Robotronish iOS, iPad, Android game

The first version of Robotronish is using six different actors on the screen:

• Soldier
• Sniper
• Patrol
• Zapper
• Hostage
• Player

(Despite the names, I don't think it will turn out to be a military game. These are basically working names.)

Here's a summary of the actions and weapons for each:

Soldier -- These are the mainstay of the bad guys. Their only goal is to get to the player and that's all they do. No shooting by them, just hardcore following no matter where the player goes. If they touch the player he's dead.

Sniper -- This enemy doesn't move so the player doesn't have to worry about being chased down, but the sniper shoots at the player when he gets within a certain distance. He shoots rockets which can be seen coming, so it's possible for the player to dodge them.

Patrol -- These guys go back and forth from point A to point B, unless the player gets too close. At that point they turn into soldiers -- but soldiers with a faster chase speed than normal.

Zapper -- Kind of like land mines, they stay in one place but generate a power field around them that zaps the player if he runs into it. The zap won't kill him, but it slows him way down for a second or two. Which means if there are soldiers on his tail it may be lights out to get zapped!

Player -- Run this guy around the screen. Shoot the bad guys and collect the hostages. Oh, and don't run into the wall around the edges because that will transport you back to the center of the screen. And if there's a troop of soldiers standing there, well...

Hostages -- You need to rescue these guys. Run the player into them to grab them. But they're not just standing in place, they're dazed by their ordeal so they're wandering around -- possibly right into a sniper nest!

The hostages and bad guys move on their own, you move the player by swiping on the screen. Swipe anywhere on the screen and he'll move in the direction of your swipe. Oh, and he doesn't stop moving until you redirect him or he hits a wall.

Tap the screen and he'll shoot in the direction of your tap. Which means you can start him moving to the right and then shoot to the left at the same time. Move up the screen and shoot in circles around him, etc.

It's very possible the player control will change over time -- I'm playing with several options to see which one works best. But what you will probably never see is a control pad to steer and a button to shoot. The original Robotron:2084 used dual joysticks for control so most people would just put dual controls on the bottom corners of the screen, but I think there are better ways to move players on touch screens than to duplicate analog controllers. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'll try everything I can think of before putting a d-pad in any of my games. ;)

And, the enemy movements will probably be tweaked as well. This is the kind of game where "tuning" is pretty important.