Hordes of Orcs / iPhone - Public Beta
by Jon Frisby · 09/09/2009 (8:55 pm) · 12 comments
I'd like to announce the start of a public beta for the iPhone release of the popular Tower Defense game: Hordes of Orcs!
The beta is playable in your web browser, for those of you who aren't iPhone-enabled!
To participate, you'll only need the Unity3D webplayer plugin -- I'm cross-compiling the game as a web game and an iPhone game.
There's still a fair amount to wrap up with this game, but the gameplay features are all in place, the performance on-device is in the right ballpark and it's down to cleaning up the loose ends, making it look good, and balancing the heck out of the game. That's where you come in.
We've been using a technology called the +7 Balance Engine to help with the game balance for the desktop version, and the iPhone version will be using it too. When you play, the game will send a summary of what game elements you chose, and how successful you were back to our servers for analysis.
We'd also like to get feedback from everyone here about the game -- how it feels, how it plays, and thoughts on the level designs in particular.
This beta will be ongoing as we wrap up the many loose ends of the game and the game balance comes together. The more you play, the more quickly we can get the game right.
There's a lot of rough edges with regards to visuals and user feedback, and some of the art is still placeholder (notably, the fixed-maze maps). Bear with us as we get these all nailed down.
But, without any further ado: Hordes of Orcs
The beta is playable in your web browser, for those of you who aren't iPhone-enabled!
To participate, you'll only need the Unity3D webplayer plugin -- I'm cross-compiling the game as a web game and an iPhone game.
There's still a fair amount to wrap up with this game, but the gameplay features are all in place, the performance on-device is in the right ballpark and it's down to cleaning up the loose ends, making it look good, and balancing the heck out of the game. That's where you come in.
We've been using a technology called the +7 Balance Engine to help with the game balance for the desktop version, and the iPhone version will be using it too. When you play, the game will send a summary of what game elements you chose, and how successful you were back to our servers for analysis.
We'd also like to get feedback from everyone here about the game -- how it feels, how it plays, and thoughts on the level designs in particular.
This beta will be ongoing as we wrap up the many loose ends of the game and the game balance comes together. The more you play, the more quickly we can get the game right.
There's a lot of rough edges with regards to visuals and user feedback, and some of the art is still placeholder (notably, the fixed-maze maps). Bear with us as we get these all nailed down.
But, without any further ado: Hordes of Orcs
#2
09/09/2009 (10:20 pm)
I think any game is welcome as it shows talent more than anything 
#3
Who cares what the engine is, as long as it's entertaining?
09/09/2009 (10:41 pm)
Hordes of Orcs is an "old" Mac classic I've been waiting for, so I welcome it :)Who cares what the engine is, as long as it's entertaining?
#4
I think this is a good place to share any game development stuff.
At work I use Unity everyday for scientific/engineering applications, at night I use Torque to make cool fun stuff.
I think GG should compete with Unity, most definitely.
Torques Terrain system puts Unity's to shame!
Unity post processing FX destroy the anti-aliasing object at run-time,
which means you can't have DOF if you want any AA, nothing looks lousier than a blurred out back ground objects and gross, gritty pixelated foregroound objects (Yoooooooooou dirty rats, you killed my AA)
Unity is nice and generic, it's easy to set stuff up the way you want em.(uh, C#....helloooo, totally nice)
In Torque I have yet to get anyhting going... I mean just in scripting... I'm a smart guy, not to toot my own horn but I've given a ton of money(literally) to various learning institutions over the years
for some reason.... but I'm having trouble getting used to Torque script
I'm just starting to get the hang of it.. but man, when I got Unity on the first day we prototyped out a totally nerdy mechanical simulation thing.
Torque...still ...can't...get the advnaced Camera resource to work....
Loving GMK, and VERVE add ons... collada is awesome
I've just gotten started after licensing T3D,a lot of the docs I am looking at seem out of date. Go look at Unity's scripting reference site...go ahead, I'll wait....nice, right?
does that qualify as a rant? oh well
09/09/2009 (11:39 pm)
hehe, Unity and Torque smackdown!I think this is a good place to share any game development stuff.
At work I use Unity everyday for scientific/engineering applications, at night I use Torque to make cool fun stuff.
I think GG should compete with Unity, most definitely.
Torques Terrain system puts Unity's to shame!
Unity post processing FX destroy the anti-aliasing object at run-time,
which means you can't have DOF if you want any AA, nothing looks lousier than a blurred out back ground objects and gross, gritty pixelated foregroound objects (Yoooooooooou dirty rats, you killed my AA)
Unity is nice and generic, it's easy to set stuff up the way you want em.(uh, C#....helloooo, totally nice)
In Torque I have yet to get anyhting going... I mean just in scripting... I'm a smart guy, not to toot my own horn but I've given a ton of money(literally) to various learning institutions over the years
for some reason.... but I'm having trouble getting used to Torque script
I'm just starting to get the hang of it.. but man, when I got Unity on the first day we prototyped out a totally nerdy mechanical simulation thing.
Torque...still ...can't...get the advnaced Camera resource to work....
Loving GMK, and VERVE add ons... collada is awesome
I've just gotten started after licensing T3D,a lot of the docs I am looking at seem out of date. Go look at Unity's scripting reference site...go ahead, I'll wait....nice, right?
does that qualify as a rant? oh well
#5
Keep up the great work!
09/10/2009 (5:10 am)
Congrats on opening the public beta, Jon. The game worked well on my Mac, it was lots of fun! I've bookmarked it to come back for more! :)Keep up the great work!
#6
At the end of the day, there are strengths and weaknesses to every tool and I look at every project in light of what I'm trying to accomplish and which tool is best suited to that.
-JF
09/10/2009 (12:12 pm)
Whoa whoa whoa! Not trying to start a Unity vs. Torque debate. I've been a member of the GG community for a number of years (since at least 2005), I've shipped a game on TGB -- and in fact was asked by GG to give a "brown bag" session at WWDC to show off TGB -- and I've posted my trials and tribulations starting my company here to help provide insight and inspiration to other aspiring indies.At the end of the day, there are strengths and weaknesses to every tool and I look at every project in light of what I'm trying to accomplish and which tool is best suited to that.
-JF
#7
09/10/2009 (12:16 pm)
@Konrad: Thanks! It's been far too long in the making, and it's gratifying to know that people find it enjoyable!
#8
09/10/2009 (1:33 pm)
Damn, no 64-bit version. Everything here is 64-bit on Snow Leopard, and I upgraded plug-ins to match :/
#9
Haru Ruben, I have trouble making any sense out of your post. Of course AA isn't going to be noticeable when DOF is on. The very nature of how
DOF effect works is why.
Torque script is extremely basic. I've had no trouble building a game using it. Everything I've learned was from the resources available from GG. No special classes required ;-)
09/10/2009 (6:19 pm)
This is a GG community not a Unity3D community. There are generic "game communities" also. You figure out which one is best for a post that started this thread. In my opinion it was very poor taste. It's great to see the game information but this isn't the place to post it and pimp out Unity3D which is exactly what the post does.Haru Ruben, I have trouble making any sense out of your post. Of course AA isn't going to be noticeable when DOF is on. The very nature of how
DOF effect works is why.
Torque script is extremely basic. I've had no trouble building a game using it. Everything I've learned was from the resources available from GG. No special classes required ;-)
#10
As for Haru's comment: He's referring to a limitation of Unity3D in which anti-aliasing is disabled if you use image post-processing effects (including of course, DOF). Not a matter of not being "noticeable", it's a matter of it being *disabled*. Unity doesn't allow anti-aliasing of render textures.
As for my "taste": I've been posting here for four years, including publishing patches and resources and sample code for TGB, AND discussing the lifecycle of Hordes of Orcs over the past 2 years. That it happens to have been made in Unity3D is very much beside the point. I built Harmonic Convergence using TGB and have posted about that too over its lifecycle. I've been out to Oregon to meet the folks at GG face to face. Twice. Now granted that my patches aren't super-awesome-world-shaking stuff, but I've done what I can to contribute back to the community.
I will keep my own counsel about the appropriateness of my blog posts so you needn't waste your breath lecturing me.
-JF
09/11/2009 (2:02 am)
@Darren: My purpose was not to "pimp" Unity3D. It just happens to be the case that this game was made with Unity3D and thus requires it. If I wanted to "pimp" Unity3D I'd be posting video clips from a particular game studio that's well known in the Unity3D community for making some very drool-worthy content.As for Haru's comment: He's referring to a limitation of Unity3D in which anti-aliasing is disabled if you use image post-processing effects (including of course, DOF). Not a matter of not being "noticeable", it's a matter of it being *disabled*. Unity doesn't allow anti-aliasing of render textures.
As for my "taste": I've been posting here for four years, including publishing patches and resources and sample code for TGB, AND discussing the lifecycle of Hordes of Orcs over the past 2 years. That it happens to have been made in Unity3D is very much beside the point. I built Harmonic Convergence using TGB and have posted about that too over its lifecycle. I've been out to Oregon to meet the folks at GG face to face. Twice. Now granted that my patches aren't super-awesome-world-shaking stuff, but I've done what I can to contribute back to the community.
I will keep my own counsel about the appropriateness of my blog posts so you needn't waste your breath lecturing me.
-JF
#11
09/11/2009 (3:52 am)
@Jon - As I mentioned on Facebook and IRC, congrats on the progress. As always, good work, keep me in the loop, and I'll see ya in IRC.
#12
09/11/2009 (2:57 pm)
Looks like no one else seems to find the Unity3D pimp out an issue so please disregard my comments. Since you've been around longer Jon, you definitely know the atmosphere better than I do. My apologies. 
Torque Owner Darren Decker