Arrows in Orbit by Stoemason

made by Stoemason for LD 38 (JAM)

A basic wave-based bow & arrow shooting game on a tiny planet. Try not to shoot yourself in the back.

(Please note that the downloadable version should perform & look significantly better than the browser version)

This is the first game I've ever released, and the first game jam I've done. I hope you've all had as much fun doing it as I have! :)

Default controls (keyboard & mouse): - movement: WASD - turning: mouse / arrow keys - shoot: left click / left ctrl - toggle music: M - quit game: esc

Post-release bugfixes: - fixed arrows getting stuck floating in the air - added keyboard controls for turning (for people without a mouse)

Tools used: - Unity - sfxr - MagicaVoxel

Credits: - programming & animation: @stoemason - music: Max Mayhem - sound effects: sfxr (I clicked on the buttons myself though)

Third-party assets used: - Purple Space Nebula Skybox - chr_knight, one of the stock models that come with MagicaVoxel, was used as both character and enemy model, with some modifications (animations, bow&arrow, etc).

Original URL

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/arrows-in-orbit

Ratings

Overall	362^th	3.409⭐	24🧑‍⚖️
Fun	325^th	3.273⭐	24🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	260^th	3.364⭐	24🧑‍⚖️
Theme	192^th	3.773⭐	24🧑‍⚖️
Audio	366^th	2.905⭐	23🧑‍⚖️
Humor	500^th	2.267⭐	17🧑‍⚖️
Mood	668^th	2.588⭐	19🧑‍⚖️
Given		12🗳️	29🗨️

Feedback

DragonZBW

25. Apr 2017 · 00:12 UTC

Super cool idea! It's a bit simple, but fits the theme perfectly, has good music, and okay visuals. I'm not sure the voxel art style fits the way you rotate around the world that well, but I still enjoy its charm. The models remind me of Cube World, which is a good thing. I'll make sure to come back to rate.

Firewill

27. Apr 2017 · 02:54 UTC

I think the idea is REALLY cool, and mechanics are solid, camera choice I feel makes this harder than it should, and I feel youre missing a final mechanic that makes you feel like a badass that can dodge a thousand arrow, or plan ahead and shoot an arrow the other way to hit and enemy, maybe added points per distance traveled, tough you'd have to negate lucky shots somehow.

Anyways I really feel like this's got potential, it worked bug free for me, and felt tight, but needs more emphasis on trickshots or dodging to fulfil a cool fantasy.

drazil100

27. Apr 2017 · 06:45 UTC

This was a super interesting take on the concept and you did a fantastic job thinking outside the box. I loved getting to play this in my stream earlier you did good work!

jk5000

27. Apr 2017 · 15:00 UTC

Welcome to LD, and welcome to the world of sharing games. It is a very terrifying world, but a lot of us have learned to love this world.

The idea for your game is super simple and new, but what is even more important, the game is really fun to play. The music and graphics is also really good. So overall a great LD game.

🎤 Stoemason

27. Apr 2017 · 22:20 UTC

Thanks all of you for the kind feedback. :)

@firewill Yeah, I did *not* put enough time into the camera. It'll probably be the first thing I'll look into improving in a post-LD version, before adding features (and I'll certainly keep your suggestions in mind).

@drazil100 Thanks again for playing it on stream :)
You deserve more viewers, I loved the fact that you gave genuinely constructive criticism.

@jk5000 It is a nice world, isn't it. I'll certainly stick around.

Togis

28. Apr 2017 · 19:23 UTC

This game is super easy to handle, the movement are very good and once I got used to it, it gave me a real feeling of control.

The music and the graphics are really good, I liked the voxels characters, but apparently their are stock asset beside their weapons.

I really had a lot of fun trying to survive in this game. It is captivating and give you a feeling of constant danger when arrow are flying everywhere.

However, I would have love maybe more variety in the enemy. I feel that the game could wear out and become repetitive after a while. But this would be easy to fix in a post LD version.

The only reason I stopped playing this was the time, it was 4 am and I had to sleep :)

Good work!

(You can see me playing this game for the first time on the vod https://youtu.be/34z-nBWKdEw?t=3h30m5s )

MaggardJosh

28. Apr 2017 · 21:24 UTC

Liked this mechanic a lot! Could be fleshed out and tweaked into something really cool. Camera felt weird, maybe change it to more of a top-down angle? Could also have used more variety in enemies. For a first time jam though, this was fantastic! Keep at it :D

King Kujito

29. Apr 2017 · 08:59 UTC

Very nice. I'm not that good at this game but it was cool to see how if an arrow, it could still orbit around and hit some enemies.That's a great idea! Good job on the game, I liked it :-)

wildmusketeer

01. May 2017 · 05:15 UTC

I like the gameplay mechanic a lot. Also really liked the voxel characters. The controls were pretty solid for me too. Art wise, I think you should've gone full blown voxel (8bit skybox, 8 bit UI...etc). I liked the wave system to spice up the game as it progresses, but I think you should emphasize the sense of progression/change more with more variety in enemy/terrain(obstacles?). Overall, great first entry to LD though!

jk5000

01. May 2017 · 08:37 UTC

I have now also rated your game.

Tanay

01. May 2017 · 13:00 UTC

cool game! i think the ui needs to be a bit better. where is the arrow going to shoot? how about holding the mouse and releasing for adjusting power? the game's got great potential though. just add powerups, etc. and voila! you have a great game!!!

bram_ve

01. May 2017 · 13:17 UTC

Cool concept, i feel like some slight improvements like maybe crosshair and a little improved camera could take it to the next level. But outside that i think the movement feels great and once getting used to aiming it works pretty good too. The audio fits the game so thats good as well. Overall a fun little game.

shiitman

01. May 2017 · 13:35 UTC

Very cool concept, definetely keep working on this game! Some aiming possibility would improve the gameplay.

glimaleite

01. May 2017 · 13:37 UTC

The idea of missing a shot and it eventually comes back at you is pretty cool. It made me want to aim more carefully, though the game doesn't really help you with aiming. I wished there were more things going on, other than just making waves longer and longer. There's definetly space for some cool improvements there.

Great job!

pschichtel

01. May 2017 · 15:41 UTC

Fun little game, especially the arrows going around the planet surprised me. I'd love this as a multiplayer game!

RosinaIvanna

01. May 2017 · 20:45 UTC

Really fun to play! I enjoyed all the arrows flying around. I enjoyed how you could kill enemies by luring them into the arrows and have to be careful not to die yourself this way. Easy to play yet easy to die. Nice entry!

🎤 Stoemason

01. May 2017 · 22:37 UTC

Thanks everyone.

The aiming/camera control is a priority for the post-LD version, as is the wave progression.

@togis
Thanks again for playing. I noticed a lot of great LD games because of your streams (and @drazil100's), you're doing a lot for the community!

@pschichtel
>I’d love this as a multiplayer game!

Me too. Local multiplayer is planned, once I've cleaned up my code for the post-LD version. Online multiplayer is something I'm considering as well, though I've never made a publicly available online game.

Richard Michael Smith

01. May 2017 · 22:41 UTC

I really like the voxel graphics - really makes it look like Lego (especially on the globe as you rotate around it). Nice work!

KnightOwl

02. May 2017 · 01:27 UTC

I think it is very cool how the fast player movements is around a sphere. would be interesting to see:
- different terrain heights
- ducking under and jumping over arrows (both slow you down or something)
- a dodge ability
- a 'precognitive' arrow path flight so you can dodge
- different enemy types (or maybe I just didn't get through enough rounds?)
- a way to shoot arrows at higher velocities to put them in elliptical orbits (and cause more damage)

I hope you don't mind the laundry list, this game is fun overall.

🎤 Stoemason

03. May 2017 · 22:17 UTC

@knightowl
>I hope you don’t mind the laundry list, this game is fun overall.

I don't mind at all, this is exactly the kind of criticism I'm looking for. Thanks a lot :)

philomory

04. May 2017 · 21:42 UTC

Oh my god, this works really well, and if further developed it actually feels like there's room for a fair amount of strategic gameplay here. Being able to accidentally shoot yourself in the _back_ is an unusual experience, certainly. The controls seemed OK as is, but I imagine with a controller it'd be even smoother.

My main complaint would be that the arrows themselves can be kind hard to see, especially with the shadow effect. It'd be nice if they were a bit more visible, and also if the enemy arrows were visually distinct from the player's arrows. Actually, a nice touch would be a different sound effect playing when you shot yourself vs when an enemy shot you.

This is _very_ good for a first entry, honestly this is pretty good even for a veteran LDer (I remember my first entry, it was almost entirely unplayable). Good work, I hope you expand it. Some of the other commenters had some good suggestions on that front.

Carsen D.

10. May 2017 · 22:54 UTC

The concept of the arrows traveling around the world makes it super interesting! I think the shooting can be improved a bit, as it's hard to tell where you're going to be firing, but this could be amazing if you expanded upon it and made some improvements! So much potential with the idea!

earthcollapse

14. May 2017 · 19:11 UTC

It's a really great game for your first release! The controls are intuitive and smooth with the small exception that firing an arrow didn't feel very responsive. The mechanics are interesting, with the self-inflicted difficulty of avoiding your previous misses. It would be cool to see this concept taken further :)

CliffracerX

15. May 2017 · 06:37 UTC

Simple, classic, effective. Nice take on the theme.

I lasted about 120 seconds with 4 waves before shooting myself in the back. As someone who's spent extensive amounts of time doing actual simulations of astrophysics and such, I do cringe a bit at the thought of shooting arrows into a stable orbit, but aside from "mlehh physics", I don't really have many complaints.

I wish the health pickups were bigger. That's, like, my only real complaint. I didn't even realize they were dropping until it was close to too late.

AgeNtNicK

17. May 2017 · 00:30 UTC

This was a lot of fun! I can totally see this game being expanded upon! Limiting health pick-ups, adding more types of enemies, currency pick-ups so you can buy things before a new wave, and so on! Good job!

Jupiter_Hadley

30. May 2017 · 19:22 UTC

Neat 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=ekiortcX84M