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Tesla Tower Defense

Archive: 27 posts

Project Tesla: Tesla Tower Defense Canceled until summer.

"Project Tesla" is my attempt to make the most in-depth Tower Defense level in LittleBigPlanet 2.

Currently, I need volunteers to assist in making nice looking turrets and enemies (I'm just awful at art. "If it's functional, it works" is my attitude towards it, so decorations and eye appeal do not appear among my strengths)

If anyone could suggest simple methods that help with the visual component of my level, I'm all ears.

I'll also take suggestions for turret, enemy, and anything else that could make the tower defense level awesome.

A massive THANK YOU to anyone and everyone that volunteers. I desperately need artistic help, so even the smallest contribution is significant.

Current confirmed volunteers:
Jabe: Turret designs/visuals

Looking for music and sound creators, as well as anyone who'd like to assist in making a map.

Maps are made of tiles, each tile is 2x2 large grid. Path has width of 2 grid spaces. Make sure that lengths and widths of spaces around the path are multiples of 2, eg: 2, 4, 6, not 3 (as this would waste grid spaces)

What I've done so far:
Upgrade menu and logic (progressive prices, 5 upgrade types, 5 tiers of each type)
Turret building logic (progressive prices and when turrets can / can't be built)
Predefined path following logic (just need to put on maps)
Turret logic (just need to make the actual turrets to put it on)
Adjustable camera zoom
20 different damage types
Cursor with turret selection and variable movement speed

What I'm working on now:
Enemies
Projectiles (Again. Need to edit properties to allow for damage types)
Turret concepts

What I need to do:
Status effects for enemies (paralysis = random stops, freeze = stop, slow, poison = damage over time, speed boost, invincibility, stealth = need special towers to detect, weakness = receives more damage, shielded = receives less damage = takes no damage below a certain threshold)
Categorizing damage types (biological, fire, energy, water, physical) so that certain units take more / less damage from certain types)
Map designs
Turret appearance (need help, will have list soon. For now, be creative using electric theme)
Map appearances (need help on how to make things look nice)

My goal for the User Interface

Main Menu (available when no turret selected by pressing /)

Pause/Resume (still adjusting this, has many errors)
New Game (with confirmation)
Controller Map
High Scores
Quit (with confirmation)

Structure Build Menu (available when over empty space by holding X )

Unlimited (only by thermo) number of buildable structures
Point costs for building structures
Model of structure selected

Upgrade Menu (available when a structure is selected by pressing /)

5 upgrade types
5 upgrade tiers
Cost of upgrades
Stats of structures (damage, range, rate of fire)
Preview of stats for next upgrade

ETA: Canceled until the summer.

2011-01-27 22:50:00

Author:
SSTAGG1

Posts: 1136

my big bro is a great artist and brilliant logic engineer and my other big bro is a musician

2011-01-28 02:59:00

Author:
zachikish

Posts: 6

my big bro is a great artist and brilliant logic engineer and my other big bro is a musician

If you can get a confirmation from them for some assistance, then that's great. I'd need to know what they want to help with. I have no trouble with logic, though if they want to check my logic, that's okay. My main request is for designers to produce some epic turret and enemy designs, as well as some help on how to make a nice looking map.

I also tried making some music, but to me it's absolutely impossible. I don't really know what music/sounds work with a tower defense, so I'll just let them have a look at what I've made and see if that gives them inspiration.

Thanks for volunteering, hopefully your bro's will be willing to help.

2011-01-28 05:00:00

Author:
SSTAGG1

Posts: 1136

k ill ask them

btw his account name is "Jabe"

2011-01-28 15:59:00

Author:
zachikish

Posts: 6

I can work on sounds if you like. I've got a fair amount of experience with them. My top-down visuals are a little lacking though. The level of sound can be adjusted to suit how much thermo you want it to take up, but it would probably end up taking a reasonable amount. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and some of my effects take 3-4 Speakers. You can play The Crate Escape [link in sig] to get a rough idea of my skills, but I can do MUCH more than that with LBP2's expanded toolset. Anyway, you can add me on PSN if you like [name is Cpt_Sainsburys] and feel free to nag me about stuff it you're waiting. I get distracted too much.

2011-01-28 16:32:00

Author:
Cpt_Sainsburys

Posts: 187

he is busy with school atm he might help you at nighttime though.

2011-01-28 20:09:00

Author:
zachikish

Posts: 6

Alright, that's okay, tell him if he has spare time to look at my first post and see if he has any ideas for the turrets.

All I do now is put the base down, add a flat piece, make it look like a gun, and make it turn. It looks awful, but I don't know how to make it look nicer while keeping it fairly simple. If anyone could even just post suggestions on how to make things look nicer, it'd be a great help.

2011-01-28 23:58:00

Author:
SSTAGG1

Posts: 1136

You can play The Crate Escape [link in sig] to get a rough idea of my skills, but I can do MUCH more than that with LBP2's expanded toolset. Anyway, you can add me on PSN if you like [name is Cpt_Sainsburys] and feel free to nag me about stuff it you're waiting. I get distracted too much.

Played it, it was good. I'll add you once when I get back on my PS3 (about to watch a movie, so won't be for a couple hours)

Even if all you do is explain how to create some nice sounds, that's great. I usually learn how to do things as I go (eg: look at my logic, it's a mess. Why? Cause I didn't know what I was doing. It works though, and it works great, so whatever I did, at least it was right). Great thing is, now I know how to use logic due to the number of times things have failed.

What I really need is a music sequence to go along with the level. I'll have another go at creating music, but if anyone has a song they're working on that they would like to put in this level,

!

I'm putting a great big credits page at the beginning of the level in the tutorial, so everyone that helps out will get their recognition.

Also, still looking for turret and turret upgrade ideas. What are people's thoughts on:
- An accuracy upgrade (decreases spread of projectiles)
- A targeting speed upgrade (how quickly they turn to target enemies)
- A multi-turreted Tesla Tower (has 2 independent followers and emitters so can target and shoot 2 enemies at once)
- A Storm Tower (creates a storm which travels across the map in a line, zapping everything nearby)
- An Arc Tower (an arc of lightning forms between 2 nearby arc towers and deals damage over time to all enemies that pass through it)
- A Beam Turret (creates a constant damage over time beam of energy)
- A Particle Accelerator (takes forever to charge up, but then releases a stream of powerful particles which annihilate the enemy)

That's all I've thought of, will try to make soon, but is there anything people would particularly like to see?

2011-01-29 02:38:00

Author:
SSTAGG1

Posts: 1136

Hey apparently my younger brother volunteered me to help with your level here. I don't know why he thinks I'm a "brilliant logic engineer." The only complicated logic I've ever attempted was my spider boss which never got published :/ Anyway, after reading your post I'd love to help with turret/enemy and map designs. I possess some artistic capabilities and I'd love to collaborate on some project (even in a small way) since I never seem to get a full level finished. I'll post some pictures of some of my stuff from lbp if you want which i guess will have to work as my "resume." So far I have nothing worth showing from lbp 2.

Also, my older brother is a music major and has made some pretty sweet music with the sequencer. I'll talk to him and see if he wants to try to make some battle music. Just a warning though, we are both college students and we'll have some time constraints so we may not be completely reliable or even available sometimes.

Edit: Here are some pictures of my work. (all incomplete) :/

Here are some pictures from my incomplete honey-bee themed level.
http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/6712/aphoto9.jpg http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/2252/aphoto8.jpg
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/511/aphoto1.jpg

Some pictures from my...err horror like level?
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/7724/aphoto3y.jpg
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/3937/aphoto4t.jpg
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/576/aphoto5.jpg
incomplete with trash conveyor belt!

Pictures of my spider boss with pictures of my crazy and absolutely disorganized logic

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/7781/aphoto1g.jpg
http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/6582/aphoto2i.jpg
Anyway, when I set about to make this spider boss I had no knowledge of logic (or even that it was called "logic"). It wasn't until after this, I found LBPCentral and most importantly, RTM's logic blog which really illuminated logic.

Edit 2: Is this a top-down tower defense game or a side ways tower defense game? (I honestly don't play tower defense all that much)

2011-01-29 03:41:00

Author:
Unknown User

It's top down.

Also, any assistance with anything artistic is awesome. I'm not likely to have the level ready for the actual turrets soon, and I've got quite a number of things to do before I can start to add it in. Should require them in a few days though, so I'll message you when I'm ready.

If your brother is willing to share/create a music track that suits a "strategy/action/electric" theme, that'd be awesome as well.
Actually, if your brother has any music at all he'd be willing to let me use, I'd love to hear it. My latest attempt at making a song fell flat (pun intended), and it didn't make any sense, so I gave it up.

Just spam me with your creations if you ever get around to making any, as they will in all likelihood look several thousand times better than anything I can do.

Here's the list of things I need for design and sounds, don't feel the need to do it all, even doing only 1 is a great help to me. I'll probably make some sounds and then ask your brother if he could look over them and see if there is anything that could make them better.

1st Tier Turret: Tesla Coil (shoots a small weak lightning bolt at enemies)
2nd Tier Turret: Rapid-fire Laser Turret (Shoots quickly, would be nice if the design had multiple firing points)
3rd Tier Turret: A Plasma Cannon (does splash, fires a large orb that fragments when it hits an enemy)
4th Tier Turret: Heavy Laser Turret (shoots through enemies, would like if design had a sequence of lights that could be made to make it look like it was charging the next shot)
Music for the level
Sound effects for firing weapons (4 weapon types: Lightning, laser, plasma, and "railgun", and each type has 5 versions. If possible, make 4 distict sounds for firing, and then change each type slightly to make 5 different levels of strength [dunno if it's possible to make one sound strong, another weak, and 3 in-between...?])

I'm going through these lists as well, so I'll keep updates on what I've done so far. Currently working on eliminating failure in upgrade system (sometimes it costs you points but does not upgrade. I'm certain it's a tag sensor range issue, so should be simple to fix once i find the problem sensor).

2011-01-29 10:39:00

Author:
SSTAGG1

Posts: 1136

2011-01-30 18:21:00

Author:
Unknown User

Hey, you could make a sprinkler (Shoots Water on Enemies) to up the damage dealt by the towers.

2011-01-30 19:37:00

Author:
Brian_Istenes

Posts: 151

Hey just thought I'd update you (and bump this thread ;D) that I've been working on a few (meaning two) designs for turrets. When I get a bunch of designs down I'll send you a PM with some pictures and you can tell me what you like, dislike, hate, or would like changed. I'm constantly changing designs on some of these so these pics will probably contain multiple iterations of one type of turret and/or enemy. I'm hoping that by sending you a bunch you will find at least a few that you don't hate just in case my creations are lame.

Also, I wanted to let you know that I'm currently trying to figure out what to do with my profile which is littered with corruption problems atm. All my levels and creations get corrupted for some reason ;_; Some of my designs have been lost but I'm using my bro's profile to capture all my stuff so this probably won't be a problem that should concern you. I may take some time to replay all the story levels in the event that I erase my entire profile, though.

Also, my older bro is seriously slammed with school and work so I'm not sure he'll ever get around to making some music :/

Hmm...Can you be more specific on how the lasers when not-upgraded and upgraded will look like? Will the rapid fire laser fire something like a single straight line of lasers then when upgraded fire two straight lines of lasers?

It sucks that LBP 2 has these issues. I just backed up my profile just in case it happens to me.

For the rapid-fire turret: That's what I was thinking, 1 when no upgrades, still one when 1st upgrade, 2 for 2nd, 3 for 3rd, 4 for 4th. The problem is that every turret is unique (just added two more sets of upgrades, now there's Power, Range, Rate of Fire, Accuracy (how quickly it turns to follow enemies) (may replace this with a status effect like paralysis), and Special (unique to each turret type). I can't replace the turret with a new model every upgrade (I'd have to have 3125 models of a single turret type, LOL! 5 power x 5 range x 5 RoF x 5 accuracy (or status) x 5 special for all upgrade options...no way), but I can add new parts.

If you could, try to make each turret upgrade modular:
No upgrades = plain
Power upgrade = larger cannon (number of power upgrade changes either colour or size of cannon)
Range = larger holo range disc (I've already done this, no change to turret. If you want, you could make the cannons longer....it'd be a lot of work though)
RoF = ??? (perhaps have a charging animation that gets shorter each time. I'll try something)
Accuracy = ??? (nothing or some sort of radar thing)
Special = Something unique, I dunno yet

Don't worry about getting these in quickly, I have to redo the pathfinding, as well as all projectiles, so may be a while. Once I start working primarily on the turrets and enemies, I'll be able actually start making them and give you more specific requests, but for now, just toss whatever you think of at me.

Perhaps you could try making each component out of holographic. I'll try out some designs and send the concepts to you. I'm going to attempt making a tower with orbs that orbit a core tower. The orbs would shoot at enemies that came near. It looks cool in my mind, so I'll give it a shot. Hopefully you could look it over and suggest/make some changes to make it look nicer.

Also, tell your brother that it's fine. I was testing out some of the pre-made songs, and they work fairly well. Now I just need to do some sounds, and nearly all the audio will be done.

I'll be starting the turrets and enemies within a weeks time (nearly done the menu logic (again =[ ). Even if you don't actually get any designs done, if I could send you my designs for critical review, hopefully you could help me make them look nicer.

Hey, you could make a sprinkler (Shoots Water on Enemies) to up the damage dealt by the towers.

That's brilliant. Not only that, it's got a simple solution as well (it would just activate a battery that adds to the final damage output). Thanks for the suggestion.

2011-01-31 01:13:00

Author:
SSTAGG1

Posts: 1136

My way to do upgrades is have only ROF, Damage, and Special change the looks, range can be shown by a holo circle, and why would you want accuracy in a TD Game? A tower that doesn't hit until you upgrade it is useless.

Tower Ideas:
Lightning Rod you place ON the track . For example you would set on the upper-left part of the map, and every 5 seconds it makes a bolt hit that area.
Arc Generator hits enemies in a line, meaning it hits multiple enemies adjacent to each other and can go in any direction.
Solar Array gathers money each round
Generator that takes up 2x2 squares and increases ROF of surrounding Towers.
Radar that increases range of surrounding towers
Shock Tower slows down to 50% speed.
Railgun takes up 4x4 only shoots in straight lines at 90 degree angles but is really powerful
Ultimate tower! Zeus costs loads, is incredibly powerful yet doesn't throw off the balance

Enemy Ideas:
Soldier is base soldier has Low life
Heavy Soldier has Medium life
Tank has High Life when killed spawns 2 soldiers
Transport has High Life and When killed Spawns 6 soldiers
Stealth soldier has low life but is invisible unless a radar is near
Medic has medium life and heals nearby biological units
Drill Sergeant has low life but speeds up all biological units on field 10%
Walker Mech has medium life but is fast and can walk over other units
Psi Soldier has low life but stops nearby towers from working
Plane has high life, can go over units and can't be hit by most towers
Jet does same but is Faster Than Plane

Other Ideas:
1 use per buy to make a zeppelin come in and be struck by lightning damaging all underneath it.
1 use per buy shorted wires placed on track, shocks 10 times then disappears

I am just full of ideas!

2011-01-31 01:49:00

Author:
Brian_Istenes

Posts: 151

Dammmmnnn, every single one of those is great. Let's see what I can do. I like the cash generator. Perhaps I can also add some tech buildings that allow you to build the advanced turrets.

The accuracy was a filler for if I decide to do the status infliction. I'm going to change it to be specific for each turret.

I haven't started on the turrets or enemies, but have all the background needed to easily add them (I made the logic ready made for any number of new turrets, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Going to have to change some of the turret logic though to detect the stat changers, as well as my stat detection for the turret menu (had values for current and next upgrade stats, dunno how hard it's going to be to change. Also, enemies shouldn't be too difficult to produce. My damage calculator looks epic, and works even better (I connected a randomizer with 0.0 times and it makes one awesome light show, lol).

2011-01-31 03:20:00

Author:
SSTAGG1

Posts: 1136

Hello there! I myself will be of no use to the construction of these levels, but the theme of Tesla cannons and turrets and all these things reminded me of an RTS which involved these heavily. Perhaps you've heard of it.
So I'll just leave this here if you want to take any cues from it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se2xcTKAStI&feature=related

2011-01-31 04:23:00

Author:
Astrosimi

Posts: 2046

Hey just read the edited OP. You've modified so much since I last read it O.o

Anyway, I need to know what kind of style you are going for and in what way this style reflects the story behind these enemies, locales, and the lightning-laden protagonist. Of course, I may be asking too much for a story behind a tower defense game.

I just need an idea of what vibe/style you're going for too make things consistent with your expectations or at least consistent with each other.

Also, I noticed in the OP you removed your "four types of turrets" which is fine. I'll just make whatever springs to mind. So far, I've made a few designs but I've mostly kept them in cardboard form for now. One of my turrets I lost due to corruption ;_; I have two others (sort of) : One is a turret with a large cannon connected too it which kicks back when fired. I think it looks really cool but I realized it may not be as electric-y as you may want so I created an alternate without the metallic cannon. On both of these I created a charging up sequence with holos which is really cool. The second turret I just made was the answer to my previous concern regarding electric-yness (I'm making all kinds of words up with this post : D) This turret I'd have to show you because it's difficult to explain. I think I'll pm you some pictures soon. Since I read about the appearance changing to reflect upgrades I've been thinking about designing an animation of moving parts to see the turret actually changing form kind of like watching something being built in a some RTSs.

Edit: The RTS in astro's video shows the type of animated movement when upgrading that I was thinking of.

Edit 2: Also, to update you on my profile's corruption issues, it seems most of the problems have disappeared after I deleted everything that was corrupt. I'll edit in my PSN when I get access to my ps3 since I can't remember it atm.

Gah! More corruption issues. My entire account is FUBAR. I still captured all my progress with my bro's account but it looks like I'm going to have to delete and recreate my account. -_-

2011-02-01 01:46:00

Author:
Unknown User

got tired of reading, i'm scared, i shouldnt look at the clock... oh, just wasted an hour... i could make/give music. and for nice graphics, do you know bublethank tower defence? google it.
i made two songs in 2h each for my own levels, but my "Final Boss" song could fit...

2011-02-01 04:05:00

Author:
Unknown User

TL;DR at bottom.

Changing OP:
I felt the OP was far too long for what I was trying to say, so cut out everything except what concerns others. And ya, I changed the turrets to whatever anyone can produce. I've just finished some more enemies and projectiles (they look okay... one has smoke trails, pretty cool to watch as it follows the fastest enemy). I should have a list soon of turret types that I need, I'll try to add design notes as well.

Style:
Don't mind keeping it completely electricity based. I've got lasers, flames, exploding plasma balls, and was considering a city map with skyscrapers (using layer glitch), open green areas, lake/river, and a highway overpass (enemies use as shortcut??). This kinda drifts away from the theme though. The reason for the electric theme is that I just liked the look of my Tesla Tower I made, so it kinda stuck. I'll need new name since what I'm adding now doesn't really fit with the title.

So for the turrets being electric, feel free to do whatever you want. If it looks good, I'm all for it.

For the style, stick to mankind modern-future era. Lasers, bullets, lightning, plasma. Also, I need a turret that fires water (for damage amplification), so perhaps make a pumping animation, as well as a turret that fires goo (for slowing). Maybe make them the same model, just change the colour scheme or type of cannon on top?
_____

Important Notes:
Sorry I forgot to post this earlier, but highest zoom possible is 133% on a game camera. I don't need amazing detail, just so long as it doesn't look slapped together (like most of my visuals). Not sure if this changes your perception of how much detail is required, but just keep it in mind.

Another important thing is that each turret is limited to a 4x4 large grid footprint, so try to keep it within those boundaries so enemies on the path don't collide with the turret on turns. Also, if it's larger than 4x4, it would be impossible to build a turret next to it (cursor is now grid based, with toggle for free movement. Building is only possible in grid view though)
_____

Also, sounds like you're working very hard to help out. Thank you.

Recoil & Animation
If the recoil on the cannon works, that's going to be epic. Animations on upgrade would be ridiculously cool. If it takes up a lot of thermo though, we'll probably have to conserve it to only certain structures, but I have no idea how to make an animation look nice within a 4x4 large grid, so good luck! Try one turret for now, and if it take too long or eats up too much thermo, it doesn't need to happen (but oh how cool it would be).

Animation
There are 4 turret upgrades per upgrade type type (5 types, 5 different tiers. All turrets start at level one for each tier). Maybe only at 3rd and 5th tier do the turrets change.
I agree with the suggestion by Brian, the only upgrades that actually result in a visual change should be power (damage), rate of fire, and special (unique to turret type, going to have to get back to you on this one).

That seems like way too much to ask, so I'll get started on the turrets and animations and finally get a concrete turret list.
_____

Ideas
Something I would like to try is creating a gun barrel that ejects shell casings when firing. Could make a giant cannon with recoil and casing flying out, or some type of flak cannon that just erupts with bullets and spent cartridges. Could also work with electric themed things, like some sparks or discharge after firing.

TL;DR:
- OP was too long
- Non-electric is okay
- Style is human modern-future
- Need water and goo turrets
- Max zoom is 133%, don't need ridiculous levels of detail, just better than rectangle on block graphics
- MAX turret size is 4x4 large grid (I may make special structures that are larger, but just do 4x4 for now)
- Recoil sounds awesome
- Animation sounds !!!!!!!! (but try to keep thermo low, I have lots of enemies and turrets that may fill it up)
- Idea: Ejecting shell casings or sparks after firing

2011-02-01 05:48:00

Author:
SSTAGG1

Posts: 1136

Sweet, thanks for the info. The turret size is really useful. I noticed that a few of my turrets had parts so tiny that they couldn't be shrunk so now I have a measuring stick to know what to change. Also the shell casing ejection would be perfect for the mechanical cannon I designed.

I need to start thinking about upgrades and modular design. So far I've only designed the turrets and their firing animation. I haven't designed the bullets, lasers, or electricity that comes from these turrets. Is this something that you would like me to do or will there be some kind of overlap of responsibilities since you are the logic designer? I can probably design the animation so that you could easily interface with it to tweak it to your gameplay devices. I have been strenuously labeling and organizing every animation-related logic so that everything is clear when I hand it to you. If you do want me to design the projectiles (whatever they are) do you want me to stick with a holo-style projectile style like MM does in the story?

Sorry for having so many questions and thank-you for keeping me informed about all this.

I keep saying I'll PM you some pictures but I haven't gotten around to it. I'll see if I can get those tonight.

EDIT: Oh yeah, my PSN is Jabe4plus5. I backed up my lbp1 and lbp2 profiles, then erased my lbp 2 profile. I went into my lbp 1 profile and deleted all my pictures, objects, levels, and saved characters, hopefully so that I can keep all the story lbp stuff on my lbp2 character without all the corruption. I'm telling you this because I think that Jabe4plus5 will be the PSN account that I keep.

2011-02-01 15:30:00

Author:
Unknown User

I'll keep this one short.

I just realized that we will likely run into some issues with compatibility for the projectiles. I was thinking we'd make a nice looking projectile for each tower type, so lasers, artillery shells, bullets, and lightning, and just change the colour based on upgrades. Maybe add some special effects to some, but should be pretty simple. Holo for most, but what do you think of some physical bullets that actually knock units around. May collide with surrounding turrets, but maybe that'd be the price you pay for knockback ability ...I dunno.
[EDIT: Actually, forget the knockback rounds, it'd just be annoying to use.]

You sound like you've got some plans for each turret projectile, but I don't want to push this all onto you. If you don't want to do it, that's perfectly fine, you're already doing a lot more than I ever expected, so feel free to take a break.

I'm really obsessed with the skyscraper city idea I had for a map. Am going to try to make it now (busy soon though, so prob not finish till tomorrow, next day). Snow day possible tomorrow, may get day off, so will finish enemies and map if so.
[EDIT 2: Skyscrapers look epic. Makes navigating map more interesting, and also provides some obstacles to block fire on enemies]

2011-02-01 21:59:00

Author:
SSTAGG1

Posts: 1136

Hey, sent you a PM with pics. Let me know what you think.

2011-02-02 18:11:00

Author:
Unknown User

2011-02-03 03:49:00

Author:
Unknown User

if you would like i can help design a map.
i am currently trying to create my own tower defense game aswell and so far,
all i have done is 1 map, the rest is gonna be a while since im not to good with logic.
the map i designed is pretty good if i do say so myself.

I'd like to see the one you made, especially since I just lost the level with mine (had all my enemies and maps, great...). I'll message you when I have time. PSN is SSTAGG1. If you'd like, I could explain how to do some of the logic, though my understanding is limited, and the logic I made took several days to fix, lol, so it may have unnecessary parts (actually, I think at least 1/4 of it is unneeded, oh well).

I'm trying to organize it into logical sections, and add notes so I don't forget what's what, but it's rather tedious, so it's only half organized.

2011-02-03 21:22:00

Author:
SSTAGG1

Posts: 1136

Some questions/idea/thought for anyone who wants to help out or is just curious.
__

What would people enjoy more? Enemy waves that consist of increasingly more difficult enemies (recycling old types in a pattern), or having a variety of unit types per wave (would see the same unit again more often), or having a random pure unit type every wave?

The way I'm planning on setting it up is by using several randomizers to select which types spawn, then have a key which activates a selector on the units to give them their level of health. This means allot of repetitive logic, and several hundred copies of the logic, so if anyone has a better way to determine the amount of health, I'm all ears.
__

Something else I was hoping to try was to increase the number of units that spawn each wave. I haven't really thought about this much, so I'm sure there's a simple solution, but does anyone see a way to do this?

Warning, some logic ahead, lol

Could I use a timer (has time determined by method below) attached to a repeater (the NOT gate attached to itself) to tick a counter X number of times, then have another timer (time would be that of the spawn rate I want for that specific wave. This timer would actually be several timers all attached the same way, but a selector based on which wave type would select the timer with the right rate) that is powered by the first counter when it has any value above 0. The timer would reset itself, and would activate the emitters, as well as go into the directional combiner (negative) to decrease the counter value until it reaches zero...thus stopping the emitters.

The first timer (that powers to repeater) would actually be several timers attached to an AND with a selector, so every wave, the selector would go down the list, picking increasing longer timers to activate the repeater.

This method would limit the number of waves to that of however many timers I make, so if anyone has a solution that would systematically increase the timer duration every wave, please tell.
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An idea I had was that the first timer (that powers the repeater) would have a time determined almost like that of my damage calculator, where I would just set the time max to something massive, and have it incremented by a 100% signal. The number of times this signal is sent would be done by using a counter which counts the number of waves, and then counts down that value into the timer.

The issue with this is that the times would be so small (1/3 of 0.1, 0.033.. seconds) that I'm not sure it would work like I wanted. Also, setting the counter to output it's own count, then return to the correct count, might be a hassle (need the counter to count down it's count, then after reaching zero, return to the count it started at before counting down).

I could make each count fire several times, and just delay them each enough so the signals don't overlap. The count I'd just make discrete for each wave, as it's much easier to make 100 counters and just edit them.

Much better than spending the time trying to figure out how to input only a certain number of counts into a counter which matches the original number of counts before it counted down, then increase that count by one and repeat the whole process. Probably a simple solution, but meh.
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I'll likely just end up doing the first method, and just make upwards of 50 timers.

I'll probably initially make the limited duration, then make a different difficulty (or several), then make an endless version (constant spawns of each type, duration of game determines how many types spawn).
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NOTE: If you see a better way of doing the logic, please do tell. I've only recently started making in depth logic stuff, so I'm sure I'm missing several methods to save me time, as well as make it less complicated.

2011-02-04 06:58:00

Author:
SSTAGG1

Posts: 1136

OK so i just went to go look for my map and realized it some how got deleted.
however, i can create a similar one (maybe even better) and send a picture to you asap.
and if you would also like, i can help design the turrets.

& im sure you know logic 10x better than i do, so anything helps.

2011-02-04 18:56:00

Author:
Unknown User

The issue with this is that the times would be so small (1/3 of 0.1, 0.033.. seconds) that I'm not sure it would work like I wanted. Also, setting the counter to output it's own count, then return to the correct count, might be a hassle (need the counter to count down it's count, then after reaching zero, return to the count it started at before counting down).

Hey, I'm a logic noob but what you said here got me thinking. If you need to activate something in 1/3 of a 0.1 seconds, can't you use a logic sequencer since it can be edited to have 0.1 seconds per stripe and three consecutive logic objects on each stripe? Not sure if this is helpful but just a thought. I'm sure there's a way to get things to activate in times smaller than 0.1 seconds. Yeah nvm. There's four per stripe. I was stupid to think otherwise.

Edit: Actually, now that I've thought about it some more, it is completely possible to divide 0.1 seconds into an innumerable amount of divisions using old lbp1 methods. Basically use a stiff piston connected to DM and some other material. Make the piston directional and give it a time of 0.1 seconds. Now based on how many subdivisions you are going for, you would set the max and min length. Regardless of length, the piston should jump from one end to the other in 0.1 seconds (IIRC). So if you set up a tag on the material, and a tag sensor 9/10 of the distance, then the tag would theoretically activate in 0.01 seconds. (assuming its set up to travel from max to min and 9/10 of the distance means 9/10 of the distance from the minimum)

Wow this is hard to explain

Using this method you could even sequence these divisions by placing a tag sensor 8/10 the way, 7/10 the way, etc. But I'm positive there's a lbp2 way of doing this easier.

2011-02-04 21:40:00

Author:
Unknown User

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