"Army of Earth" online game - call for Beta Testers

[fundictive]

Hi all!

Our game Army of Earth has just gone into Open Beta. We're seeking any and all feedback, or better yet, people to join the Open Beta and contribute their ideas in our forums.

Here is the site: http://www.armyofearth.com

Direct download (7.68 MB): http://www.armyofearth.com/downloads/armyofearthsetup.exe

About the game: "Army of Earth is a new and original 3D online-only action/strategy team game created by independent game developer Fundictive. It went into Open Beta testing on April 3 2008. It runs on Windows XP or Vista..."

This game focuses on gameplay rather than graphics! It is designed to run on low-end hardware - no shader support needed.

Features:

* Very easy mouse-based controls, yet provides deep gameplay.
* Allows hundreds of players to play together in an open environment, with up to 6 teams.
* Fully 3D, but has very modest graphics requirements.
* Convenient drop-in/drop-out gameplay; no waiting for players.
* Built-in lobbies for easy matchmaking.
* 2,147,483,647 different maps!
* Leaderboard and ingame ranking (Elo-based).
* Very small download (around 8MB) and quick install.
* Online only; there is no single-player component.
* Low bandwidth requirements and is latency-tolerant.
* Supports live streamed music (SHOUTcast, Icecast and http streaming).
* Player hosting of game servers (will become available during Beta Testing).
* Free throughout an extended Open Beta period.


Please try it out and let us know your feedback!

CodeMonkey

[mot]

I just tried it but I must admit I was completely lost.

I had no idea what team I was on, what was the goal, how close I was to that goal, who were my teammates, how or where to build stuff, how far can a power generator be from the stuff it powers, what to shoot at or where to go.

The terrain is too complicated and distracting.

Overall I think this could well be a good game but you need to clean it up visually.

[fundictive]

Thanks for the feedback. I admit that it is bit steep for a new player.

However, you must have overlooked the following:

* a message on join telling you which team you are on
* GUI elements all colored with your team color
* a message on join telling you the objective (destroy enemy bases)
* a screen of help info which pops up after 30s and tells you about the essential controls and objectives
* a Help button on the left side of the screen

I'm trying to improve this area. I think the startup messages are missed because they are transient, but the help popup should have helped.

I'm thinking to add a training server which would provide some tutorial function.

What sort of help would you find most usable?

Cheers,

Tom

[fundictive]

Us Tom's should help eachother out :D

[mot]

It was too much tiny text to read.. I'd pay attention if there were more pictures, heh.

Like... this is what a power generator looks like <>
It sends power to this tower ()
And that helps you destroy the enemy base ^^

Use X to build.

Didn't notice the GUI color at all, what about large warning overlay signs on top of everything that isn't your team? And show more detailed info when you point the cursor at something.

[fundictive]

Yeah that screen is not pretty enough I agree.

The build dialog actually also acts as a tutorial on what the buildings look like and how they function, but presumably you didn't press the build button...

Yes, adding more info when you have the crosshairs over something might be a good thing to do.

Thanks again for your feedback.

[fundictive]

I've now added a particle system for smoke, fire, explosions. The screenshots are much improved, which I found out is really important... here are my new promo shots:

http://www.armyofearth.com/images/ae1m.jpg

http://www.armyofearth.com/images/ae2m.jpg

http://www.armyofearth.com/images/ae3m.jpg

http://www.armyofearth.com/images/ae4m.jpg

Cheers,

Tom

[Nexic]

I'm sure your game would be quite interesting if you had some real models of military units (soldiers, tanks, aircraft etc). But right now with weird 1970s Risk style pieces it just doesn't capture my interest.

Look into buying some stock 3D models. Cars, tanks and aircraft are easy to find and easy to import into a game (since they don't require animation).

[Reactor]

I don't know if I agree you need military models, but I think you need to spruce things up with them graphically somehow. Right now the 3D primitives look doesn't sit well with your nice looking landscapes. They're far too simple- far too plain. If your target audience is the average person, and it's not going to clash with a backstory, then I would go for something more universal like Nexic suggests. Otherwise, try and redesign them.

Also, feature lists are designed to get people interested in your game. Saying things like, "there is no single-player component." doesn't help the game any, so it's best left to a description on your website of what the game is. "Supports live streamed music (SHOUTcast, Icecast and http streaming)." could be better written, "Play your favourite streaming music, such as SHOUTcast or Icecast in game." Finally, "2,147,483,647 different maps!" might be cool and everything, but you have to ask yourself the question whether anyone but a geek would actually care. What that says to me is, the maps are all random and not very interesting.

I hope I'm making sense. I'm not big on online-only games, so perhaps someone can comment on the gameplay, but that's a few first impressions from here and the website.

[ChrisP]

While we're all ragging on the graphics (;)), the ground texturing could also use some work. Real earth is not merely bumpily mottled bright green / brown, and real water is a lot more interesting than flat blue. The colour scheme clashes a bit too; the pink player's objects sitting on bright green grass against a purple sky isn't hugely ideal. :) Even green and purple is a bit much by itself.

On the plus side, the particles are a great idea and I do like the trees. Even more of those would be good. (Not just the same trees either; add some rocks, bushes, maybe some ponds. Heck, even some animated wildlife if your budget stretches that far. Look at existing RTS games for inspiration, see what they fill all that boring land space with.)

BTW, focusing on gameplay rather than graphics is very noble. Unfortunately, as I also discovered first-hand, it doesn't translate to sales. :)

[Reactor]

And I'll confuse the issue even more by saying the green and purple look nice to me (because they're soft versions of the colours) and the ground looks fine. If it were more detailed, I think the distance shots of the landscape wouldn't look as smooth... and smooth for this type of game is appealing. I would agree the water needs some work, as well as where it meets the land :)

When you're creating graphics for any game, try and keep the style consistent. In your case the things mentioned (like the water and models) aren't consistent with the rest of your graphics. The trees being sprites aren't consistent with the pure 3D nature of everything else, but they're tinted in similar colours to the landscape, so they look fairly decent.

[wazoo]

And I'll confuse the issue even more by saying the green and purple look nice to me (because they're soft versions of the colours) and the ground looks fine. If it were more detailed, I think the distance shots of the landscape wouldn't look as smooth... and smooth for this type of game is appealing. I would agree the water needs some work, as well as where it meets the land :)


So far the game looks like I'm defending the homeworld of the Teletubbies. :)

<high pitched teletubby voice>"Uh ohhhh"</high pitched teletubby voice>

I don't mind it though to be honest...but if you're trying to forge a different path than the other RTS titles out there (which it sounds like you are), then what about reinforcing a bit more of a cartoony graphics design?

That might be easier (and cheaper) than trying to add realism...??

On the whole though I like it. I don't need 4 million tris / sec hitting my GPU to tell me I'm having fun. :)

[fundictive]

Thanks for all the feedback!

Please note that the game is in early Beta - much still left to do.

The player model will certainly be improved, later on.

The building models are a bit more problematic because I need something that achieves the following:

* Can render several hundred onscreen at once, since the game is an open environment. They will need LOD.
* They have a small footbrint on the ground
* They facilitate very lightweight projectile collsions, since there can be a hundred or more players shooting.
* They clearly show the team color; there are 6 teams.
* They are animated, to show power state and activity level.
* They are compatible with minimal graphics hardware; no-shader laptops.

Not easy to accomplish all this. Hence the resulting simplistic shapes for this stage of Beta. I may have to try and make them more sylish, rather than go for something traditional.

Actually, the particles were a way to add visual candy without compromising the requirements mentioned above.

Thanks for the point about my feature list. I agree and will rework it. My prose in general is too technical. My inner marketing man is somewhat repressed.

In general, yes the graphics will need improving but I am actually still implementing significant gameplay features, so it is not my top priority.

The game is quite unique actually - it is not trying to be like anything else. The goal is to have say 150 players on 6 teams, in an open environment, and to run on a laptop, and permit player-hosted servers. This may make some of the design decisions more understandable...

Cheers,

Tom

[fundictive]

Hey all,

Another update released: controllable Bots, better AI, Co-op mode, 3D audio revamp, etc. Just some of the numerous missing features...!

Download: http://www.armyofearth.com/downloads/armyofearthsetup.exe (8 MB)

Would love any feedback... please give it a try :)

Tom
www.armyofearth.com

[fundictive]

Hi again,

A new version released with some more "must have" features added: manual teaming, private messaging... and another co-op mode added.

http://www.armyofearth.com

Tom