Destruction Zone by Chronosv2
Game here: https://chronosv2.itch.io/destruction-zone (WebGL, Win32, Mac, Linux(32&64 in zip))
Source code here: https://github.com/chronosv2/ld38
WSAD moves. Hold Left mouse button to fire.
Note: The keys are hard-coded. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may cause but I'm still learning how to develop in Unity. If you cannot play the game without rebinding I have created a version of the game with rebindable movement keys (aiming and firing remains unchanged). Nothing else has changed in the game, so this should play identically to the Compo Version, but it is a post-compo change. You can find it on the itch.io page as the (RebindableInput) version for your platform. More info here.
You are a small drone defending what's left of a collapsing habitat station. Everything will be gone in five minutes, and as the station collapses the space you have to move safely decreases. Protect the towers holding the station together, or watch the station's inevitable demise accelerate! Destruction Zone is an 80's Arcade inspired twin-stick style shooter. How high can you score when the world is shrinking before your very eyes?
Postmortem: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/destruction-zone/destruction-zone-a-post-mortem-on-my-first-ludum-dare-game
Screenshots
Instructions:
Every X:30 you will be notified of the next area to disappear. At the X:00 second mark that section will disappear. Get caught in the emptiness and your health will plummet -- you need the energy of the station to survive! If your health reaches zero you'll be reset to the center of the platform and respawn in five seconds. In that time enemies will be spawning so your job will become that much harder! The structures with health bars above them are Support Towers. Those are the target of (most of) the robots and the thing that will keep your run going longer. When one of those is destroyed, it will add time to a clock. That time will be deducted from your time at six times speed!
This is you! You've got your battery pack on your back and darn it, you're going to give these robots what-for, even if your fate is inevitable!
The most common robot is the Collider. it has spikes. It will home in on a tower or you, whichever is closest.
The most dangerous robot by far is the Bomber. It roams between the towers, placing little 5-second treats that will explode, taking a tower with it. High priority targets, these.
These are their treats. Like candy to them.
The robots you'll encounter last are the Shooters. They want YOU. But if you happen to dodge and their bullet hits a tower, they're okay with that too. A variant you'll see with 45 seconds remaining is the Spread Shooter. It has the same Spread Shot you can acquire!
Power-Ups:
Damage Power-Ups are Blue. They increase your damage by 1x. You can have up to Level 5 (5x damage).
Rate Power-Ups are Green. They increase your fire rate by 30% each time you pick one up. Get to Level 5 with these and you'll be shooting 2 times faster!
The Spread Power-Up (and you only need one) is Red. Pick this up to get a three-way shot. Probably overpowered, but the robots don't know that.
Timelapse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0ZuLaK2oNo
Debug Changelog:
Apr-24-2017 9:37PM EDT: GitHub Commit * Forgot I lowered the resolution to 800x600 but left the UI scaled for 1024x768! * This lead to the Play button being inverted (made it invisible), the Score display was cut off, and the game status UI element was under the Penalty timer. Sorry for the inconvenience! :sweat:
Apr-26-2017 10:53AM EDT: GitHub Commit * This version exists specifically if you need rebindable keys to play the game.
Apr-30-2017 04:47PM EDT: GitHub Commit 1, GitHub Commit 2 * This version actually lets you hit the "Return to Title" button followed by the "Play" button to play again! * Also, full disclosure, last night when I did the edit I nearly let a change (a rounding error) slip through that didn't belong in the Compo release. I've since returned the aforementioned file to its original state.
Made With...
Engine: Unity 5.6
Code: Visual Studio Code
Graphics: Aseprite
Music: Bosca Ceoil
Sound: BFXR
Ratings
| Overall | 286th | 3.289⭐ | 47🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 140th | 3.556⭐ | 47🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 429th | 2.636⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 367th | 3.111⭐ | 47🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 402th | 2.818⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 188th | 3.163⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 429th | 1.838⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 392th | 2.773⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 56🗳️ | 58🗨️ |
I agree with @xxDOOMbox that a larger variety of enemy types would be great. After all, most of the enemies can easily be dispatched by simply putting your cursor over them. The game only becomes difficult when the shooters appear, before then you don't have to move at all except to pick up powerups.
I really enjoyed the enemies and especially loved how there were even enemies which shot back at you, that made the game a lot more engaging.
I really enjoy the last stand tower defense feel this game delivers and how engaging it is.
Very well done overall.
The controls are very smooth and intuitive as well as responsive, no problems there.
Sound effects were fitting too and graphics were very pleasant and easy on the eye. Good job! Overall I loved this game
I didn't really understand whether I won or lost in the end.... Also I was not sure what effect the stage becoming smaller had on the gameplay.
But a nice little game with fitting music and sounds! :)
Thank you everyone for the input. I'm really happy that people are enjoying my first foray into 48-hour game making. There are a few things I'd like to improve on (the powerups do get too powerful) but I want to hold off on doing so until after judging just so that I don't accidentally try and fix something that doesn't belong in the Compo/RebindableKeys versions of the game.
I also definitely want to add bonus points based on how many towers remain at the end. It feels like that would make the score attack just that much more compelling.
|+ The loop of trying to protect towers and yourself as the arena shrinks is nice.
|+ There's a nice sense of escalation with the introduction of new enemies.
|+ Having the loss of towers also impact your remaining time was a great way to emphasize the impact of their loss while also adding extra engagement.
|+ The art feels consistent and creates an easy to read environment
|- The starting enemies didn't really grab your attention.
? I think if the first enemies grabbed an initial target instead of just the closest that could have immediatley made a more engaging initial stage-trying to have them chase you while dodging their bullets instead of letting them reach a tower first.
Personally I didn't feel the need for additional types, just each being more meaningfully engaging like the suggestion above, to compliment the compact experience.
Still I really enjoyed playing it, great work :)!
The bombers definitely need some work. Targeting something at random, or even something deliberately far away, would make them more interesting than just rushing the closest tower to blow it up.
I really had fun playing it, some decent tower defence stuff here :)
I also really liked the balance; although after some upgrades noticably made me alot stronger and feel badass, it didn'n turn boring since the enemies and/or their skill also increased :)
really nice what you were able to put up alone in this little amount of time!
I'm even jealous you have a game that last longer than 1 minute, haha :)
I just have to admit I didn't quite look at the interface or explicity understood WHY I died in the end, so if you want to work on this game a little more, maybe add Icons to your interface and make low displays attract attention or something like that :)
I would also love if you could build towers by spending some currency, maybe the enemies drop a currency and then you need to decide what to buy, upgrade for yourself or infrastructure? :)
I also love the idea of the world getting smaller and smaller, maybe add some plot twist how you can save yourself after all, that would be cool :D
rated <3 :)
Definitely in the 70th percentile of gameplay for Ludum Dare games!
Enemies from the top were much harder to destroy before they reach a tower than enemies that came from the bottom as you can see them not as early.
Overall very good job :)
As i tend to do - i jumped right into the game to get a feel for its UI, gameplay and intuitiveness before i go and read up a bit about it, as this gives me an idea of how much thought went into certain areas, and of course, being a classic - it was immediately intuitive.
**Things i thought worked well:**
- General gameplay - loved playing, and played a few times over, having a different experience each time, due to my next point.
- Difficulty - this seemed to scale well. The disappearance of the safe area gave a sense of emergency and each time i played felt different in difficulty - if you die or let the enemies build up, it can get on top of you quick.
- Enemy types - i liked this, the number of different types were perhaps a bit limited but for a game jam, cannot be expecting the world.
- Music - Worked well, suitable.
**Things i thought could use improvement:**
- Not sure if it was a bug but on a follow-on play-through, i immediately had the spread-fire ability, didn't really think about it but made the game a whole lot easier in early game.
- Could use more variety on weapons/attacks. But again, for a game jam, a good job still
Overall, a great, fun game. Well done on your entry.
I guess it's a New Game Plus for now? Haha. Unintended as it may be, it's not game breaking enough to warrant a patch to the Compo version like only being able to hit play once without a refresh/restart was. :laughing:
**Edit:** Just looked this up and there's an issue in Unity's issue tracker for the cursor not showing up in WebGL in v5.6.
As for what you delivered for the compo I will say its nicely done and was very fun to play, but I do have agree that perhaps an extra enemy or two and a little more variety of player weapons would enhance the game.
All in all good job!
After some power ups you are kinda overpowered and you can just shoot around in the general direction of an enemy and have a good chance to kill it. Also the towers don't change the game play much (especially because your bullets don't collide with them) and you just shoot at any enemy no matter what.
The game was well done and I didn't run into any issues. I liked the mechanic with the vanishing parts and the power ups.
And thanks for rating ours, really funny comment!
Anyways, for a first time Unity game, I'd say you did a pretty good job! :) I liked grabbin' all the power ups, especially the triple-shot. Though to be honest, after the 2nd dmg powerup I kind of stopped going for them, since by then I was killing most things in 1-2 hits. I would ALWAYS be grabbing the fire rate power ups though. I wanted to see how fast I could go!
What I noticed is that the powerups kind of stopped dropping during the latter half of the game. I'm sure you have a limit on how many powerups you want the player to grab, but it might be a good idea to spread them out a bit more to give the player a better sense of progression throughout the entire game.
Another thing I noticed is that the powerups drop exactly where you killed an enemy. However, this kind of pits two conflicting goals for the player against each other. The first goal is to kill everything as quickly as possible, so they don't get close to your cores. The second goal is to collect all of the powerups so that your ship is super powerful and can help out with goal 1. However, when you kill enemies on sight, you can usually nail 'em before they get anywhere near your cores in the beginning. When they drop their powerups, they're just floating in the black void, which I quickly discovered drains your health immensely if you venture out there. At that point, I was kind of at odds with whether or not I should kill everything as quickly as possible or MAYBE let them get close enough to where, in case they were holding a powerup, I could grab it. Maybe having the powerups float closer to the current safe area would be a good addition. :)
regardless, I definitely had fun with this one, and managed to play it to the kill screen! This was a pretty great first attempt with Unity!
I like that it's a tower defense that has the shot powerups from my favorite classic sh'mups. Defending those towers sure is a lot easier once you've got fast spreader shots, but then the enemies ramp things up too.
Really fun!
I also liked the fact that you didn't just have to restart the whole game if you died but instead respawned in 5 seconds, very well balanced. Excellent job!
** What could be improved **:
- **background ** - small, gray tiles with contrasting outline make it look unnecessarily cluttered. Making tiles more easy on the eyes, more evenly coloured, would greatly help. For now, it just pops out too much, and doeasn't really feel like background to me.
- **overall palette** - Enemies and towers, on the other hand, could use some colours to make it more lively. Game is fast-paced, so it's really important to be able to assess the situation at a glance, without too much squinting. Also, **UI** could really use a slight, transparent background to make it stand out.
- ** bullets ** - blue on gray just don't sit well. This could use more contrast. Also, with the movement speed you've set, the could be a tad faster, actually.
- ** Visual feedback** - some **explosions** or other effects on enemy death would also improve the feedback player gets. Simple disappearance is not enough if the pace is high. On the other hand, **health bars** for towers obstruct the view - their health could be indicated by changing the hue, for example progressing red colour.
- **powerups** - somehow I feel that keeping powerups between playthroughs is a bug ;) game over should reset the powerups.
- **music** - it's good, but doesn't match the pace. Something more upbeat would really help the player to keep the tempo up :)
- Also, 'high' next to highscore is slightly confusing here, took me a while to figure it out actually
One more thing: if restricting player to 5 minutes, up the difficulty. Start slow, but after a minute, give'em hell, so only the best can withstand the whole time. For now, it's really easy to stay alive for the whole duration.
I'm writing all that, because you've made a really solid shooter, which main issues stem from visual side, not the mechanic itself. And it's in compo, which means you were all alone in making this, which is a huge feat in itself. Mechanics are in place, controls are good, shrinking platform adds tension, powerups are rewarding.
And I played much longer than I initially expected :D
I hope this will help you, if you're planning to develop game further.
Leaving my rating, Cheers!
@takusan: Thank you for the feedback! I've been keeping an eye on the feedback I've gotten, and a lot of this helps. I'm hoping to actually do quite a comprehensive update once I'm able to.
@gamepopper: When you die you come back after 5 seconds. Enough time for some enemies to spawn in and wreck some towers. :)
Unless you didn't ever respawn, in which case there's a terrible bug that I somehow missed...
I played this on stream at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/141703264 - time 1:58:40