LudumData

PALBOT by HotBoxGames

[raw]
made by HotBoxGames for LD32 (JAM)
The year is 900 AD. The Evil Wizards Alliance, after mastering the art of magic, have attacked the realm and taken it under control. You are one of the last surviving rebels alive. The wizards are hunting you. Defeat seems certain, until you come across a futuristic military drone named PALBOT.

Take control of this advanced weapon and fight against the evil wizards to stop them from taking over the land!

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CONTROLS

WASD - Movement
SPACE - PALBOT Attack Mode / PALBOT Follow Mode toggle
LMB - Fire
RMB - Special Attack (when in Attack Mode) / Heal (when in Follow Mode)
E - Interact (heal PALBOT)

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DEVELOPER NOTES

We really wanted to attempt a ‘top-down’ game this Ludum Dare, so decided to create a typical top-down shooter – with a twist. You must control both the human character and PALBOT. PALBOT is able to shoot, whereas the human character can only pick up items and interact with objects. Using this mechanic will hopefully keep players thinking about character placement and whether or not paths are covered by PALBOT’s weaponry before proceeding.

We did plan to add a lot more into this game (bosses, traps, more enemies, more weapons, more levels, cutscenes, leaderboards – to name a couple of ideas) but of course time constraints and a few issues along the way prevented this. Overall, we’re pretty happy with the systems implemented and hope you enjoy playing the first few levels we did manage to create.

Oh, by the way – PALBOT stands for Powerful Annihilating Levitating Robot, in case you were wondering! :)

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TOOLS

Engine – Unity 5
Language – C#
Editor – Visual Studio 2013
Sound – Pro Tools
Art – GraphicsGale, ArtRage
Web http://ld32.hotboxgames.co.uk/
Windows http://ld32.hotboxgames.co.uk/
Linux http://ld32.hotboxgames.co.uk/
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-32/?action=preview&uid=39707

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 3.67 160
Audio(Jam) 3.47 196
Fun(Jam) 3.39 264
Graphics(Jam) 3.59 361
Humor(Jam) 2.59 646
Innovation(Jam) 3.49 261
Mood(Jam) 3.39 288
Theme(Jam) 3.34 527

Feedback

vvolis
21. Apr 2015 · 16:02 UTC
Nice idea, music and graphics. Makes for a great little arcade except for the text popups - them pausing all action and making me move my hand to enter and not being able to skim through kind of breaks you out of the game. I pushed through the tutorial, but got really pissed when they kept coming during the game.
volkoivan
21. Apr 2015 · 16:14 UTC
Really cool and polished game! Looks like a serious work made in not 3 days, but in a long time.
Grats on making a cool game, 5/5
Embalaje
21. Apr 2015 · 16:21 UTC
It feels like a complete game.
I like the graphics, this pixelated ground textures mixed with the "bluring"threes are fantastic.
I see a lot of work here.
All very good calibrated.

You are good!
🎤 HotBoxGames
21. Apr 2015 · 16:22 UTC
Hey guys, thanks for the awesome feedback! :D

Just so you know, the intro popups only appear on the tutorial and first level to introduce you to the controls and enemies - from there on you'll be on your own to face the carnage :)

Unfortunately pressing space to skip text caused some issues that we weren't able to fix in time, agree this would be better than having to press enter!

Thanks again, we'll make sure to play + rate all your submissions!
Celt
21. Apr 2015 · 17:55 UTC
Oh wow, much content in this one. Great mechanics, really good music and what not. i'll play this for longer later.
trappytrap92
21. Apr 2015 · 17:56 UTC
The idea and the sound is good, probably speeding it up a little would help to keep the gameplay faster and funnier, good job. Keep working on it!
Jungle
21. Apr 2015 · 18:02 UTC
really awesome game! 5/5 except the controls. Congrats!!
Wevel
21. Apr 2015 · 18:22 UTC
Great game, it was fun to go around killing things but it didn't really seem to progress anywhere.
recursor
21. Apr 2015 · 18:50 UTC
You managed to include a pretty nice tutorial into the game. That's impressive. Game play is also pretty fun too. Enjoyed it.
Dickie
21. Apr 2015 · 18:58 UTC
quite an impressive amount there for a jam, feels pretty fleshed out.

Idea's quite a good one but you guys needed a bit more time to balance the game. after a while I realised it was way way easier to just stroll past everything with basicly nothing giving chance.

otherwise add a bit of polish and you've basicly got a full game there
TheMeorch
21. Apr 2015 · 19:03 UTC
Controlling yourself and the Palbot simultaneously was a really cool and unique gameplay element. Very well made -- a very impressive total package, especially having been made so quickly. Great job!
maunovaha
21. Apr 2015 · 19:04 UTC
Good job guys. This was really well put together, graphics, gameplay etc. I also checked out your team image and it looked like you guys had nice hack going on! :D
goadrich
21. Apr 2015 · 19:04 UTC
Great graphics and tutorial setup! I felt prepared to take on the game once I got through the tutorial. Good simple AI for the follow script. Would fit better with the theme had it been Companion instead of Unconventional Weapon, but it still fits :) It definitely felt different to have a character you control and move, but then fire from some other location. I found myself running around and avoid the enemy fire while I also had to work with PALBOT to defeat the enemies. Good work!
CorgiCommander
21. Apr 2015 · 19:13 UTC
Cool concept. Nice tutorial, it really helps you get right into it.
TailyILoveYou
21. Apr 2015 · 19:14 UTC
Very cool little game, the art was fantastic. I loved the mix of attack and defence :D
adsilcott
21. Apr 2015 · 19:14 UTC
I enjoyed this. The way I was shooting with one character while dodging with the other made for a unique way of playing. Nice!
Wspon
21. Apr 2015 · 19:22 UTC
This is so well made! It's insane you manage to do all this within 72 hours!
Dining Philosopher
21. Apr 2015 · 19:29 UTC
Well made game, you made great use of your 72 hours!
This would also have been a fine entry if the theme of the jam would have been 'companion', the one which I was hoping to win ;)
Archonthewizard
21. Apr 2015 · 19:29 UTC
I couldn't stop playing this game. Lots of fun. Great concept for a top-down shooter. The tutorial was done well.
badlydrawnrod
21. Apr 2015 · 19:44 UTC
It was rather text heavy (if there was a way to skip through the text in the tutorial then I didn't find it) but other than that I have no complaints. It played pretty well and had a nice retro vibe going on.

Congratulations on making an ambitious game and doing it justice in the limited time.
MGhareeb32
21. Apr 2015 · 21:26 UTC
Very interesting concept. Graphics are very good. This mix between the background and the foreground style makes the important stuff really pop out. This reminds me of some digimon game I used to play :)

Good job!
terpin
21. Apr 2015 · 22:52 UTC
The text gets to be a little tedious after a while, but overall you definitely achieved what you set out to do - and you added a little innovative twist of having to control both the human and the PALBOT too!
Borkleby
21. Apr 2015 · 22:59 UTC
Wow, the environment graphics in this game are huge and amazing! I like how the girl keeps burping after she dies.
Big Cow
21. Apr 2015 · 22:59 UTC
this felt like a pretty complete and polished game. graphics were nice, mechanics were smooth, and the tutorial and narrative system added a lot to it.
mantisda
21. Apr 2015 · 23:00 UTC
Wonderful game and complete - amazing for all 3 days of work. I really like the way that you implemented the tutorials. The gameplay is quite fun and love the graphics.
rectangular Tim
21. Apr 2015 · 23:03 UTC
The background images and music in this game are quite nice. I feel like the switching between modes and special attacks makes the combat a bit clunky.
Dorgam
21. Apr 2015 · 23:10 UTC
Very nice and fun game. would love to play a full version with more levels !
lizard455
21. Apr 2015 · 23:34 UTC
The game looks polished :D
BoyWithStick
22. Apr 2015 · 01:38 UTC
Really nice idea and fun gameplay. The music really fit the game well. It was a nice touch to add in the tutorial. Overall, the game felt complete. I only had one issue when I was playing; when circling enemies and firing PALBOT I ended up losing control of my character, causing her to run down continuously until I hit the spacebar. Tried to reproduce a second time, but did not happen.

It would be great to see all the features mentioned on the website included and a totally complete game to play in the future. Hope to see continued work on this game! :D
Tortoise
22. Apr 2015 · 01:44 UTC
Great work! Trying to Multitask with Palbot is quite fun!
Super Hamster
22. Apr 2015 · 02:29 UTC
Wow! Very impressive art and music. I really liked the idea of the game. I think there is some bug where you can't get healed or where my palbot could not get healed either but maybe I misunderstood something. I felt like there were some over powered strategies like places your palbot right next to enemies and then walking far away from the enemy to dodge the slow bullets and there was no way to die. Overall, I was very impressed! I think this game could be developed further on to make a full game(as if it wasn't full already).
rojo
22. Apr 2015 · 08:22 UTC
The mechanic was nifty. I liked the graphics as well. The game was pretty good overall, but I think it may have been more fun to have more enemies, but a higher amount of killing power to compensate as the pacing felt a little slow at times. Still, good job!
met44
22. Apr 2015 · 12:41 UTC
Oh man that was great. The hibrid turret/companion mecanism, what an awsome piece of thoughts food... and great fun too !!!

Really good job, gave you my new highest rating.
asobi tech
22. Apr 2015 · 13:08 UTC
Cute little game.
I like the variation in the Wizards.
The Palbot/Drone idea is quite fun.
Flygamer101
22. Apr 2015 · 14:34 UTC
Graphcis and music were good. Great game!
commodoreKid
22. Apr 2015 · 15:55 UTC
That's a lot of content for a jam game, good job :) I like to skip tutorials so it would be nice to be able to but I think it's better than not having it. Hard game, good game, good luck!
panurge
22. Apr 2015 · 17:50 UTC
Wow, there's a lot of content in this. The story is presented really well and the controls, although slightly fiddly at first, are really intuitive when you get used to them. A very impressive entry!
DKoding
22. Apr 2015 · 19:15 UTC
Loved the music. There is probably a cool game in there but I had a hard time understanding what to do and I found the controls a little awkward.
edve98
22. Apr 2015 · 19:44 UTC
I can't believe how good this is! It truly feels just like a full game. One thing that I didn't get: why does PALBOT have attack mode? It just feels a lot better to have him by your side so it's easier to dodge spells and everything. Anyway, it looks like you have been prepared a bit more for a theme "companion", haven't you?
But whatever, it is really awesome game, good job!

P.s. thank you for porting to Linux, it works great :)
Blobo
22. Apr 2015 · 20:30 UTC
Really cool game!
CJ K
22. Apr 2015 · 21:33 UTC
Whoa really awesome! Plays well and is fun! My biggest bit of criticism would probably be that I would have liked to have seen enemies more varied so I'd have to approach them with different strategies...but of course 72 hours and all :)
hercludes
22. Apr 2015 · 22:02 UTC
actually just had a lot of fun abandoning my robot and running around, until I got trapped by lasers and had nothing left to do but die. Pretty fun idea but I think it got repetitive a bit quick because the enemies did not have much variety. Music was a bit repetitive but I think fit the theme and the gameplay was pretty solid with the exception of enemy variety being a bit down. Graphics were top notch as well.
hercludes
22. Apr 2015 · 22:04 UTC
actually just had a lot of fun abandoning my robot and running around, until I got trapped by lasers and had nothing left to do but die. Pretty fun idea but I think it got repetitive a bit quick because the enemies did not have much variety. Music was a bit repetitive but I think fit the theme and the gameplay was pretty solid with the exception of enemy variety being a bit down. Graphics were top notch as well, I have a feeling that you had this idea for if the Companion were to be voted as theme (it was the expected choice) but decided to stick with the idea for this one, well, it worked if that's the case :).
Xanjos
22. Apr 2015 · 23:23 UTC
I enjoyed the mechanics and I loved the amount of detail you've put into the tutorial.
hexdie
23. Apr 2015 · 02:49 UTC
This was a lot of fun! Seriously, it controlled very well and the design brought about some very interesting combat scenarios. I had a lot of fun with this one. I also enjoyed the music.

The only thing that could use some work is art, particularly the environment artwork. That said, it didn't hold back this game from being enjoyable in the least. Very nice work!
Mr. Jif
23. Apr 2015 · 03:51 UTC
Very interesting mechanic and a good take on the theme! Had fun, although gameplay seemed a little slow after a while. Overall great job
skylerWithAnE
23. Apr 2015 · 04:48 UTC
This concept was pulled off exceptionally well! I think I've played this game longer than any other game I've downloaded.
Jasonsumm
23. Apr 2015 · 14:17 UTC
Congrats, awesome graphics
Nikteddy92
23. Apr 2015 · 21:40 UTC
Yeah this game is great! I really like the gameplay and also the art is good! Well done!
smokecastles
23. Apr 2015 · 22:39 UTC
Wow, really polished game all-around, I found the controls smooth and responsive, and the inclusion of a story for this kind of game with so little time to develop is something to be greatly appreciated! One of the best games I've played so far in this jam, well done!
TetraQuad
23. Apr 2015 · 23:50 UTC
Very nice idea and execution, I love the Palbot's AI.
Budaniel
24. Apr 2015 · 04:34 UTC
Great terrain graphics, nice controls and fun to play. I would have liked for the space bar to continue text instead of enter since space closer to my hand position during play. My one recommendation during play is a better indication of when the PAL bot gets hit and better/more consistent ways of telling when the enemies are actually dead (aside from a barely audible audio cue). A couple times I started to walk off on one I thought was dead that wasn't. The game does so many other things so well that this little hiccup stands out more than it may have otherwise.
Bendev
24. Apr 2015 · 06:16 UTC
How you did this in less than 72 hours is beyond me. Excellent idea and execution. I think it was unnecessary to cover all wizards in the tutorial and it would help to have a better sprite of dead enemies, like the friend above said. Great game!
lochmann-apps
24. Apr 2015 · 06:25 UTC
Cool game, keep on working on that!
ruerob
24. Apr 2015 · 08:53 UTC
Very great entry! was a lot of fun to play! I like the graphics the music and sound and the gameplay was also fun! Great work!
safran
24. Apr 2015 · 10:35 UTC
Great game. It's like ready to be published.
AinoraZ
24. Apr 2015 · 17:09 UTC
Game was very cool!
ShadowTzu
24. Apr 2015 · 17:39 UTC
Really very good, I love the concept and nice polished!
12 Pechás Of Souls
24. Apr 2015 · 19:50 UTC
Very nice and innovative mechanics. Well done :D
lucidsheep
24. Apr 2015 · 20:23 UTC
Cool game! I dont really see how it followed the theme, but theres definitely some good stuff here.
Plustech
25. Apr 2015 · 00:02 UTC
Man I really like the idea. I kind of wish the tutorial were extended thru the duration of the first level, not very keen to the idea to explain that quantity of options straight away. Besides that, a really solid idea. Could be an awesome game with a good natural preogression.
Cheers mate
Octopus Melange
25. Apr 2015 · 04:01 UTC
Was an interesting game, the controls were a bit clunky to use but after playing for a little while I got the hang of it. Well made game for such a short development time too. I would suggest a little more feedback for the player when they do actions such as the enemies flashing when they get hit and a simpler control scheme to begin with. Over all great game.
Pixel Heart
25. Apr 2015 · 10:35 UTC
NIce arcade-like game. Graphics are WONDERFUL!!!
xhunterko
25. Apr 2015 · 13:38 UTC
A bit hard to beat this game for me. Still can't fault it for being adorable.
gruhn
25. Apr 2015 · 13:48 UTC
Great feedbacks! And a good introduction! Good job.
lucien
25. Apr 2015 · 15:29 UTC
Nice Idea but a bit to much reading I think
JoshyOshKenoshi
26. Apr 2015 · 19:23 UTC
I was really impressed by how complete this game feels. The graphics are really great, and the game itself flowed well.
jk5000
28. Apr 2015 · 06:50 UTC
A lovely well thought game. The idea is fun, but the game experience is even better. Well done.
jukimv1986
28. Apr 2015 · 17:04 UTC
Really fun to play, superb tutorial level and introduction to the game through the story. Great job!
highlyinteractive
28. Apr 2015 · 19:53 UTC
Very cool - although the constant text boxes quickly got annoying
NightShadow0
29. Apr 2015 · 19:50 UTC
Pretty good game, though a little repetitive. I never found the need to deploy the bot in attack mode, especially since its range is higher than the wizards', so it just became a regular twin-stick shooter. LOVE the music, by the way. Nice work!
Exolun
30. Apr 2015 · 05:18 UTC
This is undoubtedly one of the better games I've played from LD32. Very cohesive with qualities characteristic of a completed game. Well done!
joppiesaus
30. Apr 2015 · 11:27 UTC
Neat idea, polished, awesome music and graphics.
Unfortunately, confusing. That makes it hard to learn. But then you skip the tutorial, and you're ready for some action, you shoo- text popup. That makes it cost even more time to get into. Theme is ok.
However, look at all the content! It's an COMPLETE game! That's something unbelievable in 3 days.
Madball
01. May 2015 · 18:41 UTC
That looked quite complete! Like, you could add more levels, but ones those exist are already great!

I didn't really like graphics. Well, they're good, but they look like a low-res image, not pixelart. But they are pretty realistic.

Controls took some time to get used to. The tutorial wasn't very useful for me. And what do these green and blue collectibles do? Oh, they're special weapons, I can see them in screenshots. Well, I just completed the game without any idea about what do they do.

I would like to heal the robot when it's not out of order completely, otherwise a killed robot is pretty much a killed player. By the way, I got the "Game over" screen twice in a row.

This game was very interesting to play. A game about wizards and robots! Who has both?
daredevildave
02. May 2015 · 10:33 UTC
A very complete and polished game. I found the controls a little confusing, but I think maybe I'd get used to them.
bvanschooten
02. May 2015 · 12:40 UTC
I think it needs a save game, and I'm only saying this because it's one of the few games worth replaying!
AsixJin
02. May 2015 · 17:48 UTC
I really like the concept for this game. My only changes would be to make the enemies do more than shoot stuff at you and the robot should rotate based on the cursor not the player. This made shooting kind of wonky if I was running away and unless I missed something attack mode seems useless (other than to fire special weapons)
IL_yoshioka
03. May 2015 · 07:01 UTC
COOOOOOL!:)
DesignerNap
03. May 2015 · 14:42 UTC
Great great great! Really enjoyed playing this. Absolutely solid entry. Well done!
thaaks
03. May 2015 · 15:00 UTC
I enjoyed playing your game a lot! Real fun and it felt pretty complete. Sound and music were well done, the pixel graphics too. As already mentioned text boxes should react on mouse click too, not just Enter.
Great entry!
block97
03. May 2015 · 17:52 UTC
Cool game, interesting concept. The tutorial was really useful. Great job!
Beavl
04. May 2015 · 00:03 UTC
Wow, really nice set of mechanics here. Nice job!
pikkpoiss
08. May 2015 · 22:38 UTC
Love the companion bot gameplay, and the entire game is super polished. Had a lot of fun playing it, great job!
uninthar
09. May 2015 · 15:09 UTC
Very nice, controls took a second getting used to but after that it was very fun! Great job.
f7f5
09. May 2015 · 22:40 UTC
The tutorial was great and the game feels very fluid. Great art style, and the sound adds to the mood. The story a bit silly, but who cares, anyway.
reiknight
10. May 2015 · 09:39 UTC
Nice game! You made a great work with this and the game seems very polished to me :)
RyanNielson
11. May 2015 · 18:26 UTC
Fantastic game, I really like the main mechanic and it really adds a lot of strategy. It also feels quite complete. Well done!
crazya02
12. May 2015 · 00:47 UTC
Fun stuff! It felt surprisingly polished for a jam game, though seeing outside the level bounds was a bit weird.