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| massivepwnage.com |
If you
haven’t already checked this game out, you might want to if the idea of a cross
between Minecraft and World of Tanks piques your interest (and
if the answer to that question is no, then you are sad. I’ve no desire to
speak with you further). In RoboCraft, you use various blocks to
construct a vehicle/craft that has wheels, hovers or flies around the map and
shooting at enemies with SMG’s, Rail Guns or Plasma Cannons. When you spawn,
you are assigned randomly to a team (that tries to keep balanced, with varying
levels of success). Your goal is to eliminate all the opposing craft, or
capture the opposing team’s base where their team spawns. In practice, that
means killing most of the opposition, since being shot at will prevent you from
getting a capture, and the amount of time it takes to capture is pretty
lengthy.
Of course, they will be shooting at you. Unlike most games that model damage with hit point systems, damage in RoboCraft is tracked block by block – damage causes blocks to blow off your craft, reducing its effectiveness. If you lose guns then you shoot less. Lose a wheel or two and you might not be able to turn effectively. This gradual degradation continues until the block immediately below the pilot gets destroyed; once that goes, it’s gone.
Causing damage, capturing points or simply revealing enemies (you can spot with
the Q button) gives you experience points (increasing CPU, which lets you use
more blocks on your craft). Credits (the “free” in game currency) which then
can be used to buy more blocks/weapons/systems, and tech points (which is used
to unlock new and upgraded arts). As your craft gets larger and develops more
advanced systems, it will “Tier” up.
Being in a higher tier means your robot is viewed as more powerful, so faces tougher opposition with better craft (and usually more experience, since getting to this point takes time). As you tier up, more of the game’s specialty parts are unlocked as well, including things like electroplating (shields), radar/radar jammers, new movement types like walkers or treads, and even a weapon that heals at short range.
Being in a higher tier means your robot is viewed as more powerful, so faces tougher opposition with better craft (and usually more experience, since getting to this point takes time). As you tier up, more of the game’s specialty parts are unlocked as well, including things like electroplating (shields), radar/radar jammers, new movement types like walkers or treads, and even a weapon that heals at short range.
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| media.indieb.com |
The game tries to balance battles so that robots aren’t too far apart in tier,
and the teams are roughly matched in terms of overall power. The matchmaking
system isn’t perfect, but games are so short that really mismatched ones are
mercifully quick. If you get destroyed in a mission, you can immediately quit
the game, receive the rewards for the mission, and try again.
Really, the big draw of the game that makes it truly unique, is the way that craft are put together. It should be no surprise that most players spend a lot of time in the “garage”, a small station that contains your craft and lets you design it. Honestly, I think I’ve spent almost as much time tinkering with craft in the garage as I do actually playing the game.
There are all sorts of ways to build the optimal robot, and half the fun of the game is finding new crazy ways to abuse the physics and damage engines to give you the edge. At first, damage seems completely random, until you learn how to properly shield your vital components with blocks. There’s been a lot of theory-crafting and techniques developed to get the most out staying alive in Robocraft.
Of course, you don’t have to do that. You start with a few pre-designed vehicles with cheap, default parts to get you started, and you can spend a bit of money at the cash shop to buy specific vehicles with high-level parts and very impressive designs. From there, every fight gives you more money to throw down new blocks on your existing design, so you really feel a constant improvement as your robot develops.
Really, the big draw of the game that makes it truly unique, is the way that craft are put together. It should be no surprise that most players spend a lot of time in the “garage”, a small station that contains your craft and lets you design it. Honestly, I think I’ve spent almost as much time tinkering with craft in the garage as I do actually playing the game.
There are all sorts of ways to build the optimal robot, and half the fun of the game is finding new crazy ways to abuse the physics and damage engines to give you the edge. At first, damage seems completely random, until you learn how to properly shield your vital components with blocks. There’s been a lot of theory-crafting and techniques developed to get the most out staying alive in Robocraft.
Of course, you don’t have to do that. You start with a few pre-designed vehicles with cheap, default parts to get you started, and you can spend a bit of money at the cash shop to buy specific vehicles with high-level parts and very impressive designs. From there, every fight gives you more money to throw down new blocks on your existing design, so you really feel a constant improvement as your robot develops.
As I
discovered new weapons, motive systems and blocks from the store, I felt
compelled to try them out by building new skimmers with hover jets or flyers
with thrusters. Of course, the one I first built ended up crashing into the
ground and being an unimaginable mess to fly. I resigned it a few times before
deciding to read some material on what I was doing wrong.
This ended up leading me down the rabbit hole of Robocraft theory-craft, and I spent hours reading forum posts, wiki guides and YouTube videos. I learned how to create “triforce/spaced” armor in a specific configuration to make my craft even tougher than before, and built a special “warp drive” that lets you bypass the game’s constraints on maximum velocity.
Of course, you don’t have to do it that way. You can just unleash your inner artist and build something that looks cool. People build all sorts of weird robots that don’t make much sense but look amusing – ginormous towers, dogs, flags or whatever. If you don’t care about the design, you can always just have fun just playing around making modern art sculptures on wheels.
This ended up leading me down the rabbit hole of Robocraft theory-craft, and I spent hours reading forum posts, wiki guides and YouTube videos. I learned how to create “triforce/spaced” armor in a specific configuration to make my craft even tougher than before, and built a special “warp drive” that lets you bypass the game’s constraints on maximum velocity.
Of course, you don’t have to do it that way. You can just unleash your inner artist and build something that looks cool. People build all sorts of weird robots that don’t make much sense but look amusing – ginormous towers, dogs, flags or whatever. If you don’t care about the design, you can always just have fun just playing around making modern art sculptures on wheels.
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| wtfgam.es |
Um, so how does the game actually play?
A big problem with the game is that, since each game is over in 2-5 minutes and you don’t have pre-planning in the game or voice chat, it’s almost impossible to do anything other than group together and rush the enemy (and if your team actually groups without turning the game into an impossible traffic snarl, consider yourself lucky).
You don’t HAVE to destroy all your enemies: there’s a capture point you can take by the enemies spawn. If you stand on it you’ll raise a capture bar, and if it fills up your team wins. However, in practice, this is fairly rare unless one team has been absolutely torn apart. Being shot at on the point lowers the capture bar, there’s no real increased rate for putting multiple members on the capture point, and the bar is very long, so managing to sneak onto the point to win is fairly rare. I suspect that captures were introduced to keep a single dodging but unarmed enemy craft from keeping the level going on to on when it was obvious who had won the game.
Despite my criticisms, it’s still fun. There’s still a fair amount of tactics and strategy involved, both solo and on your team. It’s competently executed however, and it’s constantly getting tweaked.
I just want to make it clear that the primary appeal of RoboCraft is the depth involved in building your own craft. The arena battles are competent, but need a lot more polish before they are as interesting as building your own craft.
A big problem with the game is that, since each game is over in 2-5 minutes and you don’t have pre-planning in the game or voice chat, it’s almost impossible to do anything other than group together and rush the enemy (and if your team actually groups without turning the game into an impossible traffic snarl, consider yourself lucky).
You don’t HAVE to destroy all your enemies: there’s a capture point you can take by the enemies spawn. If you stand on it you’ll raise a capture bar, and if it fills up your team wins. However, in practice, this is fairly rare unless one team has been absolutely torn apart. Being shot at on the point lowers the capture bar, there’s no real increased rate for putting multiple members on the capture point, and the bar is very long, so managing to sneak onto the point to win is fairly rare. I suspect that captures were introduced to keep a single dodging but unarmed enemy craft from keeping the level going on to on when it was obvious who had won the game.
Despite my criticisms, it’s still fun. There’s still a fair amount of tactics and strategy involved, both solo and on your team. It’s competently executed however, and it’s constantly getting tweaked.
I just want to make it clear that the primary appeal of RoboCraft is the depth involved in building your own craft. The arena battles are competent, but need a lot more polish before they are as interesting as building your own craft.
Graphics/Sound:
The graphics aren’t anything to write home about, with fairly simplistic blocky designs for the robots and a fairly dated looking and barren terrain for the maps. This is probably partially due to the small dev team, but also due to the fact that the game’s physics engine is keeping track of a LOT of different things at once, requiring a certain degree of simplicity.
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| rockpapershotgun,com |
How this “free game” makes money
Robocraft has a “premium” currency you pay cash for. This can be used to buy parts directly, buy new garage spaces, buy custom designed craft with all parts included at a discount, or unlock parts of any tier. Alternatively, you can buy the premium membership, which doubles the amount of resources you get per victory. Note that all of these parts can be obtained through just playing the game, and honestly, the rate isn’t too bad if your robot manages not to get killed instantly every time you play. You can also buy numerous cosmetic items, such as flag pins of a country of your choice, a name plate that displays your robot, or a cool vapor trail. These items are cash only, but have no* game effects.
Days of premium are probably your best option. Putting $5 isn’t a bad deal: you’ll progress like crazy if you spend a day playing with premium on. Also, the developers have a history of giving out promo codes and gifts to players who have spent at least a few bucks on the game to thank their fans for support; just keep an eye on the news/updates section of Steam.
* There is a speedometer and altitude measure, which technically have some effect.
Robocraft has a “premium” currency you pay cash for. This can be used to buy parts directly, buy new garage spaces, buy custom designed craft with all parts included at a discount, or unlock parts of any tier. Alternatively, you can buy the premium membership, which doubles the amount of resources you get per victory. Note that all of these parts can be obtained through just playing the game, and honestly, the rate isn’t too bad if your robot manages not to get killed instantly every time you play. You can also buy numerous cosmetic items, such as flag pins of a country of your choice, a name plate that displays your robot, or a cool vapor trail. These items are cash only, but have no* game effects.
Days of premium are probably your best option. Putting $5 isn’t a bad deal: you’ll progress like crazy if you spend a day playing with premium on. Also, the developers have a history of giving out promo codes and gifts to players who have spent at least a few bucks on the game to thank their fans for support; just keep an eye on the news/updates section of Steam.
* There is a speedometer and altitude measure, which technically have some effect.
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| imgup.net |
Is this game worth playing?
Yes. RoboCraft is worth checking out just for the garage screen. It’s extremely addictive, encourages you to be creative, and is still being developed.
If you like Minecraft or played with Lego as a kid (or still play with them as an adult), this game is for you. If you like World of Tanks but want a bit more customization, this is the game for you. Honestly, if you can stand multiplayer at all, this is worth trying.
Oh, did I mention that it’s free? There’s no reason for you not to give this game a try if you enjoy multiplayer, at all.
Plus, the game is in its alpha stages, and has plenty of room to grow. Give this a shot.
Yes. RoboCraft is worth checking out just for the garage screen. It’s extremely addictive, encourages you to be creative, and is still being developed.
If you like Minecraft or played with Lego as a kid (or still play with them as an adult), this game is for you. If you like World of Tanks but want a bit more customization, this is the game for you. Honestly, if you can stand multiplayer at all, this is worth trying.
Oh, did I mention that it’s free? There’s no reason for you not to give this game a try if you enjoy multiplayer, at all.
Plus, the game is in its alpha stages, and has plenty of room to grow. Give this a shot.
Tips
No. Oh no. We aren’t going there.
Tips for RoboCraft deserve of their own article, even just to get the basics across.
Till I get that up, check the RoboCraft forums for some basic tips.
#KeepItNerdy
By Marc Thompson
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