I'm very fond of this game. I had a good time playing this.

I found some things though:
As you can see one of the people has kind of bugged out after he left a building. I also noticed that you (probably) used MoveTowards() for the bullets. This led to the bullet stopping in mid air once it reached the mouse position. You really have to keep your cursor far out if you want to shoot the UFOs.

I think you did a great job, congrats :-)

edit: it runs great on mac btw

Ha ha, weird game! I was a bit horrified when my person went into a house, made a baby, and the baby was instantly taken by aliens. That's life I guess. It goes a bit wacky when you run around the planet enough (the player starts doing the limbo) - but I like that. The sound effects were great... the music, a bit nuts but matched the feel of the game. Great work!

(also, yep: confirm runs well on mac - but if you could do a web build I think more people will play it)

I love the dynamic of this game and the idea. The art is also quite good for the time limit. It was lots of fun but I'd suggest showing more information to me about how long it will take to fuel up my rocket and things like that. I also love the baby making animations and how the children grow! It's exciting to play and watch.

Not really much to do, get's kinda boring quite fast.

Also it's kinda unfair if you are on the other side of the planet when an alien ship arrives; you don't even have time to walk around the planet before it abducts someone.

I'd like to play your game, but I don't have Windows or OSX. A web or Linux version would be nice

This was a lot of fun. I liked managing line-of-sight to blast the UFOs as soon as possible. It was good at creating some tension about whether I could make it in time if the UFO spawned far away. It was more fair than I expected; I think I was always able to save people from being abducted, even if they were on the opposite side of the planet.

It was sort of hard to understand what exactly was happening to progress the rocket timer and how I was influencing it. Also, as someone mentioned above, having the rockets move past the cursor position would have been nice.

I cracked up the first time I saw one of the houses start bouncing around to make a baby. Fun game!

@mrspeaker
Glad you liked it. And, yeah, I hate when those pesky aliens take the little ones. But, they'll get what they deserve in the end.

@saurabh
Thanks for praising the art. Art is my curse... something I can't do, but thought it came out alright in this one. Wish I'd had time to replace the placeholder graphics for the aliens and the player - but such is Ludum Dare. The baby-making is one of my favorite parts of the game too :smile:

@smbe19
I did have more things planned for the player to do, but ultimately I ran out of time. Working on a post compo version where you'll have to manage health and ammo as well - also more stuff for your worker aliens to do... and more enemy types. As for it being unfair... I don't feel like it is. You're gonna lose some of your people - that's by design. Try to keep close to where most of them are, and work your way around for the best angles no matter where the alien ships descend upon you.

@pschichtel
Linux version is now available on the Itch.io page (sorry for not including it originally). As for a web build... can't get Unity to build one. It's bugged out on the Unity end of things, and I am yet to find a solution. I just get an empty folder.

@davidthelazar
Glad you enjoyed playing. As for more visual queues as to what is happening, and what needs to be done - yes, that is something I wanted to make, but ran out of time. I was going to have animations for when the aliens are chopping down wood, and also for when they fuel the missile. Ended up just having to settle for a little counter that shows how long until missile is ready.

I liked the game. I have read your post and it is nice that you finally have made a game again :). The game is a little repetitive. But otherwise great game.

Die aliens! Die! Don't worry, I killed the aliens for you guys. **Operation Follow One Guy Around The Planet And Everyone Else Can Go Jump In A Lake** was a success!

* I think the rockets should continue propelling until offscreen, rather than stopping at where you clicked.
* The rotation controls would get confusing when you're on the other side of the planet. Not sure what the fix is though. Maybe flip the left/right meaning based on what side of the planet you're on? That and add up/down.

Fun stuff. I like that they made babies and visited the hospital, that's a great touch. :)

@stupidpawn Thanks for playing. Yeah, it was a relief to actually submit something again. There were a lot of things I was hoping to add, to make it less repetitive, but having wasted 10 hours on another game, gave me less time on this one. Post-Compo version is in the making, and I think that will be a nice little game.

@scriptorum Yeah, I was going for a homing missile type shooting, but I may change it to continue on past the screen. However, there are alien ships off screen waiting to descend upon you, and I wouldn't want them getting hit before they even enter the playing area. As for the confusion when rotating below the planet... yeah, that confused me too at first - but I kind of got used to it. Like you, I wouldn't know what would make it work. Can't really flip the left right, since if you continuously move in one direction... you wouldn't want to suddenly go the opposite way.

And, yeah - worker aliens will be doing more stuff than making babies and getting heals in the post-compo version.

Nice concept, had a lot of fun playing it :)
The art is a bit stiff, but the gameplay works quite good. Always had a good time shoot some of those evil UFOs!!

I'm glad I played this to the end. One thing I'm sure you already know is: I think it's strange that the velocity of the bullets is proportional to how far away the mouse is. I understand the need to "cull" bullets after a certain distance, but it was strange to click close to the player and see the bullet go very slow. Other than that, I really liked the overall aesthetic of this game. It sounds strange, but the spooky cacophonous music coupled with how absurd and terrifying the aliens looked, as well as the strange sounds of the townspeople made the style of the game feel very consistent. Shooting down alien ships was satisfying as well. Also, the babymaking was a pretty funny surprise. Great work!

Nice job!

Interesting concept! Didn't understand at first that the mouse controlled both direction AND distance! At one point, though, the orientation of the player got a lil weird and he was essentially laying down and shooting (no worries, he's just cool like that). Nice job!

I found the start to be a bit slow.
Art was minimalistic which did not really incite any feeling.
The controls were good and the overall objective was fun.

AHHHH! The random piano music is driving me to the brink of madness!

In all seriousness, though, great game. I like the control, and the sound effects are perfect. Nice work!

@realitycheck You would only check for direction flip on key down. While the key was held, it would maintain the rotation it started with.

I thought the game wasn't going so well, down to one little friend, when lo and behold the lovemaking begins! (They even make love to themselves to produce, what versatile guys!) They sure mature fast, too. No wonder the invading army wants them so bad! :D

Game was a lot of fun. Sure is hard to protect them when there's a bunch of them, but protecting a couple is a piece of cake.

Took me a bit to get used to the single-bullet respawn happening. I'd sit there leaning on the clicker, wondering why my bullets aren't reaching the invaders. ;)

Congratulations on completing such an entertaining game by yourself in only 48 hours!

@obvious-san Glad you enjoyed it. And, yup - my artistic skills are below average :smile:

@abhimonk Thank you for playing. Yeah, the bullets will need some reworking for my post-compo version. Glad you liked the cohesion of the game - I thought it came together better than I expected while rushing through the final hours.

@playvue Thanks.

@clegamecoop Yup. Thanks to feedback here it has become apparent that I need to change the way bullets work. And, the leaning player/aliens bug is something I've already addressed in my current post-compo build (not available to the public yet).

@supermsp10 Yeah, I never got around to the balancing part. It needs a little more action in the beginning, and gradually spawning in more alien ships. Will be balanced better in a post-compo version.

@simonhutchinson Driving you insane? Imagine how much of it I've listened to... hehe. Post-compo version will allow muting the music and lowering the volume. Glad you enjoyed the game, though.

@scriptorum That's actually a decent idea. I may have to play around with that.

@micahcowan Thank You. I was hoping to create a game where you could get into trouble, and then it would get easier again, providing you do a good job defending the little worker aliens. More variables for variety with that will exist in the post-compo version... and the kids will not grow up quite so fast.

I really liked the game even though the idea is very simple. You have executed it very well. I played until the end and it was a fun experience. Thank you for sharing this game with us!

Nice game! Love the making love animation.

I really got into this one :grin: Satisfying sound effects when shooting and destroying the aliens and the music was entertaining too. Of course, as mentioned in other comments, the bullet thing was kind of annoying, but I got used to it after a while. What would make the game a little more tense would be ammo (which I read you will be adding in the future) and friendly fire. Your people make a noise when hit but can't die, as far as I noticed.

@mrerdalural And, Thank You for playing. Glad you enjoyed it. I was pleased to come up with this simple idea after having wasted 10 hrs on another game.

@holgk Thanks. Yeah, the love making was something I enjoyed putting in there.

@somethinboutgames Glad you liked it. Yes, ammo will be added (and your worker aliens need to produce it for you). Friendly fire is actually already in the version you're playing (hence the "aow" when they get hit by a bullet). I just never got around to actually making them die before running out of time. Current version for Post-Compo already has worker aliens dying and also getting stunned for a while after taking an injury, fall damage taken based on distance they fall, and time spent at hospital based on how badly hurt they are. I think the 1.0 version will feel a lot more coherent and interactive.

This is quite good. I loved the concept, but it got a little repetitive after a while. Perhaps it could get more difficult as the game goes on?

I enjoyed several parts of the game, super glad that my workers repopulate themselves because I lost two of them immediately! I spent the first minute just shooting my guys before the aliens showed up, so I'm glad their isn't friendly fire yet, although that could certainly add something nice to the game. I think it will be interesting if you add the ammo restriction with requiring the workers to make it, would definitely add nice layer to the game.

Right now the main issue is the bullets traveling only to the cursor, threw me off for a bit. But other than that it was a fine time. Good luck!

I enjoyed the game. I especially thought the "repopulating" mechanic was funny and worked well. Nice job!

I enjoyed more seeing how the population grew up than shooting the aliens. Indeed there was a moment when an alien was trying to abduct a child that was concieved in my game, and I was really worried about losing it.

Overall it was a good game, but I think the earth should be a bit smaller, so you have more time to react. In the beginning I lost most of my population, but happily it recovered, so I won the game in the end.

This game is very fun, I 've enjoyed to play! And I've laughted when I saw how the world create new humans. LOL. The only issue that I've found is the shoot being deleted when they reach the position that I've clicked... You should make them keep following the same position until they go out of the screen.
You've made a good work. I had time to learn the mechanics, and the game was going progressively more hard. Good design!

Good job!

@willbl3pic Thanks for playing. Yes, it is a bit repetitive in it's current state. I was going to increase the difficulty as time went on, but needed a few other mechanics before I was comfortable doing that... time didn't allow.

@kantieno Thanks. Yeah, the breeding mechanic was something I felt was necessary for the game, since I had every intention of the player losing some of their worker aliens while playing. I am hoping to do more with that mechanic in the post-compo version - along with friendly fire and limited ammo... Too bad you were shooting your own guys :smile:

@gato Thanks. Happy to hear people seem to like the breeding mechanic. I certainly enjoyed putting it in there.

@diegoctorguet Glad to hear your reaction to aliens trying to snatch your baby. I wanted those types of feelings in this game. I personally enjoy base building type games, and love to watch my little people go about their business... so that's something I was going for here.

@rother-games I was considering making the planet smaller, but I also felt that the game was too easy as it was, and so I came to like the shorter distance. I am adding a few buildings for the post-compo version, so I might have to make the planet smaller then... we'll see.

@unidaystudio Yep, those bullets will be changed. Thanks to feedback here, it's obvious that would be an improvement. Glad you enjoyed the game!

I'm a big fan of the progression from child to scientist

Fun little game!

I like all the little things the people were doing as the game progressed, and the sounds they made were funny. Took me a little while to figure out that the missiles I shoot stopped at my curser location, but once I did everything suddenly got a lot easier.

It's a little bit repetitive, but I don't really see how it could avoid being so given the concept. Maybe some kind of secondary mechanics or resource management would do the trick. It could even be an interesting moral choice if you added some scenario in which choosing to sacrifice some population would help you win the game easier. All for the greater good, you know?

I did have a pretty odd bug, where the trees and the final missile become unhinged from the planet and started floating in space. Because of that, I couldn't reach the missile when I had 100/100 progress, so it wouldn't launch. Luckily I fixed that by voluntarily being tractor beamed by an alien into the missile, so I was able to fire it anyway.

I liked it, good compo entry!

I think this is a great idea and quite well realized. Perhaps there could be more things that workers would do, then I could just watch them going about their business, living their lives, making babies, chopping down trees... and the other things... not because they are easy, but because they are hard :wink:

I read you post mortem as well as I was interested in what else you had in mind for this game. I think it doesn't matter that your original idea didn't turn out as it should, what's important is that you found the will to go with another one after spending quite some time on the first one already. I would love to see how the post LD version would look like with improved graphics and additional mechanics.

Overall it's a nice little game and you deserve big :thumbsup: for it. Keep up the good work!

@batmanasb So am I :smile: Thanks for playing!

@mars Thanks. I did put some time (maybe a bit too much) into making the worker aliens do their thing. Enjoyed it a lot myself. And, yes, the game is a bit repetitive, and post-compo will add a couple new things for the player to do, and keep track of. Even the worker aliens will have some more things to do. As for the bug - yup, one of those annoying things that I didn't have time to fix. I believe the current version I have after some bug fixes should have eliminated that... however... usually it's the aliens that go flying - never seen the forest take off like that. Interesting. Smart tactics to allow yourself to win the game, though.

@cvetk0 Thanks for playing. As mentioned - the worker aliens will definitely have more things to do in a post-compo version (been slow progress though, as I've not been putting in the work hours). Do keep your eyes peeled for version 1.0 when it drops. Would be fun to hear what people think after having played the compo version.

I actually laughed out loud when I saw the repopulation of my game. Congrats on finishing the game, it's hard some times but you stuck with it. I felt that I couldn't keep up with the ships sometimes but I don't mind loss being inevitable, as long as the player can make the decisions to figure out what to sacrifice. I wonder if you could expand the game so you couldn't actually see the whole play field like in Defender and just have a map. There's lots of possibilities there. Congrats and crossing the finish line!

Nice little game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 38 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYiOXlTKNb0

Cool and interesting game, got a little bit repetitive, but overall well made and entertaining. Good job!

Solid little game! I thought the escort quest/autonomous behaviour element was a really great addition and strongly differentiates it from the more obvious "defend a circular planet from multiple directions" game that it would have been without it. Also nice to have actual music in the game; I know it's something I've consistently shied away from trying to do, so Kudos for diving in and making it happen!

@spacewizardj Thanks. The baby making feature seems to be highly appreciated. I enjoy hearing that, as I had fun putting that into the game. I'm currently working on an expanded version of the game that I hope to release by the end of next week. Still keeps the same view, but there are some new features that should make the game a bit more challenging.

@jupiter-hadley As always - thank you for doing all those videos. By far you are the hardest working Ludum Dare YouTuber out there. Thank you for playing my game! (A little sad you didn't get to the baby making part, though) :wink:

@mikethewayne Thanks for playing. Yeah, I wanted some more things in there, but was short on time. It is a bit repetitive, indeed. Glad you still enjoyed it, though.

@ianmorrison Thanks. The AI of the worker aliens became much of my focus on this game, as I wanted to try my hand at some of that functionality. Happy to hear that you found it added something to the typical spherical defense game that a lot of games this Ludum Dare provided. It was something I did in hopes to have something a bit unique in the end.

Simple, straightforward, and reminds me a lot of retro space invaders with a spherical twist. I dig it. The graphics are simplistic but serviceable yet they somehow remind me of a village full of Doctor Seus characters trying to save themselves from alien attack. Its almost humorful somehow. Which I like. It also helps that the cannon you use sort of looks like a weaponized bong.

Overall I think its pretty solid. Literal small planet that you defend from aliens. It seems like something you could expand into a short game where you wander the galaxy as a mercenary for hire. Helping planets set up their defenses and protecting them while they do. That would give you the ability to let people explore different worlds and cultures, along with possibly unlocks and new weapons if you wanted. I dunno. But I Feel like there is room to expand in any number of directions if you wanted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWSToLZwTAE

@larrychupacabra Thank You so much for playing my game. It is incredibly useful (and entertaining) to watch someone else play your game. There were lots of interesting insights and comments during your play, and I will be thinking about some of what you said.

The main issue with the bullets stopping at the cursor will be no more when I release the Post Compo version of the game. It was very clear that it was a poor decision on my behalf when I made the game during LD. Would be a lot of fun to see you play the Post Compo version, which I hope to release within a couple of weeks from now. Game will not be expanded a whole lot, but will offer some new features, improved graphics and increased difficulty.

Thanks again.

@EVERYONE!
Thank You all for the feedback, and for taking the time to play my game. This Ludum Dare has been a great experience for me. Only wish I'd had more time to rate and play games. Did get quite a few in there, but there are a lot of games that I wish I'd played.