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What is it? Castle Doctrine is a game about defending what's yours while stealing from others, made by Jason Rohrer of The Passage fame. (Not pictured: the horde of pit bulls about to rip him to shreds)  The game is all about setting up cunning traps and defenses to stop other people from robbing your house, killing your spouse, and laughing their way to the bank. Failure on your part means you'll come back to a house full of busted traps, clubbed dogs and nothing in your vault but a lingering sense of resentment at the rear end in a top hat who brought 8 saws and cut his way to it rather than run your cat-powered gauntlet of trapdoors and electric grilles. The actual gameplay will be instantly familiar to anyone who's played a roguelike, where each step you take moves time one unit so you're free to sit and think about your next move. No pressure! I've got it! I'll make a deadly maze full of attack dogs and pit traps and... Not so fast bucko! Sweet defenses cost money, and while you start with a cool $2000 the more lethal and inventive trap setups will definitely cost more. This will lead you to the other side of the game, robberies. Everyone with a "valid" house must put it up to be robbed by other players, who can bring a set of tools that will help them beat traps and remove some of the inherent risk of robbing some moron's pit bull breeding operation. But what if I don't want anyone to rob me? I can just make it impossible to reach my vault right?  Notice how I put valid in quotes up there? For you to rob other people (and for your house to be put up for robbery) you must be able to reach your vault with no tools. This is really important, as there's not much worse than designing an incredible trap system only to forget how to solve it and dying on your test run. Did I mention that dying is game over? So there's permadeath? Yep! Any death is game-over, whether it is during the fairness run on your own vault or while robbing some minecraft  who's rigged up a 9 button combination lock. Dying basically restarts the game for you, leaving you with an empty house and $2000 again. If you were carrying tools, they now belong to whoever you were robbing. Take note that if you really don't want to die you can simply leave and avoid any penalties aside from shame and tools you've already consumed.Enough talk, I must behold this game with my seeing orbs It's not much to look at, but ok whatever. Some before and after pictures of the defense phase: This is what you'll see at first  Hah! They now have a one in three chance of getting the vault or getting messily disemboweled  ...and the offensive phase: Note that things can be partially seen depending on wall thickness and type  Expect to see this happen a lot (ALWAYS CARRY DRUGGED MEAT OR CROWBARS)  I'm not quite convinced yet for some reason Really? Did you know that anytime somebody robs your house you get a security tape that replays their round? Not much is sweeter than watching some rear end in a top hat screw up and die on a trap, and the knowledge that he just lost everything and supplied you with a bunch of tools only makes it better. Alternatively, you can see how people might defeat your defense with tools and plan out better ones accordingly. The game also features a simple wiring system, much like minecraft's redstone and other "babby's first electrical engineer mod" for similiar games. Just be sure to keep up your cash flow, because your house must be repaired if people bust it up whilst traipsing about your halls. So if a couple dozen people all take turns tearing down your precious spergfortress you won't have much cash left for long. Okay you've won me over, but where do I get it? Simply follow the link at the top of this post, or click here if you're colossally lazy. The game is in alpha for eight bucks right now, and buying gives you permanent access to the main servers and tools to host your own, if you really want to have a home invasion fest with your friends. Basically the same deal as minecraft, buy now for cheap and reap the benefts(?). help help how is trap formed I'll try to detail each different tile in the next post, but keep in mind I'm no expert at wiring things. Most stuff is fairly simple to figure out with trial and error though. tl;dr This is a multiplayer PvP roguelike with permadeath where you design a puzzle room for other players to solve. You can also go out and take on their rooms for cash to upgrade and expand your own. BlueDestiny fucked around with this message at Mar 14, 2013 around 17:37 |
| # ? Mar 14, 2013 17:33 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 03:53 |
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Tile Overview Empty Floor: $0 - It's a floor. That is empty. Use it to erase stuff. Wooden Wall: $10 - The humblest of walls, blocks movement and vision. Can be broken through with a saw OR explosives OR a cutting torch. Steel Wall: $20 - The next rung on the brutal wallarchy. Gives your home that bank-vault feel and is immune to saws. I'm not sure if explosives work on it, but cutting torches sure do. Concrete Wall: $50 - The king of inanimate objects. Can only be destroyed by explosives. Doors: $20 - AKA the poor man's dog trap. These block vision while closed but allow movement. Moving through one opens it permanently, and doesn't take any "time". A common trap is to put a pit bull right on the other side so when you open it you die. Window: $15 - Allows vision but blocks movement. Put something valuable or dangerous on the other side to entice your foes or send them screaming I guess? I think you can break it with a crowbar but I'm not sure. Pit: $100 - Movement-blocking trap. Walking into it kills you, but it can be covered with a ladder. Power Source: $200 - Transmits power to connected wires and components. This lets you use things like electric grilles, powered trap doors, and powered doors. Wiring: $5 - Carries power from a power source to other components. Pretty self-explanatory, can be cut by wirecutters. Wired Wooden Wall: $20 - A wooden wall with wires. Will block movement/vision and carry current, but can be broken with a saw. Pressure Switches: $50 - Pressure switches that toggle when something walks over them. Come in varieties that start ON(toggle), OFF(toggle), or OFF that sticks to ON permanently (I think). Keep in mind that you put switches BETWEEN your power source and the wires you want powered. So it would go like this: code:Electric Floor: $100 - Will kill people who walk over it when powered, otherwise it's harmless. If it is electrified you can short it out with a bottle of water. Powered Trapdoor: $200 - A pit that becomes safe flooring when supplied with a current. Don't like jerks cutting up your amazing traps? Put one of these bad boys in the way and laugh as they ruin their only chance at the vault. Pit Bull: $200 - Man's best friend, who happens to be great at tearing throats out. Will always path to the robber regardless of sight, and can hit pressure plates. Can be disabled by clubbing, shooting or drugging. Drugged dogs will kill you if you step on them and will not be harmed after you leave. Chihuahua: $100 - Will relentlessly pursue intruders and then cling to them adorably. Works the same way as a pit bull, but with no lethality. Use it for hitting switches. Cat: $20 - Runs away from intruders. Put them in places where they will run over switches to make timed traps. There are some more fancy buttons but I've never used them and don't know how they work. REMEMBER Your spouse and kids MUST have a free path to the door. Your spouse carries half the vault money, so robbers must kill them to get the full reward. I don't know if killing them gives you the cash automatically or if you still have to reach the vault though. BlueDestiny fucked around with this message at Mar 14, 2013 around 22:09 |
| # ? Mar 14, 2013 17:35 |
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Sadly there is no way to rob a specific house, but this game is pretty good anyway.
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| # ? Mar 14, 2013 17:36 |
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How necessary is the wiring stuff? This looks interesting but I've always hated redstone in Minecraft because  .
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| # ? Mar 14, 2013 17:44 |
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Bold Robot posted:How necessary is the wiring stuff? This looks interesting but I've always hated redstone in Minecraft because Pitbulls appear to be moderately prescient so not very.
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| # ? Mar 14, 2013 17:56 |
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At this very moment is this game fun?
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| # ? Mar 14, 2013 17:56 |
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Pladdicus posted:At this very moment is this game fun? I'd say it's fun but difficult. Most of my fun comes from wracking my brain to come up with cost-effective trap designs, then watching people run through my house. If you've got a good sense for how other people think and a smart selection of tools, robbing can be very enjoyable. I really enjoy the whole battle-of-wits aspect of the game, but I can see how it's not really for everyone considering the harsh penalties for failing. Wiring is also not necessary but it can make a huge difference. Pit bulls will track the player always and are only limited by blocked pathing, so it's perfectly possible to have an effective trap setup with nothing but walls, doors, pitfalls and dogs. It's much easier to disable simple defenses though, and the more complicated your traps are the more time and effort it will take for people to either figure it out or disable it. BlueDestiny fucked around with this message at Mar 14, 2013 around 18:04 |
| # ? Mar 14, 2013 18:02 |
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Pladdicus posted:At this very moment is this game fun? It depends on how you play it and what you're wanting from it. For example, I don't build my house at all. I've just been exploring/suiciding in the top houses until I know what tools I need to rob them blind. I then use that money for more tools to rob more houses or just die and lose it all. It's very satisfying bypassing some 's huge wiring contraption with 2 cutting torches and an explosive in the right locations.
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| # ? Mar 14, 2013 18:26 |
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So it turns out that the replay feature has more uses than I figured:quote:Some of you may notice some strange security tapes where someone keeps moving after death and walks through walls. You may also have noticed an impossible house with no path to the vault. It's funny because I remember trying to rob that guy and wondering how he had so much money all the time.
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| # ? Mar 14, 2013 19:19 |
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I was totally intrigued by this idea and I enjoyed mapping out my death fortress. But getting permakilled proving your house is fair is loving stupid especially when you have to experiment so much just to figure out the quirks of your master plan. Totally willing to give it a chance as the alpha progresses but I refuse to believe that because the pit bull accidentally spawned on the wrong side of the door that I should be forced to kill myself on the thing rather than just correct the mistake.
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| # ? Mar 14, 2013 21:50 |
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Mouser.. posted:I was totally intrigued by this idea and I enjoyed mapping out my death fortress. If you realized that your house is not solve-able, you can just go back to the entrance and leave. It will put you in design mode with everything reset.
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| # ? Mar 14, 2013 22:10 |
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Isn't having to self test to see if your house is solvable not so much a gameplay feature as incredibly lazy error checking without having to code for it? I mean the concept sounds brilliantly fun but that just sounds rotten and tedious.
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| # ? Mar 14, 2013 22:20 |
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BlueDestiny posted:It's funny because I remember trying to rob that guy and wondering how he had so much money all the time. What kind of TOS did you have to agree to for this game? Because while getting banned from the entire game for hacking it is certainly a fitting punishment, its one you should have to agree to if you aren't going to be able to play anymore and no refunds.
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| # ? Mar 14, 2013 22:21 |
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This looks pretty fun, but the whole perma-death thing is the sort of overly hardcore game-play that turns a lot of people off these sorts of games.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 00:18 |
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Is there any way to save/load designs or once you die (say, testing your new house) do you have to rebuild it from scratch?
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 00:28 |
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Anyone gotten this working in OS X? It launches but nothing comes up, just a black screen.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 01:50 |
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Baronjutter posted:This looks pretty fun, but the whole perma-death thing is the sort of overly hardcore game-play that turns a lot of people off these sorts of games. This game needs perma death
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 02:24 |
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$8 is a pretty drat steep price for a game like this. If it was $4, maybe I'd consider it. And it's supposed to go for $16 at launch? Jesus.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 02:29 |
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I'm looking forward to seeing the The Passage guy have to create a game that can't just skate by on artsy indie cred.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 02:47 |
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Pressure plates and traps? Hang on let me grab some dwarf friends first.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 04:03 |
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This looks pretty cool but I'd want to play a demo before spending any real money on it. It also seems like it could use more variety/options on the traps, but I would guess those are in the works since the game is still in development.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 04:19 |
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Made huge awesome house that was fair and fun, got loving killed by a pit in another house. Pisses me off that you don't keep the house design. A loving blueprint to overlay, spent over 20k on it. Well time to fill my inventory up with explosives and gently caress everyone.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 04:22 |
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Yeah hopefully we'll get some sort of blueprint save feature. The game is still in development so stuff should be added eventually.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 04:24 |
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Shadowlz posted:Made huge awesome house that was fair and fun, got loving killed by a pit in another house. Pisses me off that you don't keep the house design. A loving blueprint to overlay, spent over 20k on it. Well time to fill my inventory up with explosives and gently caress everyone. Yeah, this game is fun but having to rebuild your house every time is a huge pain in the rear end.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 04:31 |
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This game looks like it has a lot of promise if they keep updating it. I think I'll give it a shot tomorrow.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 04:34 |
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Economy Clown Car posted:Isn't having to self test to see if your house is solvable not so much a gameplay feature as incredibly lazy error checking without having to code for it? TheGreatGildersneeze fucked around with this message at Mar 15, 2013 around 04:45 |
| # ? Mar 15, 2013 04:40 |
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Its kind of disappointing that a lot of the houses are "Maze with 20 pitbulls outside of it."
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 04:41 |
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Raften posted:Its kind of disappointing that a lot of the houses are "Maze with 20 pitbulls outside of it." Yeah that's annoying and very unfun. They should limit the amount of pitbulls. Also how do cats work? Ive seen people put them on ledges to activate a button to activate the only bridge. But anytime I try to rob them the cats just jump off the edge. 
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 05:46 |
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...of SCIENCE! posted:I'm looking forward to seeing the The Passage guy have to create a game that can't just skate by on artsy indie cred. You might be interested in reading this interview with him about the game. I was on the fence (8 bucks for an alpha with no demo makes me dubious), but the interview really turned me off to it. I think I get the message he is going for with this game, and its not one I am particularly comfortable with. For what its worth, he will definitely not be skating by on artsy indie cred if this gets popular.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 05:56 |
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I think his experiment page is hilarious. http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/j...simpleLife.html 2004: we move to a small town in the middle of nowhere, to life off the land and reduce our eco-footprint 2009: welp, the air is bad here, we're moving to another place, it's cheaper 2011: okay, crime and poo poo, who'd have thunk remote small towns aren't a crimeless eco-paradise, screw this we're moving to a big city in California So much for "simple life".
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 12:50 |
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Bold Robot posted:Anyone gotten this working in OS X? It launches but nothing comes up, just a black screen. Anyone?
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 12:56 |
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Bold Robot posted:Anyone? For what it's worth, it's working fine for me (10.7.5).
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 15:55 |
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This seems like it could be fun but this is also the guy that sold Sleep Is Death so it could very well be really stupid and overpriced.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 15:56 |
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Game really needs 2 things ASAP. Immunity from death while testing your house, and a confirmation for the god drat suicide button. Do NOT go to Vang's house. His pitbull is invisible and it will chomp you the moment you step foot inside the door. Trust me.So I robbed the richest guy on the list, I'm sure you seen him with the pyramid of pitbulls that come right at you. Got 20k for it and made a SUPER loving BASE. I tested it and accidentally fell in a loving pit. A drat shame. Nice house too, only 4 pitbulls that only release due to you hitting buttons. I find a big problem with the game is, if you base is awesome, no one will try it. Notice all the awesome rich people have kinda low deaths(Besides Vang)? That was probably from then their base wasn't a super fortress. Once you put 100 pitbulls and a combination lock on people will take one step in and then walk right back out and rob a newbie. There is a point where you just get so much money that, no one will solve your poo poo in a million years and you have so many traps that your 8 tools wont even dent it. And that point is only 10k+. Games still fun though. VVVV It actually saves only when someone robs it successfully. So if you blow up their whole map and fall into a pit, the map will be back to normal next time you load in. if you get the safe it saves and potentially fucks any new robbers up. Shadowlz fucked around with this message at Mar 15, 2013 around 19:35 |
| # ? Mar 15, 2013 18:41 |
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Yeah, people with Romneydollars are a pain. The good thing is everyone will see their house as #1, and if you want to screw them over you can just start a new guy, buy a bunch of guns and keep killing their dogs over and over until they run out. Then just break the poo poo out of their traps and let someone rob em blind. Unless they constantly go back and fix up their place it's guaranteed to fall from attrition eventually. E: ^^Oh nevermind then.^^ BlueDestiny fucked around with this message at Mar 15, 2013 around 19:35 |
| # ? Mar 15, 2013 18:47 |
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Pochoclo posted:I think his experiment page is hilarious. How dare someone change what they want over the course of seven years. Goddamn hippies.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 19:23 |
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rakovsky maybe posted:How dare someone change what they want over the course of seven years. Goddamn hippies. It's more like he tried to find Mayberry and when they got there Ernest T. Bass was rolling a fat glass dick full of meth and stealing Aunt Bea's SSI check.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 19:28 |
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redmercer posted:It's more like he tried to find Mayberry and when they got there Ernest T. Bass was rolling a fat glass dick full of meth and stealing Aunt Bea's SSI check. Yeah. Its hard to fault him for coming to the realization that Rural America is terrible. His reaction in that interview really put me off though, I live in a very high crime urban area and I don't experience the dread he seems to on a day by day basis.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 19:36 |
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Great potential, but very frustrating. I can see where a lot of improvements need to be made in regards to balancing. I think the game would work a lot better if you could re-load blueprints (maybe 1.5x material cost?) and if there was a robbery cooldown so nobody can just chain suicide spam your house with tools just to destroy it and claim the prize on their 10th death. I also think it would be cool if there was some sort of intelligence system in place for the robberies. For example, the list of houses to choose from would only display vague information like estimated cash, first few letters of a name, estimated difficulty (easy,medium,hard). You would have to pay for each category to find out more details about it. For example the difficulty category could be expanded to a ratio of victory:defeat and then to the exact numbers of victories:defeats for an increased cost. I feel like this could be a solution to the spamming of a single house to get rid of traps, because now you wouldn't know the same players name or stats and $2000 won't be enough to buy both tools and information. The current system is just too abuseable.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 21:08 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 03:53 |
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Red_Mage posted:Yeah. Its hard to fault him for coming to the realization that Rural America is terrible. His reaction in that interview really put me off though, I live in a very high crime urban area and I don't experience the dread he seems to on a day by day basis. This game is totally him dealing with his crime paranoia
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 22:50 |
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