Suggestions

[yellowcone]

Fantastic game!

I have a suggestion, similar to a previous poster about moving asteroids, how about asteroids that orbit? As the asteroid/s moves along it's orbit it allows the current occupant to reach different asteroids at different points in time, so a portions of the map is can be temparily isolated. Orbits can be circular or elliptical and one, several or even all asteroids in motion? These moving asteroids will be 'high value' like the current large asteroids with good stats.

Back to another game of dyson!

[spetsnaz]

i think the sequel ought to be in 3D, not 3D will make it interesting

[totally]

Ok, one more suggestion:

When the enemy seedlings are attacking your tree, make the branches come off one at a time (instead the whole tree being destroyed at once).

So when the enemy force attacks your unprotected asteroid, it will do immidiate damage to seedling generating capability, even when they will not have the strength to take down the whole tree. This also will serve as an indicator of control over that asteroid.

[Candlejack]

Are you working on implementing all of the features you wanted to add when you first came up with Dyson?

[kittehz]

What if something like ants were added that would make a tunnel network?  They would be entirely self-run, meaning the player would not even have to notice them.  So you would play like normal, and once a planet is held for 30 seconds, the ants would start building a bridge from a nearby planet that already had the ants.  They would then make a sweet-looking tunnel network and begin to terraform the planet to allow more trees.  If you did this, I would totally buy the game.  Or if you made a good set-up for allowing mods to do things like this.

[Alex]

When the enemy seedlings are attacking your tree, make the branches come off one at a time (instead the whole tree being destroyed at once).

Yep, we are going to do exactly this - firstly it will make it look more organic, and secondly it will show you how close to death the tree is and how long it will take to regrow.

Are you working on implementing all of the features you wanted to add when you first came up with Dyson?

Nope, we ditched a lot of hte original design and have instead improved and expanded on the design that we ended up with at the end of the original competition.

kittehz: We'll have some kinds of visual things happening here and there, which should make it a little more visually interesting. These may wind up having gameplay benefits too, yes.

[spetsnaz]

1)allow bigger planets to grow more trees and smaller planets less

2)allow the planets' stats to have more influence.  right now there is a difference between the seeds coming from different planets but it makes almost no real difference by the end of the game

3)have more types of trees.  some which would be heavier with more armour thus better defenders, and others which are quicker, thus better for attacking (this does allow for a tech-tree element, but that would not be advisable to have it, it will make the game too complex and take away from its simplicity and its main charm

4)have seeds move at different speeds around different planets.  bigger planets (if my suggestions are followed, will allow more trees and thus will be juicer conquests) should also be slower to move around on the account of gravity.  this will make the player think more when choosing which way to send the seeds

5)maps should be generated with bottlenecks and natural barriers (think dust clouds etc) which will allow for more of a strategy.

6)allow players to set up a network of traffic.  by this i mean so that every seed produced is sent to a target planet.  this avoids the annoying grind of having to manually moved seeds from the back of one's empire to the front line

7)different types of planet.  some which have thicker soils so is harder to colonise.  some with massive ranges but which can only support 1 tree

8)allow scouting.  this is very important, right now when i attack a planet i have no idea if that planet has enemy or not.  i cant think about strategy because i have no idea where the enemy has his forces or which planets are more developed than others

[Candlejack]

What if something like ants were added that would make a tunnel network?  They would be entirely self-run, meaning the player would not even have to notice them.  So you would play like normal, and once a planet is held for 30 seconds, the ants would start building a bridge from a nearby planet that already had the ants.  They would then make a sweet-looking tunnel network and begin to terraform the planet to allow more trees.  If you did this, I would totally buy the game.  Or if you made a good set-up for allowing mods to do things like this.

But straight bridges wouldn't look pretty enough.

[Alex]

Anything can be made to look pretty

[Candlejack]

I just got an idea for the background. Every event in that happens during a game paints a pattern somewhere on the background and as battles go on the painting becomes more complex and detailed. Also, I'm fine with the bridges and tunnels as long as they don't look bland.

[OboeNerd]

Here's my two cents...

1) I've listened to the music, and I feel it would be great to have it a lot louder - it sounds very nice but it's almost too quiet and eventually gets drowned out by the sound effects and miscellaneous computer noise.
2) More level diversity would be nice.  It feels quite 'still'.  This is more of an opinion than a problem, though.
3) Is it possible for the seedlings to move between planets in more attractive formations other than straight lines?  Like a curve or something?
4) Moving between planets is almost too easy, especially with an arsenal on your side.  Barriers between planets could be nice.

Of course, it's great the way it is, but this game has so much potential that I can't help but notice room to grow.

[Jamis]

I have a suggestion for the "by end game different types of seedlings not mattering" point...

If you make defensive trees much stronger (like I did in level6.level that I will shortly be uploading to the Level Board), then having a huge army of weak seeds isn't going to do you any good.  Try attacking a planet with a defensive tree with your weak seeds and see what happens. 

Also, in general, I think trees need to have more hitpoints.  And perhaps, as the tree is being attacked, the seedlings still attached to the tree should be getting blown away as the tree is under fire, which would in turn would make it take longer to recover...having to "regrow" all those seedlings...

[Candlejack]

Defensive trees are going to be changed, and hopefully make you send mostly powerful seedlings rather then tons of weak ones.

[SnukJam]

It seems like I better start posting some of my suggestions before all of them are thought of by others ... 

I will start with TREES ...

I see the trees spawning more seedlings (or seedlings faster) as the tree matures. Since there are more branches to hold more seedlings, and, therefore, more seedlings are mature, it just makes sense that more would spawn at a time. I think, right now, it levels off at ~two at a time while there are other seedlings that are mature that sit and wait for some period of time.

I like the suggestion of having the branches “break” from the tree. Should keep the same disintegration effect as when an entire tree gets destroyed (nice!). This is mostly in line with a suggestion I had … although, I envision this a little differently:

• Colorize the tree. Put the player color within the tree trunk and branches (core), between the darker outer lines. I think this would be a nice effect.
  
• Have the trees grow by “segments” of branches (still keeping tree growth smooth though).
  
• Each branch is made up of 5 “segments” (or adjust the number by asteroid type)
  
• Branches damage from the top down. 
  
• “Segments” turning black at the core when the tree is “hit”
  
• If the entire branch turns black, the branch disintegrates (along with any seedlings).
  
• This process can also be extended to the root of the tree and only when it all turns black is it fit to be a pathway to the asteroid core.
  
• Then, the tree takes time to recover
  
  • Only mature seedlings can launch, if they are on an undamaged branch
    
  • It takes energy from the asteroid core to repair the branches; the same or slightly faster than original growth. As they repair, their color returns.
    
  • Only once a branch is fully repaired (fully colored) will it conduct life to the seedlings. To continue to grow or  launch mature seedlings.
    
• More developed trees should be harder to destroy (they may already be, I just can’t tell in the current game)
  
• This concept can also be applied as a more enhanced root system as trees mature.
  

Other ideas related to trees:

• I definitely agree with the ability to uproot and re-grow trees. This gives the advantage of changing your layout as the game progresses. The penalty is having to wait for the tree to grow – what about also having to wait for the tree to die?
  
• I go back and forth on the idea of being able to select tree sites on the asteroid. I appreciate the randomness of the placement being part of the game-play. Also, selecting tree sites seems too "micromanagement". On the other hand, sometimes the trees bunch together on an asteroid and make it difficult to see what is happening. Perhaps an alteration in the placement algorithm.
  
• An indication of seedling maturity. I understand this is done by the size of the seedling matching the mature seedling picture in the menu, but, would it be too difficult for them to retain a neutral color until they are mature, and then they would become the player color?  This would also allow the effect of mature seedlings not launching from damaged branches to be more pronounced.
  

My two-cents about TREES ... more to come on other aspects. This game ROCKS!!!

[totally]

I think that pretty much everything is said about the current version of Dyson. Hurry up guys with the new version so we could bombard with you with even more suggestions 

There is definitely something fascinating about the organic simplicity of this game, 8 pages of suggestions and 3000 views pretty much prove it.


*waiting for the next version*