LudumData

Nexxuz by rustybroomhandle

[raw]
made by rustybroomhandle for LD30 (JAM)
Phew! Not quite done, but whatevs!

This is a game that is fashioned after the classic Zaxxon, but plays a bit like a Metroidvania (Zaxxonvania?).

You can hop between worlds and pick up your lost powerups, some which you will need to defeat certain bosses. The aim is to defeat all 6 bosses. (currently no win state, will fix soonish)

The assets in the game were created by members of our Minecraft server within Minecraft itself. Between 20 and 30 kids of all ages jumped in to help with this.

Music was whipped up by our friend Abstraction.

Enjoy!

The intro that did not make it into the game on time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvOWWkygQLw

TO DO:

- Add barriers to either side so you can enter portals easier and not fly off-screen.

- Make Jack-in-the-box boss work right

- Implement shield powerup

- Make health persist between levels.

- Add the lovely intro video we have for it!

- Tweaks/balances

- Better enemy placement

- Plant boss' bananas are broken
Web http://mc.indiesquish.com/ld30/
Windows http://mc.indiesquish.com/ld30/Nexxuz_Win.zip
OS/X http://mc.indiesquish.com/ld30/Nexxuz_osx.app.zip
Linux http://mc.indiesquish.com/ld30/Nexxuz_Lin.tar.gz
Post-Jam 1(Win) http://mc.indiesquish.com/ld30/NexxuzPJ_Win.zip
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=10871

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 3.66 116
Audio(Jam) 3.33 260
Fun(Jam) 3.52 135
Graphics(Jam) 4.48 30
Humor(Jam) 2.65 282
Innovation(Jam) 3.03 386
Mood(Jam) 3.53 169
Theme(Jam) 3.13 402

Feedback

LTPATS
26. Aug 2014 · 02:36 UTC
Great looking game! It took a bit to get used to the isometric view, especially with all the bullets flying around. The loading between levels seemed a bit buggy. Some times I had trouble getting into the portals, and at one point (after the kraken) my character just disappeared after I went into the portal, so I couldn't finish the game (unless that was the end?) Overall the game felt like it was pretty close to being done, the graphics were beautifully rendered and the basic gameplay was well implemented. I'd love to see this expanded on! Great job!
InfectionTeam
26. Aug 2014 · 05:07 UTC
I really loved the art and idea to rescue the style of Zaxxon games, the art it's pretty consistent, the music is so cool with fun 80's style the only thing I miss is sound effects but I noticed you guys will put after the Jam. Congratulations!
sikosis
26. Aug 2014 · 05:29 UTC
Oooo it's a pretty pixelled zaxxon !
Danman9914
26. Aug 2014 · 05:56 UTC
Really awesome art style
Aevek
26. Aug 2014 · 06:02 UTC
Had a lot of fun playing this for about 10 minutes. Love the isometric style, I actually ended up using that for my game too this time around. My one suggestion would be to use "Don't destroy on load" in unity, so that things like player health transfer between scenes better. Not a complaint though, having my health come back between worlds helped out a lot. Awesome idea to use minecraft as an art tool, and to crowdsource your art. I may have to borrow that one. Great game.
jmjd
26. Aug 2014 · 06:06 UTC
I agree with the others, I really like the look and style of the game. As the others have said, including the author, there are some issues and it's not quite done. But what do you expect in 48 hrs?! Great Job!
ruerob
26. Aug 2014 · 07:09 UTC
I already loved the game after seeing a gif of it on twitter. I really love the artstyle. Thank you for this game.
Will Edwards
26. Aug 2014 · 10:04 UTC
Absolutely love the graphics.

I really struggled with the iso not giving me an understanding of height, and I couldn't find these bomb things. I loved the 2D graphics with the 3D engine, and the way the physics work for the bouncing bananas and other technical details that us coders pick up on ;)

Got a not-quite-finished feel, but still got a *wonderful* feel. Top marks!
royvanrijn
26. Aug 2014 · 10:28 UTC
Cool game!
Kedume Bits
26. Aug 2014 · 10:34 UTC
Nice graphics. I love this Zaxxon style game. There is some thing to improve. First the player can be out of the screen, it makes the game unplayable. The hitbox for the enemies and protal could be improved too. Very good job. Congratulations.
Fonserbc
26. Aug 2014 · 10:57 UTC
Awesome art! The lighting on the bullets looks really cool!
SeriouslyCrunchy
26. Aug 2014 · 11:08 UTC
Really like the look and feel of this little gem, some of the actual shooting can be a little twitchy especially the bosses but otherwise really nice feelgood game.
kewry
26. Aug 2014 · 11:10 UTC
Really amazing work, I loved how the boss reflected the bullets!
HELLO23
26. Aug 2014 · 11:28 UTC
This looks just great. Kudos
AlbertoSM
26. Aug 2014 · 12:29 UTC
Good idea overall, could've used some sound effects!
Also I think I found a bug in the water stage, I went to the left most area, and my ship disappeared...
Kayelgee
26. Aug 2014 · 15:11 UTC
I love the art style. The perperctive is making it hard to dodge the enemy bullets though. I like the idea of a non linear shump but it was a little annoying to start at the beginning of the level each time.
creative630
26. Aug 2014 · 16:54 UTC
Just great!
jayemjee
26. Aug 2014 · 20:51 UTC
It's pretty dang good. Some sounds from the ship and enemies would have helped this, as well as some indication that the enemies are taking damage. I *love* this art style, but it had me humming "Everything is AWESOME" for some reason...
MegMeowse
27. Aug 2014 · 02:20 UTC
Love the voxel style, and creating the game in Minecraft (gameception much?) Was very creative!
Only thing i'd have to critique on is the controls acting a bit weird when trying to move back and right or left at the same time and being able to go off screen...
homeworld
27. Aug 2014 · 07:00 UTC
Amazing graphics, extremely creative to get people on minecraft to make the levels! I think the ship would benefit from a drop shadow to better grasp its position in space, same for the bullets!
chas
27. Aug 2014 · 07:11 UTC
Bravo! Great job "sourcing" the assets! It looks beautiful and plays quite well!
AndyBrown
27. Aug 2014 · 07:22 UTC
I loved those graphics and all of the voxel art that was created by your community. Very clever use of resources. The special effects on everything looked great too, like the portals and water. The bosses I fought were really impressive looking as well. I really wished there was a shadow for the ship to help ground it in the map to make it easier to know exactly where you are located. The music was great, but it made it easier to notice the lack of sound effects.
nonetheless
27. Aug 2014 · 07:38 UTC
Great entry. One thing I'm missing is shadow below the spaceship :)
🎤 rustybroomhandle
27. Aug 2014 · 07:46 UTC
I had fake shadows under things initially, will put them back. :)
JackDegree
27. Aug 2014 · 13:48 UTC
Great art! Fun to play!
runvs
27. Aug 2014 · 13:53 UTC
Great Game. Though the isometric Camera seems not perfectly suited for this arcade type of game (some ideas: Lines and points to a base plane (e.g. like in Homeworld) to make it clear where the shots/enemies are) and though some sound Effects for shooting and exploding enemies would have been nice, this is a great game. The graphics itself are very sweet and the worlds are designed with much love! I really like it!
Techblogogy
27. Aug 2014 · 15:27 UTC
This game is AMZING! One of my favorites
arhpositive
27. Aug 2014 · 19:08 UTC
Nice shoot'em up and I loved the idea of a "community collaboration" for graphics. Sadly, couldn't find bombs anywhere to get past the dino or the flower bosses.
ponk
27. Aug 2014 · 20:32 UTC
Amazingly beauuuUUttiiFFuulll...!!
dook
27. Aug 2014 · 20:43 UTC
Very nice! Great variation on the game type. Only thing it really misses is a clear shadow for the ship and the shots so it's easier to see where you really are. I remember some old school isometric shooters had that.

And awesome idea with minecraft as an editor. Ethical child labor I suppose ;)

You "shamelessly plugged" The Maker's Eden in my comments: That's awesome! And thanks for reminding me. I remember enjoying the demo a long time ago. Didn't know the full thing was out, I'll give it a try too :D
Chaoslab
27. Aug 2014 · 23:02 UTC
Well done! That was some fun. Zaxxon inspired shooter!

Nice well rounded entry.

(Hey who cares if you could not fly into anything on the ground. Zaxxon was rather difficult)
sP0CkEr2
28. Aug 2014 · 01:49 UTC
I am a sucker for any Zaxxon like game. Great graphics, controls need some work, but overall I liked. Will be playing again.
aeveis
28. Aug 2014 · 03:35 UTC
Fun! really nice assets, sounded like a big collaboration! One thing is maybe feedback from the shots and bombs, and being able to tell where you are relative to the ground. great job!
pansapiens
28. Aug 2014 · 06:01 UTC
Having a community of Minecrafters build the levels collaboratively really paid off - looks wonderful with lots of detail. I would have liked the powerups to better fit the theme of the rest of the environment (tough if you still want them to stand out, but there must be a solution). Also, I think it would look better if the voxel size and lighting on the ship matched the rest of the level - as it is, it sort of feels like it's not part of the level but overlaid on top (like Superman on a blue screen chroma key). Still very pretty nonetheless.
arzi
28. Aug 2014 · 07:34 UTC
I really like the art style. I'm not much of a shmup player, but this was well made.

At one point my ship just flew out of the screen and didn't come back. No idea what happened.
The Evil Cult
28. Aug 2014 · 07:43 UTC
Great art style, loved that you used minecraft to make assets in. The gameplay was quite fun, I took my time to go through and make sure I had explored each world and gotten all the upgrades. I found that I was simply just holding space the whole time though and only focusing on dodging and aiming (Still very fun!). Good work!
Cheshyr
28. Aug 2014 · 12:18 UTC
this is a fun game. you adapted the classic style to the theme quite well. background music was nice, and the art content was well done. i liked the powerup system (although I don't think shield ever worked). nice game.
goffmog
28. Aug 2014 · 12:29 UTC
Definitely one of the best entries, very pretty, good music and classic gameplay!
lightsoda
28. Aug 2014 · 16:32 UTC
Has a very nice look to it, though I feel the background pops too much, making it hard to make out bullets, power-ups etc.
jjhaggar
28. Aug 2014 · 19:11 UTC
I liked the music and the voxels but I could also enjoy having some sfx :)
ConflictiveLabs
29. Aug 2014 · 06:59 UTC
Great graphics and music! Definitely missed some pew-pew SFX here and there :D!

It was a bit tedious to "keep track" of where each portal led to, so "discovering" unexplored worlds was a bit frustrating. Perhaps portals could be color-coded (one color per world) or those that lead to a yet-to-be-explored world could be different somehow from those already "visited".

Overall it's a fun and easy to play game with an awesome graphics style and good music! Kudos!
yodamaster
29. Aug 2014 · 15:53 UTC
Haha! Zaxxoncraft. Minus height control. Please add sound.
thecolorhacker
29. Aug 2014 · 21:24 UTC
Nice entry. Great graphics and gameplay, but not very attached to the theme.
🎤 rustybroomhandle
30. Aug 2014 · 04:59 UTC
The intro video that we didn't manage to fit in in time explains what's going on a bit better - your ship hits a time-space anomaly and explodes, scattering its various components across six dimensions. You travel between those dimensions via the portals on the levels to collect your ship's pieces (the power-ups). :)
mrexcessive
30. Aug 2014 · 18:06 UTC
Hi there. That is awesome! Zaxxon- Remember playing that in pub when I was about 16... ahem, 18. Great graphics, great end of level boss - which I couldn't get past, was bad at Zaxxon too. Great job!
🎤 rustybroomhandle
31. Aug 2014 · 09:38 UTC
Note that there are 6 levels and 6 end of level bosses. All connected via portals.
lotusgame
02. Sep 2014 · 20:10 UTC
Just one word : Fantastic !! I love it :)
lowcade
02. Sep 2014 · 21:12 UTC
Wow! Awesome game! I love the style.
Dietrich Epp
03. Sep 2014 · 01:38 UTC
It's great looking, although it gets a bit repetitive.
mildmojo
03. Sep 2014 · 17:58 UTC
Voxel Zaxxon! Nexxuz looks terrific. You put together a bunch of great-looking levels, here. Wow. The city, in particular, has an incredible amount of voxel detail. I appreciated the Zaxxon homage level, too.

Adding the warp columns halfway through each level was a wonderful idea. Before you figure out how they work, you spend some time bouncing between levels that you might not even have the right equipment for, and these shortcuts keep you from wasting time.

I did find it pretty difficult to locate my ship over the terrain. I think Zaxxon used a shadow; a static shadow or even a hover light projected straight down from all flying objects would help with that.

I'm pretty sure I destroyed all the bosses; does the game end? I flew to the end of bossless levels a few times before I quit.
Tifu
04. Sep 2014 · 11:58 UTC
Great idea, never heard of assets being made in minecraft before, that's pretty cool :D
The enemies seem to be able to die if you hit them way off screen, once I was fully charged, I even killed a couple of bosses before they were anywhere near me :P I'd probably make them invincible until the player is closer to them.
I like that the upgrades are visible on the ship, and they really make you feel like progress is being made D
Snicklodocus
04. Sep 2014 · 22:41 UTC
Loved the voxel-style graphics. The backgrounds are slightly too busy - things tended to blend in. I think stronger shadows might help with this. Good, simple gameplay. I enjoyed it.
skiddings
05. Sep 2014 · 16:36 UTC
Nice art but I disappeared off screen and didn't reappear.
Some more feed back when you've been hit would be great too.
ZYXer
05. Sep 2014 · 18:07 UTC
Using Minecraft to create levels... Brilliant! :D
eatsleepindie
07. Sep 2014 · 01:18 UTC
Lots of fun and the graphics were incredible. Took me back to my days of playing Gradius on the ol' NES.