Topic: Amoebattle

comes out today(may 3,2012) in NA for 500 points or $5 plus tax,whats your thoughs about the game

It looks like it might be a neat little RTS game although I will have to wait for some impressions/reviews first before I decide to get it.

by my guess,from looking at the trailer it looks alot like lego battle from the ds,if im correct in this game you can make different germs,germ bases and so on,its a TD

hello dark-insanity! My name is Henry, I'm one of the designers at Intrinsic Games and although Amoebattle wasn't my idea originally, I put a lot of work into some of the missions. I just wanted to take a moment to address some of your concerns.

Looking at Lego Battle on DS now, the similarities are only skin deep. In fact, at no point in development did we know that game even existed. We built the game from the ground up to be a true RTS in handheld form. It is also DEFINITELY NOT a Tower Defense game. Before starting the project, our analysis of the game market was that people were trying to pass off TD as an RTS, which was part of the original inspiration to make a true RTS game.

Reviews have been trickling in ever since the game launched on iPhone/iPad. You can catch some blurbs and links to actual reviews on the website: http://amoebattle.com/

I'll keep an eye on this topic if you guys have any more questions. And if you're hesitating, check out the reviews for the game! I'll be in and out of this thread as long as you guys have questions for me or the team about anything related to Amoebattle or whatever else.

give me an european release !!!

really interested in how this ends up on the ds-family

@henroid: Hi! I saw this game and have been very much on the fence about it. It looks like it may have some similarities to Pikmin in that you have to command and corral many small beings at one time. Is this true? If so how similar would you say that Amoebattle is to Pikmin. Also, I'm not too big into RTS games but I took to Pikmin rather well because while it does have many RTS elements it still keeps the feeling very lighthearted and not overly-serious. Sort of casual if you will. So would you say Amoebattle is more on the casual or hardcore side and would it be accessible to someone with little to no experience with the genre? If you could please answer my questions it would really help me paint a clearer picture of whether I want this game or not. Thanks much!

@henroid im sorry for saying TD because i really didnt know the genre of the game(more like the genre of lego battles) so i just used TD,but i really dont want to fight with the maker but right now im playing this and i find it more then skin deep similarities,maybe all RTS are pretty much the same (i never played another RTS before so your gonna have to excuse me)but i found it alot like lego battles but thats just my opinion,theres no doubt people are not gonna agree with me but i just think its alot like the same,there are some changes but not a whole lot to make me not think of lego battles

@henroid: I love how everyone makes it their mission to compare this game to any other game they can haha.

I'm a bit on the fence about this as well: to be completely honest, I'm just not convinced of the replayability of the game, and that is something that is a major factor for me in my game purchases. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on this?

hey its not my fault if i pick up the game and seems to me like another game

RTS games tend to be very similar. It's hard to give them too much variation before it's not an RTS anymore. I am also on the fence about this. I love RTS games, but i can't tell if this will feel to cheap to me. I'm not insulting the game at all, i just am speculating that i can't imagine a great RTS like command and conquer on dsiware. Once i read some more reviews I'll make my decision.

I do have a question though, more personal curiosity rather than about the game, but did you guys ever consider switching the game over to a 3DS download title? If so, was it the larger audience of DSiware that attracted you to it more?

Lol. I'm just asking about any Pikmin similarities because I desperately want the game to have Pikmin similarities. The closer to Pikmin, the better! I just can't really tell from the trailer. It looks kind of like it might by similar but I just can't be sure. well I'm off to read some reviews, watch some videos to try and get some answers!

Hello! I would say that we share just a few similarities with Pikmin but we are mostly different. The controls, for example, function more like they do in Starcraft than they do in Pikmin: you can circle units and tell them to move and also control the camera at the same time. That being said, I think we definitely fall more towards the RTS side of things. Some things we've tried are similar. For example, we've done away with the concept of bases and base building in favor of a more streamlined game. Though to be perfectly honest, Pikmin's gameplay is still different from ours since there's a bigger focus on gathering things and setting up nice little supply lines.

Now, it's funny you ask about casual or hardcore. We were actually aiming for something more "midcore" with Amoebattle. That is, we'll ease you into the game at first but ratchet it up very quickly. The game is challenging, no doubt about it. But we truly think it's a "fair" kind of challenge where if you lose in a mission, it was because of a mistake you can pin point and not because the game just decided to be hard for no reason. Personally, that kind of challenge is appealing to me but I understand it's not for everyone.

I don't mean to call you out or make you feel bad or anything! I am just merely stating the facts. It's easy to misconstrue our game for a TD but that's okay! I'm here to inform, not to insult. So I'm sorry if it came out that way.

From what I can tell, Lego Battles is an attempt at an RTS game so you are right in that regard. I haven't actually played it so I don't know, but it looks like it's a more traditional RTS game than ours since you have to build buildings and train units etc. Amoebattle is more focused on the battles and the decisions you make during combat such as where you position yourself, what units you attack, and what units you choose to produce.

Replayability is a huge concern for us too. Unfortunately, due to budget and schedule concerns, we only have the single player campaign to offer. That being said, the campaign is a great one, and just by itself should get you 8 - 10 hours of gameplay depending on your skill level. We also tried hard to not artificially prolonging the game just to make it long - we actually give you different/varied challenges to overcome.

In the end we would have loved to include more content to make it more replayable, but the choice boiled down to releasing a great single-player campaign or risking not releasing at all to just try out features that would make it more replayable.

This is fair. In our opinion also, an RTS was never properly executed before on DSi until we came along, so I understand the hesitation. Even with all of that, I would say our game is still interesting to even people who are jaded with the RTS genre. There's all the conventions to make RTS veterans feel at home: mini-map, fog of war, control groups, etc. At the same time, there are many things different you can sink your teeth into and enjoy: a focus on combat and tactics, the ability to make more units by feeding your amoebas and making them split into two, and not to mention cute cuddly amoebas. And just to toot my own horn, I have to say that our controls are an amazing but underrated part of our game.

EDIT: Also, to address the 3DS question. There are two main reasons. 1) As a studio at the time, we were better equipped to doing high quality 2D art rather than 3D art. 2) The 3D screen on the 3DS isn't a touch screen, which would make controlling your amoebas very difficult.

So what exactly is the genre even about? I've never played a RTS game before, so I'm wondering if this would be a good starting point.

@henroid Thank you for answering all our questions and explaining the game some more, you have sold me on it and I'm downloading now! Thanks for the excellent service, hope to see some more from you eventually!

@henroid: Thank you so much for your very candid answers! I may have to pass on this one, though depending on the review it gets by Nintendolife, it might be something I pick up in the future.

Although, if there are any plans for a sequel or something that will have features like multiplayer or even "skirmish" modes, then I will pick it up instantly. As for this release, I'm going to have to wait a bit. I'll let you know what I think once I pick it up!

OK, so I've only done the first few missions and i have to say i love this game so far! I can already tell there is going to be much more strategy involved than just mass up some "infantry" and zerg rush the hell outta your enemies. You have to carefully plan everything, and micromanaging is made simple with multiple ways to select your units or deselect them. I only have a few "mutations" right now, but they are already adding excellent variety to how I can accomplish a goal. The sound is also very impressive. Nice BGM, and SE, it's clear and not annoying. I'll post some more impressions tomarrow after i play a few more missions. So far though I would have to give the game an 8/10. The two points off are for a lack of bases (they are made unnecessary through the gameplay style, but i like bases) and the mapping. Maybe the mapping will get more complicated, but so far it's really simple.

Great job @henroid and everyone at Grab, you've made an awesome game!

Here's a question: Would you recommend the DSiWare version, or the iPad version? I've got the iPad version and it's a nice, simple RTS, so I'm wondering how it plays on the smaller screen.

i have not played the Ipad version, but i can say i have no control issues on this version whatsoever. however i can imagine a larger screen being much nicer.