Orcs vs. Martians beta 3
by Geom · 11/07/2009 (12:12 pm) · 23 comments
Hi guys!
Orcs vs. Martians beta 3 is finally out!
For those who don't know, Orcs vs. Martians is a Real-Time Strategy game.
OVM is meant to have gameplay elements that appeal to hardcore gamers, while being easier to get into, and faster-playing, than traditional RTS games are. It's heavy on strategy and light(er) on tactics. Emphasis is on exploiting the random terrain effectively, and on out-upgrading your opponents.
OVM has several interesting (IMHO!) features meant to combat the traditional grind of RTS micromanagement: auto-harvesting, auto-hotkey-grouping, and auto-exploration. All of which you can, of course, do manually as well. But they're meant to free up the player to enjoy high-level strategy more.
Here's a video trailer:
The Beta3 installer is at:
redbrickgames.com/ovm-beta3-setup.exe
I didn't test multiplayer this release, so only a 50-50 chance that internet play works.
Feedback is always welcome. You can send comments to ovm@redbrickgames.com, or just post here.
Check it out!
*** Edit 11/10/2009 ***
I put up a new build which fixes the F3 crash and the audio problem. Same download URL as before.
Orcs vs. Martians beta 3 is finally out!
For those who don't know, Orcs vs. Martians is a Real-Time Strategy game.
OVM is meant to have gameplay elements that appeal to hardcore gamers, while being easier to get into, and faster-playing, than traditional RTS games are. It's heavy on strategy and light(er) on tactics. Emphasis is on exploiting the random terrain effectively, and on out-upgrading your opponents.
OVM has several interesting (IMHO!) features meant to combat the traditional grind of RTS micromanagement: auto-harvesting, auto-hotkey-grouping, and auto-exploration. All of which you can, of course, do manually as well. But they're meant to free up the player to enjoy high-level strategy more.
Here's a video trailer:
The Beta3 installer is at:
redbrickgames.com/ovm-beta3-setup.exe
I didn't test multiplayer this release, so only a 50-50 chance that internet play works.
Feedback is always welcome. You can send comments to ovm@redbrickgames.com, or just post here.
Check it out!
*** Edit 11/10/2009 ***
I put up a new build which fixes the F3 crash and the audio problem. Same download URL as before.
About the author
My email address is my GG handle, at redbrickgames.com.
Recent Blogs
• Orcs vs. Martians - updated video• Orcs vs. Martians November update
• Milestone!
• The Burninating
• Victory flags
#3
11/07/2009 (7:14 pm)
I can't help but think how much hype this could make on T3D with awesome lighting and all that. Good work! 
#4
11/07/2009 (7:34 pm)
wow. the video is incredible. Warcraft 3 is my all-time favorite game. I'll have to give the beta a try. Thanks! 
#5
11/07/2009 (7:36 pm)
very nice, which physics engine you use? 
#6
The debris thing is uber cool :)
11/08/2009 (12:45 am)
Espectacular Geom, really really good advances since the last beta.The debris thing is uber cool :)
#7
Really, the amount you have achieved here in making a fully-featured Torque RTS is fantastic. Keep them coming!
11/08/2009 (6:19 am)
I find these OvM blogs incredibly inspiring. Really, the amount you have achieved here in making a fully-featured Torque RTS is fantastic. Keep them coming!
#8
11/08/2009 (11:52 am)
Very nicely done man! Very inspiring work. 
#9
I noticed it the OpenAL32.dll you shipped did not work. I put in a old one (the one which comes with RTS Kit (1.3)) and this one worked.
It amazing what you have done, very cool is:
* tree animations and the harvesting stone splitter
* wow terrain generation
* Many animations and sounds :)
* Great AI with steering behaviors and pathfinding
* Fog of war - How did you make that terrain rendering? it's cool programming stuff - while it looks a bit strange when it gets explored
* Statistics and the nice replay
* I like the speed up when a unit cross a road ;)
Many more things I did not explore so far - I guess ;)
Edit: "while it looks a bit strange when it gets explored" => I started the game again and the unexplored area is black now - so it does not look strange anymore - seams that sometimes the "black fog" is not rendered.
11/08/2009 (1:36 pm)
Very cool game! I noticed it the OpenAL32.dll you shipped did not work. I put in a old one (the one which comes with RTS Kit (1.3)) and this one worked.
It amazing what you have done, very cool is:
* tree animations and the harvesting stone splitter
* wow terrain generation
* Many animations and sounds :)
* Great AI with steering behaviors and pathfinding
* Fog of war - How did you make that terrain rendering? it's cool programming stuff - while it looks a bit strange when it gets explored
* Statistics and the nice replay
* I like the speed up when a unit cross a road ;)
Many more things I did not explore so far - I guess ;)
Edit: "while it looks a bit strange when it gets explored" => I started the game again and the unexplored area is black now - so it does not look strange anymore - seams that sometimes the "black fog" is not rendered.
#10
Thanks, glad you liked it! And I found the function key crash, thx.
@Bryce
It would be cool to port this over to T3D...
@Javier
I wrote the physics code for the debris myself. It's all just point-in-space particles bouncing around, not 3-D shapes, so I thought a physics engine would be overkill. Plus I have a few custom behaviors--like when a rock hits the water, there's a percentage chance it will bounce rather than sink, depending on the angle it hits. Like skipping stones. I wasn't sure if a physics engine would let me do stuff like that or get in the way. I haven't used one though, so I don't know.
@Novack
Thanks! I replied to your email. Great ideas.
@Thomas
Argh! Audio problems! <jumps up and down, mad> Bugs in OpenAL / alx have been a real problem. Yeah, I put the latest OpenAL32.dll into the installer, and apparently that's causing problems for some people. I *thought* I needed to have a recent DLL, because of an OpenAL feature that I'm using (AL_LINEAR_DISTANCE_CLAMPED). I'll re-check that, maybe I can get away with using the original OpenAL32.dll
All these audio issues have me almost wanting to buy TGEA, for the *sole purpose* of getting its sfx layer + fmod, so I can use those in place of alx + OpenAL.
Thanks for all the comments!
Anyone have comments about the random maps? Unfairness in the base spawn positions has been a long-standing issue with those--for example, one player's base may have a single entrance to guard, while another player's base may have three entrances. Now, there is some code that tries to make the starting spots be fair. But it's kind of a weak algorithm, and it doesn't always work. So I'm curious if the occasional unfairness bothers people a little, a lot, or...?
11/09/2009 (6:35 pm)
@MaxwellThanks, glad you liked it! And I found the function key crash, thx.
@Bryce
It would be cool to port this over to T3D...
@Javier
I wrote the physics code for the debris myself. It's all just point-in-space particles bouncing around, not 3-D shapes, so I thought a physics engine would be overkill. Plus I have a few custom behaviors--like when a rock hits the water, there's a percentage chance it will bounce rather than sink, depending on the angle it hits. Like skipping stones. I wasn't sure if a physics engine would let me do stuff like that or get in the way. I haven't used one though, so I don't know.
@Novack
Thanks! I replied to your email. Great ideas.
@Thomas
Argh! Audio problems! <jumps up and down, mad> Bugs in OpenAL / alx have been a real problem. Yeah, I put the latest OpenAL32.dll into the installer, and apparently that's causing problems for some people. I *thought* I needed to have a recent DLL, because of an OpenAL feature that I'm using (AL_LINEAR_DISTANCE_CLAMPED). I'll re-check that, maybe I can get away with using the original OpenAL32.dll
All these audio issues have me almost wanting to buy TGEA, for the *sole purpose* of getting its sfx layer + fmod, so I can use those in place of alx + OpenAL.
Thanks for all the comments!
Anyone have comments about the random maps? Unfairness in the base spawn positions has been a long-standing issue with those--for example, one player's base may have a single entrance to guard, while another player's base may have three entrances. Now, there is some code that tries to make the starting spots be fair. But it's kind of a weak algorithm, and it doesn't always work. So I'm curious if the occasional unfairness bothers people a little, a lot, or...?
#11
About the sound, I did not notice any issues with the "old" dll.
One thing I missed was to destroy a Mill, I misplaced and it blocked the path to my base.
I did not notice any unfairness, since with the fog of war I did not see what the other (computer) players had. Maybe people will bother about unfairness when they play against each other in multiplayer but thats also in other RTS Games.
11/09/2009 (6:57 pm)
I should not test such games, keep me busy playing ;)About the sound, I did not notice any issues with the "old" dll.
One thing I missed was to destroy a Mill, I misplaced and it blocked the path to my base.
I did not notice any unfairness, since with the fog of war I did not see what the other (computer) players had. Maybe people will bother about unfairness when they play against each other in multiplayer but thats also in other RTS Games.
#12
That's a really good idea--you should be able to self-destruct windmills. It can already be done with towers (just select and hit Del twice). It would be good for mills to have that too.
11/09/2009 (7:13 pm)
Ahh, the games play fast--go ahead :-)That's a really good idea--you should be able to self-destruct windmills. It can already be done with towers (just select and hit Del twice). It would be good for mills to have that too.
#13
11/09/2009 (11:50 pm)
The video looks very good. Downloading beta. Does the debree falling on players damage them? Would be interesting.
#14
That'd make uphill assaults interesting. Attackers would have to choose an approach where the debris didn't roll down on them. Or be prepared to take extra damage.
11/10/2009 (10:38 am)
It doesn't currently damage them, but that is an idea. (a couple of people have asked that)That'd make uphill assaults interesting. Attackers would have to choose an approach where the debris didn't roll down on them. Or be prepared to take extra damage.
#15
I'm going to download the beta and give you some feedback.
11/11/2009 (3:32 am)
Great video Geom!I'm going to download the beta and give you some feedback.
#16
I updated the installer with fixes for the F3 crash and audio issue. Same download link as posted above.
11/11/2009 (4:28 pm)
Thanks Christophe, looking forward to it!I updated the installer with fixes for the F3 crash and audio issue. Same download link as posted above.
#17
This game is fantastic though! Its the most fun I have ever experienced from a torque game :) you have inspired me =D
11/12/2009 (6:08 am)
Found a bug. I was watching a replay (its fun to see my light blue dots fly around the map pwning) and when I moused over other tabs like income and units etc. it would show the graphs without even clicking on them.This game is fantastic though! Its the most fun I have ever experienced from a torque game :) you have inspired me =D
#18
The mouse-over behavior of the tabs is actually meant as a convenience. It allows the player to check what's happening stat-wise during the replay, without switching to a different tab or stopping the replay. So, it's a bit unconventional, but I find it convenient.
11/12/2009 (3:52 pm)
Thanks Bryce! I hope that's not because it's the only Torque game you've played :D Anything more specific? Particular elements you liked or didn't like...The mouse-over behavior of the tabs is actually meant as a convenience. It allows the player to check what's happening stat-wise during the replay, without switching to a different tab or stopping the replay. So, it's a bit unconventional, but I find it convenient.
#19
I think really all you need to focus on now is eye candy and perhaps more units and buildings. The game plays really nicely, and I love the infinite queues and auto explore commands. It just makes life easier while playing.
EDIT: No its not the only game from torque i have played. I tried out Buccaneer and Hinterland, neither of which really made me feel like they were engaging enough (although I did enjoy hinterland for a few weeks)
EDITx2: Couple more suggestions: make the AI stand on different parts of the terrain, armies don't looks quite as good if everyone is inside of each other. Perhaps make the archers all fire at the same time (i know easier said than done but it looks cooler imho) A commander unit that applies 1.2x multi to upgrades of nearby troops, or something a long those lines could turn games around.
Its really fun, but at the moment I cannot lose, I just played through a game of 3 AI vs 1 me and I still dominated. The AI never seem to be able to catch me off guard.
11/13/2009 (8:45 am)
hmm, in that case perhaps you should make it a little bit more apparent that that is what the game is meant to be doing rather than slapping the graphs over the top. Perhaps an animation.I think really all you need to focus on now is eye candy and perhaps more units and buildings. The game plays really nicely, and I love the infinite queues and auto explore commands. It just makes life easier while playing.
EDIT: No its not the only game from torque i have played. I tried out Buccaneer and Hinterland, neither of which really made me feel like they were engaging enough (although I did enjoy hinterland for a few weeks)
EDITx2: Couple more suggestions: make the AI stand on different parts of the terrain, armies don't looks quite as good if everyone is inside of each other. Perhaps make the archers all fire at the same time (i know easier said than done but it looks cooler imho) A commander unit that applies 1.2x multi to upgrades of nearby troops, or something a long those lines could turn games around.
Its really fun, but at the moment I cannot lose, I just played through a game of 3 AI vs 1 me and I still dominated. The AI never seem to be able to catch me off guard.
#20
Infinite queues = groovy :) glad you found that feature, it's currently not all that obvious.
I really like Auto-explore too, although I wonder if it makes the end-of-game experience too easy. Once you out-upgrade your opponents, you can just turn on auto-explore for all your troops, and they should eventually win w/o your doing anything. It kind of loses the satisfaction of beating the final enemy bases by hand.
I'm thinking of perhaps limiting the number of auto-exploring troops to maybe 6 or 12.
Overlapping troops: yep, need to fix that. I hadn't thought of synchronizing the archers. Anyone else think that'd be a cool feature? It wouldn't be that hard to implement. When a guy is getting ready to shoot, I could make him check other archers near him. If other archers are getting ready to shoot too, within the next half second or so, make the first guy wait for them. Presto, little subsets of synchronized archers. Could do the same for the swordsmen, too.
Thanks for the comments! The feedback is great.
11/16/2009 (6:37 pm)
Yeah it needs something. I'm not sure what could be animated though. Maybe a message on the replay screen would do the trick. "Mouse over the other tabs to preview stats" or something like that.Infinite queues = groovy :) glad you found that feature, it's currently not all that obvious.
I really like Auto-explore too, although I wonder if it makes the end-of-game experience too easy. Once you out-upgrade your opponents, you can just turn on auto-explore for all your troops, and they should eventually win w/o your doing anything. It kind of loses the satisfaction of beating the final enemy bases by hand.
I'm thinking of perhaps limiting the number of auto-exploring troops to maybe 6 or 12.
Overlapping troops: yep, need to fix that. I hadn't thought of synchronizing the archers. Anyone else think that'd be a cool feature? It wouldn't be that hard to implement. When a guy is getting ready to shoot, I could make him check other archers near him. If other archers are getting ready to shoot too, within the next half second or so, make the first guy wait for them. Presto, little subsets of synchronized archers. Could do the same for the swordsmen, too.
Thanks for the comments! The feedback is great.
Torque 3D Owner Max
There are some problems with the function keys. I was trying to get a keyboard controls menu up, because the one in the Escape menu didn't work.
So I pressed F1, F2, and then F3. I don't know which one caused me to crash, but it seemed like F3. I lost the game I had going. :(
But it is very fun. This'll definitely keep me busy for a while.