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Operation Sheep Defense - Testers Wanted
spdr870 Dec 31, 2016
Hello Linux Gamers,

I created a game as a single developer. The game has been developed with native Linux support from the beginning. It has been written in c++, using SDL2 combined with OpenGL. The game has been tested on a few destributions (Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint) and has been compiled using the steam runtime. My plan is to properly release the game on Steam. But before I do, I want to make sure everything is working correctly in the real world.

Brief Summary
Operation Sheep Defense is a tower defense game. Your mission is to protect sheep from enemies. The enemy will try to capture these sheep. Fight off the enemy with defensive turrets.

Unique Game Mechanics
Each level takes around 6 minutes. Progression is fast and there are no boring moments. The number of units can be huge, later levels can have over 3000 units that enter the level in under 6 minutes.

Levels are dynamic, the enemy will use bulldozers to create new roads. Enemy behaviour is not scripted, every unit and even the bullets are simulated.

There is local multiplayer which you can play on a single screen or tv. Play the entire campaign in coop mode, or play one of the coop missions. Many levels are adjusted and rebalanced for coop mode.

Feedback Wanted About
- Does the game work?
- How does it behave at different resolutions? (4k?)
- If you use a gamepad, does it work? (Tested with xbox, steam, and rumblepad)
- Difficulty level?
- Is it fun, do you like the graphics?
- Performance? (press F8 to show FPS, press F7 to unlock framerate, press F5 to lock at 60FPS)

Details & Download Link
A more detailed description and download link can be found at Itch.io:
https://spdr870.itch.io/operation-sheep-defense

The demo can be freely downloaded. I will give away a few keys if you are interested. Send me a pm including some information about your distrubution and hardware.

Some Development Facts
- No game engine has been used
- The steam runtime is great to target multiple distributions
- The AI uses A* combined with Flowfields (press F11 ingame to see it in motion)
- Each bullet is simulated (Towers aim in front of the units, press F11 to see them aim)
- Graphics are created in Inkscape
- Balancing levels takes more time than coding
spdr870 Jan 2, 2017
Thanks for trying the game. Glad it worked on your system! I also appreciate your constructive feedback.

I added more levels from the main campaign to the demo, the first few levels are tutorial levels and easy. I also added the first 2 levels of the extended campaign (bigger levels and higher difficulty) to the demo.

About the graphics. This is something I am struggling with. Since I am not an artist, creating graphics is hard. I did not want to re-use assets, but it shouldn't look like a flash game either. I might be able to give the game more body by adding effects and shaders (smoke, clouds, etc), but this will not make a huge difference. I should be able to improve the font and menu's.

The framerate is probably locked at 60, because I never override vsync if enabled in the driver. On my GTX 760 it runs at ~2500FPS when unlocked without vsync, this is why I lock it at the monitors refresh rate to prevent overheating.
spdr870 Feb 13, 2017
I got some help with the graphics. This helped a lot. All your feedback, plus the even harsher feedback from the graphical guys are in the game. The graphics are still a work in progress.

Itch Page

I also published the game on steam greenlight, since they plan to change there system. I preferred to take more time, but it seems that the greenlight program is ending. Could use your vote if you think the game is any good!

Steam Greenlight
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