Colony, a Flash-based Real-time Strategy Simulation

Colony is a flash animation real-time strategy simulation created by Newgrounds.com producer Krin Juangbhanich (Krinn) and developed and published by Armor Games. The music and sound used in this flash-based submission was created by David Orr. The Blossom Server was created by Jiggmin. The Victory and Defeat screens found in this submission were created by Joan Casaramona. This real-time strategy was submitted to Newgrounds.com on February 10, 2010 and won a Daily 3rd Place award on February 11, 2010.

Gameplay

There are three different modes of play. You can choose between Campaign Mode, Quick Play, and Multiplayer. For the Campaign Mode, there are six different missions for you to complete. In Quick Play mode, there are four different levels of difficulty that you can choose from, namely Easy, Normal, Hard, and Hard-Hard, plus an additional Tutorial level of difficulty that is meant to show you the ropes of this game. For the Multiplayer mode, you can pick from a selection of servers to play with other online gamers.

The objective for the game is to destroy the enemy while protecting your own base.

You will be working with one other player, usually a computer player, depending on which mode you decide to play in. Your base will be shared with the other player. Your collective base is made up of nine squares in a three-by-three fashion, with the central square being the location of your central base, which needs to be protected at all costs. Four of the squares will be yours to build structures on. The other four will be controlled by your partner and cannot be controlled by you. No troops, technology, nor funds are shared between the two of you. The only thing that you and your partner have in common is the objective, which is to destroy the enemy's central base.

Click on one of your unoccupied squares to start building structures. Once you have clicked a square, select a structure to build. Different structures will allow you to deploy different types of units or function in other ways that will assist you in defeating the enemy.

Deployed units will be sent out to battle automatically. You can set up a rally point just in front of your base to gather units before attacking. To set up the rally point, simply press X on your keyboard.

Another useful shortcut is the Shift key. When you are deploying units, you may wish to deploy more than one of the same kind of unit. To do this without having to repeatedly click on the icon of the unit that you wish to deploy, simply hold the Shift key before you click on the icon of the unit you want to purchase. Your base will then continue to produce that unit until you no longer have the resources to do so.

Resources will be gained automatically throughout your battle. The amount of resources you have is displayed above the area that lists the types of structures and/or units that you can purchase.

At the bottom right hand corner of the screen is the chat box that allows you to communicate with your partner. Press Enter to start typing text, then press Enter again to send the text to your partner.

As you play through the game, you will notice the strengths and weaknesses of each type of team. You can then use this knowledge to your advantage when playing in Multiplayer mode.

Game Review

Colony is an interesting real-time strategy simulation. By partnering up players right from the get-go and confining the partnership to only nine squares creates a situation that requires players to be creative and resourceful and cooperative all at the same time. Working with your partner becomes key to success, as you will be playing against a pair of enemies. The many types of upgrades and units available, as well as the ability to play multiple types of teams, adds to the entertainment of the game. One thing that could be improved is making it easier to understand what each icon represents, as it was at times frustrating to know what I was building. The addition of situationally-based music was an excellent touch to this flash-based submission.

Colony scores an 9/10 for offering a high level of entertainment and a twist on the old real-time strategy theme.