Fluffy Land (level)

[w4tc]

Nice lvl
fery good work 

[Rudolf]

I think we neeed to promote the modding a bit, your stuff is certain to help so thanks again!

We should post on MODDB as well as here, but we need to find the time to put tohether a useful post on how to mod the game with LUA, which is hard for us as we are still very busy.

Volunteers for a modding guide anywhere? ;-)

[annikk.exe]

I'll do a modding guide.  I am a competent level designer (in LUA, at least..) and have a good command of the english language.  My day job is Network Admin which means I am not busy for a lot of the time....apart from when something goes wrong.  ;)  So I should have plenty of time to write something.  I guess my posts about problems/solutions is all very well for someone that can already write levels and scripts, but not so great if you are just starting out and have no clue whatsoever how to go about making your first level.

[smeece85]

Very excited to play your level!  I have played the original fluffy over about 4 or 5 times and it is interesting how the difficulty can fluctuate based on the quality of the planets nearest the start.

Thanks for your continued efforts!

[annikk.exe]

As of tonight all functional elements are in and working.  Still left to do is strip out un-needed commented-out code (probably about 2-3kb of the stuff), and complete rebalancing.  The latter is necessary because I intentionally made it very easy so it would be easy to test all the parts.  Now I will need to make it a bit harder so it keeps you guys busy more than 20 minutes :P

24kb .lua file now.. :O

[Rudolf]

I'll do a modding guide.  I am a competent level designer (in LUA, at least..) and have a good command of the english language.  My day job is Network Admin which means I am not busy for a lot of the time....apart from when something goes wrong.    So I should have plenty of time to write something.  I guess my posts about problems/solutions is all very well for someone that can already write levels and scripts, but not so great if you are just starting out and have no clue whatsoever how to go about making your first level.

That is awesome, really nice of you and with a bit of luck will help attract way more people to modding the game.
there is loads that can be done but a guide would help loads. :-)

[Rudolf]

Finally played Fluffyland, nice level! The high core health makes conquest decisions quite important. :-)

[cinemabaroque]

I had fun with this, its a good first map and I can't wait to try return to fluffyland when I get off work tonight.  I was surprised the first time I played and didn't notice the major enemy until I was too tied up to keep him off my base.  Lots of fun losing in Eufloria.  You are right, making levels hard is, well, hard.  Again, can't wait to try your new masterpiece! 

Thanks for the new levels.

[daniwrig]

I had a lot of fun playing this level and thought the difficulty was perfect (for me).  It took me two tries, the second time I did not expand so aggressively and gathered all of my guys and laser mines at the right time just before the powerful planet sent its first wave to attack my outlying planet so I wiped them out.  I watched the powerful planet for a minute and it was scary how quickly it got back up to 100 seedlings again with 10 trees. 

Thanks for making this level.  I'm looking forward to your future levels.

[evoke]

I am having fun but am confused.  My first playthrough, I captured some planets and for a time had 3 flowers and a lot of momentum, with which I made 3 lasers...but my lasers are not respawning.  (?!!)  After a respawn or two, they just tapered out and stopped spawning, which was, candidly, devastating due to being unexpected and things look pretty grim now, since the AIs seem to have no such spawning hobbling.   Is that deliberate?  Or a bug?

Fun either way I guess.  Just way more challenging if lost lasers do not come back and must be juggled with care so that they always heal and never face stronger lasers or linger too long in hostile territory.

Thanks for the map.  Great effort, smooth presentation.

-evoke

[annikk.exe]

That sounds like a bug, and one I've seen in all levels, not just this one.  Doesn't seem to happen very often but I think there is some specific set of conditions which can cause a mine to stop regrowing.

[evoke]

Indeed.  The level has behaved fine on the next two plays.  I lost the next, nice design on the ninja attack by the AI, I caught 220 at once underprepared of what the large asteriod was like, and chuckled in delight.

Cracked it the forth try (3rd was an opener disaster) with, in hindsight, not that much laser reliance, by shaving metagame to within an inch of its life in knowing the board layout and AI placement.  Controlled growth in appropriate directions is really key on the board.  Overall, it's a very nice design, it's the first custom level I've tried of 8 or so downloaded and just groundbreaking and revelatory in what Eufloria can do and be.  Tremendous thanks.

I am keen to try it again, as the replay value is high generally, with the specific hardcore challenge of no laser use.  I think I might have been able to finesse it, but the proof is in the pudding.  Maybe, maybe not.  Some luck may be necessary in the AIs choices and laser numbers / positions - in any event, quite fun to try, or just to replay normally.  Eager to try your other boards.

-evoke

I am not positive, but the respawn issue may involve a flower from another planet being used on a just-made youthful defense tree, and then the resulting laser being lost on the original flower-origin world.  Perhaps not.  I see no sane coding reason (I code by dayjob) why some of those things would affect each other.  I will try to pay accurate memory recall attention if it happens again.

Interestinly, it happened to two of the three defense trees that game, which makes it not quite random nor repeatable, but seems to imply a set of conditions being generally met.  Probably argues against the likelihood of the above hypothesis being correct, actually.  Merely remarking.

[annikk.exe]

Overall, it's a very nice design, it's the first custom level I've tried of 8 or so downloaded and just groundbreaking and revelatory in what Eufloria can do and be.  Tremendous thanks.

Thanks for your kind words :>  But in terms of doing groundbreaking things with Eufloria, this was just my very first map that I made when I was learning to make levels, and actually doesn't do anything that new, in my humble opinion...  however I'd encourage you to check out Day & Night and Return to Fluffy Land where I have made some completely original features like supplemental swarming AI and pulsating asteroids, which I feel showcases the mod-ability of Eufloria much better..  :>

[evoke]

Thanks.  In fact, I died hard on day and night earlier today, and was quite bemused to observe the AI go hyperlogical with a intriguing pattern of swarming and secondary targeting, saving the main world for last when a human strategist would have long gone for the kill, drawing the inevitable finish out for many ebb cycles. 

What was groundbreaking and relevatory about fluffy, granting it was the first custom I played and no doubt other authors are also skilled, is that I could take a 10 minute break for snacks on a normal Eufloria level at more or less any point of the game, and rarely be adversely affected.  It was outright difficulty to lose if you tried, short of deliberate suicide sabotage, if you were RTS skilled or a Spike psychotype metagamer, etc.  About to shelve it, then fluffy - and it's suddenly, hello, sitting upright, paying keen attention, the win is at stake beacuse making a tactical blunder or having poor opener judgement could mean curtains.  Totally revitalizes.

Am keen to progress to the other author's customs.  Just chitchatting.  The custom levels on offer from the 2-3 authors here just look great.

[Bonobo]

Dang, I'm 52 and therefore I qualify for "Old Fart", OK?

Haven't been able to win this level in 7 or 8 attempts. Even tried accelerating game play to find out about "their" strategies.

Any spoiler tips for an old l4m0r?

BTW I think I found a bug in this level: I had it once that I picked a flower and wanted to plant it next to a defense tree, and the flower kept circling and hopping around the asteroid. Did not plant, and also wasn't selectable anymore <shrug> I guess I'll just move on and check out Return to Fluffy Land.