LudumData

Get Energised! by GalaxStudios

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

Hey there! I'm an amateur coder. Here is what I'm using:

19/08/17: WAIT!... Wait...I'm from the future: I just made a quick trailer (meant to be funny and not taken seriously) for my game. Check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeKVVYiG7n0 Share it if you want but it is unlisted. Thanks! (Back to my original post)

  • Game Maker Studio 1.4 = Coding
  • Pixlr Editor = Art
  • bfxr = Sound

So lets get right into my idea:

I first thought of an energy collecting game but didn't know how to make it fit. I then thought of a space crew stranded somewhere, trying to get home but I decided to mix the two. You have to kill enough electrons (which can take power away from you) to get enough energy to fill your 3 bars to make you overcharge and explode, making you go to the next planet. Currently there are 15 planets and in the last one, you win! Simples.

Actual plot: You are running out of power quickly and stranded on a planet. You kill the electrons around you and gain enough energy to go to the next planet, eventually reaching your home planet to sit back and recharge! Fun for all the family! :)

-=- Controls -=-
WASD to move
1 to switch to pistol
2 to switch to machine gun
Left click to shoot (you can hold)
Right click to reload (you cannot hold)

Demo video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vgevy038qc7qfm2/Demo%20for%20LD39%20GE%21.mp4?dl=0 (Sorry that it is dropbox, I can't use youtube, meaning that the video quality is BAD)

Play it here: https://gamejolt.com/games/get-energised-ld39/272800

Hope you enjoy!

Galax Studios

Windows https://gamejolt.com/games/get-energised-ld39/272800
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/get-energised

Ratings

Overall 796th 2.675⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Fun 709th 2.675⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 776th 2.35⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Theme 656th 3.103⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 720th 2.6⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Audio 542th 2.282⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Humor 429th 2.375⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Mood 731th 2.5⭐ 42🧑‍⚖️
Given 50🗳️ 24🗨️

Feedback

zgragselus
01. Aug 2017 · 23:26 UTC
Interesting game there, the idea is there and reminded me of Lost Planet. I was unable to beat level 1 though.
🎤 GalaxStudios
10. Aug 2017 · 07:07 UTC
@zgragselus Yes it is quite hard. My tip is to have machine gun enabled and reload every 4 seconds while shooting. Try and zoom out pressing Q/E to see where they are and then try and walk to them
By the way the bullets go through the walls
hecticgrape
10. Aug 2017 · 08:35 UTC
graphics were kinda cool, I liked them! I suggest you rate more games if you want to get more ratings :)
TheFlyingKeyboard
10. Aug 2017 · 09:21 UTC
Nice idea, but needs more polishing. It is extremely hard to play, but still fun :)
Cydouzo
10. Aug 2017 · 09:26 UTC
Too much major problems in this game. You die exactly 4 seconds after appearing on the map if you don't find energy. The game is not understandable, I didn't find anything to do except roaming in the room for a few seconds before dying because of lack of amo.
I tried to understand the game mechanics, but I don't have time for that because I must find energy within the first 4 seconds.
Here are a few things that could have made your game a little enjoyable: writing the control buttons somewhere is important (even if you don't have time to do it in the game, at least do it in the description); make an easy first level so we have time to understand the mechanics.
Several minor display amount of bugs from the menu to the game over screen.
Menu and game over screen are ugly as hell, my eyes are puking, what could have possibly led to such a monstrosity!!!
Depending on the background, the score and data are unreadable.
PavelSovushkin
10. Aug 2017 · 11:22 UTC
Emmm))) baterei with gun? =) hard to play
rubyleehs
10. Aug 2017 · 11:50 UTC
Interesting idea, for some reason it reminded me of the "Full of Stars" mobile game even though they are quite vastly different.

The game does require a lot more polish/balancing though. I tried ~6-7 times and I think my highest level was...2? 3?

Visually I won't say it was extremely pleasing, but it was ok. the UIs/Menus though could be improved upon.

A tutorial would be nice too.
mrerdalural
10. Aug 2017 · 13:37 UTC
You should consider adding some screenshots and/or videos of the game to this page. People tend to not like blindly jump into a game. A picture is worth a thousand words
🎤 GalaxStudios
19. Aug 2017 · 07:42 UTC
Later, I'll rate other people's games, add controls, modify the difficulty formula. Sorry for the graphics, I'm rubbish at art.
🎤 GalaxStudios
19. Aug 2017 · 08:03 UTC
My UIs are bad because I have no art skill. I'll try to improve it
Somnium
19. Aug 2017 · 09:06 UTC
An interesting game. Once you realize how to balance fighting with collecting energy, the game is pretty fun to play.

I made it to level 14, but at that point, the game spawned such a large amount of electrons that the game slowed down to a crawl. Also, in one of the previous missions, suddenly no enemies spawned, dooming me to run out of energy. The concept is pretty solid though, despite the bugs.

>Stranded and alone.
>Attacked by the electrons.
>Kill them for power!
🎤 GalaxStudios
19. Aug 2017 · 09:10 UTC
Yeah I'm changing difficulty formula. I don't know why that no spawn bug happens :/
RockhopperGames
19. Aug 2017 · 09:48 UTC
Was it R key to reload? I tried, but unfortunately my gun wouldn't reload. Also, pressing the space key seems to advance me a level? I'd like to come back and give this another shot, but there's unfortunately not much I can do without better instructions, sorry.
🎤 GalaxStudios
19. Aug 2017 · 09:59 UTC
Whoops I forgot to tell to you guys it's right click to reload. Also I left in the test space bar button. I will fix that later today/tomorrow
Thanks for the feedback
Frozen Stick
19. Aug 2017 · 11:21 UTC
This game isn't bad...But at the last levels I'm running out of frames instead of energy..Too many enemies for my pc :)
Freedom Is Slavery
19. Aug 2017 · 11:54 UTC
The only difficult part was figuring out how to play the game. Once, I figured out that, it was a fun little game. Good graphics, and everything. Just one issue, the difficulty of the levels donot seem to increase that much. The first level was too difficult. A less harsh intro would have been better. But, who am I to complain, my game is a much harsher culprit of this crime :joy:. You deserve much more than 20 ratings.
🎤 GalaxStudios
19. Aug 2017 · 12:00 UTC
Thanks!
SuperEndeg
19. Aug 2017 · 12:17 UTC
Have to say that shooting big hordes of electrons is quite satisfuing. But overall this game is really confusing: everything ends very fast on first tries and that could discourage player.
Also some indicator that weapon reloading is needed might be helpful.
🎤 GalaxStudios
19. Aug 2017 · 12:20 UTC
Ok, I'll do that!
SimplePotential
19. Aug 2017 · 14:42 UTC
Pretty difficult but otherwise kind of fun.
DDSFloko
19. Aug 2017 · 14:59 UTC
I like games with this mechanic. You can improve the sound effects, and the feedback when play shot, take damage and hurt the enemies. Nuclear Throne is a good example of this game type. But i had fun playing this game, nice job.
Hadrien
19. Aug 2017 · 15:04 UTC
Hard game, but cool to play, good work! :)
🎤 GalaxStudios
19. Aug 2017 · 15:16 UTC
I'm just polishing up the update and it will be released.
Update includes:
Reloading has 1/2 second cooldown.
UI looks cleaner.
Controls marked in options
Refined some buttons
Difficulty changed to how much energy you start with and not the energy decrease-ion.
So yeah, its releasing in 5mins.
🎤 GalaxStudios
19. Aug 2017 · 15:27 UTC
Updated!
Dekhey
19. Aug 2017 · 16:31 UTC
It's a good game and pretty fun, but have a look with the random at the start of the level becouse if there aren't any enemys near by you die before you can do anything(happend to me once)
🎤 GalaxStudios
19. Aug 2017 · 16:40 UTC
I cant help that - just tough luck :/
yuigoto
19. Aug 2017 · 18:51 UTC
I do like randomly generated top-down shooters, so good work there! :) Nice job with the level generator, really liked how they were created but I think you should find a way to make some mobs spawn closer on some levels, so you wouldn't die faster. Don't make it based on luck 100%.

I had the same problem with my game (sometimes mobs would spawn distant, other times would spawn fewer mobs), so I ended up remaking it completely for LOWREZJAM, to fix everything that I thought was needed (balancing enemy spawns, levels and some other things).

You could, as soon as level advances, increase little by little the steps the level generator uses, so further levels would look bigger and more like mazes, giving a more stranded feeling! ;)

Controls worked really nicely and I really liked the fact that you could zoom in/out the camera, that the screen is resizable and kinda responsive, but try to keep the interface without zooming ;). Also, try to give the crosshair some kind of border, so it won't disappear in parts or completely in dark areas/backgrounds. :)

Anyway, overall, it's really fun to play and I really liked the concept! The graphics look cool and the explosion animation was really nicely done! :D With more polish you totally have a nice game here! :)

Good job, keep making! ;)

P.s.: try to zip your game, instead of placing it an installer, as not everyone likes to install, most people will just extract and play, as it's faster.
kleinzach
19. Aug 2017 · 19:12 UTC
I like the generated levels, but since they are procedurally generated, I don't understand why there were also unlockable levels and higher difficulty modes. The movement felt a little off, especially in corridors as the characters hitbox felt a little bit too big so I would get caught on geometry often. The gameplay loop, and the idea of filling up the constantly depleting energy to beat the level was well done.
Drachmor
20. Aug 2017 · 03:47 UTC
I'm afraid I couldn't get my overreacting virus-control to let me play this game... From what I've seen in the trailer video though, it looks interesting; I'm bummed that I couldn't try it out for myself. I just wanted to comment to let you know that you might want to refrain from certain commenting practices that I have noticed. For example, you reviewed "shattered," although you didn't download the game (according to the developer). Additionally, your review of "The Liberation of Liberatia" was almost an identical copy of an existing comment. Just a heads up; continuing these practices might remove your ratings advantage altogether, as they kinda ruin the fun for everyone.
RockhopperGames
20. Aug 2017 · 07:48 UTC
Thanks for your reply! I gave this another shot, and with the reload button had a much easier time. Perhaps too easy though, since I discovered you could just hold down both mouse buttons to fire infinitely >_< Some delay on firing after reloading could help here, though the final levels would have to be made easier to compensate!
🎤 GalaxStudios
20. Aug 2017 · 07:54 UTC
Thanks for all your comments guys! @yuigoto Yeah, the crosshair I made quickly and I'll put it in a zip. Thanks!
TheMonsterFromTheDeep
20. Aug 2017 · 09:03 UTC
A very strange game... even after playing through most of it, I'm still not entirely sure what exactly it is I'm doing. Apparently I want to avoid being touched by the electrons, but then I also need to kill them to win.. so I just end up running in circles shooting at the electrons and picking up the drops of the previous ones.

When I filled all three bars on Level 11, the game simply froze.

Also, I don't see why you would ever use the pistol, as the machine gun really has no disadvantage and is much more effective at getting the bars filled up.
🎤 GalaxStudios
20. Aug 2017 · 13:30 UTC
@TheMonsterFromTheDeeo I was gonna add ammo packs but I didn't have enough time. I don't know why Level 11 froze :/ Probably your pc?
Manumeq
20. Aug 2017 · 15:56 UTC
Super fun and simple gameplay that perfectly fits the theme of the Jam. The only complaint I could have was that the game is not fully responsive at the death screen since it appeared weird and bad placed in my laptop computer (no problems on my 1920x1080 desktop).
🎤 GalaxStudios
20. Aug 2017 · 16:12 UTC
Yeah, I dev on 1920x1080 so sorry :/
Anyways thanks for the review/rate!
feips
22. Aug 2017 · 11:16 UTC
Nice entry! I just doesn't seem to get any harder the further you come, actually I think it gets easier, because you can just walk around and shoot the electrons behind you, then you rush through them and collect all the orbs. Also, and indicator that your ammo is zero would be nice(like a flashing sign or something), also you can't tell what levels you have unlocked and the collider of the character seems to be a litte too big on the to side.