BugsTD by TheMonsterFromTheDeep
--IMPORTANT: If the camera controls do not work, try using this updated version which allows you to control the camera with arrow keys.--
BugsTD is an incredibly simple tower defense game.
Due to the fact that I was on vacation, I had quite limited time, so I decided to use Unity. I believe that the total amount of time I worked on this game is less than 12 hours.
The controls are relatively straightforward: - Scroll to zoom in/out. - Hold the middle mouse button and drag to pan. - Click on the tower types in the upper-right corner to select them. - Click on the ground in order to place a tower. - Click the 'play' button in the lower-left corner to start the next wave.
Hopefully everything else is relatively self-explanatory. The enemies move along the red path. If they get to the goal, you lose lives; if you lose all your lives, you lose the game. The battery-looking symbol represents currency; the lower-left corner shows your current currency and the amount required to purchase a tower is displayed next to each tower.
Towers have several basic differences. In order from top to bottom as listed on screen: - Range of 6 grid squares; shoots every 0.7 seconds; does 1-2 damage; projectiles travel 6 grid squares per second - Range of 6 grid squares; shoots every 2 seconds; does 5-8 damage; projectiles travel 4 grid squares per second - Range of 10 grid squares; shoots every 0.05 seconds; does 0.1-0.7 damage; projectiles travel 8 grid squares per second
Ratings
| Overall | 489th | 3⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 540th | 2.721⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 630th | 2.186⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 634th | 2.357⭐ | 44🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 461th | 2.864⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 384th | 2.1⭐ | 32🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 551th | 2.378⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 45🗳️ | 32🗨️ |
The game itself is fine for covering TD basics, but my big problem was the UI. I've never seen a drag-click scrolling method implemented like this (where you hold a button to activate edge scrolling). I also would have liked a wave counter to know how far I had lasted. Finally, there's some real weirdness going on with the $400 turret button. Hard to explain, but it doesn't seem to be in the same 'toggle group' as the first and third turrets.
Anyway, I enjoyed my run-through. Hope you had a great vacation!
Thanks for the feedback.
I am absolutely terrible at camera controls. They worked well when I started programming the game - they just activated without clicking, but that became a problem once I started working on the UI so I "patched" them so to speak. Something to fix in a post-compo version.
The turret UI is something I noticed shortly after the compo finished. I believe it's something to do with the button hitboxes.
And yes, you did finish the game. There's no fanfare for either winning or losing. :P
I wasn't able to see the entire map because my middle button doesn't work but adding camera controls was a nice touch.
I would agree in regards to the UI. Thanks for the comment on the graphics - I'm definitely interested in what people think of those.
Not bad for 12hrs, really wished UI was better as others had mentioned. More towers/enemies would have been great too.
Please note that the map will not pan unless the mouse is somewhat near the edge of the screen, which could be a source of some confusion.
What could that gimmick be though? A few ideas:
* Constantly running out of power, having to generate more power with power cores which the enemies tries to steal or destroy.
* Draining energy from the enemies with special turrets which do no damage. Having to balance the amount of weapons and energy drainers in the level.
* Building your own robots to steal energy from an AI opponent trying to do the same thing. Closing on RTS this.
* The enemy corrupting your turrets disabling (or turning them against you), having to send in repair troops to get them back online (or just paying for it directly).
Something like that. Ok job with the time you had.
In fact, my original idea was to have no specified path - the enemies would follow a path through your buildings (like Desktop Tower Defense). Then, grid squares would "run out of power" - and the towers placed on them would no longer work.
What I feel is lacking is proper feedback to my actions. I'd like an audible (and preferably also visible) feedback when I place a tower and when I start the next level. Background music is also lacking. The lack of audio and the fact that there's just one enemy, makes the game repetitive quite fast. If you're running out of time, you can just take your enemy prefab and change the color, size and speed, and suddenly you have a variety of enemies. For sound effects, you can just take your microphone and hit various items in your home against each other. It actually works suprisingly well. For music, you can make a simple track in programs like bosca ceoil. If you're really running low on time you can use this autotracker https://github.com/wibblymat/ld24/blob/master/autotracker.py It's a python script which automatically generates an 8-bit theme song in literally less than one second.
I also didn't really have time to make multiple enemies, but I certainly did consider it. However, there were more pressing matters...
In order to shoot the enemies that travel the furthest, the enemies simply keep track of how long they have been alive and the towers shoot the one that's been alive the longest. But this is bad, because it means towers will prioritize enemies from the longer track over those on the shorter track, which is the exact opposite of what you want, because the shorter track enemies will get to the exit first.
__ + __ a TD !
__ + __ animation of turrets
__ + __ playable and has core mechanics
** What imo could be improved **
__ - __ Pace is too slow, it's sooo long to get new turrets
__ - __ Is there a end ? There was no indication of progression
__ - __ The game is not really about power and treat neither TD nor power management in innovative way
** Overall **
Still something for 12 hours ! Thanks for the game =)
Perhaps nobody used the 400-cost tower, given that it's honestly probably the least effective.