 01:34 UTC
This has some really wonderful depth to it. A shame that you didn't quite reach the mark of having all the trappings of a "proper game", but the core mechanics are all very well done here.

Lots of RTS games that get made in Ludum Dare - this time around and in the past - have a lot of jankiness or balance problems, or are impossible to figure out. This one is really elegant; it's easy to wrap your head around, flows nicely, and it's apparent that there's actually some strategy to it rather than just "click randomly and pray".

You could do very well to keep working on this, if you were so inclined. Great stuff!
DavidRico
16. May 2017 · 07:00 UTC
Nice twist on a classical game, upgrading the buildings gives this game a lot of depth. Consider releasing a post-jam version with winning conditions, a menu, and all that stuff that didn't make it in the jam, I'd love to play it again and again.
Good job! Keep it up!