LudumData

S0LB0T by XaiZil

[raw]
made by XaiZil for LD27 (JAM)
First entry to Ludum Dare!

H0W4RD needs to get out of the caves with only ten seconds of solar power left.

Make H0W4RD more efficient to splat the bugs, beat the boss and nail the gauntlet!

You will need the latest version of java to play. Web version should work on most common OS's that support java. (Tested on Windows 7 SP1). (We've had a few problems running it in the browser, it's much more stable running outside of an applet, use the windows zip download where possible).

The team:

Xaike: Code
Heeezil: Art

All art assets were created from scratch and the only code libraries used are Slick2D (which in turn uses LWJGL).


Hope you enjoy playing - please let us know how you find it!
Windows(ZIP) - Preferred http://www.almklev.com/ludum/2013/aug/solbot.zip
Web - Buggy use download where possible! http://www.almklev.com/ludum/2013/aug/
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-27/?action=preview&uid=27796

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 2.64 496
Audio(Jam) 1.58 497
Fun(Jam) 2.20 541
Graphics(Jam) 2.34 532
Humor(Jam) 1.64 464
Innovation(Jam) 2.33 518
Mood(Jam) 2.07 529
Theme(Jam) 2.83 418

Feedback

Recursiveanomaly
27. Aug 2013 路 01:29 UTC
Nice game! Loaded and ran, but when I got to "press esc to run again" it gave me this error:
org.newdawn.slick.SlickException: Game.update() failure - check the game code.
at org.newdawn.slick.GameContainer.updateAndRender(GameContainer.java:669)
at org.newdawn.slick.AppletGameContainer$Container.runloop(AppletGameContainer.java:518)
at org.newdawn.slick.AppletGameContainer$ContainerPanel.start(AppletGameContainer.java:218)
at org.newdawn.slick.AppletGameContainer$1.run(AppletGameContainer.java:92)
馃帳 XaiZil
27. Aug 2013 路 01:35 UTC
Thanks! We've had that issue a few times with the applet version, I can't seem to find out what's causing it but will look into it further tomorrow. However if you download the zip file and use that you shouldn't have any problems! (runs much smoother too)
dylanigan
27. Aug 2013 路 13:10 UTC
Web lagged my machine and then the applet crashed.
vvolis
27. Aug 2013 路 13:43 UTC
Nice idea, but the game seems a bit too difficult - sometimes the map generates with me in a hole and spider at the door, with no way out :/
Yell0w
27. Aug 2013 路 18:32 UTC
Game run fine on my computer with no crashes, but i kept getting boxed in by creeps :D
Thermite
27. Aug 2013 路 23:08 UTC
Good concept, but the game is quite frustrating when you get penned in by the monsters.
Tainted_Code
27. Aug 2013 路 23:12 UTC
Great game.. would be amazing if it prevented monsters from bullying you ;)
[-BipolarDesign+]
28. Aug 2013 路 23:00 UTC
Not bad, can get very frustrating though. I think it would have worked better as a "twin stick" type of game, with WASD controlling movement and arrow keys shooting in 4 directions. Nice attempt though!
Jacic
30. Aug 2013 路 20:40 UTC
Nice idea, though I wish it didn't auto-start.
mutilator
30. Aug 2013 路 21:12 UTC
The game seemed too difficult which made it hard for me to enjoy trying to play it. With some changes this could be a very fun game.
Jellycakes
30. Aug 2013 路 21:49 UTC
Was pretty fun, a little difficult though with the enemies. Also I noticed a bug which is if you die by the enemies and then restart the game, then the timer continues from when you died, making it pretty impossible to play properly. Also a bit of a wait when you restart the game, you may want to fix that to keep the player interested. Other than that I liked the art, the tiling looked nice and it was a decent concept. Nice one.
Emilien Gorisse
30. Aug 2013 路 22:53 UTC
I never felt so weak against a dragonfly :) Hard but very nice game. Good job!
ellipticaldoor
30. Aug 2013 路 22:56 UTC
It doesn't open for me :(
awppy
30. Aug 2013 路 23:03 UTC
Lack of audio was disappointing and controls were a bit finnicky, but I felt myself drawn more into the game the more I played. I felt like the boss had too much health, but all the same, it kept me moving around and on my toes.

Then, that bit at the end.

Well, I'm not going to give anything away, but it got down to the wire. I mean right down to the wire. You've got some pretty solid design ideas in this little wonder.
hbocao
30. Aug 2013 路 23:40 UTC
Cool entry. The enemies were kinda hard. Controls were very responsive. I like that.
ratalaika
31. Aug 2013 路 09:55 UTC
good job
ratking
01. Sep 2013 路 14:11 UTC
The bulltes should be a bit bigger or a twin-stick shooting would be better to properly hit the enemies. I also miss some feedback with the dead of the enemies. When they reach you in a bulk, I often shoot longer than necessary, because I didn't saw when they are dead.
To display the timer more prominently would be good, because of its importance!
Mlle Eole
01. Sep 2013 路 15:13 UTC
I can't run it on windows7, don't know why. I tried on the web version and it worked a little bit - but it freezes the browser sometimes. I liked the interpretation of the theme but i can't play enough to make an objective opinion about the whole game.. Really sorry. I will retry later. :)
ZeppelinCaptain
01. Sep 2013 路 18:34 UTC
I was very confused as to what the goal was, and I kept dying very quickly, since I couldn't seem to get any new time.
murilo
01. Sep 2013 路 19:51 UTC
I tried to run the download version, but it loads a bunch of stuff on the console then it crashes(too quick to see message) after 'loading node'.
Windows 7 SP1, latest java (installed yesterday and other java games run fine)
jomomomo
01. Sep 2013 路 23:40 UTC
Couldn't get this to work. Too bad, I really wanted to help H0W4RD out.
klianc09
02. Sep 2013 路 09:51 UTC
Took me a while to realize that the sun-pickups decrease the rate at which his power drains. There is actually more content in this game than it at first seems. The controls could be a bit better, shooting down those bugs seemed a little bit tedious at times. But this game has good ideas overall.
Idovoodoo
02. Sep 2013 路 10:21 UTC
Tough but nice, well done :)
darkshadow
02. Sep 2013 路 19:14 UTC
The setting totally reminds me of one of the Asimov robot short stories. The procedural map generation, the crawly movement are all lovely little touches. If only I didn't die so quickly and it take so long to restart!
ZYXer
13. Sep 2013 路 12:59 UTC
Great game and nice artwork. It would be nice if the game didn't have to reload after each death, though.