Cortex Command Shaping Up!
Cortex Command, the amazing pixel physics game from Data Realms, is really starting to come together. If you haven’t heard of the project before you should definitely check it out. I happen to be friends–and unicycling buddies–with Data himself, and had a chance to check out the latest build the other day over at his place (the epic results of which are detailed on his blog).
The project is being run in a very open fashion. Public builds are regularly posted, game design is debated in the forums, and there’s already a vibrant community of modders and fans. The most recent build is a real blast to play, particularly if you have a wired Xbox 360 controller on your PC. The new controls are worlds above the old, frustrating scheme.
Download Cortex Command Game (17.8 MB download)
[link goes to Data Realms Devlog]
Related Posts:
- Defend Your Monochromatic Turret in Red
- Hammerfight (Hammerfall) Now Available on Steam
- Portal, Valve’s New Physics-Based Puzzle Game
- Fun-Motion Featured in The Wall Street Journal!
- Toribash Gets Visual Overhaul
My name is Matthew Wegner, and this site is dedicated to physics games.
(4.24 out of 5)
on November 30th, 2006 at 12:11 am
I agree! The controls are much better than they were. The only thing I can’t seem to manage is the aiming, shooting, and walking at the same time. And the reloading. Maybe I’m just uncoordinated?!
on November 30th, 2006 at 2:44 am
Shows a lot of promise, but those controls definitely need refinement. Why are they using only the d-pad / analog stick and four buttons, when most gamepads (and especially the console variants that they recommend) have at least eight buttons? Currently there’s just too much finger gymnastics involved.
I will heartily recommend the game when it is as straightforward as Metal Slug.
on November 30th, 2006 at 7:34 am
Cortex Command is a really excellent game. Fun with a 2d-game, some things are better without that third dimension :)
on November 30th, 2006 at 9:48 am
The game is great. It’s simillar to Soldat but the graphics are better and destroyable enviroment is great. It also causes some difficulties – it’s quite easy to get stuck in a dirt or something.
The keyboard controls are ok. I got used to them after playing 30-60 minutes. But It would be great if one can change the keys assigned. I don’t have a regular num keyboard on my laptop, so I had to set my mouse buttons to act as this keys. It’s a little bit silly to use the mouse just for the buttons ;)
Still – the game is great. I really can’t wait to see some Internet or LAN multiplayer, all those shields, miscs etc.
on November 30th, 2006 at 10:09 am
I personally think the controls are fine, in fact there isn’t really anything wrong with it……
on November 30th, 2006 at 10:30 am
I just had a brilliant time playing Brain Vs. Com today.
I think I’m gonna play it right now, actually.
on November 30th, 2006 at 11:08 am
Cortex Command (been watching it since it was called DIRT) is really getting better and better. I can’t wait until they add mouse support, for better aimage.
on November 30th, 2006 at 6:27 pm
can anyone else use the scene editer?
cause mine doesnt work
on November 30th, 2006 at 9:15 pm
is it just my game pad or is the jet pack way hard to control with an analog stick? also, i cant aim! weird, this looks promising though, metal slug is one of my favorites.
on November 30th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
yeah, i cant aim up or down, weird. Maybe i need to configure my game pad again.
on November 30th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
Scene editor isn’t done yet.. patience.
Controls for gamepads other than the xbox 360 one will shape up next. Everything will be customizable!
on December 1st, 2006 at 3:57 am
ben clark -> there is an easy way to secure the base (at least it works on the easy mode). Use the rocket that you own at the beginning to barricade the brain room entrance (as good as you can) and seal it with concrete.
It’s also a good idea to have one guy in the brain chamber with a concrete gun.to seal it from the inside.
Basically that’s it – you can concentrate on gathering resources. Make sure you periodically check the base. They might try digging in through the entrance or from above.
Pile some rockets on the top of the brain room. Just buy a rocket and drop it – preferably horizontally. This will stop them for a long time.
Have fun :)
on December 1st, 2006 at 8:16 am
Yeah, Easy was a little hard untill I figured out how to keep the bots out. The concrete gun works wonders. I’m so happy that they finally swtiched the player to player 1. Finally I can play it on my laptop.
on December 1st, 2006 at 11:42 am
Help
How can i buy weapons in this game?
on December 1st, 2006 at 12:11 pm
This game rocks my socks! It’s gonna be even better when they add a Level Maker!
on December 1st, 2006 at 8:17 pm
Diego : To buy weapons you must press both buttons for swtiching the brains. In other words, for player 1, press y + u together
on December 1st, 2006 at 8:36 pm
i cant wait till the game works with my gamepad! Looks tight as ever.
on December 1st, 2006 at 9:23 pm
It’s a painful game to play without mouse aiming. Too much micromanagement for me, leaving your bots to fend for themselves is suicide.
on December 2nd, 2006 at 12:23 am
I’ve seen pictures of the brain not connected to the ceiling of the room it’s in. Is there any way to take the brain off the ceiling?
on December 2nd, 2006 at 7:05 am
No, that’s just a prevopis version; before, the brain was on the ground.
on December 2nd, 2006 at 9:23 am
You can knock it off, but that’d probably mess it up a bunch.
on December 2nd, 2006 at 10:32 am
After some practice, the controls get easy. :D
I’m loving this game. :]
on December 2nd, 2006 at 12:29 pm
WOW! This game is awesome! At first the controls were very wierd, but now that I’ve played a bit on 2player to practice, I have gotten a lot better. Does anyone know how deep the ground goes? There are to many rocks in the way for me to get really far.
on December 2nd, 2006 at 12:31 pm
Oh, for pople that get stuck in dirt or other stuff, just press left then right rapidly. It won’t work if you’re under a lot of dirt though.
on December 2nd, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Yeah, you can knock the brain off of the wall by jumping into it repeatedly. You can then cover it in concrete :)
Thank you for creating a game that includes EVERYTHING that I love Data.
on December 2nd, 2006 at 3:25 pm
That looks awesome, I have not been able to visit this website because I was sick.
on December 3rd, 2006 at 3:39 am
Kohits -> use the large digger. It can dig through rocks and even bunkers. Unfortunately the ground ends with the screen. Be careful cause the game might slow down a lot when some live elements (dirt that hasn’t settled down yet) pass the edge. It’s only my guess, maybe something else causes it.
If you pass the edge of the world (screen) you might never come back :)
I have played a little bit with .ini files. Check the Ammo.ini in the Cortex Command -> Base.rte folder (make a backup first of course)
I usually change the shotgun parameters because AI is not using this weapon. Find this lines:
AddAmmo = Round
InstanceName = Round Shotgun
ParticleCount – number of bullets in one shot
LifeTime – how far they will go
Sharpness – how they’re going to cut through enemies and dirt >:-) (mua ha ha! – evil laugh)
When the sharpness is high enough, even when the bullets loose their momentum, they will just cut through everything when falling down. Just make sure the LifeTime is not to high, because the results might be unexpected.
FireVelocity, ShellVelocity – these two are great. I don’t know yet which one is what, but when I increased both of them a lot, not only bullets were flying faster… :D The recoil was so huge, that 2 shots could put me on the orbit ;) Before every shot I had to make sure I won’t hit the wall or something.
Have fun.
on December 3rd, 2006 at 6:40 am
I love the stunning entrances you can make with those cargo rockets.
This is going to be a very great game.
on December 3rd, 2006 at 7:07 am
This game is awesome!
on December 3rd, 2006 at 11:56 am
How do you get the ini. files Garagod? I’m sorry, I suck with computers.
on December 3rd, 2006 at 7:29 pm
this game is amazing!
on December 3rd, 2006 at 8:52 pm
the game is stunning, but is there a way to win?
on December 4th, 2006 at 5:54 am
Thatguy .ini files are in base.rte folder… Open them wit notepad
on December 4th, 2006 at 5:55 am
Thatguy .ini files are in base.rte folder… Open them wit notepad
Tim: I think u cant win in singleplayer.In multiplayer destroy opponents brains
on December 4th, 2006 at 5:55 am
ooppps tripppletrouble
on December 4th, 2006 at 6:02 am
Why are so many people using my nickname? Just for clarification, the previous post by “ThatGuy” wasn’t me. Also look in cortex command’s actors.ini folder and scroll down to the bottom. You should find a hidden drop pod vehicle. Just delete all the slashes and it should come up in-game.
on December 4th, 2006 at 10:55 am
Oh god I’ve had so much fun with this. For a good time, make the rocket cost zero, up it’s speed as much as you want, and see if you can win in multiplayer using only the rocket.
on December 4th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
Oh, i’m sorry ThatGuy. Forgive me, I’ll be Thatguy with a lowercase g.
on December 4th, 2006 at 5:49 pm
Ah Screw it, i’ll just get a new name.
on December 5th, 2006 at 3:01 am
The drop pod suxxx :D (tried it)….
How do u change the speed of the rocket?
on December 5th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
Well, if you tap the direction you want to go fast, you can gain some serious speed. (It’s a friction bug or something)
But I don’t know how to change it in the settings, haven’t looked. :P
on December 5th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
Everything to do with the clones or rockets should be in the actors.ini, located in the base.rte . Also the drop pod probably sucks because the developer hid it inside the ini. You can find alot of hidden code in the .ini files, like a hidden code for the brain to give a hurt sound and a death sound.
on December 6th, 2006 at 5:36 am
^^^^ Are they all marked with slashes?
Try to understand what im saying
on December 6th, 2006 at 7:29 am
Yes, I understand what you’re saying and they are marked in slashes so that the code doesn’t get included in-game. They are hidden for someone who would not mess with the .ini . Anyways, could someone explain what all the values such as “Depth” mean in the code?
on December 6th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
this is an awsome game! I love it, but I do have a few minor sugestens here they are. Firts on the rockets make it so more peaces can fly off of it. Another is to make this online! this would be the best game ever. Next is the controls… well ok I like how you dont use the mouse so then you can play with your friends but try to make them easyer and so you can change them. Thanks for listening bye.
on December 6th, 2006 at 5:33 pm
Oh and i forgot to add you should make it so in every buy section there is one free thing so you can keep playing… and make different rockets please!
on December 6th, 2006 at 9:50 pm
The ‘deep’ auto atom groups are the clusters of ‘atoms’ (points) which are set at a ‘depth’ from the silhouette edge of the sprite. All they do is detect if the sprite has penetrated the terrain enough to hit those deep points. When that is detected, a chunk the exact size of the sprite is taken out of the terrain, like a cookie cutter.
This is to avoid sticking and emulate displacement of terrain matter.
If that made no sense… then just look at the values of the other objects and copy-paste to your own.
on December 6th, 2006 at 10:47 pm
Can someone throw me a hint as to where to find the magazine capacities? I’m probably staring right at it…
on December 6th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
Oh….I think I understand. I think you should maybe start work on a “How to mod” manual, Data. It would really help in explaining what all the values do.
on December 25th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Hey just a suggestion for the game. It would be nice if there was a base you can attack.. not that it gets boring but it would be interesting. Flying your rocket into the wall traping them in… thats somthing the CPU did to me lol. I would like to see a grapple hook or somthing haha… I got that off Worms Armageddon. Or maybe a ninja rope.. Anyways great game love the possibilities..one time i killed my self by flying into my brain (very hard) but nocked it of… I wish you got a profit from retrning the drop of ships. Instead of getting the 50$ back. Heres another suggestion.. I would love diffrent mods e.x. -Capture the flag. Well thanks for reading this! I will surly buy this game when the time comes that it is Complete.
-Yours Truthly: Matthew.L
P.S. If you would need some testers or somthing you can contact me at [email protected].
on December 27th, 2006 at 9:36 am
cortex comand is a tight game.They made a new ship called the drop ship.