LudumData

Plutus by Apostate Games

[raw]
made by Apostate Games for LD 38 (JAM)

Plutus

:alien: Start as a small planet known as Plutus gathering space debris to become the biggest celestial body in the known universe! :satellite:

They say the "rock" you call home is too puny to count as a planet! Show the universe what a real planet is! Traverse the solar system using rocket boosters to guide your planet and absorb everything smaller than you in sight to increase it's mass. Consume various space debris, satellites and even OTHER PLANETS! Collect exciting power ups and avoid larger bodies and black holes in your mission to become the biggest and baddest planet around. Consume ALL the planets to win! Make them fear the name Plutus!

Links: - Download and Play - http://gamejolt.com/games/Plutus/252084 - Source Code (Clickteam Fusion 2.5 MFA) - http://www.mediafire.com/file/941abh7h86q644a/Plutus.mfa

(Note: We had a couple of last minute but major bug fixes - see notes on the gamejolt packages for details)

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Voting Category Opt Out: - Audio

We ended up using public domain SFX and MUSIC from the Sonnis audio packs from GDC. The PD song we used was an excerpt from a classical composition appropriately called "From the New World" (or symphony 9) by Antonin Dvorak.

All artwork and code is 100% original with the exception of one Public Domain font

Made in Clickteam Fusion 2.5

Created by Apostate Games: http://www.apostategames.com/

Apostate Games is:

Nathan Hicks - Lead Developer/Programming

Jason Varnell - Lead Artist

We hope you enjoy playing it as much as we enjoyed making it! :smile:

ldjm #ludumdare #IWantToCreate #Plutus - All Rights Reserverd :copyright: Apostate Games 2017

uranus.png

Also please check out our game currently on Steam Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=872678368

Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/plutus

Ratings

Overall 242th 3.6⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Fun 255th 3.4⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 280th 3.32⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Theme 173th 3.8⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 344th 3.64⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Humor 62th 3.8⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Mood 344th 3.304⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 32🗳️ 26🗨️

Feedback

drazil100
27. Apr 2017 · 05:49 UTC
This style was a really interesting take on the theme! Unfortunately as I mentioned in my stream the physics are really hard to get used to since there is no frame of reference to tell how much you are moving compared to everything else. Aside from that gripe the game plays pretty solidly and the art is super fun and creative!
Tommyflower
01. May 2017 · 18:58 UTC
Nice concept! I loved the humor and the graphics, but I had some trouble moving around :(
tweedle
03. May 2017 · 05:05 UTC
agree w/ other comments here on the controls. I really wanted to dive into this after watching the awesome trailer but found it hard to get my barrings initially. also, finding things that would help me grow at first seemed few and far between. great work getting the controller inputs and detection working, I tried with both! The mood, humor & theme were the highlights for me, and that great trailer :smile:
JoyFired
03. May 2017 · 06:12 UTC
Really great take on the absorbing concept (not sure how to phrase that), and the backstory writing is humorous too. Agreed, a frame of reference would be nice, but I didn't really find myself being that annoyed by the controls (I guess I'm just weird with controls, explains my game's lol). It is a bit frustrating to start out at first, and being burnt by the sun a few times was a bit discouraging, but the game was fun nonetheless. I think I did encounter some graphical glitches however, like the planet's crack overlay not quite resetting.

Overall a pretty fun game, and a unique concept buried in this pile of games :)
Pandakipu
03. May 2017 · 21:48 UTC
Excellent !
The concept is really fun, it's like a katamary with real planet.
It was fun to destroy Uranus xD
HuvaaKoodia
05. May 2017 · 14:45 UTC
Funny premise, neat graphics and solid design. Yet there's one user interface issue that got me killed 3 times and I simply could not stomach the slow beginning crawl for a forth time...

The issue: No indicator for the sun! I could not elevate Plutus to Grandeur, I only managed to hurl it to the sun...

The glow around the sun should be much bigger and there should be a menacing burning sound attached to it. To add insult to injury the collider of the sun is much bigger than the graphic. Sunshine and happiness to all! :sunny:

Other than that, I kind of like it.
🎤 Apostate Games
06. May 2017 · 02:39 UTC
Great idea @huvaakoodia - Yeah if we make it into a full game we will definitely do that! And thank you so much everyone for the feedback! :smile: Most of the things noted like controls and the visual glitches we quickly became aware of but left fixing it until voting was over. Still a few kinks to work out lol but glad everyone seems to like it so far! :smile:
PeachTreeOath
09. May 2017 · 04:35 UTC
What a professional looking game. It's rare to see a polished title screen and escape menu in LD games. The 3 separate flame exhausts on the planet are AWESOME since they actually react to the controls the user is pressing. I'm also glad you don't punish the player for running into larger objects like a lot of absorbing games do (minus the sun). I'm not sure about the music choice, it came off to me as creepy rather than ambient. Overall this is one of the most polished entries I've seen so far.
Jiri_One
14. May 2017 · 09:22 UTC
Nice game, I really liked the graphics and the music. I also liked the menu's haven't seen them this polished in other games I've played. I only didn't really understand the movement.
chispaLBC
14. May 2017 · 10:03 UTC
Nice work! But i think that it was hard because of the controlls. Also the other planets move too fast. However i like the rest :smile:
DemyHallar
14. May 2017 · 10:09 UTC
Haha, the idea is fun. Nice game.
Pecolyte
14. May 2017 · 10:18 UTC
Totally wowed when I saw the nearly 150MB download pack. Graphics and music are good, It's really fun to play, the controlling is a little bit off.
Lucas Ferrantelli
14. May 2017 · 10:21 UTC
Good job dude, nice entry !
Stending
14. May 2017 · 11:38 UTC
Looks so pro!
When I saw your presentation, your trailer, your logo at the beginning, the intro... Everything felt so.. "complete".

I instantly voted for your greenlight game, can't wait to see more of your work!

For the game itself, I didn't manage to finish it! The controls are a bit hard, the planet rotation is so slow and it looks like I can't avoid anything without predicting 10 seconds of trajectory x)

But everything looks and sound great! The variety of the obstacles is awesome, there is so many little funny details everywhere!

Awesome entry anyway, hope to see you next LD!
devpaul
14. May 2017 · 11:55 UTC
**Awesome game!** I really love the idea of a pissed off Pluto destroying the solar system! The music choice was excellent, and the star wars like intro was a nice touch! Reminds me of [Osmos](http://store.steampowered.com/app/29180/Osmos/) and [Agar.io](http://agar.io/) !

Here are a few things that felt off:

- The sidebar moves way too slowly.
- It would be nice if the zoom level would change when you are going very fast / get bigger.
- Some kind of map would be useful because the pointer always points to the next planet not the next planet that's actually smaller than you.
- I'm not sure why the world is cut into zones.

I also saw a few bugs:
- I had a few crashes
- Somewhere above 6000kg it started to feel like that my planet's hitbox is much larger than the representation on the screen, running into the sun basicly insta killed me.
- Another weird thing in late game that some of planets feel much smaller than me but I can't actually absorb them.
- After going very fast I noticed that my turning thrusters animation were displayed in the wrong position.
- Sometimes when I turned the main thrusters on the planet jumped forward. *(Probably the thruster animation moves the sprite of the planet forward, i had a similar issue in my game too)*

[Try my game!](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/small-world-transport)
pascalman
14. May 2017 · 12:10 UTC
I love destroy other planets! Art and sound are very cool. Great job!
🎤 Apostate Games
15. May 2017 · 07:35 UTC
Thank you everyone for the awesome feedback! Especially the very detailed ones - that is greatly appreciated! :smile: Made note of all the issues mentioned and will be fixing and improving things after voting is over. Sitting down to go check out everyone's submissions now! Can't wait to try them out! :smile:
NightShadow0
15. May 2017 · 21:33 UTC
I enjoy the premise, as it's similar to my own game's :) This is quite fun, the katamari-like mechanic is solid, though i did find the controls a little too floaty (using a controller), which is thematic, but it does feel pretty frustrating when you're trying to capture something and keep missing it. Eventually i grew tired of collecting rocks and dashed off towards Mercury, but ended up falling into the Sun. I feel like there's a lesson there somewhere. Nice work!
doubiesnax
16. May 2017 · 02:54 UTC
i kept flying into the sun. i never became the ultimate planet. but it gave a sense of accomplishment that kept me playing over and over again
ryte2byte
16. May 2017 · 05:03 UTC
A) THIS is how you start a video game!
B) Cosmic Katamari? Yes, please!

Also, I totally applaud you decision to opt out of audio in order to use that music! It was the right decision for the game you envisioned.

EDIT: Yes, I LOLed at "You are now bigger than Uranus" like a frickin' 6 year-old.
orquigames
16. May 2017 · 05:06 UTC
Very funny! good job
CreamyBacon2
16. May 2017 · 23:38 UTC
Like a few in the comments I thought of Katamari, but a slightly more reasonable version :smile: It was a bunch of fun the whole way through! Great Job!!!
csanyk
17. May 2017 · 03:34 UTC
OK that trailer video wins. Hilarious!
Landon
17. May 2017 · 15:51 UTC
Awesome game! A very polished experience!I love the Intro!
terryg
20. May 2017 · 09:38 UTC
This was very funny. Loved the pyramids from stargate!! Nice entry
Jupiter_Hadley
09. Jun 2017 · 20:51 UTC
Nice graphics, interesting 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=DciCZPQtLy8