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MARINES!

README:

"MARINES!" 
By Glenn Morrow - Jan 2019

This is my submission to GWGC2018/19

Overview:
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This is more a POC (proof of concept) than a real game at this stage. Took me long enough as it was! I don't program professionally although I do some code hacks and support professionally. Personally I've played around with code for ages but rarely finish something. And this is possibly the first game I've ever even tried (I can't remember another one!) - certainly the first I've "finished" in any form at all.

So I have "hacked" this together and I have run out of time to clean it up ... so in the code some reasons for things are odd or conflicting and/or in some parts one way is used and in another anotherway is used. As well as just general stuff that needs cleaning up. Bu tI have to submit it now and get on with my life! 

I tried to get the scenario of computer hacking in that you have limited time so there is that constant pressure on you and I tried to make it (unrealistic) hacking-like scenarios even though way way way cut down from the real thing (as you explained). I do feel it has succeeded to some extent there.

I wanted to use old time scenarios from movies and things - but only had time for a couple at this point. I also wanted to customise the terminals to look like different OSes (Linux, UNIX, OS X, whatever) but I haven't had time but it could be done. As I said this is really more of a POC than a full game currently.

And it may be a bit buggy (although I've vaught most of it). Been enough time getting it going as it is. Some sections have gone through several refactors but need more. And some have remnants of old refactors still lying around. Or I just came back to the code and forgot what I'd previously done so have different ways of doing the same thing in different parts of the code! But I have no time left - I only just got it usable as it is. And it as global variable all over the place  - I'm sure I could get rid of at least some of them! But no time now.

As the consoles (terminals) (see in the game) are text only it has kept the file size (a key component of this challenge) down. So that was good. More could be done to/with the consoles. One aspect I realised later is that as it is graphics not text so there is no copy and paste ... so that is one thing that could be done. 

FYI: I started with the console from /initial code taken from "https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/1066735/%2FArticles%2F1066735%2FCommanflashCounterd-Console-in-your-browser-via-HTML-Canvas-J" but it is way hacked now.

And there is an in-joke for LiveOverflow in there if you can find it (I came to this challenge from LiveOverflow's YouTube channel).



To play:
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Don't hack THIS game - it is in JavaScript and too easy to hack and I haven't tried to obsure anything. That's not the idea. Play the game as it is intended. :)

Run the game and follow the instructions. Try to "hack the terminals by digging around and finding ways to shut them down.

Screen select: Once playing the game you can use the mouse to select from the terminals. But you can also jump screens with an "s [number]" command (e.g. s 7). This is especially good with many screens (higher levels).

If you lose the marine chat on their screen use "CLS" to regain (really a bug but again - no time now).



Level selection: 
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The first page gets you to Level select. At this time it really only is Level 1. All the others just have the same screen over and over for the extra screens - the idea would be for other scenarios but (you guessed it) no time! So just select "1"!!! You can use the others to see what it *would* be like (and hidden feature ... it can go much higher than level 4 indicated by the menu - try a number under 50!)

In addition to what is on the menu you can speed up the Marines damage rate by adding a .1,.2,.3,.4, or .5 to the Level number (e.g. "1.4" rather than just "1"). This is good if you want to see what happens quickly when the Marines all die! Obviously this is a Developer and Reviewer feature only, not a Player feature.

And finally if you use a .9 (e.g. 4.9) you only have to shutdown the last screen - the Marines communications one - just shut that down and game over - again for Dev or Review to see the ending faster - not for the player to use.


To do:
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As mentioned I would have liked to have more scenarios - and to refactor the code! I could also have put more files and folders in directories but I decided for now to just leave it minimalistic as it mostly is. I could also add some graphic or label to distinguish files from folders ... but it's still usable as it is.


And that's it. This started out as a really fun challenge and turned into a nightmare and I was aobut to give up and not submit it but ten I managed to get it to at least the poitn it is now so I thought I might as well put it in.

Cheers guys!

Glenn