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[Graven]

Looks decent, but there is one question that will sway my opinion one way or the other. Is there cooperative gameplay, and if not, are there plans for the future addition thereof?

[alexpoysky]

Actualy, damn, that would be awesome! But I don't think there is and haven't really heard mention of it.

[Vherid]

The game looks kinda interesting, but even with the discount 12 bucks is kinda a lot to me for a game like this. I have no job, should be saving my money for this year of college and I have about 40 bucks. So for a game like this, 12 bucks is a lot for me. Especially for a beta.

Now I could just buy it, and then say I "hated" it to get it for free, but that's pretty douche-ish.

So maybe down the road or something, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Maybe I can offer you art related skills or such for a copy, I plan on going into game design myself, more towards the art side, Sophmore year of Graphic Design at a school that has one of the United State's top 5 graphic design programs. But other then that.


I like the idea of the enemy mutating, however is it completely random, or do they actually mutate according to what strategies/tactics you are using against them?
The aliens seem to move in ways similar to the galcon fusion strategy. Is there any plans to diversify that?
Is 6 the limit on troops?
Any plans in the future for an epic scale map?

[Alex Vostrov]

Looks decent, but there is one question that will sway my opinion one way or the other. Is there cooperative gameplay, and if not, are there plans for the future addition thereof?

Hey Graven, there's no multiplayer right now.    It's something that I really want myself (I want to play Infested Planet with my Dad), but it's insanely hard to code.  Best case scenario is an expansion pack, but that's in dream-land at this point.

The game looks kinda interesting, but even with the discount 12 bucks is kinda a lot to me for a game like this. I have no job, should be saving my money for this year of college and I have about 40 bucks. So for a game like this, 12 bucks is a lot for me. Especially for a beta.

Now I could just buy it, and then say I "hated" it to get it for free, but that's pretty douche-ish.

So maybe down the road or something, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Maybe I can offer you art related skills or such for a copy, I plan on going into game design myself, more towards the art side, Sophmore year of Graphic Design at a school that has one of the United State's top 5 graphic design programs. But other then that.


I like the idea of the enemy mutating, however is it completely random, or do they actually mutate according to what strategies/tactics you are using against them?
The aliens seem to move in ways similar to the galcon fusion strategy. Is there any plans to diversify that?
Is 6 the limit on troops?
Any plans in the future for an epic scale map?

Thanks for being honest.    Why don't you try Attack of the Paper Zombies?  It's a bit outdated now, but it's what got people hooked on the idea in the first place.

I tried having intelligent mutations during development, but it just ended up being exploitable.  You could force the aliens into a particular situation and the mutations wouldn't be a surprise any more.

Yup, you can have 6 guys at most and I like the current map scales.  It already takes 30-60 minutes to finish one game on the harder levels, so I'd be wary of extending that.

That LP looked like a lot of fun, although I can't really see a lot of challenge in that particular map. Could you show one of the tougher maps as well please?
Oh and your voice was a total surprise to me, I expected a russian accent but got a completely normal voice

I was tricky and edited the game footage.    It was an hour of me trying to fence off the aliens and them fighting to get out.  I'll see if I can do a video with more tension in it.

People tell me that I have a slight accent.  I was kind of paranoid and did 100 takes on that recording.  I'm now convinced that I can't actually talk. 

[Alex Vostrov]

What's with everyone freaking out about the price? Do you people know how much effort goes into making something like this? A hell of a lot more than $15 worth =P First post I see about it on his blog is a year ago, and that's not counting the time spent on Paper Zombies. I get it, there are other games, competition, etc. It just irks me that people will outright tell someone "Your game is not worth what you want for it" after they've spent over a year of their life making it, without even waiting for a demo to decide that. Obviously the difference here is that Academagia never saw fit to provide one, but still. </rant>

Looks amazing, Alex. I'll give it a shot when you find time for a demo, or keep a look out for some pre-reviews, but I'll probably end up buying.

My opinion is that when people complain about a game's price, what they really mean is that they don't see that amount of value in the game.  Game experiences are not commodities, so you can't talk about them the same way as you would about flour.  It's not that the price is too high, it's that the level of "percieved awesomeness" has to match the price.

Personally, I take it as a challenge that I have to make better games and do a better job of explaining why they people want to play them.

Thanks for checking the game out.  I'll try to get the demo out when I've patched some of the things that couldn't make into the beta.  I like to check out demos of unknown games myself, so I know where you're coming from.

[Fikes]

What's with everyone freaking out about the price? Do you people know how much effort goes into making something like this? A hell of a lot more than $15 worth =P First post I see about it on his blog is a year ago, and that's not counting the time spent on Paper Zombies. I get it, there are other games, competition, etc. It just irks me that people will outright tell someone "Your game is not worth what you want for it" after they've spent over a year of their life making it, without even waiting for a demo to decide that. Obviously the difference here is that Academagia never saw fit to provide one, but still. </rant>

Looks amazing, Alex. I'll give it a shot when you find time for a demo, or keep a look out for some pre-reviews, but I'll probably end up buying.

My opinion is that when people complain about a game's price, what they really mean is that they don't see that amount of value in the game.  Game experiences are not commodities, so you can't talk about them the same way as you would about flour.  It's not that the price is too high, it's that the level of "percieved awesomeness" has to match the price.

You are 100% correct. I would probably enjoy your game, but it would be foolish to go out and buy every game I think I would enjoy.

Not only that, but investing in an Indy studio is kind of risky. I don't use WASD to move, I use ESDF. If controls aren't bindable it screws up my whole game. Same with volume. I generally have ventrilo running in the background, so if I can't turn in game sounds down ventrilo is uselss.

I assume no indy game has those features, particularly in beta. That puts an even further burden on the developer. Finally, you would be well within your rights to stop development of the game at any time. That means your game has to be worth the money right now.

An indie game just has a lot of risks, and $15 is alot to spend on something so risky. It has nothing to do with how much work was put into it or how small the team was. It only has to do with knowing I'll get my monies worth.

[Anvilfolk]

Man, people have been a iffy bit too aggressive on this thread :\

The only reason I haven't picked it up yet is that I know my gaming time is very limited at this point, and $15 is above the threshold where I get it just because it's indie and I want to help indie developers. That said, I'll go ahead and agree that a demo might sway this opinion I remember enjoying Attack of the Paper Zombies, but for me these kinds of games don't have much longevity. I do one or two missions, and I feel I've explored most of the gameplay (when I actually haven't), and kind of leave it at that. I usually need some "higher layer" to make each battle meaningful - like the campaign in S.P.A.Z. or in Atom Zombie Smasher. Are you planning any of this?

I'm not sure how hard it is - can you not just, I don't know, remove some of the things, or put a 10-20m limit somewheres in the code? I guess removal of some content would prevent someone just looking at the bytecode and bypassing that through a crack of whatnot.

When you have time, do consider a demo There seems to be enough people on the fence to warrant it once you have time, especially if you're tight on money.

[YouR_DooM]

I don't use WASD to move, I use ESDF.

Seriously, why hasn't this become the standard control scheme? Is so much better, it isn't even a fair fight. I go crazy if I can't bind my keys to ESDF.

[Xotes]

Seriously, why hasn't this become the standard control scheme? Is so much better, it isn't even a fair fight. I go crazy if I can't bind my keys to ESDF.

I fail to see the improvement in moving your movement keys all one place to the right, but maybe it's just me.

[Saint]

Hell, I'll buy it when I get paid (if I have money after bills and food) and get a livestream and video review up.

[YouR_DooM]

Seriously, why hasn't this become the standard control scheme? Is so much better, it isn't even a fair fight. I go crazy if I can't bind my keys to ESDF.

I fail to see the improvement in moving your movement keys all one place to the right, but maybe it's just me.

With WASD the pinky can only confortably control Shift, Caps Lock and CTRL ( at least for me ) and I have trouble reaching Z ( on a QWERTY ) with my 4th finger. With ESDF you get 3 more keys on the pinky + an additional key on the 4th finger + a better spread on the numeric keys. It would probably be even better to go RDFG, but I never moved away from ESDF.

[alexpoysky]

I have never, ever, ever heard of anyone using edsf, and it seems like a trivial thing to go and base your purchase of a game on, but that is just me.

I dunno, learning a whole new way of managing the keyboard to gain a few keys that aren't really neccesary is kind of contrived...

[YouR_DooM]

I have never, ever, ever heard of anyone using edsf, and it seems like a trivial thing to go and base your purchase of a game on, but that is just me.

I dunno, learning a whole new way of managing the keyboard to gain a few keys that aren't really neccesary is kind of contrived...

Never said I wouldn't buy a game, especially something very easy to control. But I could never play a shooter on WASD. And personally, I find every key I can fit in necessary; not having to move your hand gives you precious time especially in online FPS. Obv if you play only stuff that needs mostly a mouse or you have all the time in the world, changing the layout is pretty dumb. But the same doesn't apply in more competitive games.

I recently had a discussion on the 2+2 forums about this, and what came out is that anyone who ever played FPSs or even MMOs more competitively changes their hand postures and even key layouts to fit their style. Even stuff that seem trivial, like changing the way the mouse is held or even positioned, changes A TON when you play for more than an hour per session. Could tell you tons of stories of hand postures

Btw I'm odd anyway. Here is how I hold everythign during sessions:

And during nowrmal browsing

[Alex Vostrov]

The only reason I haven't picked it up yet is that I know my gaming time is very limited at this point, and $15 is above the threshold where I get it just because it's indie and I want to help indie developers. That said, I'll go ahead and agree that a demo might sway this opinion I remember enjoying Attack of the Paper Zombies, but for me these kinds of games don't have much longevity. I do one or two missions, and I feel I've explored most of the gameplay (when I actually haven't), and kind of leave it at that. I usually need some "higher layer" to make each battle meaningful - like the campaign in S.P.A.Z. or in Atom Zombie Smasher. Are you planning any of this?

It's on my "really want" list.  The thing that's spooking me is that I've already tried 2-3 times to make a campaign layer that I liked, but it wasn't up to my standards so I axed it.

BTW, you guys should also check out SPAZ and Atom Zombie Smasher.  Awesome indie games.  I was playing SPAZ until 9am yesterday.    Plus, I know both of their devs and they're great guys. 

I'm not sure how hard it is - can you not just, I don't know, remove some of the things, or put a 10-20m limit somewheres in the code? I guess removal of some content would prevent someone just looking at the bytecode and bypassing that through a crack of whatnot.

When you have time, do consider a demo There seems to be enough people on the fence to warrant it once you have time, especially if you're tight on money.

I guess the main thing that's holding me back is that making a good demo is quite hard.  You can't just package the first 2h and call it a day, because then the demo is full of tutorial.

This is especially tricky for a strategy game like Infested Planet, where there's a lot to learn.  I don't want to put people off with a vertical learning curve.

[Koja]

Hehe. My first thought was "But Terraria made 2 million in 9 days for cheaper", but that's been covered pretty well.

Liked paper zombies, will be watching this.

Oh- and ESDF:digging the info. Makes rational sense, not sure if I can switch from 20 years of wasd though. Worth a try at some point, going to google other keyboard tricks.