Literally Connected Worlds by geometrix

[raw]
made by geometrix for LD30 (COMPO)
My first Ludum Dare! I went through a number of options during the opening hours of LD, but nothing was working for me, so I decided to take the theme very literally and ended up with this.

Literally Connected Worlds is a puzzle game in which you must connect together worlds/planets and set a high score. It's inspired by a mix of Tetris and 4X games like Ascendency, but imagine the latter being massively simplified.

Made with Construct 2, Photoshop CC 2014, Reason 5, Bfxr, Audacity. Includes some stock drum loops from Reason. Font is Spaceman by Factor, from dafont.com.

Instructions:
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- Planets fly in from all directions.
- Rotate the sun to connect planets using the [left] and [right] keys.
- Connected planets will rotate with the sun.
- Avoid connecting planets that conflict:
-- Air (green) and Earth (brown) planets.
-- Fire (red) and Water (blue) planets.
-- Spirit planets (purple) get along with everyone.
- Conflicting planets are destroyed.
- Points are given for every connected planet currently in play.
- Connecting planets of the same element gives you bonus points.
- Your score fluctuates based on the planets currently present and connected.
- The game is over when a planet reaches the outer perimeter, indicated by the purple circle.


NOTE: I re-uploaded my game six hours after the deadline. I fixed two issues: the game was unwinnable/undendable (stupid oversite on my behalf); and I accidentally left the debug hotkeys enabled. Apologies to everyone!

Ratings

Coolness 47% 1319
Overall 3.29 471
Audio 3.12 320
Fun 3.11 497
Graphics 3.07 580
Innovation 3.43 350
Mood 3.04 515
Theme 3.86 115

Feedback

Ixeno
25. Aug 2014 · 04:34 UTC
Nice game! It makes some good art after 5 minutes! (:
Kedume Bits
25. Aug 2014 · 08:52 UTC
A very nice concept and fun game as result. The music is good too.
colludium
25. Aug 2014 · 14:40 UTC
Good concept and well executed. Sometimes connections could be destroyed yet the planets they were supporting remained 'attached'. Aside from that I thought it was a very addictive and novel idea... and good fun too! Thanks!
Thaum
25. Aug 2014 · 14:51 UTC
Really enjoyed that :)
zillix
27. Aug 2014 · 07:31 UTC
very cool! I liked the simple mechanics involved in building up my system. it was very pretty to look at after I had amassed a sizable amount of planets :)
Literal Games
27. Aug 2014 · 10:02 UTC
Pretty good fun - seemed a bit slow, but I'm not sure there's much you could do to change that. Music sounded good!
mrexcessive
27. Aug 2014 · 18:31 UTC
Hi there... Interesting idea/toy as well as game. The pin function ? Love the sound too. Good job!
tatmos
27. Aug 2014 · 21:20 UTC
i like connected.
SeriouslyCrunchy
29. Aug 2014 · 13:51 UTC
Really like this little sandbox and the visual effect you get after playing it for a few minutes with everything connected. Only criticism is as someone who tends to forget everything could use a little display on the main screen to show what planets get along.
Kyatric
01. Sep 2014 · 22:40 UTC
Playing the game without reading the comment/description first, to see how the "first handling" goes, I must admit that I ended up confuse by the connecting mechanic.
Not in the connecting sense itself, but in how/why it appeared certain planet were connecting and how other weren't.
Reading the description afterwards, I got to see that there is also a "pairing" system. Nevertheless, this is not represented ingame for the player to learn by herself.

Other than that, the game feels like it "could not have an end". I must admit that I stopped playing before reaching the outer perimeter. It makes some sense in the mechanic, even though this perimeter could grow from close to the sun and "gain" diameter at each connecting planet/level of connection, allowing to build/expanding a structure in a meaningful way for the player.

Otherwise cool mechanics, nothing too original but nicely executed.

Congratulations in making a game and especially at your first attempt at LD !
SecondDimension
05. Sep 2014 · 19:50 UTC
Pretty much nailed it on the theme, and the game works as it should. Overall I liked it, although it felt like it needed a few more gameplay elements after you've been playing a while
Erkberg
05. Sep 2014 · 23:12 UTC
Nice concept and execution. Somehow, it's really fascinating. Good job!
torvik88
11. Sep 2014 · 18:50 UTC
It really grows on you, nice game! I wish it speed up as it got along to make it more of a challenge but other than that was pretty sweet.
ZeppelinCaptain
13. Sep 2014 · 20:34 UTC
I feel like an artist playing this game :D
Aglavra
13. Sep 2014 · 20:43 UTC
The idea is interesting, and there can be a way to develop it further. Fun game, although seemed to simple after several minutes of playing.
Natrium729
13. Sep 2014 · 21:37 UTC
The concept is good, with some more mechanics, the gameplay will be enough varied to make a cool game. But I almost had a heart attack whith the explosion at the end in my earphone!
Good job anyway. I got a score of 388.
Crosstales
13. Sep 2014 · 22:21 UTC
Cool little game - I like the concept!
Good job!
jprogman
13. Sep 2014 · 22:40 UTC
Cool concept. I do wish I could rotate faster, especially when the planets appears more frequently.