Spacey Trail by Jacksendary

[raw]
made by Jacksendary for LD31 (JAM)
Thanks and contacts:
Thanks to all that have shown interest in my game and have rated fairly and shared their thoughts about the game! If you have interest in the future works to this game or want insight to my other projects please follow me on twitter @jacksendary (https://twitter.com/jacksendary) - Thanks again every body!



The Theme and much philosophy:
So after long first day with philosophic discussing about what a "One Screen" is (here including that the monitor was a screen, the window of the game was a screen etc.) we dragged to the conclusion that what this theme must mean is that you should not have big fancy popup guis, and a mess like they have in MMOs but all information should be on the screen at all time, sort of like the old Amiga Dungeon Crawler games. The conclusion we took was that you didn't necessary need to see the entire level of the game on the screen at once. We began to look at it make some rules to follow like; you should never be in need of waiting on a loading screen, need to have popup windows, or have a huge Gui to popup. You should simply have every single importance to the game shown on the screen at anytime!



The Game ideas and execution:
With the rules set we made a brain storm and the idea we first began to relate to and find interesting was resource management. and from here on we began to look at one of our favorite resource management games; Oregon Trail and Organ Trail. We decided to make the game a little like those games and you may easily see that it is where we took the inspiration. We tried to make it very "pixel-ish" based but some art came out a little higher res than expected but the artist had limited time... Currently you can select difficulty setting in options, also please have in mind that we haven't been able to test all the events of the game so should bug occur please let me know in the comments as I plan on develop the game more.



To the ludum dare voters/Players:
For a fast game go to options and change game length to short, and starting resources to few! Please mind the few bugs (I'm sorry) They will and can not be fixed in this uploaded version. The game may also be very unbalanced at its current state but if you find it very easy try changing the starting resources in options to "few" and game length to long or very long.



Current Missing features/Bug:
More and better events (the current solution is a little buggy)
The panel to the left currently have no functionality, should have worked as a call button, and distress button.
Oxygen is currently not used but is displayed.
Some events may allow you to do something even that you may not have enough resources (see first problem listed).



HOW TO PLAY:
The game revolves around player choices!
You can change game length and difficulty in options on the main menu, Endless mode is an option...
Random event will happen while you travel...
You can use the "Scan Area" button to trigger special events...

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 2.98 709
Audio(Jam) 3.22 296
Fun(Jam) 2.62 821
Graphics(Jam) 2.74 738
Humor(Jam) 2.49 557
Innovation(Jam) 2.76 683
Mood(Jam) 3.08 464
Theme(Jam) 2.93 897

Feedback

ianh
09. Dec 2014 · 02:27 UTC
Really fun game! I wish it would "scan area" automatically... got kinda old pressing that button over and over...
error031
09. Dec 2014 · 02:36 UTC
nice game, i like it!
Kate Kligman
09. Dec 2014 · 02:41 UTC
I love this type of game, I like where this is going, and I'm looking forward to seeing further developments. The music is trippy!
cdwaddell
09. Dec 2014 · 02:42 UTC
Seems like there was power creep in the development of this game. It feels like it wants to be a sidescroller FTL, or maybe a final fantasy FTL mashup. What is with the characters in the upper right corner. It didn't matter that they were there. The events are a cool concept, but nothing matters in them. I like all the stats and things you need to keep track of, but the scope of this project was just too big to take on.
muramasa
09. Dec 2014 · 03:19 UTC
I think this game needs more things to do. I traveled for long distances and nothing showed up. There are only traders, which normally are trying to sell you junk (other one exchanged me 30 ammo for 10 ammo). More kinds of events, and more decisions. But it's a fine game. Reminds me of something...

And yeah. Scan area should be automatic.
harley77
09. Dec 2014 · 03:46 UTC
Oregon trail in space. Nice idea and good execution.
modwizcode
09. Dec 2014 · 04:23 UTC
It's a neat game, I didn't really have the patience for it, but it looked really really cool.
DefectiveMelon
09. Dec 2014 · 04:57 UTC
Honestly I clicked this expecting something about Kevin Spacey, but I wasn't dissapointed anyway. The game was fun, I can always do with more Oregon Trail in my life
broknecho
09. Dec 2014 · 05:01 UTC
That was pretty cool....although I had like 5 pirates answer my distress call in a row :) Nice game.
daviosmash
09. Dec 2014 · 05:02 UTC
I, too, wish it did scan area automatically. But it was a fun game. I would have enjoyed it more if that did happen, though.
dogsonofawolf
09. Dec 2014 · 05:51 UTC
Hit by solar flares seconds from the end. Heartbreaking.
Samm
09. Dec 2014 · 06:38 UTC
Dropbox seems to have crapped out on the web version
oscarabraham
09. Dec 2014 · 06:46 UTC
It is interesting, but it has too many dead moments waiting for something to happen.
Alendro
09. Dec 2014 · 06:48 UTC
I could see this going somewhere, but a little slow for me. Great job overall.
2Bit
09. Dec 2014 · 09:40 UTC
Traded someone 10 ammo for 20 ammo woohoo! Very fun game, music works well.
feizenbara
09. Dec 2014 · 09:41 UTC
A few technical issues (I evade a pirate by cloaking but I still take damage... is it on purpose ? It should be mentioned then. + traders agree to trade for fewer resources than what they ask for)
A few balance issues (food is useless, health is too generous, scanning is far too dangerous, just do nothing and wait when out of fuel)
But overall it's good :)
dieblume86
09. Dec 2014 · 10:01 UTC
Nice game.
5T4MP5
09. Dec 2014 · 20:49 UTC
It was pretty easy to get through, but a cool idea. Oregon Trail in space, or FTL minus the tactical elements. My only major issue, is the travel time. Waiting between encounters doesn't really provide anything interesting. So I would either want to jump right from encounter to encounter, or have something to do as the ship pilot (avoid asteroids?). Well done.
Ryusui
09. Dec 2014 · 22:28 UTC
I'm a big fan of the whole "Oregon Trail IN SPACE!" idea, but it feels kinda empty, and it could do with some basic bug-checking to make sure the shops and traders don't scam you.
Brassawiking
09. Dec 2014 · 22:58 UTC
A bit passive gameplay, but it is a solid foundation to work on.
blzkz
09. Dec 2014 · 22:59 UTC
Fun game! I liked, but it is so hard to find food :/
hitchh1k3r
10. Dec 2014 · 03:20 UTC
It seems several games have tried to bring the Oregon Trail idea to space. This was a good attempt, especially considering the time frame. It would be nice to see more consistance in the graphics. Graphics don't have to look great, but in this game they seemed to be scaled to different resolutions which bothered me. Overall good work, and with a bit more work and polish this could be a pretty great game.
ZNCatlaw
10. Dec 2014 · 04:35 UTC
Excellent. I ran through the game once on easy, and it was cool. The music really makes the mood, and the graphics all fit perfectly together. I liked the occasional weird thing that would sail by in the background.

Merchants who want to trade 50 of their ammo for 10 of mine... are maybe collectors? Ammo enthusiasts trying to accumulate space-bullets from every corner of the galaxy.
SelfishGenome
10. Dec 2014 · 08:48 UTC
Nice game. Really good music too. Not my type of game but I can see it is well made, very good.
rzuf
10. Dec 2014 · 09:20 UTC
I like the idea of Oregon Trail in space very much. Waiting for a bigger version (with more assets visualizing everything, maybe some planet exploring, huh?) :)
CodeNMore
10. Dec 2014 · 22:54 UTC
This reminds me a lot of a specific game where you travel exactly in this graphical way, food, etc, but I can't think of it. Either way, I liked the style and implementation!
pjimmy
10. Dec 2014 · 23:05 UTC
nice, reminds me of Oregon Trail in space
BarrensZeppelin
15. Dec 2014 · 13:47 UTC
Why can I buy stuff from traders and people who want to help me with money I don't have? o:
TeamQuadratic
17. Dec 2014 · 04:15 UTC
Cool game! There's a bug though where you can trade with traders even if you do not have enough of what they want.
ynots
18. Dec 2014 · 16:48 UTC
nice...