Signal Delay by ChrisGaudino

made by ChrisGaudino for LD27 (COMPO)

Control a mars rover! Signal delay causes your inputs to be delayed by 10 seconds. See if you can pick up a rock and place it in the rover's basket!

Note: 10 seconds ended up being pretty difficult. I included some easier settings so you can get the hang of the technique. Move slow and stop between steering corrections!

My best times:
Easiest: 1:12
Easier: 1:48
Normal: 10:42

Let me know how you do!

You can check out the postmortem here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/08/28/signal-delay-postmortem/

Edit:
I realized the list of controls in the menu is incomplete. Here's the complete list:
Up/Down arrows - adjust speed
B - set speed to 0
Left/Right arrows - turn
N - center steering
W/S - move lower arm
E/D - move upper arm
Space - toggle grapple
Right click and drag to move the camera
Scrollwheel to zoom
Escape - Back to main menu

Linux version is untested. Please let me know if you have problems with it!

By Chris Gaudino
@GaudinoGames

Web	http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7666226/Ludum%20Dare%2027/Signal%20Delay%20-%20LD27/Signal%20Delay%20-%20LD27.html
Windows	http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7666226/Ludum%20Dare%2027/Signal%20Delay%20-%20LD27%20-%20WIndows.zip
Mac	http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7666226/Ludum%20Dare%2027/Signal%20Delay%20-%20LD27%20-%20OSX.zip
Linux	http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7666226/Ludum%20Dare%2027/Signal%20Delay%20-%20LD27%20-%20Linux.zip
Source	https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7666226/Ludum%20Dare%2027/Ludum%20Dare%2027%20-%2010%20Seconds.zip
Original URL	https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-27/?action=preview&uid=21246

Ratings

Coolness	85%	2
Overall	3.65	103

Audio	1.14	993
Fun	2.93	550
Graphics	3.91	92
Humor	1.93	756
Innovation	4.13	17
Mood	3.12	276
Theme	4.09	18

Feedback

archaeometrician

26. Aug 2013 · 11:04 UTC

Great concept ! I really like this. It's kinda hard and I'm only playing at easy ;) very good use of the 10 seconds theme.

klambrike

26. Aug 2013 · 11:12 UTC

Good idea, liked the game very much!

mort96

26. Aug 2013 · 17:03 UTC

Awesome concept. Honestly not too sure if it transforms well into a game, but overall really nice :)

NuSan

26. Aug 2013 · 18:48 UTC

Fantastic idea. I love it, its a nice fit to the them, really well made. I would like some metrics and grid on the sliders, to make it more precise. It take me several minutes to complete each chalenge : 8m for 1s, 7m for 4s and 12m for 10s.

Alex Shestakov

26. Aug 2013 · 18:49 UTC

One of the best ideas I've seen so far :) It's really hard!

juaxix

26. Aug 2013 · 18:51 UTC

Good and realistic idea, lot of good work here. Well done :)

Beardbotnik

26. Aug 2013 · 18:54 UTC

Interesting concept, extremely good use of the concept. The graphics are nice too, though its really hard to pick up a rock, even when I was lined up right the claw seemed to go right over, I might be doing something wrong.

Some ambient radio sounds or spacey noises could have helped a lot with the mood. But I guess it in in a spacey vaccum...
Some

fferro234

26. Aug 2013 · 18:54 UTC

What a fantastic idea for a game. You took the theme and made a wonderful original (and somewhat realistic) game. I'm not sure if NASA can actually control the rover or if the rover just has ai, but they would probably have this problem of delayed input. It was great that you created easier versions also.

Kyle Mac

26. Aug 2013 · 19:12 UTC

Awesome idea, too bad it doesn't work out too well in practice though...

elementz123

26. Aug 2013 · 19:30 UTC

Awesome use of the theme. I only played on easy mode and it was still quite challenging. I imagine hard would take ages. But it sure felt good when I got that rock in the basket!

mtrc

26. Aug 2013 · 19:58 UTC

Very innovative idea, loved the control system and a great use of the theme!

Suese

26. Aug 2013 · 20:00 UTC

I realize they are delayed, but the controls seem incorrect too. The first time the slider on the left moved the arm, the second time it made me move forward but it wouldn't let me stop. Cool idea though.

Mclogenog

26. Aug 2013 · 20:04 UTC

Heh, this is pretty amusing. Even one second of lag is really hard. Plop it next to surgeon simulator in the "why am I so bad at simple tasks!" genre.

Xgor

26. Aug 2013 · 20:05 UTC

Really cool concept. Waay too hard for me though :P I got to the rock but couldn't pick it up.

🎤 ChrisGaudino

26. Aug 2013 · 20:17 UTC

Thanks for the feedback everybody! Suese: if you need to stop, the easiest way is to press B. That sets the brakes, and will stop you very quickly (after the 10 second delay, of course).

reostra

27. Aug 2013 · 03:27 UTC

I'm terrible at this with even 1 second of delay, but the concept is great and so is the execution :)

panurge

27. Aug 2013 · 12:05 UTC

Great concept and fun, fiddly gameplay. I was really bad at it but I enjoyed playing.

lordjosephdeburg

27. Aug 2013 · 15:02 UTC

Had a hard time 'getting to grips' with the controls but enjoyed it none the less Chris. A very unique entry!

SecondDimension

27. Aug 2013 · 17:35 UTC

Man this was so tough, how do they control the real thing? Definitely a great take on the theme.

dudsen

27. Aug 2013 · 18:31 UTC

FOR GODS SAKE, YOU LITTLE ROCK, GET INTO THIS FRIKKING BASKET!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thankfully i dont work at nasa. probably would have crashed the last mars rover into the white house or something. nice compo entry !

CoffeeOnimal

28. Aug 2013 · 08:23 UTC

Very impressive. You nailed all the checkboxes. Needs some tunes to keep it interesting, but everything else is great.

Kohijin

29. Aug 2013 · 01:56 UTC

Great to see someone else also doing something with delayed signals! Still a very different and interestingly fresh approach.

Zephyr89

29. Aug 2013 · 02:11 UTC

Hell, this game is hard. Brilliant use of the theme though.Maybe I should try it on easy? Also mars has an atmosphere, so you can realistically add some background ambiance. Wind maybe?

Anachron

29. Aug 2013 · 02:36 UTC

Awesome concept and very relevant implementation! This would be a great thinking game to have on tablets.

rejooh

29. Aug 2013 · 10:27 UTC

Really love the idea and realization. (Moving on to normal difficulty now. :))

Almax27

29. Aug 2013 · 18:00 UTC

Really nice concept, looks awesome too. Nice one!

BradleySmith

29. Aug 2013 · 18:54 UTC

Controls are quite tricky but this is a nice idea. :)

zkenshin

30. Aug 2013 · 00:19 UTC

Works well. Enjoyed the environment. :)

radmars

30. Aug 2013 · 01:33 UTC

10:33 normal!!! Wooo!! Nice challenge :)

iiechapman

30. Aug 2013 · 03:44 UTC

Love the concept of 10 second delay, very unique, I realize I would not be a good fit to do this in real laugh haha!

iiechapman

30. Aug 2013 · 03:44 UTC

Real Life*

🎤 ChrisGaudino

30. Aug 2013 · 05:22 UTC

Nice job radmars! As far as I know, that is a new record.

BenWhi

31. Aug 2013 · 00:56 UTC

Wow, that was a ton of fun! Frustrating fun, but still FUN! Took me a little while to get the controls, but managed to get near a rock and almost pick it up. Had some good laughs as my rover went speeding away in the wrong direction. Graphics looked great too! Great work!

Taiters

31. Aug 2013 · 20:42 UTC

Brilliant idea for the theme, well done!

zedutchgandalf

02. Sep 2013 · 07:56 UTC

Nice and original use of the theme :D
Very cool!

darkshadow

02. Sep 2013 · 17:24 UTC

This is more infuriating than qwop! I've got the driving sorted even with max delay, but the grabber I can hardly handle even min delay, it worked so nicely the first time I didn't realise it actually has all the finesse of an arcade grabber >:/ I'm guessing that's where KSP found the parts for the rover?

Anway enough of the minor grumblings, I love the game! Brilliant concept and a real original challenge.

Larzan

05. Sep 2013 · 07:14 UTC

Great concept, one of the best i have seen so far, but the robot had some problems, he wouldn't drive backwards, and, once stopped, not move again...

Connors

05. Sep 2013 · 08:00 UTC

I had a lot of fun with this, for what it's worth, I played first the 1 second, then 4, then I played 10 seconds three times and got the rock in 2 out of 3 tries. Also my best with 10 seconds delay was 00:06:14. At first I thought there was a glitch but this was only because I had not learned how the throttle works, once I got that it was pretty easy. But still a great little challenge, so, good work sir. I also like the landscape and graphics overall are nice.

kraj0t

05. Sep 2013 · 09:12 UTC

6:58, nice experience. And the most ingenious use of the 10 seconds theme I've seen so far :-)

ivo

05. Sep 2013 · 14:01 UTC

Best use of the theme so far.

🎤 ChrisGaudino

05. Sep 2013 · 15:09 UTC

Thanks everybody! Larzan, can you give me any more info about the bugs you were experiencing? I'd love to fix them, but I haven't been able to replicate them yet.

Jeremias

05. Sep 2013 · 21:16 UTC

Very nice use of the theme. The easiest mode is just right to get familar with the controls and it gets interesting with the 10 second delay. I think it would be better if there were more obstacles between the start point and a collectable rock. Anyway, nice concept!

ratalaika

08. Sep 2013 · 10:32 UTC

! Great job :).

TobiasW

13. Sep 2013 · 20:41 UTC

That's a really interesting concept. I got the hang of it pretty fast (despite being intimidated when I read the controls), but then again - I played at "easiest". For the harder modes you'd definitely need more feedback, especially on turning! It took me nearly 9 minutes, by the way - because I managed to drop the first rock on my back, and then proceeding to try to take it again until it fell down on the earth again, haha.

socrates1024

16. Oct 2013 · 04:23 UTC

I love this game. Seped run: 19s http://i.imgur.com/y1vs060.gif