LudumData

Open the Moon Gate by professor

[raw]
made by professor for LD 40 (COMPO)

Story:

The Moon Gate has been destroyed, and you must restore it before toxins destroy the world.

LD Theme:

The more toxins there are, the worse it is!

Controls:

  • A/D - Rotate
  • L Mouse - Shoot
  • R Mouse - Hook
  • B - Crystal Blast
  • Spacebar - Create Moon
  • Esc - Exit Game

Strategy:

  • Defend yourself from toxins by shooting them with the planet gun.
  • Use the hook to capture purple crystals
  • When you have three (3) crystals, press "Spacebar" to create a moon.
  • When you have four (4) moons, the Moon Gate will open.
  • Collect Moon Cores to stabilize the gate and win the game!
  • If you become overwhelmed, fire a Crystal Blast by pressing 'B' when you have at least two (2) purple crystals.

Tools Used: - Unity (programming) - PaintShop Pro (graphics) - sfxr (sound effects) - Garage Band (music)

Screenshots:

screenshot1.png

screenshot2.png

screenshot3.png

Windows https://shannondeaton.itch.io/open-the-moon-gate
HTML5 (web) https://shannondeaton.itch.io/open-the-moon-gate
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/open-the-moon-gate

Ratings

Overall 340th 3.378⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Fun 270th 3.433⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 369th 3.078⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Theme 585th 2.773⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 493th 2.878⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Audio 145th 3.489⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Humor 392th 2.474⭐ 40🧑‍⚖️
Mood 355th 3.036⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Given 46🗳️ 42🗨️

Feedback

lautregars
04. Dec 2017 · 18:10 UTC
Quite frankly, i found this game to not be perfectly fit into the actual ld theme, but the fact is that there is a whole load of abilities you can use in this jam game, and that's pretty neat.

But you're getting a load of points on the music : that's my personal tastes but when i hear those kind of bass i just get too much in the ambiance, i couldn't concentrate on the tutorial because I was moving my head. Did you make th music during the game jam ?
🎤 professor
04. Dec 2017 · 18:15 UTC
@lautregars: You're right - I struggled to make a strong connection to the theme, and this is something I will try harder to do next time. I made the music in Garage Band during the last couple hours of the jam. Out of all the things I needed to do for this game, the music had me the most stressed. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for playing!
BelowParallel_Ian
05. Dec 2017 · 00:57 UTC
This is similar to my entry for LD38, except this is way better. This type of game can easily be boring, but the juicy sfx and music helps keep me entertained. The graphics are nice too, as well as the gameplay mechanics. I like the idea of creating a second astrological body that you must defend. It's a good way to increase difficulty. Great job.
sirikan
05. Dec 2017 · 12:59 UTC
Really liked the music.
Abilean
05. Dec 2017 · 23:15 UTC
Game is a lot of fun. The controls are the area that annoyed me a little while playing. I think you could either leave the mouse out and use other buttons for shooting and grabbing... or have the gun/hook follow the mouse and leave out A/D. I kept wanting to click at the things I wanted to shoot at ... just to realize my gun was pointed another direction.
🎤 professor
06. Dec 2017 · 00:44 UTC
@Abilean Great advice! I will pay more attention to controls in future submissions. I appreciate you playing the game.
egawag
06. Dec 2017 · 02:22 UTC
I thought the game was awesome! And one of the best compos I've played yet! It had a good balance of difficulty yet even though it was annoying when I was so close to grabbing a crystal. Great all around and the idea of the moons making the game more difficult was fun! 5/5
🎤 professor
06. Dec 2017 · 02:29 UTC
@egawag Thanks so much for playing the game! I went to review your game and realized I had literally just finished playing it and leaving feedback. We were playing each other's games at the exact same time. Ha :).
dukeaccent
06. Dec 2017 · 02:42 UTC
Fun gameplay, sort of similar to Asteroids but not quite. But doesn't really fit the theme. I like the sound effects and music but graphics are rather plain. I did spend a lot more time playing this than most other games I tried, it's something about this kind of shoot em up gameplay that's nicely addictive.
steven-pinto
06. Dec 2017 · 03:10 UTC
Solid work! and great music :)
All the best!
Pls feel free to play and rate my game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/split
thomaz96
06. Dec 2017 · 03:57 UTC
Hey! Nice work on your game! Its a new take on the older asteroids game! cool!
SerpentWorks Games
07. Dec 2017 · 02:57 UTC
Awesome little game! I sort of wish the planet rotated with the mouse position though; I found myself missing moon pieces trying to use my mouse lol

Really well done otherwise!
Burnt
07. Dec 2017 · 03:00 UTC
doesn't really fit the theme of the event but still a pretty good game, I enjoyed playing it and the music is well made! good job!
solluxx
07. Dec 2017 · 03:10 UTC
I liked all the different game-play mechanics you implemented. And the moon gate idea was a nice touch on a classic. The music was great but found the laser sound overwhelmed it a bit. Great work!
Nilsson
07. Dec 2017 · 03:17 UTC
Funny gameplay, the music was quite funny if you think of its an astroid game xD i definetly enjoyed the game, Thanks!
Jclight
07. Dec 2017 · 05:08 UTC
Funny music and simple gameplay! Good job!
pi mont
07. Dec 2017 · 05:14 UTC
Nice man. Funny music and very nostalgic gameplay. help us out as well pls: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/komainu
Kyle Pham
08. Dec 2017 · 04:57 UTC
I really like this game. The initial graphics are OK but if you get 10 moons => awesome. The shoot effect audio volume may be turned down a little bit, as it can get annoying and repetitive. Really clear instructions. It could also have been better had the game been closer to the theme.
BryceLTaylor
08. Dec 2017 · 06:03 UTC
This was great! At first I thought it was super easy. The green things are super easy to shoot, a little tricky to get the crystals but manageable. Then I got a moon. Then it got hit. Then I went: ooooooh!

It's a nice hook and nice use of the theme. I love when there is a built in conflict to doing well. I liked that you use all of your crystals when you make a moon. I tried getting 16 of them and then make 4 moons at once, but you got me on that one.

I liked the music a lot and the sound effects were nice too.
one-seed-fruit
08. Dec 2017 · 06:25 UTC
Wow! Quite innovative and fun to play.

I wish I can rotate with the mouse. Also shooting continuously by holding the mouse button down would be nice.
sbarrio
09. Dec 2017 · 13:39 UTC
This is actually pretty fun. I like the grappling hook mechanic and the kickin' music. Nice job on your entry!
🎤 professor
09. Dec 2017 · 21:17 UTC
@one-seed-fruit Great idea about rotating with the mouse. I may implement this feature in a future release. Thanks for commenting!

@sbarrio Thanks for the playing the game!

@bryceltaylor Thanks for the great feedback! Using all of the crystals to create a moon was actually a happy accident in the code :).
grostonton
13. Dec 2017 · 17:48 UTC
I had a great time on your game, congrats ! The music is from you ?
🎤 professor
14. Dec 2017 · 17:33 UTC
@grostonton Yep! I put the music together in Garage Band before the jam ended. Thanks for playing :).
Zinkler
15. Dec 2017 · 15:04 UTC
I actually enjoyed even though I beat it on the first try without ever having to use the Crystal Blast. It fits the theme quite well, and I enjoyed your choice of words. "The Moon Gate has been destroyed, and you must restore it before toxins destroy the world" - how amazingly crazy is sounds! Great job.
🎤 professor
15. Dec 2017 · 16:47 UTC
@Zinkler Great job on beating the game on the first try (and without a Crystal Blast)! Thanks for playing and reviewing :).
cppchriscpp
15. Dec 2017 · 23:45 UTC
Fun little game - I managed to beat it on my second try - never used the crystal blast. (I honestly forgot it was an option) It was hard but mostly fair. The music was pretty great. I didn't find the shoot sound effect grating - perhaps a little loud as others said but it didn't really detract from the game.

I did find the hitbox for the crystals (or perhaps the length of the hook vs how long it looked) a bit frustrating. It seemed like the grappling hook would sometimes hit a crystal and it wouldn't actually count.

Well done overall!
PonchoGuy
19. Dec 2017 · 00:10 UTC
Hey I played this on stream this was really fun!

I loved creating and sucking in the purple crystals to make my moons - and protecting them from the toxic entities!

Something I would consider for added difficulty would be that your hook can suck in the toxins if you're not careful where you launch it!

For a post jam version - I would be cool to see the toxins sticking to each other making a harder to kill entity (from 1 hit to 4 hits to 8 hits etc) 1+1 = 2 1+1 = 2 2+2 = 4 etc. It would just be cool to see more toxins and these ones could be a bigger threat to earth and the moons :yum: Albeit slower!

Other than that, the music was amazing and it was incredibly satisfying creating the moon gate!! and building up my moons into super moons! :yum:
🎤 professor
20. Dec 2017 · 14:05 UTC
@ponchoguy Thanks for the great feedback! I love your suggestion about having the toxins stick together and create larger threats. I appreciate you taking time to play the game :).
totsboy
21. Dec 2017 · 07:01 UTC
I like the mechanics, and the controls are really good too. The only thing I found annoying was that a lot of times the crystals were traveling far beyond the reach of the claw.
R2D48
21. Dec 2017 · 09:19 UTC
Graphism are ok, I suggest adding some explosions with explosion generator and adding a background (with some shining stars). The music really entertain me. At first the games seems complex to me but after playing it, I quickly understood all the mechanics.
1. You can shoot some green Toxin and have points
2. Wow you can grab some crystal
3. Ok lets build those 4 moons (this is challenging for me)
4. What it's not over ? you have to collect cores
Too hard for me at this point.
The game is interesting and challenging and have some variety with this 4 diferents gameplay