Terrobot
Small Basic, big dreams!
This is far less than I wanted - especially regarding the actual gameplay.
Nonetheless, here is my small experiment that you can barely call a game: TERROBOT. Basically you program your robot in Small Basic to move around, using a modified version of wixette's interpreter. Unfortunately this interpreter has next to no error handling - so I recommend to only write very simple programs. Luckily, TERROBOT is far smaller in scope than I wanted - it was originally meant as a full programming game, but due to the time constraints it's more of a proof-of-concept for a puzzle/adventure game with a tiny bit of typing. It is possible to do a bit more sophisticated robot programming, but it's not needed.
TERROBOT is turn-based, and most of the commands execute a turn.
Hint: You can save your program in one of the slots and then call it instantly via the respective F key. (In the web version, use Alt + 1-5!)
Comments (14)
Oh, it's pretty unique idea of the game! Programming of bot is fun process, but.. I feel a lack of commands & actions :( I'd like to have more actions in game, because almost everythig depends on just walking around. Maybe it's need to add some digging, pickuping, weapon changing etc.
Anyway good job!
@DictorDro Thanks - yeah, a lot of stuff was planned, especially digging and more need to automate your Terrobot, but… time constraints.
With the link to the SmallBasic documentation I had to surpress the short moment of panic of what this game would expect of me, so you really reeled me in with the help crystals.
I like that you're able to do anything and everything right from the getgo but broaden your knowledge-base by playing. At first I put some basic commands on the F-keys (Move Forward, RotateLeft, Shoot, Analyze), so I was left spinning through the level and felt mighty fine - even fought my first monster easily, but then I saw a monster was waiting around the corner, and it brought me down quickly to one hp.
At a second attempt the same dude was waiting for me around the same corner, and this time I thought
"aha! I have to program my way out of this" just to see the same result unfold a second time.
I like the look of the game and that you built a bit of mystique with the story elements (and kinda aswell with the quirky way of controlling the game) - I just wish that the rob.Help() command would actually extend with the help crystals you collect. (Also I wish you would've built it as WebGL)
Love the graphics! The game gets you going quickly and even if intimidating at first, can be picked up quite easily. One thing I would like to see is a map, so players can plan a route and program a full way to their next destination, rather than doing what I did - putting single commands for movement in the save slots to slowly move around. :) Though the breaking point where players learn to progress with more than a single line is a good spot to have and use.
Maybe there's also space for robot-related settings, where a certain combination of set variables gives specific advantages. Could create room for creativity and utility scripts. All in all, well done!
@elZach: I could fix the error in the interpreter and now it runs in WebGL, didn't test it thoroughly though.
@M2tias: Thanks!
@Odrez: A map is a nice idea, but I'm still in love with the idea of people having to draw their own maps … ;-) Maybe I add a Cartograph() function, or at least something to get the current direction (north, east, etc.).
@ratrogue haha I had that thought too and can get behind that. It can be fun embracing people taking notes, drawing routes etc. :) I guess there should be a good amount of ways to encourage that more. I can imagine a scouting drone or something like that, allowing to prepare ahead and then go in with the scripts you have written for the dungeon.
forgot to rate this one after I played it ahhhh! I really like the idea of having to slowly build up your bots programming so you can automate RPG-style tasks, and it was fun trying out new commands and incorperating them in programs. Unfortunately, I found it a lot easier to just make programs containing individual instructions that I found useful (like the command to move forward) and then just spam them a lot, which sort of detracted from the concept a lot. Maybe if there was some way to encourage automation? (e.g. rewarding/punishing the player based on the number of times they executed a program). Still though, an interesting idea that I'd be curious to see more of in future.
Interesting idea, but as you say, there's not enough gameplay yet to make this really shine. I'm curious where you were planning to take this. Right now, moving around is tedious rather than interesting, even using the F-keys to store one-line programs. Since it's all turn-based and doesn't restart every time you execute a program, there's no need for any longer programs at all.
The Wolfenstein-era 3D graphics are pretty cool, although the UI doesn't really fit in with that style, especially the generic font (Arial?) and hand-drawn buttons.
I'm really enjoying this, it turned out to be much more of a game than I expected. Having to 'build' my own robot controls to play interactively is fun. Later I'll come back to this to try and write an 'automated' solution. Also VERY GOOD space frogs