*** original post updated due to outdated content! ***
I’ve built a website for my bunker-defense+space-shooter game PainTrain at http://paintrain.fatalfrog.com
You can go there to play the latest version and post your comments on the experience.
I will be posting updates there on a regular basis to gather feedbacks early. Thank you in advance for any constructive comment, suggestion or encouragements (I need these too!) you may send my way!
One, it would profit tremendeously from a 3D view, isometric instead of top-down.
Two, mouse scrollwheel doesn’t work (Firefox, Mac).
Three, it’s way too hard. This is ok for intermediate levels, but not beginning. Maybe raise the amount of money received for enemies, then lower it again as the levels progress. Or make the enemies slower at lower levels.
Four, give me more time inbetween waves so I can catch my breath and build a few towers. It’s a very cool game, but a bit too hectic.
Thanks for your inputs, Tom.
Yeah I forgot to point out that I haven’t done any balancing work and this is still very early WIP - Right now it’s more about testing that the implemented features work 
I’m going to have a proper pass at balancing the game soon.
The mouse scroll is not working for you? Is it because you’re on a mac? I’m not really familiar with macs, and as far as Ive tested the mousewheel works fine on my machine and through the web browser.
Could you describe a bit better what you mean by 3D isometric view? Because what I’ve got right now is not a fully topdown camera view, it’s got a slight angle (20 degrees) to give some more depth to the scene, while allowing the player to have good vision of his surroundings.
Yes, more of an angle is what I meant, so that you’re looking down into the valley as if on a hill to the south (bottom of the screen).
I’ve posted a new version that address some of the issues mentioned by Tom. Give it a try and let me know if it’s any better
Very promising game I like the gameplay and having to build the towers by running around is a nice twist on the classic tower defense gameplay,
what might be cool is if you implemented a path finding algorithm for the enemies so you could tunnel them into the path of your turrets using the blockades instead of them munching through anything in there path
Coming along very nicely. I have not criticism, and that’s rare. Get some good artwork in there and you have a winner.
Yeah Im trying to find a good artist to do just that
At the moment I’m wondering if I should stick with the current “enemies go from one side to another in a straight line and in chunks” or rather have them follow several possible curved paths. The second option might make it a bit more strategic when it comes to turret placement, but it adds some complexity (especially when it comes to handling kickback on damage that might move enemies away from the path they’re on).
I’m still trying to decide what exactly is going to be the role/purpose of the player character vs the traditional RTS Tower Defense.
Made a big update to the game: it now takes place in space!
Check it out here: http://paintrain.fatalfrog.com
I really like it. I would work to make the last few rounds abit easier, died at round 7 twice.
That looks and feels about ten times better than when I checked out the first build…
Thanks! 2 collegues of mine are going to help out with modeling and 2D art, so expect awesome graphics coming soon!
Definitely an improvement over the first build. You have something here. The game-play is fun and addictive. Keep with it.
Thanks for the encouragements
I’ve just uploaded version 0.5, and I’m really happy with it, so make sure you check it out! http://paintrain.fatalfrog.com/?p=59
I’ve updated the enemies to use ranged weapons and the red enemies will hunt your ship down.
Nice game, I like the gameplay and the graphics, my advice is to change movement relative to the player, for example the w should move the player forward and not up!
Looking good.
Not to contradict you, h.istvan, but I actually prefer the controls as they are. If the movement gets changed to local instead of global, it will lose its arcade feel and become more simulator’esque. While I like that type of controls in appropriately designed games, I do not think it will fit with this one. It definitely has a more arcade vibe than simulator. That is one of its strong points, at least for me.
The graphics are coming along well. The station looks great. I am assuming the boxes are just place-holders for the time being. One thing I would change, though, is the skybox. It lacks depth, and you can see the seams on it. Finding a good starfield skybox can be tricky, though. I have been hunting for one, lately, myself.
I’ve tried the “player-dependant-control” before, and I watched my girlfriend completely fail at handling the ship. I changed it to screen-relative, and she got it in a few seconds.
She’s a good noob-friendliness-meter 
CH: yeah all the graphics are placeholders right now. I’ve got an artist working on the real ones as we speak!
Version 0.6 is out, and it’s got some nice Detonator-powered explosions and much more!
Check it out here: http://paintrain.fatalfrog.com/?p=64.
Seems alot better. The only problem I found was that my framerate simply got killed. I wonder if you thought about changing to having the models rendered as a 2D image (since the view doesnt change anyway). That way you could have the good graphics without the highoverhead. It seemed to work fairly well in gratuitous space battles.
Yeah I need to do some optimization, right now it’s only a first pass. I can probably get away with simpler effects that look just as good and use much less resources. I’ll give your suggestion a try and replace most of the explosion chunks with 2D sprites instead of mesh models.