LudumData

Newton's Last Resort by WiredOverload

[raw]
made by WiredOverload for LD 43 (JAM)

Story

Your spaceship got stuck in a minefield and your engines are down! The only thing you have left is your crew and the on-board cannon. Using Newton's third law you can move the ship around by launching you crew members in the opposite direction. They all have personal teleporters, so they will come back eventually, but firing your crew outside in a mine field might not be the best idea. How many crew members will you launch outside and sacrifice in order to dodge the mines?

Controls

  • Use the mouse to aim.
  • Hold down mouse to charge cannon.
  • Release mouse to fire cannon.

How To Play

  • Don't get hit by mines, dodge them or use your crew as shields.
  • Getting hit means you lose three crew members.
  • Don't lose your entire crew, you won't have anything left to launch.
  • The number of crew members left is in the top left.
  • Survive as long as possible.
  • Post your highscore below!

screenshot.png

Credits

  • @wiredoverload: code, game design, art, music
  • @alchemic: sound fx, title screen

This game was created entirely through Typescript and use of the canvas.

HTML5 (web) https://wiredoverload.itch.io/newtons-last-resort
Source code https://github.com/WiredOverload/LD43
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/newtons-last-resort

Ratings

Overall 643th 3.29⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Fun 562th 3.21⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 262th 3.5⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Theme 537th 3.435⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 782th 2.968⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Audio 266th 3.5⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Humor 411th 3.05⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Mood 591th 3.226⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Given 40🗳️ 14🗨️

Feedback

Joseph Manley
04. Dec 2018 · 04:24 UTC
The audio is pretty good, it definitely adds to the aesthetic of the game. There is a bug though when releasing your mouse when outside of the game screen. Good job!
Nick76
04. Dec 2018 · 04:33 UTC
Nice game. Got 2454 as my highscore. :)
Gizmolo
05. Dec 2018 · 06:08 UTC
I figured out the strat. Just sit in the middle of the screen and launch a guy towards a mine if it's gonna hit you. Got a 2626 lol. Good job!
🎤 WiredOverload
06. Dec 2018 · 05:46 UTC
@gizmolo One of the best strategies is to stay near the middle in order to avoid randomly spawning enemies, but dodging is usually more cost effective meaning you can take more hits and survive longer. My current record is 3448, but it is possible to go higher.
Lyrcaxis
07. Dec 2018 · 04:46 UTC
Quite fun! Would be much better if I could have a full-screen, as many of my clicks were off game-screen and I ended up dying alot more than I deserved :p
Cannedtuna
08. Dec 2018 · 02:50 UTC
I liked the game its a very interesting twist on the asteroid games. The sound also added a lot to the game. My high score is 2740.
Samuel Lee
10. Dec 2018 · 03:56 UTC
Loving the sound effects here
Stames
10. Dec 2018 · 07:34 UTC
ooh that is such a nice game. it is so minimalistic but gets sooo intense.
and there is so much going on and then you fire your people in a mine and in my brain it I sream "AAAAAH THAT WAS SO OBVIOUS WHY HAVE YOU SHOT YOUR CREW MEMBER THERE NOOOOOO" It's amazing to see that such a simple game can produce such a strong reaction.
Emperor Eagle
10. Dec 2018 · 08:21 UTC
Very cool concept and extremely well executed. It is one of the best games I've played in terms of how it relates to the theme as the theme is at the core of the gameplay. Stellar game!
smilewood
11. Dec 2018 · 03:45 UTC
I think that this is great concept for a Ludum Dare game. It does a great job of demonstrating the concept that it is going for. I found it to be a bit short and it felt a bit pointless, it took a couple of deaths before I noticed the score at the top when I died. Perhaps showing the score ticking up while in the minefield, or having a goal at the end of the field would have helped that. I would have also liked to be able to see my health, I didn’t see it anywhere. I do think that you did a great job with the physics mini-game aspect of your concept, it was very well done and was natural to pick up and understand. I think that your sounds were great, both the background music and sound effects perfectly matched the theme of the game. This was a great execution of this LDs theme, well done!
🎤 WiredOverload
11. Dec 2018 · 04:54 UTC
@smilewood there is your current health displayed in the top left corner by a number of astronauts, although they are pretty small and camouflaged in with the rest of the game. If I were to do the game again I would definitely create a yellow border around them so they would be easier to see and keep track of, but I only really realized that was a problem a few hours after uploading lol.
xarona
13. Dec 2018 · 09:44 UTC
Nice game. Right on topic.
evbo
13. Dec 2018 · 10:20 UTC
This one definitely entered the realm of "funstration" for me. I got 2967 fairly early on and then it took what felt like forever to finally crack 3000. My high score in the end was 3059.

My main gripe is that charging a shot never quite felt natural to me. I would often get caught in a moment of indecision and then be stuck with an overcharged shot that I had to figure out how to get rid of. Perhaps some sort of click + drag for distance would allow me to make quicker movements.

The music was catchy, and the graphics worked well. As others have said, this is a great interpretation of the theme. Great work!
Mikabrytu
19. Dec 2018 · 18:39 UTC
MAN! This game is awesome!
The music, the art, the mechanics... 5 stars!

My only complain is the font, but it's irrelevant compared to the rest of the game.

Congratulations! :D

And my Highscore is 1928
Eric777
27. Dec 2018 · 20:02 UTC
Very clever concept! Excellent use of the theme. 3318 best. I found I did best when not charging at all and doing only subtle nudges to navigate bullet hell.

Gfx worked very well.

Great chiptune music! I would suggest maybe to have it on title only? And then something more subtle during gameplay perhaps. But that's just nit picking.
Neato
30. Dec 2018 · 23:13 UTC
The game fits the theme very well. I had performance issues with this web build, everything was running slow (secret easy mode unlocked?), maybe the fog. I liked the music too.
🎤 WiredOverload
30. Dec 2018 · 23:40 UTC
Hey @neato could you list your basic specs for the machine you were playing on? I tested the game on a 6 year old laptop of mine so I figured it was fine, but now I'm curious what the actual hardware requirements are. Any performance hits are almost certainly because of the clouds as originally I had severe performance issues testing with the original 8K versions of the cloud textures I whipped up, although they have been majorly cut down.
ThePirateNun
31. Dec 2018 · 00:06 UTC
Awesome Job! My high score was 2356. Really innovative mechanics, and I liked the visual atmosphere of the game a lot. I do think the music could have served that atmosphere a bit better, maybe making it a little easier to be immersed in the mood. I did really like the teleport sound though!. I definitely did enjoy playing. Overall, amazing game!