Lux Vex

Lux Vex

The Darkness is consuming all the light in the universe. Light beings have beamed to the Vro system where its sun is dying, their mission: to re-infuse the sun with light to eradicate the Darkness in the Vro solar system.

How to play

Lux Vex is a single player, low poly, sci-fi RTS where Light is pitted against Darkness. You have 20 minutes to link ALL the Ley-Lines with Light Wells and Light Towers to the Solar Accelerator on the map.

Input controls:

• W/A/S/D: Camera movement
• Left Mouse: Placement & selection
• Right Mouse: Cancel
• Middle Mouse: Rotate camera
• Mouse Scroll: Camera zoom
• Left-Ctrl & Scroll: Rotate structures
• Shift Button: Speed up Camera movement
• Escape: pause game / sub-menu
• J: destroys structures
• (click on the base of a command) + del: removes the command
• H: recenter camera on Control Crystal

Top stat bar (left to right):

• Crystal: for building structures
• Dark Souls: to be purified into Light workers
• Workers: count of your workers
• Light: all structures use light to push back darkness.
• Capacity: all structures drain light, Light wells increase both capacity and light regen rate.

Bottom buttons:

• For building structures and placing commands. They have UI info screens attached on mouse over.

Example play: 

1. At start of game place down a Light well structure on the white crack (Ley-Line) on the ground near your Control Crystal; this will increase your capacity and light regen.
2. Place a purifier near the base, and place a light tower in any direction. 
3. Place a mining command next to the misty, blue mine to mine it's resources.
4. Place a guard command near the 3 recently built structures.
5. Wait until the first attack wave and use the guard command to defend.
6. After attack, click at the bottom of commands + del key to remove the command.
7. Then begin exploring by using the guard commands (scout command is kind of obselete at the moment)
8. With your recently acquired souls (from the recent attack), begin spawning workers in the purifier. You can only build one at a time.

Hint(s):

1. Don't drop down too many commands and spread your workers thin.
2. Don't create too many structures, until leylines have been found (scouted)
3. The map is static, try again. =)

Other game mechanics

• Ley-lines, crystal, and Darkness, when out of site of a structure or worker, are hidden from view.
• Placing new commands re-distributes your workers.
• Try to kill Darkness near light structure to absorb their souls; souls are required for the Purifier structure.
• Don't adventure too far with your workers, try to keep them close (or return) to light structures; this will replenish their health.
• Light structures damage Darkness.
• Darkness swarms light, be prepared.
• Try to discover Ley Lines as fast as you can, they will increase your capacity and light regen rate.
• If you notice your light depleting quickly, destroy a couple light towers and try to scout out another ley-line.
• The sun on the top left corner of the screen is your time, watch that you don't run out of "Lux."
• Make sure a light tower doesn't get destroyed in the middle of a chain, as this cuts off power to other light towers which will eventually crumble.
• Creating workers cannot be queued, be mindful to create workers to defend and explore.

Cool factor

• The intro music has subtle time beats within.
• The Sun on the top left corner of the screen has a cool dying effect as the game progresses.
• The game scene gets progressively darker as the sun continues to die, which applifies the beams of light effect on all structures.
• The game music purposely starts light then gets serious.
• Some really cool effects on the low-poly structures.

Known Issues / Test Play Comments

• Pause / Win / Lose screen does not exit and may be formatted incorrectly.
• Still lacking some UI info pieces
• Mouse disappears on sub-menus
• Can't skip intro / tutorial
• Having 2 purifiers is useless at the moment
• Can't destroy enemy spawn points
• Scout command doesn't add much value at the moment
• Click mini-map does not take you to map area.
• Discovered resources don't remain visible.
• Creating workers cannot be queued.
• Don't place structures on commands, you may not be able to delete them.

Source code

https://github.com/SquishSplatStudio/Lux-Vex