LudumData

Robocalypse: Xtreme Pool Master by Devastus

[raw]
made by Devastus for LD 41 (JAM)

promo.png

It is garbage day in the nuclear wasteland, and it's time to take out the trash with style! Set up your towers by playing pool/billiard/snooker and hope for the best. The two genres in combination are Tower Defense + Pool.

This game was actually done in 48h due to us wasting the first day trying a different idea and failing miserably. While it's clearly not finished, I'm rather surprisingly relieved that we actually managed to get something playable out in time! I also got sick the day before Ludum Dare, so this particular time was rather ultra straining on my well being.

I'll update the game as necessary to a separate "POST" version.

Get the Main Theme Music!

Instructions

You have to protect your ball (the white one). Your turrets are the other balls on the table. You gain more by killing enough enemies. You have three tries per wave to upgrade your turrets by pocketing them into any pockets that have an arrow indicator. Try to survive as long as you can, and be the best in the leaderboards!

Controls

  • Mouse Left-Button: Click and drag back to charge your launch, release to launch the ball
  • WASD / Arrow buttons / Mouse Right-Button: Rotate camera
  • ESC: Pause/Reset menu

Updates (POST)

  • 04/25/2018 - Hopefully fixed a bug breaking the game after a restart, more collision bug fixing, introduced basic boss monsters
  • 04/24/2018 - Added charge indicator and pause/reset, visual & performance improvements, fixed some collision bugs, minor rebalancing
HTML5 (web) http://89.40.3.128/ld41/post/
HTML5 (web) http://89.40.3.128/ld41/
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/robocalypse-xtreme-pool-master

Ratings

Overall 259th 3.78⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Fun 252th 3.683⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 56th 4.146⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Theme 93th 4.268⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 259th 4⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Audio 190th 3.72⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Humor 526th 2.984⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Mood 212th 3.75⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Given 67🗳️ 32🗨️

Feedback

Bitten Toast Games
24. Apr 2018 · 13:24 UTC
Wish it was easier to control the desired strength, I kept wanting to play like controls of other pool games, pulling from the ball to the opposite direction I wanted it to go. Found it really hard to control the direction. Most of the time ended up really far from my towers, found it really hard. Wish that there was a quick restart button as I found myself many times hitting F5 to try again. Great idea.
🎤 Devastus
24. Apr 2018 · 14:01 UTC
@bitten-toast-games Thanks a lot for the feedback! Yeah, one of the big issues here is the lack of a charge power indicator which makes the uncommon control scheme even harder to use. It's most likely the first thing I'll fix in a Post-Jam version, but I'll take a look into changing the way the controls work too. A restart button is a good idea!
TheVash
24. Apr 2018 · 14:09 UTC
can't believe this game as so few rating, the idea is awesome. controls are quite unclear and force can't be decided clearly, but it's really cool!
Riddhee Dutta
24. Apr 2018 · 14:38 UTC
Imma kick all the asses, Great Mixture of Genres. Feel free to drop a review at our game https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/boomball
HS_Dave
24. Apr 2018 · 14:51 UTC
As above I had issues working out the force and tbh working out angles but thats just because I'm bad! I'd really like a restart button, especially whilst getting used to the game, as it is often clear the moment you've missed your shot that you are now going to die during the next spawn and just sitting there waiting for it to happen before I can play again wasn't so fun. But the idea itself I really enjoyed and would like to play more!
jcwelgemoed
24. Apr 2018 · 15:09 UTC
I kept ending up too far from my turrets. Interesting combination though and cool implementation.
willowblade
25. Apr 2018 · 01:06 UTC
Your comment above summarizes my quirks while playing the game! I'll play the POST version to see what you changed tomorrow :). Really cool concept and great art! It's well executed gameplay wise, just UI/UX could be better.
Alex_ADEdge
25. Apr 2018 · 01:46 UTC
As others have mentioned theres no way to restart nicely once you hit the scoreboard. My scoreboard also gave an error. And it would be cool to get some visual feedback on the shot strength/angle. some kind of laser that emits from out away from the ball and fills up with energy might be fitting.
Buuuut, this is a great little game! Ive played it the most out of any other LD game so far. Visuals are great and the physics are spot on. I like the little details how the men exploding hit the ball around as well. So other than a few small issues this is pretty solid!
Mau
25. Apr 2018 · 04:19 UTC
It seems it has a bug, when you hit the turret, the control transfers to the turret but does nothing. Great idea for a game, keep working in it.
kilosaurus
25. Apr 2018 · 09:28 UTC
Top 3 ! Nice game
RockhopperGames
25. Apr 2018 · 16:28 UTC
I seem to be experiencing the same bug mau is, at least in the post release version?
Fabian Pohl
25. Apr 2018 · 16:35 UTC
Great 3D and 2D Art and the sound Design is over the top. Gameplay i not my brand but fits the topic of ludumdare41. Kep up the good work see you hopefully next LD
🎤 Devastus
25. Apr 2018 · 16:48 UTC
@mau @rockhoppergames Now that's a new one. Care to elaborate how it does this? What it should do when hitting a turret is focus the camera on it while it's moving, and after either transfer back to the player or move on to the wave. Do you mean the turret doesn't move?

**EDIT:** It was actually the Sound Manager bugging out hard when doing resets. Gonna ship out a version with a fix to that with some unfinished new additional features intact. Hopefully those won't cause any more bugs before I'm done with them!

@alex-adedge I had some incorrect indexers for the scoreboard that went crazy when enough scores got made, fixed that in the Post-Release version.

Thank you very much for all the feedback! I'll try to iron out the bugs as they come, so be sure to mention when you encounter something. Though of course, the fixes will not carry over to the Submit Day version to keep things fair.
Mau
25. Apr 2018 · 20:14 UTC
@Devastus after you play a game and lose, the new game doesn't count the shots of the player. Then when you hit a tower, the aiming control is transferred to the tower, but you cannot move it or do anything.
theamazingb
25. Apr 2018 · 23:11 UTC
I played the submit day version. Definitely could use some sort of power indicator, other than that this is a fun game! I was hoping someone would combine billiards w/ something
larzan
27. Apr 2018 · 12:28 UTC
Wow, awesome idea, really great take on the theme. It was difficult, but once i got the hang of it, quite intertaining.
Good gfx, audio + sound, very well done!
FrostGunn
27. Apr 2018 · 22:08 UTC
Great concept !
merzlot
28. Apr 2018 · 02:39 UTC
One of the best games I played so far this LD. Thanks foe hreat experience!
RockinWatson
28. Apr 2018 · 14:54 UTC
Good Concept, like the difficulty. Really weeds out the people who dont actually play video games.
abductedPlatypus
28. Apr 2018 · 17:49 UTC
__Fun__
Took me a while to get enough control, but when I did I found it quite enjoyable. You added some things in the post-jam version, but I still miss some range indicators that would help placing the balls.

__Innovation__
A new concept that can be fun for quit a bit of time. I also think there is quite a bit of room for exploration, very well done!

__Theme__
The two genres are pretty clear, and not very obvious choices. Nice!

__Graphics__
I love the graphics. Even the pixeley/3D graphics mix very well.

__Audio__
The music and sounds were really well made. Not to intrusive but still memorable.

__Humor__
The most humorous I guess is the enemy animations. But I don't feel this was your main focus so it won't affect my overall score.

__Mood__
The industrial feel worked really well, and it really felt like I was on a remote abandoned re-purposed factory.

__Overall__

Overall I think it's a really good entry!
multiplexor
28. Apr 2018 · 20:47 UTC
Nice mix of themes, certainly very original!

I think the idea of pool tower defense and upgrading towers by "dunking" them into the holes is pretty neat, my only problem is that it is a bit too random at the beginning, and your chances of scoring a new tower are depending too much on where your balls spawn and where you need to put them!

Still, really enjoyful! A nice twist to the TD genre!

Great job, keep up the good work!
🎤 Devastus
28. Apr 2018 · 20:58 UTC
Thanks everyone for the feedback! I'm doing a big balancing run once I get some new turret types going for the POST version, so hopefully the difficulty will set into a more enjoyable median by then.

@abductedplatypus I've been bouncing back and forth with the idea of a velocity/range indicator and an additional Aim Assist line to show where the ball you hit will go towards. Problem with both, in my opinion, is that they make the other half of the gameplay essentially pretty easy, making it less about pool and more about tower defense (meaning the pool part starts feeling like busy work). A separate mode where there's additional indicators could be considered though.

@multiplexor The random placement of the balls and pocket types (in the beginning especially) is actually something I'm kinda pondering about right now, it makes up for a lot of restarts which is not something I'm fancy about. Glad to hear resonating opinions about that, how to fix it is not necessarily as straightforwardly resolved as I'd hope though.
patrickgh3
28. Apr 2018 · 21:02 UTC
Very cool and hilarious concept! The art and sound are well made. I just wish the balance was more forgiving. Many turns it felt like I didn't have any options. Perhaps more turrets, and more arrows hover the holes would help. And also a visual for shot strength (like many other golf / pool games) and more forgiving / wider pockets would help.
abductedPlatypus
28. Apr 2018 · 21:12 UTC
@devastus Sorry, not sure if I was clear then, I meant showing the turret range. I kept placing the player ball outside of their range, leaving me helplessly wait for my death. I'd rather have them balling up around me and let them get one-shotted by the large slow laser. Have you considered that?
🎤 Devastus
28. Apr 2018 · 21:17 UTC
@abductedplatypus Ah, pardon me for misreading, I haven't actually considered that one (and it's supposed to be a TD game, woe is me). It's certainly a good idea! Especially now that I'm putting in more varied turrets in the future. Maybe something like hovering your mouse over a turret shows it's range would be good for that purpose.
abductedPlatypus
28. Apr 2018 · 21:36 UTC
Mouse over sounds great. Also looking forward to some extra turrets!
MacDoom
28. Apr 2018 · 22:27 UTC
Cool game, cool concept, cool theme, cool graphics, AWESOME music!
Excellent idea adding the power gauge.
Considering the submit version 5/5.
Keep on!
Almax
28. Apr 2018 · 23:11 UTC
Awesome concept, kept me playing for a while, I like the simple yet deep strategy in potting your turrets but making sure you're actually protected by them at the end of the turn. Genius! Graphically very simple and I did encounter a game breaking bug - getting stuck inside a wall so the zombies couldn't reach me. But otherwise this has great potential, you should definitely consider taking it further, it might do particularly well on mobile :)
Otso Turpeinen
29. Apr 2018 · 00:31 UTC
Jam version wasn't very playable. Post Jam version was fun. Ran into out-of-the-level bug. Caused browser to run out of memory.
Eugene Myach
02. May 2018 · 09:44 UTC
Awesome game, but i threw the ball through the wall )![Unity WebGL Player _ Robocalypse_ Xtreme Pool Master - Google Chrome 2018-05-02 12.42.01.png](///raw/252/c/z/1493b.png)
xethm55
06. May 2018 · 15:55 UTC
Fun game. Took awhile to figure out what to do but that is all part of the fun. Which I could shoot my ball when the waves are in to bowl them down.
RockhopperGames
08. May 2018 · 13:04 UTC
Came back to give it a look now that the bug was fixed, and this is definitely a very amusing game! Of course, pool is one of those games where everyone fancies themselves better than they actually are, so I know it's not the game's fault that I can never land the balls in the holes! One thing I was a bit unsure about though, is there really a point to getting a ball in a hole of the same colour? I'm not sure I found the yellow turrets strong enough to be worth ever shooting for, if not.