Battery Booster by Garett Cooper

[raw]
made by Garett Cooper for LD 39 (COMPO)

Battery Booster.png

Battery Booster is an electric car time attack game made in Unity, in which the player must manage their speed and energy supply to get the fastest times.

This is my second Ludum Dare game and I still haven't quite got the hang of picking an appropriate scope, as I developed most of a racing game before coming to the realization that AI complexity is proportional to mechanical nuance. In the end, I stripped out the AI to make a decent time attack game while learning my lesson. On to LD 40!

Ratings

Overall 311th 3.35⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 226th 3.368⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 509th 2.684⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 322th 3.526⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 501th 2.737⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 303th 2.895⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 448th 1.867⭐ 17🧑‍⚖️
Mood 513th 2.5⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Given 22🗳️ 3🗨️

Feedback

drtizzle
31. Jul 2017 · 17:32 UTC
This was a lot of fun to play! The difficulty level was just right, and the car controlled very smooth and reacted as I expected it to do. I found it nice that you could recharge your car by not accelerating, so you can manage your energy even better, and cannot fail the game (no game over when your energy is 0).

Music is pretty cool (I did not hurt your feelings ;)), but the graphics are pretty bland to be honest.

Overall well done!
nikrt
31. Jul 2017 · 17:34 UTC
The concept is really nice. One of its kind. This is my 2nd LD too so I know exactly what you mean 😅. Anyways, gam play was nice. I loved the concept.
stephen321
31. Jul 2017 · 17:36 UTC
Nice, this is a fun game.
Michael Feldman
31. Jul 2017 · 17:37 UTC
First off, I get that this didn't meet your end vision, however I think it is a very cool game as it stands. It is very challenging to race and collect the batteries. One thing I really liked is the mini map, makes the thing look polished and on par with other racing games. The music was actually good! Sad to admit though I never actually completed all 3 laps, I just abused the heck out of my boost. Anyway good luck!
Quaternius
31. Jul 2017 · 17:39 UTC
The idea really fits the theme and i liked the simplicity of it, great job!
WillData
31. Jul 2017 · 17:40 UTC
I got stuck on walls on grass a few times and couldn't back out at all so I needed to restart. Other than that the game was fairly enjoyable!
roycocup
31. Jul 2017 · 17:42 UTC
This is got pretty good feeling to it. Well done!
Conrad Etherton
31. Jul 2017 · 21:32 UTC
Really nice and simple with good balancing. The spacing and placement of batteries is provides interesting risk and reward strategy. An engine sound would have been nice but I really like the music.
Sputnik3D
31. Jul 2017 · 22:04 UTC
Just finished playing Battery Booster! I like cars/racing so was excited to find this. Car controls can be difficult to get "right" and I think you did a good job on that front. For me, it was difficult to get the boost and still race fast. I feel like some sort of visual aid telling you the direction of an incoming battery might have helped, or maybe I'm just bad. Good work!
Spetsdod
31. Jul 2017 · 22:06 UTC
Good game. I agree with @drtizzle that the controls are just right. Not too responsive, not too sluggish. The music was a little repetitive but added a nice touch. I managed to improve my time three games in a row, which means I was getting better at the game. Gives the player something good to try to improve on. Bonus points for a nice menu screen, and all features seem to work right. Got stuck against the wall once and had to shuffle back and forth several times to get out, so maybe an option to recenter on the road at the cost of a time penalty might be a way to go. Overall, nice job, thanks for the game!
acoto87
02. Aug 2017 · 04:25 UTC
Very nice game. Top down race car are always a classic, with simple mechanics but fun race in the track. Graphics and music are good, sound effects probably not much, but that's nothing. Great work!
mrboxbox
03. Aug 2017 · 22:47 UTC
Not too bad. It was a nice challenge to balance between gathering energy and having the optimal driveline.
pklaschka
04. Aug 2017 · 18:11 UTC
**Great work!**

I actually enjoyed that there were no AI cars (I like playing without AI and in such a short amount of time, working on a good AI is almost impossible in my opinion). And it's better to have no AI then to have a bad one.

Also, I loved the simplicity of it. The feeling was just right when "driving".

**All in all: A great game, especially for you second LD :thumbsup:**
icxon
14. Aug 2017 · 19:39 UTC
I think you can add some optional shortcuts (wall is broken and possible to move around trees). It's also hard to start when you got stuck in wall with 0 speed (even if your power is max).

Here is my play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhMzJyWEvKM
Linky439
15. Aug 2017 · 09:33 UTC
Damn, I wanted to try this one out but when I tried to launch the Windows version on a Windows 8 OS, I get an error message "Failed to load mono" and the game doesn't launch :(
hadesfury
15. Aug 2017 · 09:53 UTC
Good idea :) well done
TheFlyingKeyboard
15. Aug 2017 · 10:00 UTC
Really fun game to play, but needs a bit polishing. Concept of gameplay is simple, but fun. I think that steering could be better, but it is not bad. Great Job!