LudumData

The Condor by JNT

[raw]
made by JNT for LD31 (JAM)
THE CONDOR

Made by JNT and Vunse for Ludum Dare 31, Saturday-Monday 6th-8th December 2014.

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PREREQUISITES
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Linux:
64-bit OS
SDL
SDL_image
SDL_mixer
A working OpenGL implementation
1280x720 monitor (see notes if this requirement is not met)

Windows:
64-bit OS
Up-to-snuff graphics drivers
1280x720 monitor (see notes if this requirement is not met)

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STARTING THE GAME
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On Linux, because the game uses relative search paths it may be necessary to run the game through a terminal by opening up a terminal and navigating to the binary before launching it. Failure to do so might cause the game to crash, depending on the current working directory. Also, you may need to make sure the binary is marked as an executable.

On Windows, simply double-click the .exe file.

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HOW TO PLAY
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The game starts with negotiation with the bad guys, who want ransom money. Bids can be changed by pressing the left or right mouse button (when hovering with the cursor over a bid item). Try not to low-ball you opponent as that will increase his asking price. However, if you find an acceptable, yet low, bid you might find a middle ground. Once you are done negotiating, it's time to kick ass. That's why they call you The Condor.

The goal is to get the best possible deal before entering the building and killing the bad guys. However, the more money you spend getting hostages out safely, the less money you have to spend on weaponry. Once inside, you need to kill the bad guys without mortally wounding the hostages. You rescue them by touching them in the right spot. Gently. You navigate using the WASD keys, fire using the left mouse button, and switch weapons using 1-3 number keys.

The only way to beat the game is to stay alive, get all the hostages out safely, kill all the bad guys.

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KNOWN ISSUES
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The font may not render properly. This seems to be due to differences between the drivers that were tested. Hopefully the font will still be readable.

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ADDITIONAL INFO
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OS X versions will come at a later date.

In case you do not have high enough resolution set for your monitor (recommended is 1280x720) you can use the "-width xxxx" and "-height xxxx" command line parameters to customize your resolution. This will scale the playable area. Some graphical artifacts might occur.

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TESTED ON
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Ubuntu 14.04 (x86-x64)
Windows 7 64-bit

If the game does not work, try compiling it yourself if you have the patience.

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COMPILING
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Tested on the default g++ for Ubuntu 14.04, and compiles and works without any problems. You need the development packages for GLEXT, libSDL, libSDL_image, and libSDL_mixer installed. Qt Creator project files included.

Tested on Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 on Windows 7. Some code has to be commented out (MML/mmlMath.g - mmlIsInf, mmlIsNegativeInf, and mmlIsNAN). You need development packages for SDL, SDL_mixer, SDL_image, and GLEW installed. Project files included.
Windows https://www.dropbox.com/s/raog3qcgjtimgb2/TheCondor_win7.zip?dl=0
Linux https://www.dropbox.com/s/o0ig2ivixf7iqjt/TheCondor_linux_x86_64.zip?dl=0
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-31/?action=preview&uid=35274

Feedback

Bloxri
10. Dec 2014 · 04:08 UTC
I think this game is pretty cool, and had a lot of fun playing it! I was a little confused standing outside, but once I found my way inside it all made sense. One annoying thing is the bad guys always shooting, even when you can't see them. It adds difficulty, which is nice, but also creates an annoying shooting sound that is ever present. Also, fun little glitch with the hostage negotiations: if you continue to offer low and decline their counter offer, eventually their counter offer will overflow the integer. Sure, I'll give you negative 2147483648 dollars for 6 hostages. Anyways, great game, well done and good luck!
matthewdpace
10. Dec 2014 · 18:48 UTC
Pretty fun, a nifty spin on a familiar concept (over head room shooter). Negotiating is pretty rough, dodging the bullets is fun, but the game is pretty difficult. It has potential.
Vunse
10. Dec 2014 · 18:49 UTC
@Bloxri Nice to hear that you enjoyed it. We actually found the money glitch towards the end, but we had other stuff to prioritize. Anyhow, if you're able to look past the flaws you're mentioning, I think that the level of difficulty makes it playable.
Vunse
10. Dec 2014 · 19:14 UTC
@matthewdpace Thanks for your feedback. We ended up having to spend too much time on other things than AI, so instead we just cranked the difficulty up a bit. I think that the most important thing is to keep moving, specially when entering a new room.
jangler
13. Dec 2014 · 00:19 UTC
Negotiation was a cool idea. Small blemishes: the starting point seemed unnecessarily far from the action, the constant shooting was annoying and negated any audio cue you would get from it, "fog of war" didn't fully cover the enemies sometimes, and it was very difficult to use the shotgun to kill enemies that were adjacent to hostages. Other than that it's a pretty solid, playable game for a game jam. Having to keep moving to dodge bullets was fun.
Boberro
13. Dec 2014 · 11:03 UTC
Good idea, but when then actions starts it's impossible to shoot.
Lythom
20. Dec 2014 · 10:17 UTC
A very correct entry overall, what it lacks to go really good :
- a better Aesthetical (black and white only can be a good choix but used this way it's juste very confusing and not really appealing)
- a more clear interface (weird errors in the typo make me wonder if there is more to read or if it's just visual artifact, no padding in the text boxes).
- why do people shoot at me when i'm not in sight ?
- less redundant sounds.
Enjoyable overall, thanks for the game !
Andy Gainey
25. Dec 2014 · 16:54 UTC
It wasn't bad, but the one thing that's stuck on my mind was how frustrating the visibility was when going from one room to another. I was getting shot at, but couldn't see into the next room and thus couldn't safely shoot back and risk killing a hostage. I couldn't even see the bullets coming at me in order to dodge them until I was actual in the next room.

I tried with the pistol and the shotgun; I liked the notable difference in how they handled. I would have tried again with the machine gun, but I realized that given the visibility issue above, it is far safer to free as many hostages as possible through negotiation and go in with the pistol which is effective enough, than to go in with the ability to generate a whole ton of bullets quickly in a building filled with a bunch of hostages.