Cell Fray

[Finch]

Hi there!

I've just completed my new game, and I shall be very happy if you take a look on it.

The game principle is simple. There are two fractions of cells. The Whites versus The Blacks. You are in control of the Whites.
If some cell is in touch with an enemy cell, they begin to suck each other. The stronger, that means the optically bigger, wins and gains some strength (but sometimes it doesn't, if the cells were equivalent). One cell can suck only one another cell at the same time. Consequently, several smaller cells can suck one bigger cell together before the bigger one sucks them step by step.
There is also some feed on the map. The cells can suck it in order to grow up and gain strength.
If some cell is enough big, it can do a mitosis, that means that the cell separates into two smaller cells.
The game objective is clear - eliminate all Blacks before they do the same to you.

Controls:
Left mouse button click on white cell adds this cell to the selection.
Left mouse button click anywhere else clears the selection.
Right mouse button click orders the cells in the selection to go to a place where the cursor is.
Space orders the cells in the selection to do a mitosis, if it is possible.
Alt + F4 quits the game.

Screenshots (they're from beta, but the game looks almost same):
http://gogoweb.wz.cz/other/screenshots/cell_fray_01_.jpg (http://gogoweb.wz.cz/other/screenshots/cell_fray_01.jpg) http://gogoweb.wz.cz/other/screenshots/cell_fray_02_.jpg (http://gogoweb.wz.cz/other/screenshots/cell_fray_02.jpg)

Download:
http://gogoweb.wz.cz/other/programs/cell_fray.zip

Thanks for any suggestion ;)

[FNX]

Hello Finch,
of course you're going to win the "most innovative" game of the year with
that :P

It looks very nice even in beta, remind me looking into a microscope :)

I'll try it tonight because now i'm still at work, but can't wait to do a
mitosis and see what happen!

C u later

[Finch]

It looks very nice even in beta...
Well, maybe I didn't wrote it accurately enough, but the game is finished. Only screenshots are from betaversion, because I'm too lazy to capture new screenshots from this final version ;)

Anyway, thanks for your nterest. I hope you will enjoy the game.

[FNX]

Well, maybe I didn't wrote it accurately enough, but the game is finished.

Yes sorry, i didn't express myself well, i meant, beta only in the gfx ;)
Tonight i'll do some tests out of it.

[Robert Kosek]

The screenshots look great, but I'm having trouble viewing the screenshots and downloading.

[Finch]

Well, it is best to use some download manager, because the webhosting I use is sometimes... eeh, let's just say not good. But it's free, at least, and I'm just poor student ;)

[Robert Kosek]

I understand completely, I am poor myself.

I bought some one-time-payment space which gives me a spot to upload my stuff. Once it gets back online, feel free to mirror the file there (http://freepgs.com/thewickedflea/). It's cheap so it's not the most reliable, and I'm not quite done fiddling with the package at the moment. I don't mind helping out someone in the same boat as I. ;)

(EDIT, it's up now, but seems a little busy at the moment.)
(EDIT2, Official Mirror (http://freepgs.com/thewickedflea/download.php?file=2))

[Traveler]

Hi Finch,

Great little game! A few little things you may want to look into.
:arrow: Better in game instructions on how to start. The current way of starting a level is odd to say the least. It took me a while to get the game started.
:arrow: Mouse controls. I'm a bit unsure about this one. Somehow the mouse controls just feel not right to me. It could be lack of experience tho.
:arrow: Is there a way to split the cells myself? If I have one selected and they're at their peek, they just sit there, doing nothing.
:arrow: AI is tough, or I'm just bad. Haven't won a game yet.
Most of the time I'm having trouble with blacks not being eaten while I'm obviously bigger. Then an even bigger black comes up and I end up the one being eaten. The white cells appear to be at their best without me helping them.
:arrow: Mouse movement is a tad too fast. This is especially noticable with the small menu.
:arrow: Menu's are definitely too small. You've got plenty of space left, why not use it?
:arrow: Background is a bit boring.
:arrow: Gameplay is great. I fear though its going to get old pretty quick. I'm not sure how, but you should add more variation to it.

Otherwise its a great game and it definitely has great potential. Dont stop here!

Btw, Thanks Robert for hosting, the link Finch provided didn't work for me at all.

[FNX]

Finally played it!

These are my points:

-The concept is amazing but i think it gets boring soon. Try to think about
some other game modes.

-The menu are really too small

-Add a windowed mode, i prefer than fullscreen

-Add a way to exit game that is not Alt-F4, maybe some key to go back to
the menu (esc?)

-Show us the final gfx :P

That's all I think :) The game is really nice, but I won't say it's finished.
With some of the improovements we told you it can be much better!!

[Finch]

Thanks for comments and special thanks Robert for hosting ;)

to Traveler:
- All right. I'll try to improe it in future versions.
- To be honest, I can't imagine how to control the game on keyboard. Click on a cell, and another click to make it go somewhere. What can be more simple?
- Yes, press space and all selected cells, which are enough big, will split themselves.
- Hmm, it can be difficult in the beginning. My friends complained too, but it needs just a practice. Remember, two smaller cells can be more stronger than one big.
- Well, I can make some settings, where you will be able to set the speed of scrolling yourself. Now, you can try to scrool by the arrow keys on the keyboard.
- I will make a better game interface in future version.
- There will be some better background.
- Hmm, it's true that the game can get boring. Anyway, I still like to play it, though I made it. But I understand that someone isn't such sort of player. I have some new ideas for the future versions.

to FNX:
The first and the second point - see above ;)
- If you want to play in the windowed mode, you can edit file "Cell Fray\Data\config.cfg". There you can change resolution, whether you want to use fullscreen, etc.
- Ok, I add this with the imrpovement of the game interface.
- Final gfx? Well, you see it in the game. Don't beat me, I'm not an graphic artist :)

[savage]

I also like the idea of the game. Could you also add the ability to choose which side you can be.

[savage]

A News item has been posted.

You should consider extending the game to have multiple factions. and even make it multiplayer. Therefore you could have Red, Blue, Yellow etc all taking part in a MMO Fray Fest.

There really aren't enough bacterial based games.

[fragle]

An interesting game indeed. Great job! ;) Reminds me of those Experimental Gameplay (http://www.experimentalgameplay.com/) projects with its simplicity and fun to play.

As Savage said, multiplayer would really fit well in there and most of the online fps modes (ctf f.e.) can also be succesfully applied. So... counter cell strike anyone? :D

Onto some bads and wishes next:
- the text is indeed a little small to be read from further away, although this does make the screen look very clean
- wouldn't it be better if one could wrap around the map borders instead of stopping at them?
- zooming the main screen and minimap would be nice, although not really necessary with current gameplay mode

Btw, it would be possible to use a keyboard by controlling the cells directly, instead of point-and-click. Selecting cells could be area-based (like - select all cells around a certain radius of currently selected ones) or have some rotating field-of-view around the main cell. Doubtful if it would be more convenient than a mouse though...

Ummm... i think that is all :)

P.S.: anyone beat this game at the hardest level yet?

[Finch]

To be honest, I won't probably make a multiplayer version, though it would be certainly great fun to play. However, as soon as I have some free time again, I will do the improvements in the singleplayer version (as I mentioned above).


Wouldn't it be better if one could wrap around the map borders instead of stopping at them?
I don't fully understand what you exactly mean. Could you explain it for me?


P.S.: anyone beat this game at the hardest level yet?
I did :wink:

[fragle]

I don't fully understand what you exactly mean. Could you explain it for me?
Umm... let's see... I guess animation would tell it best ;) If you were to go right all the time, you would hit a map border and stop (like that (http://img57.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nowrap1zh.gif)) like it is now. If you were to wrap around, you would just continue at the opposite corner (like that (http://img58.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wrap9kv.gif)). Hope it makes sense ;)

Just thought of another game option - how about being able to set a custom amount of enemy cells? Would provide practically unlimited difficulty.. and replayability ;)

P.S.: sorry for the late reply :oops:

[Finch]

Umm... let's see... I guess animation would tell it best ;) If you were to go right all the time, you would hit a map border and stop (like that (http://img57.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nowrap1zh.gif)) like it is now. If you were to wrap around, you would just continue at the opposite corner (like that (http://img58.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wrap9kv.gif)). Hope it makes sense ;)
Ok, I understand and I will think about it.


Just thought of another game option - how about being able to set a custom amount of enemy cells? Would provide practically unlimited difficulty.. and replayability ;)
No problem, you will be able to set amount of both your and enemy cells.

[Finch]

Finally, I completed next version of Cell Fray, labeled as Cell Fray v1.1. Though I didn't implement all suggested improvements, I think it's more playable game now. Anyway, feel free to criticise ;)

You can download it from here: http://gogoweb.wz.cz/other/programs/cell_fray_11.zip (cca 460 kB)