Grey Goo is Great Game Design

First Written    Mon Oct 18 03:44:14 2021
File Modified    Wed Feb 14 18:32:26 2024
Latest Upload    Thu Sep 19 03:09:54 2024

Grey Goo is one of my favourite games of all time and has just the sort of game design and polish I look up to when working on my own games!

Source: Launch Trailer

It's a sci-fi RTS made by Petroglyph Games with some of the coolest asymmetrical gameplay I've ever seen.

You can play as:

Source: Grey Goo Fandom Wiki

• Futuristic Humans, whose units are pound for pound the strongest, but whose bases are extremely centralized
• The titular Goo, who lack structures whatsoever and field a decentralized and nomadic army
• The Beta, first settlers on the planet which is the game's setting, and who can easily build outposts and serve as an adaptable middle ground faction
• Or the Shroud, who play as though they're from an entirely different type of RTS than the first three factions

Themes

Source: In-Game Cinematic

Grey Goo has some sci-fi themes and tropes I just love. Here's a rundown:

Humans are the older of the two sapient biological races. They've hit a post-scarcity era (complete with the requisite sleek, white robotics) and have given up war. Naturally, this means when the campaign takes place, we've got a small force of high-tech humanity learning on the fly to repurpose their tech for war, which levels the playing field. They also fight like I imagine post-scarcity humans would: with a healthy aversion for loss of human life and preference for drones wherever possible.

With humans as the elder race with arcane and futuristic technology, they make for interesting antagonists (though not necessarily villains) for the Beta, whose less-advanced technology and survival-focused motivations combined with them being the first campaign faction make them seem all the more human of the two species. You might then expect the Beta to have some sort of nature or noble pacifism themes, but that's not the case. They field big mechs and guns with with detailed industrial design.

Also, space travel is hard. Hard enough that the universe feels small, and small enough to keep the focus on one world even with interstellar travel. Wormholes exist, but the majority of them are tiny or microscopic. So small that humans had to make swarms of nano-scale drones to explore the universe until they could find the few passages large enough to send ships through. If you've guessed that these drones end up becoming grey goo, you've guessed right. But the goo faction's story and characters have a lot more depth than you'd expect if you've ever heard about the grey goo scenario.

Oh, and on top of that we got a fourth faction for free post-launch: the shroud or silent ones, who were the reason the Beta are in such a desperate state to begin with.

Asymmetrical Infrastructure

Asymmetry in RTS Games

Grey Goo has what I'd call the most asymmetrical infrastructure I've ever seen in an RTS. What I mean by asymmetrical is that the factions play very differently, leading to interesting interactions and wildly differing experiences playing as each. To see what that means, let's compare Grey Goo with two of the biggest RTS e-sports still going strong in the 2020s.

In Age of Empires II, there is relatively little asymmetry between playable factions. Most of the differences between civilizations amount to stat bonuses or access to certain types of units, with the core buildings and units being mostly the same. For example, every civ builds villagers out of a town hall, collects the bulk of their resources through villagers working, and can field common units like archers and men-at-arms. Each civ has a small handful of unique technologies and units, but the biggest examples of unit and infrastructure asymmetry respectively are things like mesoamerican civilizations lacking cavalry, or Huns not needing to build houses.

In Starcraft II, there is a solid amount of unit asymmetry. It is very hard to find direct parallels between the three races. Just looking at the three factions' basic infantry, you have Terran marines (very efficient ranged damage dealers), Protoss zealots (brawny melee units), and Zerg zerglings (mass-produced fast melee attackers). All of these units serve very different roles, and none of them have 1:1 counterparts in the other races. The three armies' units also have unique mechanics, such as Protoss shields, or Zerg units regenerating and burrowing.

On the other hand, infrastructure in Starcraft isn't as asymmetrical. While you do have mechanical differences (e.g. shields and regeneration, pylon power and creep), resource collection and placement of bases is more formulaic. Each faction builds a large central base structure near neatly laid out base locations, then collects resources using workers and gas-refining buildings.

I would say Grey Goo has unit asymmetry somewhere between Age of Empires II and Starcraft II, and infrastructure asymmetry above and beyond both.

Grey Goo's Asymmetrical Infrastructure

Of the four factions, Humans and Beta have the most familiar infrastructure, so let's take a look at them first. Both have a central headquarters as their first building and collect resources using refineries and extractors. That's about where the similarities end. Human structures require power, which originates from their core building, and requires the player to wire up their entire base efficiently using conduits.

Since tech buildings and factories need to plug into each other while both being powered, and connections are many-to-many (mixing techs produces different units, while one tech building can improve multiple factories), this makes building Human bases a challenge in and of itself. Beta structures also need power, but they can get power from power-generating hubs they can build anywhere they have vision. In fact, the Beta headquarters is little more than a hub with extra health and armour.

While Humans are tied to their base's energy network, Beta are free to colonize the map. This leads to more strategic options, like building hidden proxy outposts to get units to the front lines quicker, or getting a lead on resource collection by setting up a refinery close to where resources are extracted. The two factions' defences and even their heroes reflect this theme. Human bases have powerful turrets and regenerating energy walls to defend their vital single base. Beta players have to settle for walls with towers that can be garrisoned with units, and their epic unit is a mobile factory covered in similar towers for units to ride.

While the Beta are mobile, they're sedentary compared to the Goo. Goo players' infrastructure centres around mother goos, large blobs of unspecialized nanobot goo. Instead of the Human and Beta pattern of workers shuttling catalyst (the game's single resource) between extractors and refineries, mother goos just need to siphon from resource spigots to heal and grow.

When sufficiently large (from either siphoning catalyst or consuming enemy forces), mother goos can split off chunks called proteans, which can then specialize into various units or just roam the map consuming foes. Gameplay between the Goo and other factions involves a chess match of mother goos retreating up cliffs and in deep brush, sneaking in a meal when raiding parties are out of position, and daring to ambush unsuspecting targets when they deep profitable.

And the Shroud? They're just odd. They can build a set distance from their central building depending on how many extractors they have. And their extractors don't use workers, but they can move, giving them a mix of traits from the other three factions. The Shroud's extractors are more efficient when spread out as they can only extract a paltry amount of catalyst from anywhere but high value resource spigots, which balances out their benefits, as they rely on vulnerable extractors staying alive in order to transition from highly-centralized to building across the map like Beta.

The Shroud also have another interesting quirk in that their units and structures must be bought in full upfront, much like many other RTS games. Human and Beta production facilities pay as they go, risking a production bottleneck if too many units or structures are queued, which isn't a problem for the Shroud who in exchange need to plan their savings and keep spare funds. The Shroud has their own base building puzzle too, which involves cleverly placing amplifiers to reach as many structures at once, which isn't easy thanks to the Shroud's fondness for triangular buildings.

Units and Interactions

While I mentioned Grey Goo's units and army compositions aren't as asymmetrical as its infrastructure, there are some design choices I really like which I'll highlight here.

Scouts and First Units

In Grey Goo, you start with your main building or mother goo, and one initial unit with which you can scout the map.

For scouting purposes, the three original factions have a neat relationship with one another. Goo drovers are the fastest of the three, but the weakest. Human tridents are strong, but relatively slower. And Beta commandos are somewhere in the middle of both metrics. What this means is that in match-ups between these factions, the more fragile scout gets to pick and choose where and if fights take place. But it also means that the stronger scout, while at a disadvantage for amount of ground covered, can plop itself down and deny enemy vision.

The Beta can split their forces or use walls and towers against Goo drovers.

The initial units aren't just scouts though. They're also one of the first types of units these factions can field, and even by themselves they lead to mechanically interesting interactions. Drovers have a short-ranged shotgun-like blast, which incentivizes Goo players to push forward aggressively while Beta commandos must split up. But once Beta commandos are upgraded with the ability to suicide-bomb on death, the relationship inverts. Drovers' splash damage mean they cause extra trouble while fighting on top of Human conduits, hitting several wires or buildings at once. Once Humans cover their conduits with mines, tactics change again.

Against drovers, Beta commandos will want to finish fights before the enemy can regenerate, but against Human tridents it makes sense to abuse their mobility and do hit and run attacks. Weakened commandos rotate out of battle and are still useful, as Beta commanders can garrison them on top of towers. But once Human tridents are upgraded to self-repair out of combat, this strategy falls off.

That's another nice thing about Grey Goo too. Their upgrades aren't just stat increases, nor can they all be applied at once. Each upgrade has mutually exclusive sidegrades to choose between, with some even having drawbacks to further influence your decision-making as a player.

High speed, high range, and mimicry help mimics earn the Shroud their much-needed early game map control.

When the Shroud were added, I wondered where their scout would fit in the triangle of trade-offs. The simple answer is they didn't. The Shroud don't start with an early game combat unit as their initial scout, but a higher tech dedicated scouting unit with fast movement, long range, and the ability to disguise as enemy units. If you think the Shroud's mimic scout is flat-out better than the competition's scouts, you're right. But the Shroud are balanced by how much they rely on their scout, and they can't build a new one until much later in the game. Without a fast moving unit to give vision for building new extractors, the Shroud can't build up the range to expand across the map. Unlike the other factions, if they lose their scout they're dead in the water, which somewhat makes up for how good mimics are.

Combined Arms

Units in Grey Goo fit roles a bit more cleanly than Starcraft II units do. For example, all factions have an armoured tank-like unit. And, my favourite part of Grey Goo's armies', all factions have at least one artillery unit.

Human howitzers firing from high ground with armour and turrets to guard them are a powerful defense.

Artillery units in Grey Goo feel like I image artillery units should feel like in an RTS game. They're slow (at least compared to infantry) and vulnerable. They can be ordered to hit the ground even without vision, which is a must when forest cover and mountains can hide enemy forces. They have trouble hitting moving targets. And most importantly, they win wars.

Artillery units are a very important part of your army in Grey Goo, and many battles are won by making clever first strikes, flanking for a better shot, flanking to take out enemy artillery, and so on. What makes Grey Goo's battles feel just right are the combination of artillery's strengths and weaknesses, and the less than fast-twitch pace that units move at. Players can't just send huge death balls of units, as artillery will tear clumped units to shreds, and it's difficult to spread out and dodge an entire artillery barrage. When venturing out, players might want to split their forces in advance, or thoroughly scout where enemy artillery units are hiding.

Grey Goo's artillery units aren't just clones of one another either. Human artillery can plant invisible mines that must be revealed with stealth detection. Goo artillery have enormous range, possibly to make up for the faction's lack of air support, but in exchange can be shot down by anti-air. Between these two cases alone, you have different two options for counter-measures depending on which faction you're facing, driving different decisions when building up infrastructure and armies.

Devs and Community

Lastly, I'd like to give a shout-out to all the neat details I've seen in Grey Goo, and the ongoing efforts of its small community.

Dev Background and Polish

As the Beta, you can firebomb your enemies as they hide in the jungles and mountains.

Grey Goo's air units have limited ammunition and need to land at a landing pad to reload, save for a few exceptions. They don't hover in one spot either, but lazily circle when not in use. As a result, bombers and gunships aren't suited to clumping up with and following ground armies, but instead are better held in reserve and used like strategically like actual bombers. The landing period is also a moment of vulnerability, complete with reload animations. The result is an air force that doesn't completely outclass ground units, and has drawbacks even when massed.

Nearly everything the Beta faction fields is visibly built or repaired with robot arms.

In fact, many units and structures have details that aren't even visible unless a player zooms in or takes time to study them. Beta structures have little mechanical arms or even personnel climbing about. Shroud extractors, which don't use workers to shuttle resources, instead appear to "upload" catalyst to the sky, while the Shroud's main base has a matching animation for resource intake. Human alphas, their epic unit and the only Human unit to feature an actual person, shows said pilot training and stretching as the alpha unit is built around them.

Human bases are built with parts teleported in from above.
When destroyed, whatever's left is beamed back up for recycling.

The best animations however, are definitely building animations. Structures aren't built by workers, but built wherever the player has vision and can build. Each faction has its own lore-consistent building method, from Beta sky-crane aircraft constructing buildings in the field, or Human buildings being beamed down piece by piece from orbit.

Source: In-Game Cinematic

Finally, I need to mention that it's not just the in-game models that are polished. The game's main soundtrack theme is well-thought-out, blending each faction's themes (and even hinting at the Shroud's inclusion by incorporating their theme at launch). The game's trailer features dialogue that in hindsight, could apply to any of the game's factions, for reasons that will be clearer as you progress through the campaign. And of course, said campaign has its share of quality cinematics (about an hour's worth in total), as we've come to expect from modern bigger name RTS titles!

Playing Grey Goo

Grey Goo's community is small but dedicated. Unfortunately, you won't find any games on matchmaking anymore, nor any time soon. But you'll be able to find sparring partners on the community discord, with yearly tournaments and events being regularly held and casted by community members. There's even a community balance mod, player-made maps, and a wealth of resources for new players available through the community.

If you're interested, I recommend joining or even just playing through the campaign or having fun skirmishing against AI. If you're not, then please, take my word for it: Grey Goo is a well-made game.

Tags: Blog, Miscellaneous