Idea for a circuit game
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 12:51 pm
Remember this? It seems Andy has been busy with GSim and Shockopus lately.
I've been playing Creeper World again, and I had an idea for a circuit game as a tower defense game. At first I wanted energy to be collected by collectors, and sent to towers or storage. For example, a solar cell might make 10 energy per second, storing up to 100 energy and sending energy to close-by towers. However, this would just emphasize creating towers surrounded by collectors, and by then you should just package everything together; a normal TD game. Problem is, that's a bit boring.
So I thought of a system based on Magic or Mana, and is very similar to actual circuits.
Magic would be the voltage; the potential of a node. (Shh don't tell anyone)
There are various tiles:
Magic nodes (nodes in a circuit)
Magic pipes (resistors)
Weapons (like motors, lights, or other similar electric component)
Some sort of energy storage (inductors, capacitors?)
Possibly a detector (drastically lower resistance when an enemy is nearby)
Transistors of some sort
Magic nodes would be classified into two categories: Fixed (a fixed potential, such as a 5 volt or ground) and nonfixed (other nodes in a circuit).
Any currents would be computed by literally the difference in voltage, and Magic nodes would change voltage based on current leading toward or away.
I simulated this numerically in excel, and the results match the predictions given by the formulas for parallel and series circuits. However, the currents take a while to settle down at an equilibrium, and this is a problem for time-varying circuits. Maybe this is realistic, maybe not.
This is an example sketch of a circuit. Notice each component has a resistance, and there's a gun thingy. However, right now the gun only has .833 amps of current, or 1.388 watts, so it can only damage 1.388 joules per second. This is bad, so one might upgrade the pipes (resistors) to reduce their resistance, since the voltages would be located far from the action.
Various goals could include killing enemies, powering a certain piece at a certain current, or converting AC to DC and vice versa.
Strategies would require connecting circuits parallel instead of series, connecting detectors to save energy, or calculating resistances.
Instead of fixed voltage blocks we could have batteries that give off a certain voltage, or solar cells. This means it would be good to have capacitors in case your light gets blocked by a tree for a second.
I've been playing Creeper World again, and I had an idea for a circuit game as a tower defense game. At first I wanted energy to be collected by collectors, and sent to towers or storage. For example, a solar cell might make 10 energy per second, storing up to 100 energy and sending energy to close-by towers. However, this would just emphasize creating towers surrounded by collectors, and by then you should just package everything together; a normal TD game. Problem is, that's a bit boring.
So I thought of a system based on Magic or Mana, and is very similar to actual circuits.
Magic would be the voltage; the potential of a node. (Shh don't tell anyone)
There are various tiles:
Magic nodes (nodes in a circuit)
Magic pipes (resistors)
Weapons (like motors, lights, or other similar electric component)
Some sort of energy storage (inductors, capacitors?)
Possibly a detector (drastically lower resistance when an enemy is nearby)
Transistors of some sort
Magic nodes would be classified into two categories: Fixed (a fixed potential, such as a 5 volt or ground) and nonfixed (other nodes in a circuit).
Any currents would be computed by literally the difference in voltage, and Magic nodes would change voltage based on current leading toward or away.
I simulated this numerically in excel, and the results match the predictions given by the formulas for parallel and series circuits. However, the currents take a while to settle down at an equilibrium, and this is a problem for time-varying circuits. Maybe this is realistic, maybe not.
This is an example sketch of a circuit. Notice each component has a resistance, and there's a gun thingy. However, right now the gun only has .833 amps of current, or 1.388 watts, so it can only damage 1.388 joules per second. This is bad, so one might upgrade the pipes (resistors) to reduce their resistance, since the voltages would be located far from the action.
Various goals could include killing enemies, powering a certain piece at a certain current, or converting AC to DC and vice versa.
Strategies would require connecting circuits parallel instead of series, connecting detectors to save energy, or calculating resistances.
Instead of fixed voltage blocks we could have batteries that give off a certain voltage, or solar cells. This means it would be good to have capacitors in case your light gets blocked by a tree for a second.