TIGSource: Robot and the Cities that Built Him

Robot and the Cities that Built Him

Derek Yu — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:03:00 +0000

Robot and the Cities that Built Him is a 7-day prototype Flash game by Kyle Gabler of 2d Boy. In the game you play a deadly robot going on some kind of coke binge. The robot attacks automatically (LASERDEATH!), and the gameplay involves moving him about, and managing his laser charge and various upgrades.

I think this is the only game ever created while listening to Bette Midler’s version of “From a Distance” on loop for a week. It’s also one of my only games involving genocide. What is man? What is machine? What does it mean to be human? Perhaps from a distance we’re not so different from giant kill bots? Can a computer make you cry? Yes, if it has lasers.

It’s a neat concept – it just feels a little bit unfinished. Probably because it is! There are only two robot available for purchase in-game, currently.

In other 2d Boy news, World of Goo will be hitting PC and Wii first (soonish, I hear), followed shortly thereafter by Mac and Linux. You can pre-order the PC version now for $20.

"Robot and the Cities that Built Him" by that

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:30:23 +0000

i have the full version and wont work

"Robot and the Cities that Built Him" by Chris

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:29:50 +0000

Err, as Iopred said, I meant it reminded me of the tower defense genre, not a specific game. Just modified to be side scrolling and have repairs. ^^;

"Robot and the Cities that Built Him" by fucrate

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:13:10 +0000

Really, the best thing about the game is the name. It so subtlety ridiculous.

"Robot and the Cities that Built Him" by th15

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:08:57 +0000

Pretty cool game. A lot of fun to be had despite the small amount of content.

"Robot and the Cities that Built Him" by !CE-9

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:30:43 +0000

68 cities, 10770 monies, 25 minutes, 2 bloodshot eyes… that’s when I got bored. is there an end?

I’d say it lasted pretty long for what it is. now gimme World of Goo.

"Robot and the Cities that Built Him" by iopred

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:47:49 +0000

I think he means it just reminds him of a TD game, which I came here to post also. It’s essentially a TD game, just with a new spin, I like it, had to close it when I got to City 72 and had no chance of dying, otherwise I’d be here all night!

"Robot and the Cities that Built Him" by PHeMoX

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:52:29 +0000

Pretty cool game, but yup got boring near the end.

@Chris that sounds like an interesting concept, any idea which tower defense game that was? Was it a web game?

"Robot and the Cities that Built Him" by Chris

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:47:40 +0000

Very fun for what it is. If he made a few UI changes and added harder enemies, more robots, and a proper scoring/death system, I think he could sell it. Not sure how it’d work with console controllers, though.

Oddly enough, it actually reminded me of a side-scrolling continuous tower defense game, with the addition of having to repair towers constantly. Kill things for cash, upgrade your “towers”. Even had air towers and ground pounders. No real tower placement strategies, though.

The main UI thing that bothered me was trying to click on the bot I wanted to repair. Didn’t really matter in this prototype game because I only needed 2 or 3 bots to kill everything, but I messed around with 7 or 8 fully upgraded ones, and those fat-headed Champy bots got irritating. Be nice if you could click to switch through all the ones under the cursor. Or it could just default to the most injured.

"Robot and the Cities that Built Him" by Stwelin

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:12:07 +0000

It was fun. Got boring at the end, but it’s not done, so that’s understandable. I got to the point where i collected as many hearts as i could and spawned around 40 of the bots. entertaining.

"Robot and the Cities that Built Him" by Riegel

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:39:05 +0000

I enjoyed that a lot, got to level 46 then let my robots die =( I really want a full version now…

"Robot and the Cities that Built Him" by Eclipse

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:55:19 +0000

fun, pretty limited but still fun

"Robot and the Cities that Built Him" by Zeno

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:30:23 +0000

Old news is oooooold.

The game is fun, though. It makes me pine for a finished version, even though the dev says it won’t happen… :(

Also, did this remind anyone else of a twisted, interactive version of Walk-Smash-Walk?