Photon Cycles, a luminous lightbikes game

[Owenalacaster]

Photon Cycles, a luminous lightbikes game, is all about driving around your ridiculous looking vehicle, while excreting lethal hazards from your rear, with the intention to cause your enemies to wreck into stuff. That is pretty much all there is to it.

I decided to make the map because I am a fan of this micro-genre or whatever it is; it is fun and competitive, has simple mechanics, and is intellectually stimulating in the nuanced and clever tactics and strategy players can employ. The entelechy of the game is what makes it interesting, in the same way lego blocks and cellular automata and DNA are interesting. I figured I could make something small and neat, like TronCraft Rebirth, only this version won't give people hand cramps from right clicking so damn much.

Special thanks to Sixen and Motive for their feedback, Mexa for publishing in the EU region for me and those brave few who helped test it on Battlenet.

This map is available in NA and EU regions.

Features

• Mouse-controlled camera and turning
• Victory types available in 5 tangy flavors
• Supports up to 12 players
• Custom Layout for a minimal UI
• Leavers are removed, start points adjusted
• More than 100 entirely pointless death messages
• Dead players spectate the remainder of the round
• Turbo boost; smash into walls faster than ever

Controls

• Move mouse to turn
• Left-click to boost

 

[Vengeancekael]

Tron

Looks awesome!

 

[Owenalacaster]

Thanks. I was aiming for a consistent and light aesthetic, digital though not explicitly Tron, and I think it turned out pretty well.

 

[Owenalacaster]

Minor update: Endurance and Slayer victory modes added.

 

[anarchianbedlam]

I love that background. Can you change the lighttrail settings though? like if you wanted a dotted line or a solid line? Might be interesting for different game modes. Or eventually make a level with 2 floors, like in the tron movie. now THAT would make for some interesting strategy

 

[lightning brigade]

Minor update: Endurance and Slayer victory modes added.

Jade! It's me Ulose! Welcome to the Hive, glad to see you are popularizing photon cycles everywhere :O

 

[Deolrin]

Oh wow, the Archmage himself? On the Hive.
'Tis pretty cool.
Interesting map, I'll test it later.

 

[Owenalacaster]

AnarchianBedlam, the option to turn off gaps will be added in the next major update, along with a whole lot of other stuff. There are eventual plans to support other rooms connected via portals, since SC2, like WC3, doesn't support multiple pathing levels. As for the movies, I haven't seen the second Tron film, and I haven't seen the first since I was a lad. =D

Ulose, ohaithere.

Deolrin, yep. (I go by JademusSreg everywhere else but in the WC3 modding community.)

 

[Soliloquy]

You posted the exact same title on CC

 

[Owenalacaster]

Yep, and on sc2mapster, battlenet forums, and sc2c. And I'll post a new topic on TL after the major update.

 

[Soliloquy]

Team Liquid, lawl...

 

[Owenalacaster]

Gotta take it to the presses, so to speak.

 

[Queen-Gambit]

Special thanks to Sixen and Motive for their feedback, Mexa for publishing in the EU region for me and those brave few who helped test it on Battlenet.

*Waves* Hey its me Queen! Hey Ulose!

There are other maps like this published before but Proton is better. Instead of a top down view directing your bike by spam right-clicking all over the place, you get a 3rd person view on Proton Cycles and you simply glide your mouse for directions. Hey, don't forget to put hills and tons of boosters around like i said

 

[Crazed_seal2]

Hehe. The First time I played this was when I pressed Fun or Not. It was quite fun. I crashed lots of times but I got a little better.

A few days later I randomly hopped on SC2 and wow. I was playing with Owenalacaster, true story. This game is alotta fun.

 

[Owenalacaster]

In a few weeks, I expect, the next major update will be ready. Until then, I'll probably post enigmatic development screenshots to maintain a consistent level of titillation.

Note the image inside (behind) the option card is just a generic texture I used to test the quality of the alpha and the green dialog texture is one I made for no particular reason.

 

[Owenalacaster]

I'm in need of some screenshots and more death messages. If I use your stuff in the map, your name will be included in the contribution credits in the loading screen and in this topic, of course.

Screenshots are for the score condition option cards, intended to depict the theme of conditions. Don't worry about cropping or touching them up, as I'll handle that myself. Screenshots should preferably be in bulk, inside a zip, rar, or 7z archive.

• Survival - Survive to be the last photon cycle on the board. Get one player alive, and at least one player crashing into barriers not owned by the survivor.
• Slayer - Earn points for each photon cycle killed by your barriers. Get at least two players to crash into a third player's barriers.
• Endurance - Earn 1 point each second you are alive. Get at least 2 players alive navigating through barriers, and a third crashing.

Death messages, pointless and amusing. And I'm always adding more, but I can't do it alone. I need new messages for Boundary Death, Suicide, Double Suicide and Kill notifications, preferably laced with comical memes and references, and no obscene words (obscene implications are dandy).

• Boundary Death - One player; Boundry Deaths are the easiest to avoid, and the players deserved to be mocked for them.
• Suicide - One player; Suicides tend to be accidental, and also merit making fun of the player.
• Double Suicide - Two players; Double Suicides involve two photon cycles crashing into one another, and is ripe for romantic and sexual parody.
• Kill - Two players; Kills involve a player being killed by the barrier of another. There are just too many ways to describe a player defeating another.

 

[Owenalacaster]

Here's a little WIP shot for the Exhibition option. I need to adjust the text a bit, lower it by a pixel or two.

 

[Owenalacaster]

I'm gonna be on vacation for a week.

 

[Deolrin]

Whoa, nice. The carriers are rather obvious, but the rest seem to be custom-made?

 

[Owenalacaster]

Yes, I am always interested in custom vehicle models. Shadow_Killer provided the four custom models, and another modeler has expressed an interest in making a cycle based on the one in Tron: Legacy (I haven't seen the film, but he showed me a picture).

Anyone interested in making custom models is welcome to contribute; contributors will be credited in the loading screen.

 

[Tleno]

Oooh, one of my most favourite minigame maps!

I really enjoy your map, it's great fun and, well, the death comments are hillarious.

 

[Owenalacaster]

Glad you enjoy it. I also accept suggestions for death messages.

 

[Owenalacaster]

Back from vacation. See? I've not forgotten.

 

[Tleno]

The interface looks masterpiecefully.

 

[Owenalacaster]

Thanks. I hope it looks good on other resolutions besides mine.

 

[Owenalacaster]

Photon Cycles update v0.36 has been released.

 

[Owenalacaster]

Yogscast did a cast of mah map. Cool.

 

[Deolrin]

Yeah, saw it. I was like "LOL WHAT? Simon and Lewis reviewed the Archmage's map?!".

It's funny how they like it so much that they compare it to a real game.

 

[Owenalacaster]

Yes, that was especially flattering.