Space Cowboy's Last Stand by jasperarmstrong

made by jasperarmstrong for LD 38 (JAM)

Steve the space cowboy lives on the moon. For some reason, aliens have decided to attack. Not one to back from a fight, Steve whips out his trusty revolver and gets to work. Fight the invading aliens, use their scrap to either build more ammo, replenish Steve's health, or replenish the health of the moon, and try to last as long as possible!

I made all the assets in the game except for the explosion graphic (ran out of time), which I got from opengameart.org, and all the sounds (no skill in making sounds), which I got from soundbible.com and freesfx.co.uk.

CONTROLS:
A or Left: Move Left
D or Right: Move Right
Space, W, or Up: Jump
Left Mouse: Fire Gun
R: Reload Gun

LINKS:
Windows / Mac / Linux / WebGL (Downloaded Version Recommended)
Source

SOFTWARE USED:
Unity 5.6
Adobe Photoshop CC 2017
Audacity

Original URL

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/space-cowboys-last-stand

Ratings

Overall	590^th	3.034⭐	31🧑‍⚖️
Fun	346^th	3.233⭐	32🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	540^th	2.833⭐	32🧑‍⚖️
Theme	348^th	3.5⭐	32🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	617^th	2.767⭐	32🧑‍⚖️
Humor	301^th	2.821⭐	30🧑‍⚖️
Mood	628^th	2.69⭐	31🧑‍⚖️
Given		37🗳️	38🗨️

Feedback

MrGussio

01. May 2017 · 11:08 UTC

The HUD was kind of in an odd position to me, so maybe you could move it a bit so it isn't blocking your view so much.

For the rest the game is fun to play, and it's great to see some reward system in there (the more you kill, the easier it will be)

Great submission!

GenericToast

01. May 2017 · 11:09 UTC

Really fun! I kept on dying to my own bullets though.

toestee

01. May 2017 · 11:10 UTC

Highest score I got was 22, it gets really really difficult once you miss even a few aliens, they just swarm up everywhere. Lots of fun though, I enjoyed being a space farmer, could be even better with upgradable weapons.

Anthony Dunlap

01. May 2017 · 17:06 UTC

Great game. Could use some music though. Most of my wounds where self inflicted because my bullets come back to me, but that just makes the game more interesting. I also don't understand how a cowboy works on the moon when there are no crops or cows there.

davidthelazar

01. May 2017 · 23:53 UTC

The cowboy on the moon cracked me up, and so did the whole place blowing up.I was terrible at this, but it was fun!

theslate

01. May 2017 · 23:56 UTC

Interesting game! The bright stars moving really fast made me nauseous though. If they were dimmer, or didn't move at all, it would have been fine. See you space cowboy.

kleinzach

02. May 2017 · 00:04 UTC

I liked the idea of returning to your shack to get upgrades, except that the menu kept me from seeing the aliens and shooting. Mechanics felt very solid though. I liked the way the movement and firing all felt, and there was a good balance of ammo and reloading to make it difficult. I like the way that the bullets orbited, though They would be coming so fast I would always shoot myself which was more annoying then interesting from a game-play perspective. Also, it felt pretty relentless once an alien has been around for long enough.

ropedog

02. May 2017 · 00:31 UTC

Sweet game! The rotation mechanics feel really good, and you have to compensate for the bullet trajectories! I also appreciate the addition of a store. It adds a lot of depth and strategy to the game.
I will say I wish I could have had the option to either pause the game or become invincible while accessing the store. While having to buy items at the same time as the aliens are attacking adds to the frantic nature of the gameplay, it makes it tough to assess your current health, the planet's health, and your ammo all at the same time.
Fun game, great idea, and solid execution!

abhimonk

02. May 2017 · 00:39 UTC

I LOVE the idea of having to dodge your own bullets. The physics on the orbiting bullets was well done. I also really like how the bullets can swing around and sometimes kill multiple enemies. That always felt really satisfying. I thought the shop placement was a little troublesome sometimes. I think maybe having it at the bottom of the screen as an overlay would have been better. At first, I was a little torn about having to manually reload, but I think it adds a bit of desperation to the game, so in the end I think it was a good choice. Finally, I really liked the art style. It was simple but made the concept of a cowboy on the moon even funnier. Very nice work!

micahcowan

02. May 2017 · 01:05 UTC

Congratulations! You made a game! ^_^

I agree that the store makes it hard when aliens start shooting - and the store HUD gets in the way when there's aliens that spawn by the store, too.

Very simple, yet challenging!

Laylow

02. May 2017 · 01:06 UTC

Same here about the reloading. I came around to it as I realized it's a good mechanic to limit blind firing. Great game. Crisp controls and it has a satisfying feel when you clear out the enemies. I think a more prominent 'reload' message would help.

makenai

02. May 2017 · 04:19 UTC

This was fun! The difficulty was a little but unforgiving for me - I wish I had a few more bullets to start out with to ease into the learning curve. The controls are nice and smooth. I like the art and all around feel of the game. Well done!

piscythe

02. May 2017 · 06:20 UTC

I really think the aliens are putting too much effort into this one. All they really needed to do was land some targets on the asteroid and watch Steve shoot himself trying to do target practice.

That said, I like how misfires can also work to the player's benefit, as stray bullets and come circling around and nail enemies. This is a very tight and challenging game. Whether I was trying not to kill myself, trying to chase down an alien before it blew the ground out from under my feet, or watching my ammo counter tick down I felt like I was fighting a desperate battle.

High Score: 20

piscythe

02. May 2017 · 06:20 UTC

[Edit: Why did my comment get posted twice?]

simple-blue

02. May 2017 · 06:26 UTC

The cowboy was cute, the game was fun. Everything was great - except I couldn't stop killing myself with the gravity of the bullets. I would get trigger happy and keep shooting, which resulting in my own bullets killing me. I had a lot of fun playing this. Keep up the good work!

KCreanor

02. May 2017 · 12:55 UTC

This is an overall great little game, with fantastic physics which is always amazing to see! Really quite tricky, but with a few more powerups/weapons etc this would make an excellent game that I would happily play for quite a while. Graphics are simple yet fitting, and the whole thing was just a really fun experience. Well done :smiley:

Rick

03. May 2017 · 01:58 UTC

Haha, this was fun! I love how my own bullets kept killing myself. The prices for the upgrades were a little steep but a little tweaking can fix that easily.
You should try and polish this up and turn it into a more solid thing.

Keep it simple though, the pace of shooting and killing aliens feels just right to me.

blinry

03. May 2017 · 11:16 UTC

The Linux build doesn't work for me - clicking the buttons in the menu does nothing.

🎤 jasperarmstrong

03. May 2017 · 18:56 UTC

@blinry Hmm, that's disappointing. Unfortunately, I don't really have a way to test on Linux currently. Were you at least able to get the webgl version to work?

NickZangus

04. May 2017 · 06:48 UTC

Nice entry! The web version begins to stutter after a few seconds, better to use the pc version. As others have said, the movement of the stars is a bit of a nuisance, I would suggest lowering the contrast to minimize this problem.

Rolle

04. May 2017 · 17:16 UTC

Oh crap, I sucked at this game! Kept killing myself! :-) Some polish and music and it would be really fun(nier)! Well done!

pkenney

06. May 2017 · 06:19 UTC

This was fun!

My high score was 45, is that good?

The art was charming, the sound effects lived large, and the game was simple but fun.

I did have a couple of things I wished for:

- Wished bullets were bigger, especially since they swing around and hit myself pretty often. They shouldn't be a dot like the stars, but like a cartoon vlambeer bullet half the size of my head, imo.

- The menu interfered with the gameplay too much. This was often how I lost control of a situation.

Other than that though, this was fun! Great job. My favorite part was how satisfying it felt to nail the arc shots, and I loved the way it was worth it to stop and take careful but quick aim.

pstudio

08. May 2017 · 16:05 UTC

I really enjoyed the art. Unfortunately I didn't have a mouse with me and had to play it with a trackpad. I really sucked at this game.

Meaty McLazerPantz

09. May 2017 · 18:03 UTC

Yeah I was pretty terrible at this game, but it was fun. Perhaps start the player off with a bit more ammo? I was confused at first why I ran out of bullets so quickly til I realized I had to be more careful with each shot to maximize what I got back for it. Good art and pretty tight controls!

athomicus

10. May 2017 · 10:10 UTC

Idea was good sometimes was difficult but I enjoy your game

Jupiter_Hadley

10. May 2017 · 14:20 UTC

Nice 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=Mxyrl5Tjmjc

🎤 jasperarmstrong

10. May 2017 · 20:51 UTC

@jupiter-hadley Cool, thank you!

Ellian

15. May 2017 · 22:42 UTC

It's a bit of a simple game, but it was fun!
It's hard to see the bullets, and I wish I had more options to shoot with. Cool game nonetheless, kudos!