Infinite Space Battle Simulator
A game for the neo-twiny jam, exactly as the title describes. Approximately 460 words of text, not including code.
Cover/background image source: NASA/ESA/Wikimedia Commons
Content Warnings
violence, blood, body horrorStatus | Prototype |
Platforms | HTML5, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android |
Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (4 total ratings) |
Author | Autumn Chen |
Genre | Interactive Fiction |
Tags | High Score, Sci-fi, Space, Tactical, Text based |
Average session | A few minutes |
Languages | English |
Inputs | Mouse |
Links | Source code |
Download
Download
infinite-space-battle-simulator-download.zip 872 kB
Version 9 Jun 30, 2023
Development log
- Update - new mechanicsJun 27, 2023
- Minor difficulty tweaksJun 25, 2023
Comments
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The idea that all the "ships" (including the player's) are made of skin and flesh is... interesting... in my opinion.
This game was super fun! I found a strategy on easy mode:
By using the starting money to buy drones and drone factories, and then using the starting ship to defeat the first enemy type, I was able to win 17 battles by stockpiling an army of drones that could kill any ship in one hit. The last ship could kill too many drones in the one round it was operational for the drones to kill it. It also did not work at all on standard mode.
The text I got for making it that far was delightfully ominous! All of the writing was flavorful, if a bit repetitive. I'd love to see more!
Thanks! That’s a good strategy I think :)
Drones combined with speed/evading is probably the optimal strategy right now.
There might be more coming…
This game is brutally hard! Even if I start with the easiest ships I end up running low on health by the third ship type. Mechanics are really well-implemented though, love the roguelike feel. Also love the details on how the ships bleed (what kind of ships are these, exactly?), how damage physically pains you, and the vaguely ominous voice telling you that this is only a simulation. A lot of interesting questions there. Would definitely play an expanded version.
Thanks for playing! The difficulty was intentional, probably :)
The mechanics developed here might become part of a much larger future game, so stay tuned…
Had fun playing this game. The damage descriptions are neat and I enjoy the gameplay loop.
At the moment, I’ve only gotten through the first three ships types with seven victories total. I think the mechanics are all interesting, but with the exception of damage, they are all very underpowered. Upgrading any of the non-damage mechanics makes little sense in terms of DPS per turn.
For example, Range is so weak that increasing the hit chance may not be worth it because you might just miss anyway. Might as well increase the damage output on the 45% chance I can get a hit on the enemy ship. I feel similarly to the approach mechanic where you are missing a turn in order to get a better chance to hit the enemy. There’s no disincentives from shooting in the first turn right now, so I never considered approaching the ship after my first playthroughs.
Healing is also pretty rough because you don’t get much scraps. Since healing costs as much as any upgrade but only gives you five hit points, I feel like I would just storm through the game without healing even once.
I think this is a fun game and the mechanics are really interesting. I like to see more of it soon :-)
Thanks for playing the game, and for the feedback!
You’re right about the current narrowness of the mechanics and the lack of alternative viable options besides “shoot every time”. I’ve tried to add some additional viable options, like an evasion mechanic, and decreased the costs for the non-damage options and added some more possibilities for drones.