LudumData

Crystallone - False Stars by forrest

[raw]
made by forrest for LD 40 (COMPO)

My very first compo entry. Hope you enjoy it ^_^

Collect False Stars and Keep Moving. You use energy as you move and have a limited supply. You can only carry so many false stars at once (but there may be a way to get more at a time...). Game is procedurally generated and the value of False Stars decreases with sale of them and the value of energy increases with purchase of it simulating inflation, supply, and demand.

CONTROLS: WASD or ARROWS to move (no backward movement; left and right also move a bit forward)

The real stars tell you where the map is; moving too far away, you'll get lost in space...

As you collect more mass, you move more slowly and your energy consumption to move around increases. As you collect more, it becomes harder to survive.

The game has many more intended features than are currently in it. More later. Please note: The game currently has a scaling issue for the web build. Please make sure you use the fullscreen feature to see all the UI. Some players have reported strange behavior in some browsers. The preferred browsers for this game are Chrome and Firefox. Thank you. Wed, Dec. 6th: 2:28am - added reset button at game over (please allow it time to update on my server)

HTML5 (web) http://argzero.org/projects/ld40/
SRC http://argzero.org/projects/ld40/src/src.zip
Other (document) https://soundcloud.com/argzero/crystallone-theme
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/crystallone-false-stars

Ratings

Overall 356th 3.348⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 522th 2.894⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 388th 3.03⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Theme 347th 3.439⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 140th 3.848⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Audio 272th 3.121⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Humor 529th 1.885⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 213th 3.345⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Given 29🗳️ 20🗨️

Feedback

🎤 forrest
04. Dec 2017 · 01:52 UTC
This is my first Compo so I hope you all like it!
Brandon Anderson
05. Dec 2017 · 02:41 UTC
Nice ambience and a really interesting take on the theme. =)
Lawrence
05. Dec 2017 · 18:28 UTC
Nice atmosphere, beautiful visuals.

Controls felt a bit weird, especially turning, but nothing game breaking.

Good job!
🎤 forrest
05. Dec 2017 · 20:17 UTC
Ahh, that's probably because the left and right controls both still use the back thrusters of the ship so they move you forward as well. Its not meant to be the typical control scheme of having forward backward and etc.
TurbulentWinds
06. Dec 2017 · 01:46 UTC
Great game overall, only thing is the controls are a bit strange as @Lawrence said!
SerpentWorks Games
06. Dec 2017 · 01:49 UTC
Great atmosphere and music! The controls take a bit to get used to (I kept just spinning in place for a while, whoops) but they're really interesting once you do!

Great job!
🎤 forrest
06. Dec 2017 · 01:54 UTC
I am planning to add a purchase-able ship with a slightly different movement scheme which allows for that kind of movement possibly (if enough people want it).
hillexed
06. Dec 2017 · 02:10 UTC
An interesting take on the theme - mass and force is a simple but great mechanic. Visuals were also good, but I found the music a bit lacking. It would have also been nice if there was more to the game than picking up stars. Overall, good!
Willisika
06. Dec 2017 · 02:16 UTC
Really nice game! That's a really interesting way to intepret the theme. the graphics are simple and fit the mood nicely. Well done!
disperse
06. Dec 2017 · 03:54 UTC
I liked it. Is the music just one loop or does it change over time? It would be nice if the music were a bit more varied.
🎤 forrest
06. Dec 2017 · 06:29 UTC
@hillexed @disperse - I was working on a new version of the bgm and wanted to include vertical remixing and some horizontal resequencing, but ran out of time to build the new version before upload time. Not sure I'm allowed to update it? If anyone knows whether that's okay, let me know and I'll do so in a jiffy. I was hoping to have NPC collectors start collecting crystals as you deliver them and allow you turn crystals into energy and sell energy as well. I was going to have a backing track that specifically plays while they're around but again, ran out of time.
voxel
06. Dec 2017 · 07:01 UTC
I really like the flight model / physics here and feel it would make for a really interesting game if developed further. Is the exchange staffed by Ferenghi? The exchange rate was so bad! Nice concept, good execution, music was a little annoying after a few loops but not enough to really detract from the experience. What a wonderful first entry.
🎤 forrest
06. Dec 2017 · 07:04 UTC
@voxel - What part of the music bothered you specifically? Please describe it using onomatopoeias if possible. If not, use any descriptive word you find best describes the sound. Regarding the exchange rate, do you have thoughts on how it could be improved?
adsilcott
06. Dec 2017 · 07:11 UTC
Man I love the atmosphere that the graphics and music create for this! I'd love to see more of the features you had planned, it's a great start. Oh and a restart button ;)
🎤 forrest
06. Dec 2017 · 07:13 UTC
@adsilcott - one reset button, coming right up. Not sure why I forgot that one.
PowerSpark
06. Dec 2017 · 07:25 UTC
I enjoyed playing... the visuals are quite impressive. The next thing to add is most likely some upgrade system to use that currency on! Anyways, good work.
🎤 forrest
06. Dec 2017 · 08:08 UTC
Thanks for all the feedback everyone!
Z4zion
06. Dec 2017 · 08:44 UTC
Loved controlling the player !!!!
1Gary
09. Dec 2017 · 08:06 UTC
Woah! I'm really liking that atmosphere you've built up with the setting and the sound. It's a simple game and I think a few more things like an update system would be good and better player control would be good(turning is kind of hard)! Overall it's a good game :D
🎤 forrest
10. Dec 2017 · 00:35 UTC
@1gary - can you clarify what you mean by an update system? Also, the turning (for this ship at least ;) ) was intended to be more difficult (this may not be true of later things you can get in future iterations though).
nervous-composers
10. Dec 2017 · 03:00 UTC
Its a nice game, fits with the theme well.
However i think there are too many variable for the player to think about, i.e currency/exchange rate.
i think just tackling mass / energy will make the game interesting, perhaps the players have to collect some energy powerups to replenish.
Good job for 1st compo!
Swarrly
10. Dec 2017 · 03:30 UTC
I liked the concept. The atmosphere was nice. The theme fit well. However the controls were a little wonkey. I think you should have added a button to unload the energy. It was always weird to get that speed bump after turning in. Otherwise great entry and good first compo.
🎤 forrest
10. Dec 2017 · 04:07 UTC
I'm probably going to add a button for it actually @swarrly. My friends have been saying similar things, plus in the future I imagine there will be more for you to do at the exchange so doing it automatically may not make sense necessarily as you may want to keep the 'false stars' for other purposes. Was it unclear that energy and 'false stars' (the floating crystals) were different things? Is there a way I could better clarify what they are? Thanks!
fishbrain
10. Dec 2017 · 07:10 UTC
Nice presentation and nice mellow music. Wasn't exactly sure what I was doing. Controls could be tweaked (turning).
jfraser314
10. Dec 2017 · 07:47 UTC
In response to your request for feedback: You UI is WAY too big, and intrusive. I would definitely scale it back a bit. You have an interesting idea and ok start of a game, but the size of the UI gets in the way. And while it comes down to preference, I would have rather had a straight-up WASD control scheme or even mouse follow than the steering one that you implemented. But that is only a preference and not a deal breaker by any means.
Drauthius
11. Dec 2017 · 20:47 UTC
The mood is definetly the strong point here. I'm not really experiencing the theme though, if anything, I think it was reversed! The ship was hard to control when "empty", and nice and slow when a lot of starthingies were trailing. Having the instructions and information on the whole screen made it easy to review the game mechanics, but was a bit intrusive.
Noah Beckman
12. Dec 2017 · 21:58 UTC
I really like this concept and the mechanics of this game. However, I found the controls difficult at times. The current state the game is in now is a great start and has a lot of potentials. Maybe changing the controls from the arrow keys to the ship following the mouse or at least making the ship a lot less sensitive. Overall this game is great for your first entry well done!

check out our game at: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/virus-detected
Local Minimum
13. Dec 2017 · 19:49 UTC
Fun idea going out hunting stars who are not. I would have liked to move around with a bit more ease to go further and further from safely. But for me I was depleting a bit too fast.
Flubz
14. Dec 2017 · 03:55 UTC
Overall good concept! Brilliant art style, great audio, excellent interpretation of the theme, outstanding ambiance which is really impactful on the mood and nice execution. Well done on your first compo! :smiley:
1Gary
21. Dec 2017 · 05:24 UTC
@forrest What I meant by an update system was some sort of game mechanic wherein you could upgrade your ship by buying stuff such as better speed and maneuvering and whatnot using the ingame currency.
🎤 forrest
21. Dec 2017 · 22:41 UTC
@1gary - Ahh, that was one of the intended features that I ran out of time for. I personally see that as polish rather than a core feature.