Starship by wesley werner

[raw]
made by wesley werner for LD 39 (JAM)

You pilot a starship exploring the galaxy. Do not let your power run out.

Arrow keys move, Z and X uses shields and phasers, aiming is automatic. Hover over suns to recharge your power, and dock at planets to complete missions.

  • Fly over a new planet to get a new mission
  • The mini-map at the top-right shows your position in white, and your mission goal in red
  • Flying over to the mission destination planet to complete the mission
  • You cannot get a new mission from that planet any more. Go find another new planet
  • You retire after 10 successful missions.

Press ctrl-r to restart the game

starship-screenshot-intro.png

starship-screenshot-gameplay.png

starship-screenshot-gameplay2.png

starship-screenshot-mission.png

starship-screenshot-gameover.png

This game was created in one day using the TIC-80 fantasy computer (version 0.30.0 dev). You can download the game cartridge on the game page (including sprites and sounds), but I provide a pastebin link of the Lua source here for readability.

Ratings

Overall 729th 2.875⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Fun 786th 2.438⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 718th 2.5⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Theme 403th 3.5⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 429th 3.5⭐ 18🧑‍⚖️
Humor 495th 2.167⭐ 14🧑‍⚖️
Mood 527th 3⭐ 16🧑‍⚖️
Given 10🗳️ 12🗨️

Feedback

Timbaleek
31. Jul 2017 · 22:32 UTC
Is there a way to win the game?
🎤 wesley werner
01. Aug 2017 · 16:46 UTC
@Timbaleek, yes. You retire after 10 missions.
Terribly Awesome Games
02. Aug 2017 · 05:22 UTC
really nifty arcade style game, i enjoyed it. I think i'd prefer if you could shoot like in Galaga rather than auto aim and fire by proximity. Was fun though!
LockonS
03. Aug 2017 · 05:16 UTC
Couldn't entirely understand the goal of the game, and I think the gameplay could use a little polishing. But it looks neat!
Pixel Game Wizard
03. Aug 2017 · 05:20 UTC
Very retro-style game, I like it. :-)

I love the graphics.

The audio seemed a bit crude, but it fits in with the retro style. As far as I could tell there was a unique sound for each action, and that's pretty important.

The controls were generally straightforward.

Flying over planets did not seem to activate mission related tasks. It took me a while to figure it out, but I think I'm supposed to press the Z-key? At least that seemed to work for me.

While I do like this game, it felt a bit repetitive and it felt like a bunch of fetch-style quests between planets. Most of the time I just tried to avoid enemy ships, and tried to head for stars when I got low on energy. If I got unlucky I wouldn't see any stars and I'd run out of power. Maybe a larger map screen would be helpful for planning routes between planets? Might add a bit of a puzzle-solving element too (that is, if it is compatible with your goal for this game :-) ).

Thanks for sharing, I did enjoy playing this.
AfroAnt
03. Aug 2017 · 05:21 UTC
Very cool pixel art! Died a lot. Music was harsh, but went well with the graphics. Didn't quite understand when to use shields vs weapons. Nice entry!
VarelseGames
03. Aug 2017 · 05:25 UTC
I really liked this, though I kind of wanted to aim. Major props for using a fantasy console.
🎤 wesley werner
04. Aug 2017 · 01:03 UTC
Thanks for the feedback everyone. The game is very crude, made in one day. It is repetitive and I regret not adding more humour to break the pattern. All great points :)

To clear up mission logic:
* Fly over a new planet to get a new mission
* The mini-map highlights a red dot where the mission planet is located
* Flying over the mission planet completes the mission
* Once a planet is used for completing a mission, you cannot get a new mission from it. Go find another new planet
Ninjascribble
04. Aug 2017 · 03:04 UTC
Nice little retro throwback -- the sound and graphics are perfect for the style of game you were going for. Intergalactic postal service is a fun idea, and I didn't have any trouble getting missions from planets and delivering them to others. I'm afraid I never did figure out how shields and phasers worked though, and mostly just avoided enemies as much as possible. I could see you building this one up a bit more -- maybe adding some random events each time you reach a planet, and throwing in some bonuses for successful combat. Solid entry -- thanks for sharing!
bmacintosh
04. Aug 2017 · 15:28 UTC
The pixel art was what pulled me to this one. It's very well put-together! The enemy AI was a bit annoying in constantly running out of range, I eventually gave up fighting them because none of them seemed to want to fight me.
Estebe
08. Aug 2017 · 17:29 UTC
Original little game!
I liked the concept of the game. Only some more varied missions, not only flavor text, would be nice and break up the monotony.
I didn't like the charging sound effect. It was loud and annoying. The graphics I did like. Simple yet enough detailed to have a certain charm.
It also helped that it recalled a certain SF-show... So it was an insta-play for me!
wh05herlock
22. Aug 2017 · 07:42 UTC
This is a really cool, cute, game.

There are a few improvements I would make:
- I noticed the destination of the very first mission you get always has the same name. It might be nice if it was random.
- It would be cool if there was a visual indicator on your ship when your shields are up (e.g. a nice graphic of a shield surrounding you ship).
- It would also be nice if you could aim your weapon, and maybe have a dotted circle or something to tell you its range so it's more obvious.
- Maybe some variety in mission types would be good (e.g. maybe you have to rescue someone off of a spaceship, or destroy a ship attacking a planet.
- It would also be cool if it wasn't guaranteed everyone you met was hostile, but instead you had more of an interaction with other ships (e.g. maybe you open a communication channel with them, and they demand some resources or else they attack you, idk the possibilities are endless).

Sorry, I only posted so many things because I think this game has so much potential to be really fun. :)
FuriousWitch
22. Aug 2017 · 15:49 UTC
Great game! I enjoyed playing this game a lot especially that I like this type of games. Good job :)

P.S If you could check and rate my game that would be great. Thanks :)