Which MiniGames make for the best Micro

[PicassoCT]

Lets face it, Micro in Rts is often Mini Games in Disguise.

Widdow-mine running is bomberman in disguise.
Rocket Dodging is basically a plattformer.

So which MiniGames havent been microed yet, how could that be done, and which would be the most interesting ones?

[Forboding Angel]

Stalker blink micro?

[PicassoCT]

interesting minigame.. basically a whack-the-mole version - just with shields and back positions?

[PicassoCT]

How would you fit the minigame snake into a rts-game?

Answer:

You have artillerygrenade that dont immediatly detonate, and a unit that can collects it, but the more it collects the more explosive it gets, and when it trips over its own tail - KABOOM

[PicassoCT]

How to fit in tetris?

Answer: Bertha Reload Minigame- every dissolved line becomes ammonition..

[Anarchid]

Mario Goomba Stomp: like ZK Sumo, but if it kills enough units, it does a second jump.

[PicassoCT]

Bejewelled Weapons:

Anyone.. dont bring your units to close in formation..

[PicassoCT]

Another nice idea would be a recharging active shield, which kills projectiles between its outer and inner layer..

So for it to be effectiv you have to catch them all in time, when activating the ability..

[PicassoCT]

Some other interesting mini-game idea..

A suicide Unit that locks in direction wise, once set active and speeds up.. and explodes as soon as it collides and stops..

The Minigame consists of getting your guys out of the way.

Into Minigames you could incooperate physicpuzzles, after all we all grasp physics very fast, intuitivly allmost.. for example: imagine a magnetic grenade, taking large amount of metalls for gravity, thus orbitting huge unit heaps , always circling closer depending on group size


Another nice one would be a pinball unit:
The pinball is a rocket, that basically hops on if you hit the unit it will hit next in time before it arrives.

The increddible Machine:
a really powerfull, but permanently and shortranged lasers.. who need mirror- units to extend there danger-range.. basically the increddible machine of basedefense..

[PauloMorfeo]

Tower Defense Games like Plants Vs Zombies are basically just that - an RTS deprived of all mini-games except one: building the defenses.

Similarly to Tower Defense Games in a completely different way there is a stripped-down RTS that strips almost everything but the skirmishing of units: Arena Wars. It appears that in 2012 a sequel was published.

I've often felt like the standard RTS titles should have game modes that strip several of the areas (both for fun and for practice). Ex: Tower Defense mode where all you handle is the building of defensive buildings / mode for economy and factories / Arena Wars more, where you only handle the skirmishes of units.


I remember a very renowned Games Designer (Sid Meier? A boardgames designer? Reiner Knizia?) saying that a game with several very good mechanics at the same time didn't resulted in such a good game as one focused on a single decent mechanic.

The best example I can think of is X-Com. So often the missions feel like a drag because I want to play the game-overview mechanic - sometimes the game-overview mechanic feels like a drag because I want to play the skirmishes. Ex: the game Incubation was just the X-Com-like skirmish mechanic and it was awesome.

But it goes the opposite direction too (sometimes) - games with lots of different mechanics, when they are simple and supportive of one main mechanic and glue together nicely, make for interesting games.

Ex: X-Com, Masters of Magic, 4X games are very rich and satisfying games. Ex: even though the game Incubation was awesome, sometimes it felt a tiny bit lacking and even that game had more than just the core mechanics, like Character evolution and equiping the soldiers.


Hearts of Iron - I have mixed feelings about it. Often I just want to do the fighting and not bother with taking care of politics, spying, science, etc. Other times I love to control the sciente to discover the new Tiger tanks and kick ass with them. (the game allows for the AI to control whichever parts we want to relinquish - it is a really really really good game).

[PicassoCT]

thanks pauolo.. made me remember Dark Omen, which used physic realistic cannons as a minigame.

Basically a artillery duell game with armies in between..

[MetalSucker]

One of the Assassin's Creed games actually had a built in tower defense of sorts.

[PicassoCT]

Could ressource gathering be coerced into a mini-game?

I mean Dungeon Keeper allowed it by zooming into a creature..

[zwzsg]

Could ressource gathering be coerced into a mini-game?

But would it be fun?

I believe it's easier to entertain players with explosions than with harvesting.

[PicassoCT]

The question is- would it be more engaging to boost for example metallextractors the Warhammer: DarkOmen way

More explosions are not the answer to everything. Such a approach to life could be considered IS_Sissy.

[PauloMorfeo]

Could ressource gathering be coerced into a mini-game?

But would it be fun?
...

Depends on the player/mood but the answer is absolutely «yes it is possible».

When playing Runescape (the old one that ran in the browser as a Java plugin), my favourite activity was resource gathering and crafting - not so much fighting. Later I played 2 other mmoRPGs that grabbed me almost only because they had resource gathering and crafting: Saga of Ryzom and Runes of Magic.

I played tons of Anarchy Online and loved the fighting and whatnot but it disappointed me slightly the minimal resource gathering and crafting. Saga of Ryzom eventually disappointed me because of the same, even though it was much more developed. Runes of Magic was really nice - I think I only stopped playing it because I got to a point where it was becoming hard to progress as a single player.

An example of what might be just that - a mini-game of resource collection - is Farmville. Maybe Simfarm as well (had tons of fun with that one). Cut the Rope absolutely qualifies as that (mini-puzzles challenging the player over how to collect the resource, that is, the candy).

[EDIT]
Maybe the best example of an interesting mini-game of resource collection is "farming" in MOBAs like Dota 2 - making sure you last-hit the creeps to "collect" the resource "gold".

[PicassoCT]

Interesting thing:

Can one make artesic balance? Meaning attention invested in one mini-game equals in situational output to that of another mini-game?

[Anarchid]

Yes, and that's what RTS games do very well. Attention to macro by one guy can be compensated by attention to micro of the other guy.

[PicassoCT]

So, then what is dota?
The adding of rpg to rts - or the other way around. Could i hybridizide every other genre into rts?

CarRaces with Suicide Units, which get defused, if a DefuseDrone (triggered by fast-movement) catches up to them for too long before they reach the base?

Sportgames, where you play NHL Hockey to bring a Krogoth to fall?

Point and Click Adventures?

[PauloMorfeo]

Could ressource gathering be coerced into a mini-game?

Actually, SpringRTS already has that in place - in Delta Siege (Dry) 4v4 ~ 6v6, usually 1 or 2 of the back end players play a mini-game of resource collection rushing to a super economy that can later be converted into a super attack (usually nukes, bombers, BB or Tier-3 units).

Starcrap 2 has a series of single-player challenges that are mini-games like you're asking (I played them a lot). In one of them you are bound to your starting location, you'll receive some occasional attacks, and your objective is to build-up your economy and build X marines, Y siege tanks and Z ghosts as fast as you can.

Additionally, the game/mod/whatever "Chickens" can be seen as that - it's similar to that challenge, where you have to develop your resource gathering as fast as possible and build up a defense until the waves arrive. When the waves do arrive, the game changes a bit, but it can mostly be seen as a resource gathering mini-game.

Slight or huge variations are possible and could be quite entertaining.

So, then what is dota?
The adding of rpg to rts - or the other way around. ...

It is clearly a bit of both, no!?

More specifically, Warcraft 3 was an RTS with a strong import of RPG mechanics into it.
And Dota was Warcraft 3 keeping the RTS environment but stripping the RTS mechanics from the player's control.