Space Cactus by Brian Wurster

[raw]
made by Brian Wurster for LD 40 (JAM)

A lone cowboy cactus in space, combatting the mustachioed mutant hordes... A twin stick style shooter made for play in web browsers with Phaser.IO Theme: The more gold you have the faster the mutant forces spawn.

This is my first Ludum Dare entry, I really enjoyed making it and plan to do this again! There's a lot of room for improvement with weapons, enemies, etc... but I aimed for something small to finish for my first time.

title.png bomb.png

Ratings

Overall 298th 3.712⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 114th 3.894⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 978th 2.667⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Theme 419th 3.606⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 322th 3.909⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Audio 275th 3.53⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Humor 340th 3.403⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Mood 388th 3.515⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Given 33🗳️ 35🗨️

Feedback

tomer_cool
05. Dec 2017 · 13:27 UTC
Simple yet fun, good game. I think it would be better if there was more then one type of enemies.
11tomi12
05. Dec 2017 · 13:28 UTC
Great! I love that they don't spawn near you. Also, the graphics and music are great!
Luther
05. Dec 2017 · 13:31 UTC
After you've scored more than 120 points the game becomes very hard but it's alot of fun!
pierallard
05. Dec 2017 · 13:36 UTC
Simple, efficient! Had a lot of fun playing it!
🎤 Brian Wurster
05. Dec 2017 · 13:43 UTC
Thanks everyone, @luther at around 100 a bomb spawns, you REALLY need to get it to survive the next wave without being overwhelmed. I tried to set lots of mini goals that way, shoot enemies, get coins, get/use bomb and repeat while keeping the tension high.
sahilts
05. Dec 2017 · 13:55 UTC
Its a decent game ,I expected it might be about more you shoot something get worst ,at one point it is imposibble to be alive , at least your game don't have 10's of bugs link mine have! :p
dunin
05. Dec 2017 · 15:06 UTC
not original, but cute cactus, and pleasant to play
the bomb moment is really stressful and fun
Beebo Studios
05. Dec 2017 · 15:43 UTC
Nothing new or innovative, but looks and sounds good and is reaaaally fun to play!
My high score is 392 points.
I'd wish for some more features like weapon upgrades, but then you already stated yourself you'd like to improve there. So just keep it up! :)
FreezedIce
05. Dec 2017 · 16:41 UTC
Gameplay is quite typical, but the graphics is good
LillyByte
05. Dec 2017 · 16:44 UTC
A cute lil' game, congrats! :)
gyfis
05. Dec 2017 · 16:46 UTC
I like the smoothness and graphics, well done!
Girts Kesteris
05. Dec 2017 · 16:47 UTC
Loved it!
cammy
05. Dec 2017 · 16:47 UTC
Okay I actually love this!! The gameplay is a little generic but you *nailed* the "juice" factor - it's so satisfying to shoot those little dudes. Speaking of the little dudes - the art is adorable! I love the hats. Also, nice font for the title!

I'm glad to see Phaser.js being used, it's a stellar framework.

My main criticism would be that there's no disadvantage to holding down "shoot" - I'm not sure if there needs to be one, though! Also, for a game like this, I suggest making the player hitbox smaller. Most of my deaths felt a *little* unfair.

Overall, fantastic job!!
Emil Sunesson
05. Dec 2017 · 16:51 UTC
213 fun game, Some more game-play would have been nice. Other than that good job!
profan
05. Dec 2017 · 16:54 UTC
It's fun, it quite simple but really who cares if it has been done before when it's done again so satisfyingly? ^^

The bouncy music is such a nice fit to the game, even if a tad repetetive :)
Bodom4ever
05. Dec 2017 · 16:59 UTC
Simple, fun, and worked with the theme. Well done!

(PS. High score is 501, I'm pretty sure anything higher is impossible ;))
🎤 Brian Wurster
05. Dec 2017 · 17:00 UTC
@bodom4ever my high score is over 2000, there is a strategery to it even if it isn't immediately obvious :)
Bodom4ever
05. Dec 2017 · 17:29 UTC
@brian-wurster jesus man! I guess the dev would know best!
Enot487
05. Dec 2017 · 19:00 UTC
Cute game =) Cowboy cactus and mustachioed mutants are very nice! And I like the temp of gameplay, the change of calm intervals and waves of enemies. For some reason it took me a long time to understand that I need to pick up the bomb to use it. And sometimes the cactus movement gets stuck when I use the right mouse button. Congratulations with your first LD! Well done!

PS. High score 973 :smile:
beepyeah
05. Dec 2017 · 20:52 UTC
love the graphics, feel, and mood.
CaramelCode
06. Dec 2017 · 02:03 UTC
My favorite part of this game: you used phaser.js. It's great to see more people using this awesome engine. I loved your art and music too!
SVR_Audio
06. Dec 2017 · 13:17 UTC
This game is very cute, you did a great job, good music and good sounds effects, the gameplay is easy and fun, good game, and those cactus are too cute haha
valkyrie
06. Dec 2017 · 20:15 UTC
Very cute game. I didn't realize the gold was gold (I thought it was just particles from the cacti exploding); other than that I really liked the graphics.
automatonvx
08. Dec 2017 · 00:25 UTC
Great job, looked great and played really nicely, well paced, and really good feel. Weirdly the WASD was not working for at all in chrome although left click to shoot was. Worked fine in firefox though.
Patrick Woodcock
08. Dec 2017 · 21:52 UTC
Nice. I love the cute graphics.