Fight on tiny planets for territory. Build defenses, recruit units and be the last faction standing.
Made this game for Ludum Dare 23 (Tiny World).
It’s impressive how much you can achieve in so little time. The one thing that stood out to me at the time was that you have to keep moving forward. Keep writing code, don’t wait for the perfect solution. You can always refactor it later.
The game started as a full-on micro-management strategy game, where you battle on tiny planets. Eventually, the gameplay was simplified to be like StarCraft 2: Direct Strike mod. It was suggested by my brother, who also made the music for the game.
Great ideas can come from anywhere!
Direct Strike
Fierce tug-of-war. Players construct buildings and waves of units are sent out against the enemy.
Jam Results
From a total of 330 jam entries, the game did quite well.
| Category | Rating | Placement |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | 4.18/5 | #4 |
| Theme | 4.25/5 | #3 |
| Fun | 4.03/5 | #3 |
| Innovation | 3.72/5 | #28 |
| Graphics | 4.06/5 | #45 |
| Audio | 3.57/5 | #43 |
Future & Ideas
I think this game idea has a lot of potential for a future remake.
Multiplayer
This game is begging for multiplayer!
The AI in the game was pretty terrible. With multiplayer implemented the game could really shine. Sneaky, and clever strategies.
Factions
Different factions would rely on different play-styles. Units that fight in close/long range. Solar/darkness powered units.
Each faction could start with one special power that is only usable once per game. Much like how in Direct Strike you have a nuke that you can use to shift the tug-of-war in your favor.
Destruction
The game started with the theme Tiny World. Taking that further, you could implement a risk-reward element where mining the planet would gradually reduce its size.
Explosive weapons could also take out chucks on the planet – valuable resources gone!
Gravity
Gravity could be one of the central mechanics. Shooting missiles, and blowing garbage all around.
Sun/Moon
The sun would orbit the planet, revealing enemy bases, and creating fog-of-war on the dark side. Specific units/buildings could depend on solar energy. The moon could be used as a second colony, that would allow you to rain missiles down.
Playable
🕹 You can play it here.
Post
I also wrote a small post about it way back.
Takeaways
- Constraints breed creativity.
- Keep writing code, refactor later.