v0.3.7 - Buildings, Base Power, and iOS

Mutant Mayhem - Buildings, Base Power, and iOS

New Buildings

Buildings are now required to unlock technologies, instead of the old 'Click Here' to unlock.  

1. Solar Panels - 2x2 tile, generates 1 power and +1 power for each connected Power Source.
2. Micro Reactor - 1x1 tile, generates 10 power and +2 power for each connected Power Source.
3. Q-Gate - 1x2 tile.  A force-field door that allows only the player to walk or shoot through it.
4. Photonics Bay - 3x3 tile, unlocks Laser Tech upgrades, Laser Turret, and Q-Gate.
5. Ballistics Bay - 3x3 tile, unlocks Bullet Tech upgrades, Gun Turret, and the SMG.
6. Engineering Bay - 3x3 tile, unlocks Structure Tech upgrades, Blast Gate, Floodlight, Micro Reactor, and Land Mine.
7. Repair Bay - 3x3 tile, unlocks Repair Tech upgrades.

Base Power

I created PowerConsumer, PowerSource, and PowerManager scripts to handle the system.  It's a basic power system, where each Source consistently creates power, and consumers are also consistent.  So, when the player makes a mistake and creates too much demand, or a Power Source is lost,  blackouts will happen (see below).

Adjacency Bonuses

To help visualize the adjacency bonuses, I also added Connector objects which consist of any number of connectors and a ConnectorBase.  The Connectors talk to the Base, which adds power to a PowerSource.  This  feature proved tricky to implement, or at least, I seemed to have chosen the wrong approach at first and ended up scrapping 95% of the work and all the colliders and physics bodies that started to become necessary.  I settled on simply checking the TileMaps under the connectors for a 'linkable' structure, and after a quick test and patch, it was working perfectly.  Now, when a PowerSource is selected in the build menu, connectors on it and other buildings will show up to guide the player, along with a count on each building showing its total potential power generated.

Low Power Blackouts

To keep things interesting when your power budget goes below 0, random buildings are turned off through the base until the power is balanced.  After a period of time, new buildings will be turned off instead, so it sort of cycles randomly.  I like the unpredictability of it, so far.

iOS Support

I don't have any iOS devices, yet, but I managed to get a working build up and tested with the help of a good friend!  You can now play on iPhone or iPad, too!  I nearly put the demo onto the App Store, but realized TestFlight is the smarter option (it's a cousin of the App Store for betas and demos), since the game is not ready.  

To play on iOS, just download the TestFlight app from Apple and go to this link: https://testflight.apple.com/join/mEcbhUGX