I'd like to shed some light on one of the main game mechanics building towers from blocks. There are two types of buildable items in Protolife right now: blue blocks and yellow crystals. All structures in the game are made of these. And because there are many structures but only two blocks layout matters! Tower type, direction of fire, upgrades, retrofits, repairs everything is controlled by the blocks placement. Blue blocks serve as a structural basis for your towers. Structures like low-tier towers and armored walls can be built using blue blocks only. For something more complex youll need the yellow crystals. They are used as a power source for upgrades and special functions. Here is a small example of upgrading Tower 1 (T1) to T2 and T3 just with the correct placement of blocks!
All tower patterns (like T1, T2) are hardcoded, but the game allows you to combine these structures quite freely, which gives you a lot of space for improvisation.
Combined with the solid amount of basic patterns, this gives you an opportunity to design your own defenses in the harsh conditions of limited space, time and resources. We are working hard on balancing the towers so that every single building remains useful in the later stages of the game. Youll need to know all of these patterns and how to mix them to overcome the enemy.

[ 2018-03-14 16:09:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

I'd like to shed some light on one of the main game mechanics building towers from blocks. There are two types of buildable items in Protolife right now: blue blocks and yellow crystals. All structures in the game are made of these. And because there are many structures but only two blocks layout matters! Tower type, direction of fire, upgrades, retrofits, repairs everything is controlled by the blocks placement. Blue blocks serve as a structural basis for your towers. Structures like low-tier towers and armored walls can be built using blue blocks only. For something more complex youll need the yellow crystals. They are used as a power source for upgrades and special functions. Here is a small example of upgrading Tower 1 (T1) to T2 and T3 just with the correct placement of blocks!
All tower patterns (like T1, T2) are hardcoded, but the game allows you to combine these structures quite freely, which gives you a lot of space for improvisation.
Combined with the solid amount of basic patterns, this gives you an opportunity to design your own defenses in the harsh conditions of limited space, time and resources. We are working hard on balancing the towers so that every single building remains useful in the later stages of the game. Youll need to know all of these patterns and how to mix them to overcome the enemy.

[ 2018-03-14 16:09:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

15 years since the first colonization parties landed on Gagarin-5. 15 years of tedious yet satisfying work on making this planet our home. I miss these years now.
It all happened in mere days. The corruption spread across our lands, waves of crimson doom washed away our mushroom farms, and giant worms devoured our cities. As far as I know, only few thousands of people were able to escape into the emergency bases. Now the thing.. is dormant. It sleeps during the day, and grows only slowly over the night, filled with tumors, blights and rolling, nauseating pink lights.
This small opening seems to be our only chance to fight back, to clean the planet. And we are sure to take it.

Gameplay

Stand to defend a distant human colony against the growing lifeform that devours everything in its wake. Build complex defenses from the simplest element possible – a single block, save few remaining settlements and clean the planetary surface from the corruption in this original tower-based RTS. Initially built for a Ludum Dare 38 game jam, it was completely redesigned, got a graphics update, tons of new content, but still works around a simple idea: build towers from blocks, contain the enemy, survive the night onslaught and strike back.

Key features

• Unique approach to building process: Every tower is constructed from patterns of simple blocks. Build your defense grid piece by piece the way you like it, upgrade, combine, optimize space and resources to survive against the overwhelming odds.
  
• An enemy unlike usual RTS adversaries: Growing, living entity designed to exploit every small weakness in your defense. The more space it takes from you, the more powerful it becomes.
  
• Freedom of strategy and flexible defense perimeter: Go for quick low-tier tower rush or bunk with well-defended artillery posts, then collect your blocks and rebuild the defenses on the spot — just mind the free space and resources left.
  
• Direct control over the builder: Or two? Dynamically switch between several battlefronts and dominate over the enemy.
  
• Over 30 levels with variative gameplay and win objectives.
  
• Random missions generator with an adjustable difficulty level and special rewards.
  
• Custom towers editor where you can construct your own powerful weapon.
  
• Remappable keyboard or gamepad controls. Please note that the game was not designed for mouse control.