{"author_link":"\/author\/ronkmonster\/","author_name":"ronkmonster","author_uid":"10535","comments":[{"author_name":"Budda","author_uid":"3280","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 6:08am","epoch":1335160980,"text":"Unable to rate as it does not run on my machine."},{"author_name":"Orni","author_uid":"10771","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 6:16am","epoch":1335161460,"text":"same here, wasn't able to run it\r<br\/>@ Win7 64bit, Core2Duo, nvidia 9600m gt"},{"author_name":"icefox","author_uid":"7186","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 6:19am","epoch":1335161640,"text":"I like the recharge-in-the-sun mechanic.  Sort of wish I could take the battle to the enemies and shoot up their homeworlds though."},{"author_name":"icefox","author_uid":"7186","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 6:20am","epoch":1335161700,"text":"Might need XNA and the .NET runtime installed."},{"author_name":"ronkmonster","author_uid":"10535","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 8:08am","epoch":1335168180,"text":"Forgot to mention but I used this script to generate the music\r<br\/>\r<br\/>http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/2011\/12\/13\/if-you-find-it-hard-to-make-music-read-this\/#more-82720"},{"author_name":"ronkmonster","author_uid":"10535","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 8:13am","epoch":1335168480,"text":"Budda and Orni: Did it give any error messages? \r<br\/>It does need dotnet (already on win7) and xna redistributable which i linked above. 2 friends have tested it working just by extracting but they'd already have xna installed from other games. \r<br\/>\r<br\/>icefox: Thanks, I was running out of time so didn't get to do enemy planet defenses. I would have liked to do planetary guns when you get too close, the ability to repair the home planet and some manually placed towers to help later game."},{"author_name":"De10ter","author_uid":"8352","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 11:15am","epoch":1335179400,"text":"Hmm, I liked it but 2 things:\r<br\/>It could have used some inertia like classic asteroids and I think the difficulty should have scaled up rather than starting at full throttle."},{"author_name":"Jan Willem","author_uid":"3369","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 11:30am","epoch":1335180300,"text":"It doesn't work here. I do have XNA installed (made my own game using it), but the only error I get is &quot;This program has stopped working&quot;."},{"author_name":"SBareS","author_uid":"3890","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 11:34am","epoch":1335180540,"text":"Doesn't work. The process started, but no game window showed up."},{"author_name":"ronkmonster","author_uid":"10535","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 1:45pm","epoch":1335188400,"text":"Which version of xna and dotnet are you using? What OS are you having problems with?\r<br\/>\r<br\/>I was going to add inertia but I was running out of time and it was my first time doing rotation in 2d so I was just happy it was working\r<br\/>\r<br\/>The difficulty comes once you need to refuel and balance enemy levels, but there are also features that I just didn't have time to add in."},{"author_name":"cakemonitor","author_uid":"5357","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 1:53pm","epoch":1335188880,"text":"This is a very fun game - and it made me want to keep playing more which is a great achievement! ... only, I eventually found out that I could just leave the ship centred and weigh down my [d] and [ctrl] keys and it spun around killing everything without need for me to apply any skill whatsoever :\/\r<br\/>\r<br\/>Still, great work! one of the most fun I've reviewed so far :)"},{"author_name":"ronkmonster","author_uid":"10535","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 2:01pm","epoch":1335189360,"text":"Thanks :D\r<br\/>Yeah the turning not using fuel was one of the changes in last few hours - I'll take a look at game balancing for next version. \r<br\/>\r<br\/>You'll eventually run out of energy by shooting anyway and then fuel (which is converted to fuel when it's low) which means slow moving and slow shooting at that stage."},{"author_name":"ronkmonster","author_uid":"10535","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 2:08pm","epoch":1335189780,"text":"Can anyone having problems install this version of the xna redist files (http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/download\/en\/details.aspx?id=27598) It's the Microsoft XNA Framework Redistributable 4.0 Refresh so it might newer than what you already have"},{"author_name":"Canard Sauvage","author_uid":"9578","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 3:00pm","epoch":1335192900,"text":"System.FormatException @ Win7 x64 \/ Intel i5\r<br\/>\r<br\/>\r<br\/>System.FormatException was unhandled\r<br\/>  Message=Die Eingabezeichenfolge hat das falsche Format.(= 'wrong format' in german)\r<br\/>  Source=mscorlib\r<br\/>  StackTrace:\r<br\/>       bei System.Number.ParseSingle(String value, NumberStyles options, NumberFormatInfo numfmt)\r<br\/>       bei PaleBlueDot.states.MainMenuState.Load(GameEngine engine)\r<br\/>       bei PaleBlueDot.engine.GameEngine.ChangeState(GameState state)\r<br\/>       bei PaleBlueDot.engine.GameEngine.LoadContent()\r<br\/>       bei Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Initialize()\r<br\/>       bei PaleBlueDot.engine.GameEngine.Initialize()\r<br\/>       bei Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.RunGame(Boolean useBlockingRun)\r<br\/>       bei PaleBlueDot.Program.Main(String[] args)\r<br\/>  InnerException:"},{"author_name":"Suese","author_uid":"8361","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 3:19pm","epoch":1335194040,"text":"Could not run it."},{"author_name":"uprightpath","author_uid":"10562","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 3:29pm","epoch":1335194640,"text":"Fun, but the motion seems a little weird.\r<br\/>\r<br\/>Were you trying for some sort of 'time dilation' effect when you're moving? By that, I mean the way that motion seems to change the scale of things, which can make positioning, planning difficult. Heh."},{"author_name":"ronkmonster","author_uid":"10535","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 3:31pm","epoch":1335194760,"text":"@Canard Sauvage: http:\/\/ludumdare23.ronkmonster.com\/apalebluedot-1.01-bin.zip\r<br\/>\r<br\/>This will fix that bug. Cheers for the stack trace. Caused by different symbol for decimal point.\r<br\/>\r<br\/>Can anyone else having problems post their OS please let me know if you have tried the XNA runtime at http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/download\/en\/details.aspx?id=27598 when commenting. Thank you :)"},{"author_name":"ronkmonster","author_uid":"10535","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 3:35pm","epoch":1335195000,"text":"The motion seems weird because of the star field in the background :) It's linked to the player speed. Myself and a friend noticed early on but I liked the effect so I kept it. It's almost like it's 3D behind a 2D world."},{"author_name":"DoktorAce","author_uid":"4460","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 3:46pm","epoch":1335195660,"text":"Can't play because I have a mac :("},{"author_name":"ronkmonster","author_uid":"10535","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 3:48pm","epoch":1335195780,"text":"Install bootcamp to play my one game :D"},{"author_name":"Hazard","author_uid":"7512","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 4:45pm","epoch":1335199200,"text":"Doesn't work for me either. You are parsing a float without usage of CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, causing the game to fail on all machines where the dot in not the default decimal seperator."},{"author_name":"Hazard","author_uid":"7512","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 4:49pm","epoch":1335199440,"text":"Ah, saw the fixed version now."},{"author_name":"ronkmonster","author_uid":"10535","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 5:07pm","epoch":1335200520,"text":"http:\/\/ludumdare23.ronkmonster.com\/apalebluedot-1.02-bin.zip\r<br\/>\r<br\/>This version uses CultureInfo.InvariantCulture which I had found after my quick fix :) Thanks for the heads up anyway"},{"author_name":"omaha","author_uid":"5229","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 6:23pm","epoch":1335205080,"text":"xna doesn't seem to play nice with wine\/linux."},{"author_name":"lifenoodles","author_uid":"7207","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 6:24pm","epoch":1335205140,"text":"Cool little game, maybe could have had the ships vary their position a little bit more. Star mechanic adds a nice tradeoff."},{"author_name":"CaptainAwesome","author_uid":"13096","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 6:36pm","epoch":1335205860,"text":"This game is like a freight train of awesome ramming straight into my balls"},{"author_name":"cadin","author_uid":"7233","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 6:53pm","epoch":1335206880,"text":"Sorry, I can't play since I only have a Mac. Your screenshot looks interesting though."},{"author_name":"jeroenimooo","author_uid":"9361","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 7:37pm","epoch":1335209520,"text":"Works for me :) Had fun playing it :)"},{"author_name":"Naouak","author_uid":"8476","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 9:29pm","epoch":1335216240,"text":"Couldn't run it. Crashing after selecting &quot;new game&quot; option."},{"author_name":"ronkmonster","author_uid":"10535","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 9:39pm","epoch":1335216840,"text":"Naouak: Can you try download the 1.02 release and try again"},{"author_name":"Gremlin","author_uid":"12047","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 10:08pm","epoch":1335218580,"text":"Worked for me after installing XNA (Windows 7 x64). (Though I had to kill the process to get it to stop playing the music once I was done.)\r<br\/>\r<br\/>Interesting take on the whole space invaders scenario. Would have liked to be able to attack the other planets, or something to have a reason to get away from home. Seems like to dominant strategy right now is to hang around the home planet..."},{"author_name":"ronkmonster","author_uid":"10535","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 10:22pm","epoch":1335219420,"text":"I had originally planned a bigger randomised galaxy but time mean dropping that and focusing on getting something finished.\r<br\/>It would be easy enough to make more levels and spread features out. Further distance to star for fuel etc.\r<br\/>I was thinking of missile upgrades also to allow the player to attack the enemy planets along with enemy planets shooting at the player.\r<br\/>\r<br\/>I'll have a look into that music issue. It does end just a bit slow. Looping music was on my final checklist so wasn't tested as much."},{"author_name":"ronkmonster","author_uid":"10535","time":"Apr 23, 2012 @ 10:41pm","epoch":1335220560,"text":"I've put a new version up that seems to exit faster on my PC, can anyone else confirm?"},{"author_name":"piman","author_uid":"12570","time":"Apr 25, 2012 @ 12:15pm","epoch":1335355800,"text":"I can't rate this because I don't have a Windows system. Sorry."},{"author_name":"KevinWorkman","author_uid":"5364","time":"Apr 25, 2012 @ 10:09pm","epoch":1335391440,"text":"I guess I don't have xna on my machine. I wanted to place this because we named our games the same thing!"},{"author_name":"ronkmonster","author_uid":"10535","time":"Apr 25, 2012 @ 11:32pm","epoch":1335396420,"text":"Install XNA, It only takes a minute :)"},{"author_name":"evilseanbot","author_uid":"7902","time":"Apr 26, 2012 @ 6:48am","epoch":1335422580,"text":"can't run it. :\/"},{"author_name":"Topaz","author_uid":"10594","time":"Apr 27, 2012 @ 7:47am","epoch":1335512520,"text":"Cool. i liked how smooth it ran."},{"author_name":"Topaz","author_uid":"10594","time":"Apr 27, 2012 @ 7:48am","epoch":1335512580,"text":"Cool. I liked how smooth it ran."},{"author_name":"davidwparker","author_uid":"7737","time":"Apr 28, 2012 @ 3:25pm","epoch":1335626400,"text":"I'm sorry, I can't play your game because I don't have Windows (OSX)."},{"author_name":"Raptor85","author_uid":"7131","time":"Apr 30, 2012 @ 10:32pm","epoch":1335824820,"text":"can't test, no windows box and XNA4 crashes in WINE"},{"author_name":"robcozzens","author_uid":"10944","time":"May 5, 2012 @ 8:55pm","epoch":1336251000,"text":"I would play it, but I'm on an iMac."},{"author_name":"JellyFame","author_uid":"12511","time":"May 13, 2012 @ 3:51pm","epoch":1336923960,"text":"Unfortunately cannot play, don't have access to windows box. \r<br\/>HTML5 :)"}],"images":["ld23\/10535-ca6c599276472614af14b527e1aa7f58.jpg"],"links":[{"url":"http:\/\/ludumdare23.ronkmonster.com\/apalebluedot-1.03-bin.zip","text":"Windows Binary 1.03"},{"url":"http:\/\/ludumdare23.ronkmonster.com\/apalebluedot-1.02-src.zip","text":"Windows Source 1.03"},{"url":"http:\/\/ludumdare23.ronkmonster.com\/apalebluedot-1.0-bin.zip","text":"Windows Binary 1.0"},{"url":"http:\/\/ludumdare23.ronkmonster.com\/apalebluedot-1.0-src.zip","text":"Windows Source 1.0"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/download\/en\/details.aspx?id=27598","text":"XNA Redist 4.0 Refresh"}],"metadata":{"g_key":"30446","g_author":"10535","g_event":"LD23","g_eventkey":"10","g_subevent":"COMPO","g_urlkey":"30476","g_title":"A Pale Blue Dot","g_status":"UCHK1","g_place":"498","g_commentcount":"43","g_site2_node_id":"0","g_hide":"N","g_has_icon":"Y","g_rqueue":"0","g_random":"0"},"nds":[],"node":null,"orig_images":["http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/\/123793\/10535-shot0.jpg-eq-900-500.jpg"],"text":"XNA 4 game , requires the redistributable from \r\nhttp:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/download\/en\/details.aspx?id=27598\r\n\r\nRecharge your fuel by flying over the sun, but be careful as it also damages your shield or health. The shield recharges, health doesn't.\r\n\r\nW = forward\r\nS = backward\r\nA = turn left\r\nD = turn right\r\nF or Enter = select\r\nLeft mouse or right control = Fire Gun\r\nEscape = In game menu\r\nMouse wheel = zoom camera\r\n\r\nBug Fixes\r\n1.0 Initial submission\r\n1.01 Quick fix for non default decimal seperator bug\r\n1.02 Proper fix for non default decimal seperator bug\r\n1.03 Attempt to fix slow game exit due to media player\r\n<\/p>","title":"A Pale Blue Dot"}