Hey, I just get this screen when trying to play, this is after the title screen, is this right:


Oooh and for formatting posts if you put a space between the # and the text you'll get a Heading (I made this mistake too).

@lacemattley No, I'm afraid that's a bug. Someone else reported this to me, same thing, and I can't figure out why it's happening. I'll keep trying.

What it looks like it's doing is creating two worlds. Looking at my code, there's no way for the game to create two worlds on the first level, and even if it does, there's collision logic that should immediately separate the two worlds so they shouldn't overlap like that. I'm very puzzled, because I can't replicate it on my dev system.

**Update:** I have fixed the bug as of [latest release, 1.0.4.8](https://csanyk.itch.io/tarjectories)

Please download the latest and try again.

** Things I noticed: **
* I had to run it as administrator.
* The hitboxes for the targets seem weird. Sometimes I thought I definitely hit it, but it didn't register a hit. Other times, I thought I definitely missed, but it registered a hit.

All in all, the game is fun. I wish there was more variety in the levels. Like enemies that take shots at you, or moving targets. Perhaps there are, but by level 7 I hadn't seen anything different. The sound effects were good too.

Also, why is it called "Tarjectories"?

@Move127 thanks for the feedback.

"Tarjectories" is a mashup of the words "Target" and "Trajectory". I had considered naming the game Targectories, but didn't want to trigger another "gif pronounciation war".

I have no idea why the game would require running as administrator... I will have to test that and see if I can figure it out. **Update: I created a non-admin account and was able to run the game. Perhaps something unique to your system config?**

The game gets a bit more interesting after level 8, so I encourage you to play through all 18 levels.

I do have a few more ideas for things that I might add to a post-compo version... I'm very likely to follow up on them, as I really liked how this turned out, and see potential for more.

As for hit detection... I'm not sure. If you can describe more, it would be helpful. Just a thought: how much power are you putting on the cannon? It could be a high-speed collision issue if you're increasing power too much. I'm not sure what the practical upper bound on gun power is, but I typically don't push it any higher than 7, and it seems to be OK for me.

Pretty cool concept. I could see it being pretty interesting if taken further with more planets affecting your shots, different bullet effects, etc. I think the turret should be able to move faster and you should be able to fire multiple bullets at a time. When the planets are spinning really fast it's hard to line up your shots since the turret moves so slowly. And when you miss you have to wait until your bullet is destroyed before you can shoot again which sometimes takes a while when it's flying between planets.

@longchamps thanks for playing and for your comment.

I limit the player to a single bullet deliberately, because I want you to be careful with aiming in this game. If you can shoot as many bullets as you like, you can just spam the target and hit, without skill.

Sometimes you do have to be patient, and wait for your shot to line up. But I think the idea of a game that encourages/rewards patience is a good one.

I'll think about adjusting the turret elevation speed... I think it's pretty good where it is, but I could see tweaking it a bit, or perhaps making it user-configurable. I'll add it to my roadmap list.

And now I've written an epilogue to the postmortem, but it's over on [csanyk.com](https://csanyk.com/2017/04/tarjectories-ludum-dare-38-postmortem/)

This is insane, and I love it. When I first saw the screenshot I thought "oh man, just a Scorched Earth clone?"

I was wrong with that gut reaction. So very, very wrong. This is a ton of fun. Probably the best LD game I've played this time around.

Awesome core mechanic! Really challenging later on. Really liked the difficulty climb wasn't too harse but got decently difficult to hit things in time.

Sound effects were nice and chunky, visuals and sound reminded me off games I used to play on my Atari 800xl. Great job!

I could only get to level 10 sadly. I killed myself four times on that level. But I had a blast... no pun intended! Good Job! :thumbsup:

After the first 8 levels I was getting pretty bored. Especially since there's a "3, 2, 1, 0" countdown between each level that seems to actually take more like 15 seconds! And I couldn't figure out a way to skip the countdown, either.

But, when I got to the 9th level I got a little excited about the possibilities. I quickly dispatched the targets on my home planet, then powered up my cannon and took aim while I waited for the planets to align. I fired, but totally missed the target and my bullet flew off into space. Then, seconds later, the bullet came back, looped around the planet, and came down directly onto my gun, blowing it up!

I with the levels were a bit more interesting at the start. After 2 single-planet levels, I'm ready to see the advanced stuff!

Sound effects were nice. Graphics were very simple, but they got the job done. Some music and maybe some backgrounds would have been nice to help set the mood.

Very cool concept - Sometimes when I fired bullets that would land a decent distance away from the target the target would still be destroyed. Also had some issues with reducing my fire power from time to time, it just wouldn't apply or remove the power down. Other then that a fun little game - Great job! :smile:

----------------------------------------

Please check out ours:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/plutus

This was a really awesome idea for a game. I was super excited about it and then new levels had a second planet which made it even better! My only complaint is that there wasn't a multiplayer version.

Nooo I killed myself on level 17!

It was a fun game though, it got more interesting when tow planets appeared.
A bit simple in all respecto, but solid game design in my opinion. Good job!

Unlocked Googly Eye Mode!! Ended with 472260 pts, 0.29% accuracy!
This was really fun! A good idea, was a nice surprise when the second planet showed up.
The levels where planets are further apart can be a tad frustrating since you can only have one bullet fired at a time, sometimes their trajectories just keep going for a while. Had one bullet that flew for maybe 10 seconds, making a figure 8 trajectory between the two planets for a while!

Blew my mind when there was 2 planets all of a sudden haha, and then the performance dropped off ;) Pretty neat game tbh, graphics probably slowed your click rate but that's a shame cause it's fun!

Increasing the number of planets sooner would be a nice addition. Simple, yet effective, graphics. Gameplay is the essence of games like GunBound or Worms. I had issues with decreasing the power with WASD. It seems "D" was adjusting both the turret angle and decreasing the power, and "S" wasn't doing anything.

I loved the early game development art style (it's almost like a form of digital folk art) and sound effects, and seriously, this game is really fun. Definitely surprised and pleased by the addition of more planets; really nice work!

Cool game idea! Lining up the shots with the right power and angle is really awesome. Maybe add some background music in the future. Also the 's' wasn't working for me so i used the arrow keys. Overall, great job!

Basically scorched earth but in space.

Best game ever. Shot myself tragically with a 1080 two planets no scope. Well done ! :)

I won with ~497000 points and 37% accuracy! I had quite a lot of fun with this. I was about to give up and complain that it's near impossible to hit far away planets with any kind of accuracy, but then I started to get better at it. It's a little frustrating having to wait for your last projectile to explode before you can loose another one.

I think it's great in it's simplicity.

Googly eyes! I tried to win again to see if the planets would get any other facial features, but I got given a level where I was almost perfectly out of sync with the target on the other planet (It was always somewhere on the far side when I tried to line up my shot) and so all I could do was shoot a projectile into orbit and see if it would land anywhere near. After about 5 minutes of that I gave up :D

Also projectiles will last between levels and land on your if you're really unlucky :D

Nice idea, interesting challenge, more fun than most! Could use a bit of polish!

If you'd like to try our game it's here https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/e-at

Cheers!

Rob

Ha ha! Googly eye mode! :grinning:

@frankiesmileshow - nice score...but let me respond with THIS:


Suck it!

@csanyk - You've made a really fun game. I admit to being a fan of the genre (the first game I ever finished was a Tanks clone) but your added twist of the multiple planets adds a fresh spin (do you see what I did there?)

Excellent work!

This is really cool! Simple-looking, but there's a lot to play with in the gravitational mechanics. Starts to get particularly interesting when multiple planets are involved.

10/10 would launch shell into neighbouring planet's orbit again

The mechanics were great! I would have loved a small indicator of range adjustment rather than a number, but I really like the retro feel of it.

enjoyed the original mechanics

Hey that was fun. The classic castles game play with some extra twists. You should probably introduce the multiple planets a bit earlier, I almost quit just before because it was getting a bit samey, but that made it a lot more interesting. Accidentally blew myself on level 13. Loved the retro aesthetic and the overall polish. Nice one.

Great idea! I'd say ideal for mobile game. I'd change sound effects though. They kinda hurt my ears.

Nice! Really cool concept and fun, I like the challenge. Time limit added some nice tension to the whole thing, even if it wasn't a game over when you ran out of time. One thing I would recommend is to have the "skip result screen" key be something specific like space, I accidentally skipped the first result screen since I didn't think I was gonna hit that shot & was trying to line up for another one and pressed left or right. Also, I understand that only having one shot out at a time might be necessary for balance (so you can't just spam shots) but it was a bit frustrating to have a shot orbiting for a while as you watch helplessly. A "trickshot bonus" for doing a bunch of orbits would be cool :P Still it was a lot of fun, nice work!

A really good surprise. I didn't expect anything, but ... You did an interesting game which fits with the theme. I like physics. It could be interesting to do a game for mobile using this first attempt. Definitely surprised and pleased by the addition of more planets. Time limit added some nice tension. I had fun playing Tarjectories. Well done. Thumbs up. Hightly rated ++

I spend too much time playing this game, I think it means I like it! Could use some music to go along with it. I found your post mortem very enjoyable to read. Having worked on a similar project in the past, I know how fun it is to play with gravity and multiple planets.

There are some little improvements I think could be made. The UI is too far away from the action, I need to move my eyes so far to check relevant info like power and time. Maybe place it under the turret? Levels with two planets are introduced too late, they are way more fun than single planet levels and I should at least know that I can expect the start (even a screenshot on the page would do). One level with three planets for the final would be awesome.

The game is still absurdly fun as it is. Loved it!

Probably the most basic graphics I've seen yet but that didn't matter at all cause the game was really fun to play. I made it to Level 10 but then shot myself :P One thing I didn't understand was the timer, even when it reaches I could still continue playing... Anyway, you did a great job! Congrats :)

Unfortunately I had a lot of trouble understanding the Up/Down elevation control, maybe I am just slow. I didn't see anything change when I press Up/Down, so I think maybe some sort of indication that you're at elevation level 1,2,3,4, etc. might help? I thought it worked by holding it down or something, but I think I deduced that every time you press, the elevation goes up/down a level?

@SiegfriedCroes: The timer is just for bonus points. If you run out of time, there's no bonus, but if you can hit all the targets before time runs out, you get extra points. I realize it's not very clear in the Compo release, but I'll address that in a future release.

@lyxil: Up/Down doesn't affect elevation, it affects the power of the gun. Think of it like adding more gunpowder to the shot. Each tap of the key adds or subtract a quarter point of power. Left/right is what changes the gun's elevation (aiming).

Thanks to everyone who played and rated TARJECTORIES! See you next time!