[Giant_Gamer]

Dog Eat Dog Microbes Beta 0.9

Finally after much "mad" programing (from a GM Noob perspective) I present D.E.D.M. Beta 0.9!

Description: "Life Genesis" meets chaos and science! Dog Eat Dog microbes is a "Cellular Automata" game that has an interesting twist with chaotic cell movement rules. This is my first "from scratch" project built from the ground up.

Controls:
Press "F1" for information (in the game)
Press "Z" to scramble the room (no points lost)
Press "space" to reproduce your "Green Dog" cells at current position.
Use "Left Mouse" to fill empty cells with Green Dog cells at -1 point each.

Hidden Cheats:
Press "P" to mass produce
Press "6" to skip level

Easter Egg:
Press "6" on the "Thanks for playing" screen to enter Easter Egg.

Download link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?mnmuddbkjvk

Screen shot:

This post has been edited by Giant_Gamer: 05 April 2010 - 02:51 PM

[poplast]

Am i the only one that doesn't understand the concept and point of this game?

[Marvelous Mark]

No.

I haven't tried it... but uh... what do you do?

[Giant_Gamer]

The above is an example of a large scale Cellular Automata simulation using Conway's rules (commonly know as "life")
Each little square has 8 neighbors. just like the "number 5" (numpad) has 8 key's all around it. (7 8 9 4 6 1 2 3)
Conway rules were simple:

Each cell either is alive or is dead. (or empty of life)
1. Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbors dies, as if caused by underpopulation.
2. Any live cell with more than three live neighbors dies, as if by overcrowding.
3. Any live cell with two or three live neighbors lives on to the next generation.
4. Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbors becomes a live cell.
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Life Genesis was the first time I came into contact with Cellular Automata at a young age. (about the age of 8 or 9)
This game had extra cool additions to the original formula.

First it added grid restriction. (the maximum grid size was 99x99 & the smallest was 5x5)
This restricted Life from exiting the "level". And in a sense was the creation of a new cell. (I call the void cell). No Life can live in this void, no matter how many neighbors it has.

Another thing that was added, was the two life/cell colors. Blue AND Red, this works out nicely because you need 3 neighbors to create new life. The color of this life was determined by the "majority color" of those around it.

It also had a two player game vs a CPU controlled opponent.
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So now we come to what I have done. Dog Eat Dog Microbes is a experimental warping of Conway's rules.
I always wondered what would happen in a chaotic setting.
I asked the question, What happens if you remove the fixed grid with that of a random one?
With just three cells you could "create" more than two new cells.

The number of cells is the same, the energy for growth is higher, but so is the overpopulation risk.
<> . <> . <>
In the game you control when the cells are active in their micro environment. The Red cells act just the same as empty ones except for game reasons you cannot manipulate them UNLESS you start the chaos by pressing the "Z" button.
For every Red cell you cleanse from the "dish" you earn 20pts. These point's can then be spent to make additional Green cells IF NEEDED. Most of the levels can be played with out adding a single Green cell. However the time before you press "Z" you can chose to place more Green cells in the dish to encourage a better start for removing the red cells.

The Yellow cells are my take on the "Void cell", when a empty cell touches a Void cell it is randomly warped to another location inside the dish. However both Green and Red cells bounce off the "void" cell and are unable to absorb it.

Users who wish for less of a challenge may want to read the hints below:

Spoiler

Hint 1: Try pressing the space bar in a rhythm of about 1 second, this should help your dish's population because this should give your cells time to move around and not suffer from overpopulation (as much)

Spoiler

Hint 2: pressing "z" right after three "beats" of the space bar can sometimes encourage the red cells to jump closer to your Green ones.

Spoiler

Hint 3: If you get through all 10 levels of the game you will find out what the first cheat is.

This post has been edited by Giant_Gamer: 20 February 2010 - 06:51 PM

[Giant_Gamer]

I need two people to say that they will play the game if I make an in-game tutorial. Other wise 0.9 will be the final version of the game.

I am also offering a prize for the first person to post a screen shot of my Easter Egg.

This post has been edited by Giant_Gamer: 22 February 2010 - 11:12 AM

[SkullDraco]

wtf, I definitely don't get the game. why doesn't someone make a RPG game of Gamersfire peeps with RPG Maker for the pc?

[ThaCoBRA]

...make all the green cells kill off all the red cells, "buy" extra green cells with your accumulated points by holding the mouse button down and dragging it over the gray cells... easy.

kinda addictive once you get the hang of it.

[Giant_Gamer]

Sorry not that's just a minor error, Not the egg.
You will know if you find it. It looks like something completely out of place. (it's not hidden in some small part of a level, it's huge.)

I'm glad that I didn't bother with the 2nd, much harder to find egg, It wouldn't have been found unless I said where it was.
Glad someone likes the game.

SkullDraco, on 24 February 2010 - 04:14 PM, said:

wtf, I definitely don't get the game. why doesn't someone make a RPG game of Gamersfire peeps with RPG Maker for the pc?

The thought had crossed my mind, however I don't have any experience with RPG Maker. For now learning Game Maker is a priority.

This post has been edited by Giant_Gamer: 24 February 2010 - 04:03 PM

[Daman91]

i think i found it?

[Giant_Gamer]

I had already posted the first Cheat... and the deadline for the competition has ended.

EXPLANATION OF Hidden content:

Spoiler

Cheat #1: press "P"
This will enable turbo breading mode. Given enough dog cells to reproduce this cheat should fill 2/3 of any level. Giving a player a fighting chance for completion.

NOTE: Anyone who had played all 10 levels of DEDM should have seen in the cheat info, as a "name" on the high score list.

Cheat #2: press "6"
pressing 6 will display a message "Cheater" and send you to the next room. ((NO POINTS WILL BE EARNED))

NOTE: On the "Thanks for playing screen" you will notice that there are a good deal of empty cells floating around. If you click on them they will turn into Green Dog Cells. There isn't enough time to click them all before they move off screen... you would need to bring them back by pressing "Z". (Green dog cells will NOT return to view) Once you fill in all 250 blank cells, a message will pop up declaring the #2 Cheat. (the game will then restart... this is important...)

EASTER EGG:
To access the in game Easter Egg simply use the #2 Cheat on the "Thanks for playing" screen. (you can quickly get there by keep pressing "6" making no in game score)
While viewing the Easter Egg you may also press "Z", "space bar", "P" and "6" to bring up additional (dumb) messages.