LudumData

Clear the River! by SpeedySloth99

[raw]
made by SpeedySloth99 for LD 39 (JAM)

PLEASE NOTE: I have been only coding for just over 3 weeks (I have tried before, but never really got anything out of it, only basic syntax (Curly braces, semicolons, etc.)), so please understand that this game isn't really up to the standard of Ludum Dare. As well as this, there are numerous bugs that, because of my lack of experience, I have no idea how to fix. Also, a lot of the basic structure of the game is based off of Oyyou's tutorials, so go check him out, he's pretty great.

TitleScreen.png

You are a waterproof robot who gets its power from hydroelectricity. However, you are running out of power. Pesky humans have polluted your river, clogging the dam, and now it is your job to clear it out so the stream will be clear and you can get your electricity once more. However, the humans' consumption rate is increasing, and more and more rubbish is appearing on the stream. However, you are not alone. You have three bots to help with your task, power them up is you need help. Collect shopping to send the humans shopping, taking up their time. The stakes are even higher than you thought, though. All of Robotkind share a single, huge battery. They get power from this, through coils on their heads. This means that if you fail, all robots will power down. Can you unclog the dam, and stop yourself running out of power?

GameScreen.png

Controls and introduction to the mechanics will be on the itch.io page.

Windows https://speedysloth.itch.io/clear-the-river
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/clear-the-river

Ratings

Overall 650th 3⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Fun 589th 2.882⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 592th 2.765⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Theme 498th 3.382⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 657th 2.853⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Audio 413th 2.971⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Humor 362th 2.548⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Mood 591th 2.879⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Given 36🗳️ 38🗨️

Feedback

btwj
31. Jul 2017 · 12:32 UTC
The music added a fun atmosphere, but it got repetitive after a while. I enjoyed the small details you added, like the people walking to the river to throw the rubbish away. Overall, a simple game but executed decently. If you've only had three weeks coding experience prior to this, then this is quite remarkable progress. I hope you'll continue participating in LD, and good job! (Also thanks for playing my game too)
dalbinblue
31. Jul 2017 · 12:36 UTC
Nicely done for your first LD entry and for only coding for a few weeks! The game is perfectly solid from a gameplay aspect. Recharging was a little odd, some times when I stood on the generator it filled quickly, other times if felt like it wasn't recharging at all. The sound is great and the graphics work too. Good job overall.
Noxim
31. Jul 2017 · 12:38 UTC
Great game, especially if you have been programming for only 3 weeks! Its a fine balance between saving power and getting bots, I really enjoyed it. Can't wait for your LD40!
Quemagalletas
31. Jul 2017 · 16:34 UTC
So nice to be your first entry, needs some adjustments for example the bots should be slower because you can spawn them and stay restoring your energy.

But hey, it a jam, and for your first jam it is quite awesome, good job! :D
kippllo
31. Jul 2017 · 16:56 UTC
Nice Game! It was fun to play!!! and the glitches aren't too bad.
Cynical Monkey
31. Jul 2017 · 20:50 UTC
nice game and i liked the music at first although about 12 times in a row is about how many times i can listen to it
Yvanor
31. Jul 2017 · 20:51 UTC
Nice little game. It require balance between upgrades and energy (except minions who can do all the work by themselves, quite handy). Not bad for a so small coding experience ! Nice job !
sean.beyer
01. Aug 2017 · 01:58 UTC
Quirky little arcade game! Didn't even notice the glitches
algu
01. Aug 2017 · 04:32 UTC
This game is very impressive coming from someone who had just three weeks of programming experience. I wouldn't worry so much about, "the standard of Ludum Dare". As cheesy as it sounds, the most important thing is that you got something out of this. The game's oddities and flaws are acceptable given your experience. However, just as a nitpicky tip, if you're going to loop a snippet of music, make sure that the music loops seamlessly! Good luck on your future programming endeavors!
TomDev
01. Aug 2017 · 10:26 UTC
I cannot believe this was made by a person who started to code 3 weeks ago. Good game, the pixel art is cute and the game itself is fun.
sgt3v
01. Aug 2017 · 16:32 UTC
Ahaha made me feel like playing a c64 game, good work!
Damoy
02. Aug 2017 · 10:26 UTC
Same as @tomedev ! Strong game for a new game developer ! Did you have graphics experience before starting programming ? Congrats !
SVR_Audio
02. Aug 2017 · 15:17 UTC
You should be proud of this game, it is really good, Dont put a lot of pressure on yourself, your games will only get better !

The game is very simple, of course, but it's fun and this is all that matters, the art is cute and made me kind nostalgic =p
🎤 SpeedySloth99
02. Aug 2017 · 17:38 UTC
@damoy No. I had never done any proper pixel art before, so for my own safety I kept to the NES palette (Not a great palette, but it did the job) for all of the sprites and an 8x8 grid for most of the sprites.
eggnog
03. Aug 2017 · 01:53 UTC
Oh no! All of robotkind will perish because of me? :(

This was pretty fun! A longer music loop would be nice, and I'm sure that if you had more time to polish it you'd add all sorts of other debris to the river. Great job! :D
Paulo Brunassi
04. Aug 2017 · 00:10 UTC
Cool game, and considering that you are new to gamedev that's preety good.
MaggardJosh
04. Aug 2017 · 23:35 UTC
Only 3 weeks experience and you did this?! That's really impressive, this is very good considering. One thing I didn't like was that I couldn't charge while holding an item, and you pick up items automatically. Other than that, I had fun. Good work, keep it up! :smile:
🎤 SpeedySloth99
05. Aug 2017 · 07:52 UTC
@maggardjosh Yeah, the reason you couldn't charge while holding an item was because of how I did the logic. Basically, it looked at every item on the screen and checked to see if its X position was lower than a certain number, and if it was, you wouldn't charge. This means that if you were holding an item and on the charger, the item's X position would be lower than that point. I probably could've fixed this, but I didn't have time. Thinking about it though, I could've checked the Y position as well, but its too late now.
vkmicro
07. Aug 2017 · 19:24 UTC
**Overall game impression:** One little touch I really appreciate is that the character starts moving when in the water with the water flow, very nice little touch, always appreciate the small touches and details. Gameplay is pretty unique and cool actually, being a robot that has to clean a river from all the trash humans throw in there. I liked the game overall. SOund effects were quite fitting too honestly. Overall a pretty good game. Good job, especially that you've been programming for only 3 weeks? Are you a god or something? hahaha that's freaking impressive. After 3 weeks of programming I could... write a hello world? and maybe some basic counting for loop? It's been years and I still can't use while loops for shit lmao

**Suggestions and comments on improvement:** Maybe having an ingame tutorial or hints of sorts. Make sounds quieter. More item variations would make it more fun as well, having some large items which slow you down perhaps? would add quite some strategy to the game and thus depth.
🎤 SpeedySloth99
07. Aug 2017 · 20:36 UTC
@vkmicro Thanks for taking the time to write such helpful feedback! About the stuff about programming for 3 weeks, I wouldn't say all of my experience is from those 3 weeks. I tried Java once before, and followed a 20-long tutorial series about making a game, but I never understood it, and really only got out of it stuff about syntax. To be honest, I have been trying to make games for years, though a lot of that I wasn't, its been on and off, probably 90% off, but could never find a tool that worked for me. I always used Scratch, and found it really useful, as you can practice programming without having to memorise syntax, and you don't have to manually load images. Around a year ago, I made a game with almost 200 scripts in Scratch, but at least 50 of those must have been duplicated, because I copied a bunch of stuff instead of using lists. But I'm rambling, and I think I have some sort of problem with writing short stuff. Basically, thanks for your feedback :grin:, and I'll be sure to work on it, if I can be bothered to click on that Visual Studio icon ever again.
mrerdalural
16. Aug 2017 · 08:38 UTC
Cool game man! I only wish bots didn't get stuck so often. I liked the concept and I had fun playing this game. Thank you for making this game!