Drone Core - Websockets, 1v1 Multiplayer

[Thomas Hunter II]

Drone Core is a game I worked on with a friend about a year ago. He's a 3D artist and I'm a developer. The game uses WebSockets for communication, and movements and chat occur in real-time. The game itself is turn-based, so you can watch your enemy slowly fumble around.

 

The engine is entirely custom (rendering the isomorphic hex grid looked like it was going to be painful in existing engines), though I recently switched to Phaser for other projects.

 

While the game can be entirely controlled by clicking on the menu on the left, using a keyboard and a desktop computer is highly recommended.

 

dronecore.net

 

There is both a PVP mode and a Training mode. The PVP mode has prettier graphics (see image) whereas the Training mode is an "ugly" CRT raster sort of rendering (think Metal Gear Solid). Matchmaking requires two users be online and press the Find Game button (feel free to open multiple windows at once).

 

Lessons Learned:

• Always build a single player mode with AI (The game really isn't interesting if you don't have a human opponent online at the same time)
• Always use an existing game engine (Eventually I hit a wall where animation building was too hard (the explosions are CSS, haha) and gave up)
• Make everything controllable via tap/mouse (This keyboard controlled game will be near impossible to port to mobile)
• Use simple gameplay concepts (Explaining body VS turret rotation is difficult)

[mattstyles]

Looks great, really slick to play. UI looks fantastic.

 

Some of the icons I found a little awkward to understand at first, but soon got used to it.

 

I didnt try out the multiplayer, just the training, but looks like a great job well done

[WombatTurkey]

Wow, that sci-fi ui is awesome. HP bars are very polished as well, same for the logo. O_O.

 

 

Great to see the incorporation of websockets (although, I recommend WS), but socket.io is more than fine.  Love seeing games like this being made.