Emerge: Cities of the Apocalypse

Brace yourselves, fellow Nifflas forumers, for it's SHAMELESS PLUUUUUUG TIIIIIIME!
Okay so I've been developing a game since 2012. There's some info below, please give the demo a whirl, tell me what you think. It would mean a lot.


A post-apocalyptic strategy/defense game

DOWNLOAD DEMO (version 0.9 b2):
Mediafire Link, 66.31 MP .zip, no install, no fullscreen

System Requirements: System Requirements: Pentium 4 3.4 MHz or better, 1 MB RAM, 256 MB Graphics card (nVidia GeForce 8800 GT / ATi Radeon HD 3870 or better)
OS: Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8 / 10
Warning! Do not play the game with a slower CPU! Likewise, playing with not enough RAM/VRAM will throw you "trying to draw non-existing surface" etc. errors. Pay attention to the Requirements!

Vote for the Game in Steam Greenlight! Click the logo below to go to the game's page!


TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy8-DBePg6I

Candidate Trailer for Steam Greenlight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t594lfUEA_U

KEY FEATURES:
EXPLORE AND EXPAND: Restore derelict metropolises, one turn at a time! How will you spend your Action Points this turn? Will you scout a nearby sector, then clean your weapons and check out a new recruit? Or will you patch the hole in your defenses and then blindly move into unexplored territory?

REDISCOVER LOST TECH: Plot your course over an expansive, multi-branched research tree! Bring forth scientific marvels, or start a second industrial revolution! Or perhaps, build a strong economy and make powerful alliances with merchants and mercenaries!

MANAGE YOUR TEAM: Choose your character class and find or recruit survivors. Gain experience and improve your team's skills and equipment. Find and buy tons of weapons, mods and usable items! But beware, for fighting the undead can be deadly...

BUILD AND FORTIFY: The Apocalypse has ravaged cities' infrastructure, and it's up to you to restore them. Construct improvements in captured sectors to empower your cause. Produce automated defenses to help you weaken or eliminate invading undead armies!

FIGHT THE UNDEAD ARMIES: As turns pass, more dangerous undead appear. From acid-spitting zombies to undead, armored soldiers, there are no limits to the horrors you will face. Set your snipers to aim for the head, have a bunch of grenades ready, and pray they don't reach your barricade in numbers!

UNLOCK THE FUTURE: Relieve the world from undeath in campaign or skirmish mode! Meet mysterious survivors and determine the outcome of random events! Unlock new areas, enemies, classes, bonuses and challenges and lots of extra content as you play!

SCREENSHOTS:


WEBSITE:
Official Website

SOCIAL:
Facebook
Twitter
IndieDB

BETA TESTERS AND SPECIFIC FEEDBACK WANTED!
1) You liked the demo? You like hunting for bugs and testing stuff? Want a free copy of the game when it gets out? Consider registering here and report the bug! Mantis Bug Tracking is a great system and it would really help to keep all reports in one place instead of reading lots of stuff in forums - it might help you too, since you can check if an issue has already been reported!

2) What about the game balance? A mission was too easy/hard? OP skills? Please let me know!

Looks great vdweller! It sounds like a game I could really enjoy if it's done well. *downloads*

I don't like the strategy game genre at all, so I'm probably the worst possible judge of games like this. Even so, I have to say this looks really polished! I love how the UI looks, and the dark/gritty style of the graphics fits the settings really well. In fact, I'm going to give it a try just to check out the visuals, music and the other features

Are you using GameMaker Studio to develop the game? That error message you mentioned sounds awfully familiar to me.

First of all, @ egomassive and Vegetal Gibber, thanks for your posts. I like making games, it's what I do. But I have no dedicated fanbase or testers or PR campaigns or uncles in the gaming industry or whatever. I'm so indy that I can make Indy Jones look like AAA Jones 

So just a simple piece of feedback from anyone interested in any forum I've been dwelling over the past years is simply nuggets of gold. Nay, bars of gold. If you have ten minutes, fire the little demo up. Does it run? Sounds OK? What OS did you run it on? This simple info can help a lot!

@Vegetal Gibber:
It's not strategy as in Starcraft or Civilization. It's more strategy in the sense that you have to research stuff and build and manage resources. You don't have any AI opponents who expand and build stuff like you do. Sure, it takes planning on the player's part, but you don't have to wait 45636 seconds for the AI players to move around in their turns. Some areas of the map are occupied by zombies and mutated creatures that move randomly from area to area when a turn ends. At some point they will move into your territory, and that's were real-time combat begins. You know. Shooting zombies 'n shieeet! 

I played the tutorial level to completion. I've got a list of stuff to tell you, but I'm trying to use the bug reporting service you linked to. Unfortunately, I didn't get my confirmation e-mail. I'll try again tomorrow. For now I'll tell you it ran fine in Windows 8.1 aside from all the bugs I'm going to tell you about. They're mostly graphical glitches and grammar mistakes.

Do you do your own artwork? It's pretty good.

I played the tutorial level to completion. I've got a list of stuff to tell you, but I'm trying to use the bug reporting service you linked to. Unfortunately, I didn't get my confirmation e-mail. I'll try again tomorrow. For now I'll tell you it ran fine in Windows 8.1 aside from all the bugs I'm going to tell you about. They're mostly graphical glitches and grammar mistakes.

Do you do your own artwork? It's pretty good.

Runs in 8.1 eh? That's mighty good news! Another person reported running fine on Windows 10.  Who would have thought that good ol' Game Maker 8  with extensions/dlls and stuff would pull through.

I can see you as a user in Mantis. Did you get the confirmation mail yet? Maybe it's something I have to do. So in the meantime if you have access let me know!

About the artwork yes, aside from some 3d models rendered in 2d everyhting else is by my hand. Glad you liked them!

A new, shorter game trailer is ready. Depending on its reception, this will probably be the featuring video in the upcoming Steam Greenlight submission. If you think it's OK for that purpose, let me know!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t594lfUEA_U

HUGE UPDATE!

The game has been submitted to Steam Greenlight! Please show your support and vote for it! Clicking the logo below will take you to the game's Greenlight page!

A new, shorter game trailer is ready. Depending on its reception, this will probably be the featuring video in the upcoming Steam Greenlight submission. If you think it's OK for that purpose, let me know!

I like it. I prefer game trailers that cut to the chase and focus on showing gameplay rather than cutscenes and dramatic lines. Then again, I'm someone who's already sick of "cinematic style" trailers, so my opinion is very biased and probably doesn't reflect the tastes of the general audience.

The sound effects in the shooting parts are a bit too loud for me, though.

So far reception has been positive. The game is reaching the 500 Yes votes milestone on its 3rd day in Greenlight, with zero background/connections/prior fame and/or cult followings

Every vote counts, people!

So that everyone sees this, Egomassive has done an amazing job in testing the game and pinning down bugs and errors. His name will go in the "Special Thanks" list that the game will soon have in the Credits panel. Well done! 

Aw, thanks. I enjoyed playing it, so reporting the bugs I encountered wasn't a big deal.

PRESS REVIEW ROUNDUP #1
 
(English language Websites/Youtube channels) 
 
Rock, Paper, Shotgun 
"I know what you’re thinking: that you’ve seen some free flash games that do the same thing. And you’re not entirely wrong, but I haven’t seen one myself that does it this well, or that has this much going on." 
 
Games Ring
"It’s quite clear that Emilios Manolidis has put a lot of effort into this project [...] After all, solo development projects are by no means an easy task, but it’s clear that this guy has worked his butt off to provide a finished product worthy of being played." 
 
OfficalStuffPlus (Youtube) 
"It's greater than the sum of its parts" 
 
(Non-English language Websites - don't expect quotes here ) 
 
GREECE: 
GameWorld
Toprazer
 
SLOVAKIA: 
Sector

The game was Greenlit just Yesterday. Once again, thanks to all who supported it during the Greenlight campaign.

Congratulations! That was fast! Seemed like Knytt Underground took forever to reach GL status. I wonder if the difference is because GL was new at the time of KU's release, or because zombie games have such a wide appeal. At any rate, you have a great product here and I wish you commercial success when it goes on sale.

Emerge: Cities of the Apocalypse will be released in Steam on April 27 2016. Trading Cards, Cloud Saves, Stats & Achievements are supported.