Operation Barrage by sirdorius

[raw]
made by sirdorius for LD31 (JAM)
IMPORTANT: This game is designed to be played by 2 people on a tablet in realtime mode. Any other playing scenario (ie. PC or hotseat mode) is for testing only! Please consider this when judging and commenting on the game.

OBJECTIVE
Manage gun platforms on your side of the screen to overcome the enemy's side. Your commander mines the asteroid and generates money, which you can spend to buy new platforms. You'll have to move and rotate the platforms and use their special abilities to destroy the enemy commander.

CONTROLS
*TAP on a unit to select it
*DRAG your finger on the board to move your selected unit
*DRAG a unit to change its direction
*Tap the buy button to see available units
*Drag a unit onto the field to produce it (you need to have enough resources)
*You should only be moving units on your side of the screen. Try not to cover it with your hand uselessly
*On the PC 'TAPPING' is done with the left mouse button. You can also use the right mouse button to drag a unit
*You'll find instructions on what each gun platform does in the game tutorial.

GAME MODES
Realtime mode is the way this is meant to be played. Unfortunately it requires you play it with a friend on an android tablet, so Hotseat mode is something I did so you can try the game on your PC using only one mouse, or maybe playing by yourself and have a bit of 'challenge'. In Hotseat mode each player has 5 seconds to make their moves after which they have to pass the input device to the other player (there is a 2 second pause between the moves in which neither player can move).

FINAL THOUGHTS
I didn't get the chance to play the game much, so if you have any suggestions on balancing units I would be happy to hear them!
Gamejolt, itch.io mirrors are coming soon. I really like how this game turned out so stay tuned for more updates.

GAME MECHANICS EXPLAINED
* The commander is the unit with the star. It can mine the nearby asteroid (green) to get resources which can be used to buy more platforms. The asteroid moves around your field so you鈥檒l have to decide if it鈥檚 worth risking the commander to mine it.
* The machine gun shoots bullets at regular intervals. It's a cheap and weak unit, but it has the potential to spam the enemy side
The shield blocks incoming attacks (will reflect them in the future, and will be disabled after a hit)
* The missle launcher shoots missles that follow the platform's rotation. You can micro these as guided shots that penetrate the enemy defense in tight points, as they do massive damage on a single hit. You can also use them to snipe the enemy commander.
* The mortar launcher lobs a bomb that will always hit the target and cause area damage, but is very slow to fire and travel and the platform is very vulnerable

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 3.42 315
Fun(Jam) 3.45 206
Graphics(Jam) 3.24 516
Innovation(Jam) 3.55 218
Mood(Jam) 2.85 644
Theme(Jam) 3.68 379

Feedback

Absor
08. Dec 2014 路 12:09 UTC
Download link doesn't work.
馃帳 sirdorius
08. Dec 2014 路 16:29 UTC
I know, final version is not up yet
rabbit
08. Dec 2014 路 22:22 UTC
Download link doesn't work unfortunately.
ramonparaiba
09. Dec 2014 路 00:50 UTC
I liked the minimalist style! please notify me when uploading.
Jupiter_Hadley
09. Dec 2014 路 03:10 UTC
Really nice game, though it took me a minute to really understand what to do! I Included it in part 1 of my Ludum Dare 31 compilation video series, if you would like to check it out :) http://youtu.be/v6qOf-i7cO4
maxyan
09. Dec 2014 路 09:48 UTC
Tutorial is a little bit useless, I do not understand how to play. But I like your minimalistic style of graphics.
Geti
09. Dec 2014 路 09:48 UTC
Nice, definitely better with touch controls though!
CustomPhase
09. Dec 2014 路 09:50 UTC
Nice. I can see this becoming pretty fun in actual playre vs player (i played solo). Graphics are ok, the only thing i would do differently - is make a background a lot lighter. This grey color doesnt fit too well.
woz
09. Dec 2014 路 09:57 UTC
Great job! It'll be much better with AI or networked multiplayer, but the potential's definitely there.
dieblume86
09. Dec 2014 路 10:46 UTC
Nice game.
Ciro Continisio
09. Dec 2014 路 10:56 UTC
Nice idea! I had a similar one for a two players shared screen soccer game on tablets... (not for Ludum Dare though, this was before)

The only real complain would be the graphics, very simplicistic and not too pleasant, but the rest is very well made!
jfreax
09. Dec 2014 路 11:13 UTC
It's not intuitive to play and rather difficult to control the units on a touch screen. Especially for two player on one small tablet screen.

But it seems to be a nice game idea. There are way too few multiplayer games in here. So, overall I like it. It has potential. Well done.
馃帳 sirdorius
09. Dec 2014 路 11:16 UTC
I agree it is still too hard to control. I will be improving the touch and mouse controls in a post ludum version.
Pat Kemp
09. Dec 2014 路 21:51 UTC
Neat! I only tried the hot seat mode, but I like the idea. Reminds me of a top-down version of Cannon Brawl.
Technomancer Game Studio
10. Dec 2014 路 21:08 UTC
it's a great work for 72 hours
Slothmachine
11. Dec 2014 路 16:40 UTC
Yes! I like local multiplayers on a tablet! Fine work for 72h. Great job!
Wakka
13. Dec 2014 路 08:39 UTC
awesome idea, looks like a really fun game. SOund is also amazing. Unfortunately controls are not correctly working on my fairphone ;( Maybe the screen is to small
strong99
15. Dec 2014 路 19:33 UTC
Great, tower madness, it'll definitely be better with touch controls!
Halleflux
15. Dec 2014 路 20:08 UTC
This would work well on a mobile device, especially if you could make it so two people could play at once on the same screen.
OrangeeZ
20. Dec 2014 路 18:20 UTC
The biggest problem here is the lack of a single player - otherwise this looks like a fun game to play. Strangely, I got an odd satisfaction from attacking and defending myself; good job!
01rafael
20. Dec 2014 路 19:10 UTC
Well. I'm not sure about gamplay. But asteroids sounds attractive!
TyrusPeace
20. Dec 2014 路 19:29 UTC
Hotseat mode switched back and forth so quickly that I had a tough time doing much in it, but real time mode seems really cool!

Nice concept, and well implemented gameplay. I do wonder about some UI choices, like putting the resources across the middle line and having the health of the commander specifically be kind of tiny and hard to see.

Well done! This seems like it'd be a blast on an actual touch device.
Divitos
20. Dec 2014 路 20:02 UTC
Extremely addicting!
martial_cantarel_games
25. Dec 2014 路 21:03 UTC
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
t4u
26. Dec 2014 路 03:20 UTC
I like the idea but it must be introduced in simpler way.
pht59x
29. Dec 2014 路 15:47 UTC
A single player mode would have been nice.